#WhatTheFlip

They all finished dressing from the trunk and Colbie looked around, thinking they looked amazing. She glanced down at the clothes Elle had given her. Clothes being a loose term for a mini halter fringe dress, headband, belly button– length strand of pearls, and thigh-high stockings with lace trim along the tops.

She didn’t recognize herself.

They’d just gotten out of an Uber at some exclusive, fancy nightclub in the Financial District, ready to partake in Murder Mystery Night.

“I just hope I’m the murderer, not the murderee,” Elle said. “I don’t look good in blood.”

The six of them were dressed as—near as Colbie could tell—prostitutes from the Roaring Twenties.

“I wouldn’t mind being the bad guy,” Haley said and smiled. “Elle plans the best girls’ nights out.”

“Of course I do,” Elle said.

Inside, they headed to the bar. A few minutes later, Pru eyed the line of shots in front of all of them and grimaced. “Tomorrow morning’s going to hurt.”

They were each given role cards with their story lines and information. Colbie realized she was the victim, but according to the rules, she couldn’t tell anyone. She was to mingle until half past nine and then “vanish.” But really she’d be allowed into a back room, a greenroom, where she’d be able to drink and eat and watch the next half hour on the monitors as the guests tried to solve her murder.

Elle immediately dragged them all into the bathroom, where she locked the door and then climbed up on the sink—impressive given her five-inch pumps—and blocked the surveillance camera with paper towels. “Okay,” she said and pulled out the player card she’d been given. “I’m just a patron. You guys?”

Willa, Pru, Haley, and Kylie all said they were just patrons too. They turned to Colbie.

“We’re not supposed to tell,” she said.

“I get that,” Elle said. “But no way am I letting any of you out of my sight tonight for any reason. So I need to know your roles so I can make sure you stay safe.”

“And not arrested,” Pru said.

Colbie sighed. “I’m the victim.”

“Shit,” Elle said. “Okay, we can work with this. Switch roles with me.”

“Why?”

“Because no one’s killing you on my watch.”

Colbie felt herself oddly moved by this. “That’s so sweet.”

“The hell with sweet,” Elle said. “Spence would fire my ass, and I love my job.”

Okay, then.

Elle swapped their note cards. “Remember,” she said, “we stick together.”

They went out to the bar and had a few drinks. By the end of the second one, Willa was wearing a silly smile. “I love you guys,” she said, slinging her arms around them all. “Thanks for loving me even though I always smell like wet dog and carry pet treats in my pockets.”

“She’s a cheap date,” Haley whispered to Colbie.

“Hey,” Willa said. “But true.”

“I usually smell like wood,” Kylie said, holding up her glass.

“Sometimes I smell like the bay and pelicans,” Pru said.

“Well, I smell amazing,” Elle said, waving at the bartender, buying them all another round before turning to Willa. “And ride or die, right? To the moon and back.”

“Ride or die, to the moon and back,” Kylie, Willa, Haley, and Pru repeated, completely out of sync but with such genuine sincerity that Colbie felt a catch in her throat.

“It’s so sweet that you guys have each other like this,” she said.

“And you too,” Willa reminded her.

“Yeah?” Colbie asked, feeling sappy. And maybe a little bit drunk as she finished her second drink. “You’d really include me after only knowing me for two and a half weeks?”

“Depends on if you’re going to make a big deal out of it or not.”

The catch in Colbie’s throat tightened and now her eyes burned too. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, waving a hand in front of her face. “I didn’t realize how lonely I was until right this very minute, being so far away from home.”

“Aw.” Kylie slipped an arm around her. “We won’t let you be lonely tonight.”

“Sure,” Willa said. “We’re a pretty good tribe to belong to. We always tell each other if there’s something stuck in our teeth, and we all carry chocolate in our purses for everyone’s various PMS days. Plus we all have our roles. Pru is the voice of reason. I’m the mom. Kylie can fix anything. Haley is our resident healer. And Elle is the protection.”

“What am I?” Colbie asked.

