The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

All of them were wearing the heels with the red bottoms. No surprise there. What was surprising, though, was that all three of them had no jewelry on, but each had some faux fur wrapped around their shoulders. I guess that was their accessory.

Victoria took the lead, a pinched look on her face as she stood in front of the table. Her hair was good. She’d lightened it again, so the red looked like sun streaks of orange. “Guy. Matthew.” She didn’t look at me, her hand going to one hip and a little purse falling down to rest on its chain over her wrist. “Is Kashton coming tonight?”

Fleur and Cedar were looking at me, fully at me. They were doing it for their girl, and both held calculating looks in their slightly narrowed gazes.

Matt’s tone was cold. “How would I know?” His hand, the one right next to my shoulder, gestured to me. “Why don’t you ask the one who would know?”

Victoria’s mouth flattened, and she visibly grimaced before sighing, turning her gaze my way. “Hi there, Becky. I didn’t see you.”

Becky. I rolled my eyes.

I wasn’t going to respond to that.

Cedar moved forward. “She asked you a question.”

I wasn’t going to respond to that, either.

Instead, I picked up my drink and turned to my brother. “Did the music get louder in here? Did you guys say something?”

Matt pressed his lips together, stifling a laugh.

Not Guy. Guy was okay with expressing he was loving watching this showdown. His eyes were twinkling.

Matt shrugged, raising his voice. “Maybe. It’s starting to grind on the ears.”

“Exactly.” I matched him, raising my voice. “Or maybe it’s my allergies kicking up. I’m starting to get a headache.”

“Jesus Christ,” Victoria hissed. “Bailey. I’m talking to you.”

I turned to her now and grinned. “Oh, hey. When’d you get here?”

Fleur’s head was turned toward the floor. Her shoulders were shaking, but Victoria and Cedar couldn’t see her.

Cedar threw her hand in the air. “Seriously? You’re going to play that game?” Her lips were tight. “With us?”

Leaning forward and resting my arms on the table, I said to Victoria, “You usually travel with two others. Where are your friends tonight? You’re going alone?”

Her eyes threatened to bug out.

I heard Fleur snort, her hand raising quick to her mouth, and she turned away.

Cedar’s mouth was hanging open at me. “Are you seriou—”

I was done playing. My eyes cut to hers. “Use a sentence that doesn’t have the word serious in it. Do it. I challenge you. Grow your vocabulary. It helps fight off dementia.”

Cedar looked ready to scream at me, but her mouth stayed shut.

I was impressed. I thought for sure she’d blast me, but her gaze kept going from Victoria to me and I clued in. She couldn’t make a move without Victoria’s approval. She couldn’t engage me in a confrontation. Her leader wasn’t allowing it.

Why? That made no sense.

And to prove my theory, Victoria smiled at me, her tone magically softer. “Bailey. I need to talk to Kashton about something. He’s not been returning my calls and I was hoping he’d be here tonight.” She glanced to Matt. “Or find out when he will be here.”

Kash was freezing her out. Interesting.

Matt’s eyes just slid to mine. He only had one eyebrow up now, and I read that look he gave me. He was letting me handle this.

My phone buzzed at that moment. Torie.

Bathroom.

Okay then.

Sliding out of the booth, I said to Victoria, “You want him, you probably should consider the reason he’s not getting back to you.” Her mouth opened and I beat her to it. “And no, I’m not going to ask him about you.” I nodded to Matt. “Be back. Bathroom.”

Erik and Fitz were off shift, so I had two new guards. I hadn’t met them, but as one broke off from the line of other guards, I asked him, “What’s your name?”

He paused. “Scott.” Then he dipped his head and moved forward.

I went with him because I was guessing he knew the plan. They didn’t ask where I had to go, and he led the way to a bathroom off the main floor. For once, there was no line waiting to use it, but maybe that’d been put into play already, because he knocked once and stood by the wall. He said, “You can go in.”

Torie was leaning against the sink counter, her arms crossed. Her eyes locked on mine.

I cleared the last partition to see where the stalls were and saw that it had all been planned. Hoda stood by the stalls, her head down, her arms crossed tight over her chest.

Torie spoke to the room, “Checked out Holden Mansour’s application ten minutes ago…” She was scowling at Hoda’s bent head before finishing, looking at me. “To find it’s now a Hoda Mansour file and the gender has been changed. Male to female. My boss said you get to make the call so”—she leaned forward, but her hips remained resting against the counter—“you give me your call.”