“You tell us,” Elle said.

Their gazes met and Colbie felt the challenge. “I’m a good storyteller.” That’s as far as she was willing to go right now, although looking into their friendly gazes—well, everyone’s but Elle’s; she was avoiding Elle’s—she felt a stab of guilt.

“That’s it?” Elle asked meaningfully.

“Yep.”

“Hmm,” Elle said. “I’m not sure Spence needs a . . . storyteller.”

Willa opened her purse and handed Elle a piece of chocolate.

Elle sighed and ate it. After a few seconds, she looked at Colbie. “Sorry,” she said to Colbie. “Old habits, protecting those I care about.”

“Spence wouldn’t want you trying to protect him,” Pru said.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Elle said. “And he sure as hell wouldn’t want me to say he’s having trouble with work, but I’m going to say it anyway because he is.”

“Wait.” Colbie was trying to process but felt impeded by the shots. “What do you mean, he’s having trouble?”

“He hasn’t been able to concentrate or focus.”

“Since?”

Elle just looked at her.

Right. Since she’d come into the picture. “It’s only been a little over two weeks.”

Elle nodded. “Time that he didn’t have to spare.”

Colbie set her drink down. Was that true? And if so, why hadn’t he told her himself? He’d made it seem like everything was fine.

“You know what we need?” Willa said into the awkward silence. “Another drink!”

Ten minutes later, Colbie could admit that Willa had been right. She was feeling no pain. In fact, she couldn’t feel her toes. “Huh,” she said and looked down. But yep, her toes were definitely still there.

“What’s up?” Kylie asked.

“I thought I lost my toes there for a second.”

Kylie grinned. “You’re a cheap date too.” She looked at Willa. “We should call Spence.”

“Oh let me!” Pru said, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands. “I owe him a favor. I can hand him Colbie and we’ll be even!”

“Hey,” Colbie said, pretty sure she should object to anyone handing her over to anyone. Even if a part of her, a big part, quivered in anticipation of being given to Spence for the rest of the night.

“Are you denying you’d want to go home and ride him like a wild bronco?” Kylie asked her.

Everyone stared at Colbie, leaving her in a predicament. “If I say yes,” she said with the care of the heavily inebriated, “then you’ll all know we’re sleeping together. If I say no, then you’ll want to know why I’m not sleeping with him, and then I’ll have to admit that I am sleeping with him.”

“You do know you’re talking out loud, right?” Elle asked.

But the others were all high-fiving themselves and also exchanging money.

“I won,” Kylie said, counting her winnings. “But only because Elle didn’t bet.”

Colbie looked at Elle.

“She didn’t want to bet on something that might hurt her BFF,” Pru said. “That’s why we’re here tonight. To make sure you’re okay for Spence, that you’re not holding him back. And if so . . . well, I don’t know what. Maybe off with your head!” she said dramatically.

When no one else laughed, Pru closed her eyes, smacking her own forehead. “Right. Don’t tell Colbie that Spence asked us to be her friends or that Elle wanted us to audition her for him . . .”

Colbie blinked and then stared at the others, hating that the alcohol was scrambling her thought process, making her slow as a turtle. “Wait . . . so this wasn’t girls’ night—it was an . . . audition?”

Pru winced. “Listen, we —”

“No.” Colbie stood and grabbed her purse. And a little bit of the edge of the bar so she didn’t tip over. “What the flip?”

A warm hand helped steady her. “Whoa, darlin’, careful.”

It was Tina from the coffee shop, tall as a mountain and dressed in head-to-toe flapper girl, looking fab while she was at it. She took in the now tense group and her smile faded. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“Colbie,” Willa said, regret heavy in her voice. “We just wanted to make sure—”

“—That I’m Spence-worthy, I get it,” she said. And oddly enough, she did. But it didn’t take away from her embarrassment and hurt that she’d been fooled. “You let me think you wanted me here.” She shook her head, feeling stupid . . . and drunk—a bad combo. “And I gushed about it,” she said. “I went on and on, and you let me.” Feeling her throat go tight, she knew she needed out of there, now. “I’ve got to go.”

That’s when the fire alarm came on. And then the overhead sprinklers.

And then the lights went out.

Chaos reigned. People screamed and called out, and there was more than a little bit of shoving. Colbie was pushed into a wall and she shrank back against it, not wanting to get trampled. Then suddenly there was a beam of flashlight and a hand grabbed hers and tugged, hard.

She tried to dig in her heels.

“Come on,” someone said, and she recognized this voice.

Elle.

Someone else came up at her back.

“Just me,” Willa said cheerfully.

“And me,” Kylie said, not cheerfully, sounding like she’d just run a marathon.

“Pru,” Elle called out sharply. “Haley. Tina.”

“All right here,” Tina chimed in.

They were all soaked to the bone and shivering as Elle led them through the back, past a kitchen, and out a side door into the night.

“Damn,” Kylie said and crouched down, wrapping her arms around her bent legs, dropping her head to her knees. “Damn, damn, damn . . .”

“She’s claustrophobic,” Willa murmured to Colbie.

Colbie dropped to her knees in front of Kylie. “Chocolate,” she said and snapped her fingers before holding out her palm to Willa.

Willa dropped a piece of chocolate—also wet—into her hand and she passed it to Kylie.

Kylie chomped it down and nodded. “Thanks,” she said and her breathing slowed. “How in the world did you know that would help?”

“Chocolate fixes everything,” Colbie said.

Everyone laughed but Elle, who gave Colbie a long speculative look. Colbie tried to give it back but she was more than a little tipsy, so she ended up cross-eyed, which had her losing her balance and falling to her ass on the sidewalk.

Kylie laughed and hugged her. “Perfect remedy for a panic attack. A friend acting drunk to cheer me up.”

“Who’s acting?” Colbie said. She managed to get to her feet and wobbled. Dammit. She gripped the wall. “You guys are the only actors here.”

Willa winced. “Colbie—”

“No.” She pointed at them collectively. Or at least she hoped she did. Hard to tell since her vision was wonky. “I’m leaving now.”

“Sorry, ma’am, but you’re not.”

This from one of the two police officers who’d shown up out of nowhere. “No one’s leaving until we find out who set off the emergency fire system. It might’ve been a joke, but the building’s got a lot of damage, which makes this a felony.”

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” Tina said, putting herself between the girls and the cops. “We’re patrons here and were lucky to get out without injury. We’re going to walk away.”

“Not yet,” one of the cops said, a hand on his baton, eyes on Tina.

“Oh hell no,” Elle said and stood arm-to-arm with Tina.

“Let it go, Elle,” Tina told her. “Just drop it.”

Elle jabbed a finger in the cop’s chest. “Are you racial-profiling my friend?”

The cop yanked his cuffs out. “Okay, face the wall. All of you.”

“Bite me,” Elle said.

Which was how they all ended up in the back of a squad car.

Later they sat in lockup long enough for Tina, Willa, and Haley to make friends with everyone else in the cell. Pru and Kylie were more muted but still friendly. Elle didn’t make friends.

Shock.

Colbie told herself to relax and take in the entire experience for research but she couldn’t. Because tonight hadn’t been their idea. They’d invited her only because Spence had asked.

She felt her face flame just thinking of it.

“Stop,” Elle said. “You’re thinking so hard your hair is smoking.”

“You I’m not talking to,” Colbie said.

“Fine. I’ll talk. Watching you handle yourself tonight, I realized I’ve misjudged you. You’re tough and smart, and you care. That combination is rare and I admire it. I’d apologize for being a bitch, but I can’t promise it won’t happen again, so I’ll just say that I think you’re good for Spence.”

Colbie shook her head. That was the thing. She wasn’t good for Spence. She kept him from his work, for one. And two, they had a big geographical problem. “You’re wrong there,” she said softly. “I’ll hold him back.”

Elle had the good grace to wince.

“You did not say that to her,” Tina said.

Elle sighed. “Did you miss the part where I apologized?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Colbie said. “Look, I know you’re a good friend to Spence. And I want you to take care of him.”

“Why?” Elle asked. “Where will you be?”

“New York.”

Tina gasped. “You’re . . . leaving him? You can’t leave him.”

“I’m going home.”

“But he got dumped last time too—” Tina broke off when Elle elbowed her in the gut.

The guard outside the door pointed at Elle.

Elle gave him an innocent look.

The officer looked at Tina, who in turn smiled and winked at him.

The officer shook his head but relaxed.

Elle started to say something to Colbie, but another officer came down the hall and after consulting a list, he called their names.

They’d been bailed out.

“That was fast,” Pru said.

“Not fast enough,” Elle grumbled. “I hit my panic button the minute we had trouble at the club.”

“Panic button?” Colbie asked.

“Archer is serious as a heart attack when it comes to Elle’s safety,” Kylie said. “She carries a panic button in case of trouble. She hits it and he shows up, no matter what.”

“That sounds either really paranoid or really romantic,” Colbie said.

Haley laughed quietly. “A little bit of both.”

They walked through the precinct and out into the night. It was cold and raining, but they were still soaked through from the sprinklers, so it didn’t matter.

“I’m taking an Uber,” Colbie said. “Alone.”

“Oh, honey, please don’t be like that,” Willa said.

“We really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” Pru said. “Please stay with us.”

“I’ll be fine on my own.”

In a rare display of emotion, Elle reached for Colbie’s hand. “I can’t let you go off without us.”

“Your favor is fulfilled,” Colbie said. “You’re off the hook.”

“You’re wrong. I told Spence I’d take care of you tonight. All night.”

“Well, I absolve you of any responsibility of me,” Colbie said and yanked free. Then she turned and bumped into a brick wall.

Which turned out to be Spence’s chest. On either side of him were Finn, Joe, and Archer, all looking grimly amused.

Elle made a point of checking her watch.

Archer reached for her and tugged her into him. “We had a little problem at the site. It’s taken care of.”

“And so are the charges,” Joe said. “You are welcome.”

“Hmph,” Elle said. “We were actually innocent this time.”

Joe grinned. “Whatever you say.”

Colbie backed away from Spence because she didn’t trust her body not to melt into his, even now when she was really mad.

And also, apparently, still drunk, because she tripped over her own feet. She would’ve gone down to her ass if he hadn’t caught her.

“Got you,” he said lightly and looked over her head at Elle. “How much did you give her to drink?”

“Hey,” Colbie said, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. “I’m in charge of myself.”

“Yeah?” he asked, bending down a little to look into her eyes. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

She blinked at him. There were so many fingers that she couldn’t count them all. “That’s not fair,” she complained. “You’re using like five hands. I can’t count that fast.”

Spence gave Elle a look.

Elle tossed up her hands. “Hey, who knew that she couldn’t hold her liquor? She only had three drinks.”

“How big were they?”

Colbie tried to roll her eyes and got dizzy. “Dammit,” she said and dropped her forehead to Spence’s chest.

He pulled her in and kissed her on top of her head. “Come on, I’ll get you home.”

“Okay, but only because I can’t feel my feet. And don’t talk to me. I’m very mad at you, you know.”

“You can tell me all about it on the ride home.”

“I mean it,” she said, knowing he was just humoring her. “I’m not that pathetic that I need you to force your friends to pretend to be my friends.”

She felt him look down at her, but whether that was in guilt or surprise, she didn’t know and told herself she didn’t care.

He opened the truck door for her. He buckled her in before going around the hood to get in himself. He aimed the heater vents at her. And the next thing she knew, she was in it, just the two of them. She felt the engine start. It was dark and the motor rumbled, and that was it. She felt safe and cozy, two things that had been in short supply for the past hour—not to mention her entire life—and she closed her eyes.

Just for a minute, she promised herself . . . and that was the last thing she remembered.