“What would even make him think to do that?” Taylor asks, eyes wide. “I mean, is bugging people a normal occurrence for you all?”
“Not in my world,” I say to her, draping my arm behind her on the couch. “But Ryder works security. For him, I imagine, being spied on and being recorded probably go hand in hand.”
Micah agrees with a nod. “Even I’m having a hard time believing all this.” Frustration burns heavily in his eyes. “Especially because Ryder found two bugs, not only one.”
“Two?” Taylor gasps, crossing her legs. “I’d say this is almost exciting. Like, the whole Mission Impossible type of deal, but considering they’re using these bugs to spill my secrets, I probably shouldn’t.”
The small amount of thigh Taylor
is showing catches my attention, until Allie laughs dryly, and says, “I couldn’t agree more.”
I sigh, and hear Micah’s sigh, too. This just got way worse. I give the photo of the bug a deep look and swipe against the screen, spotting the second bug that he’s mentioning. “Where were these found?”
“One at the table we always meet at,” Micah explains. “The other was found by the corner stool at the bar.”
I shake my head, leaning back against the couch, disgusted that anyone would go to these lengths to dig up dirt on us. This isn’t just bad behavior by the tabloids; this is something else entirely, something very illegal. “Unbelievable,” I mutter.
Taylor leans closer to me, and I can’t stop my eyes from wandering to the way her robe slides farther off her thigh, exposing her skin to me. It’s a tease. It’s an offer. I harden, just that easily. I clear my throat, grabbing the fabric and settling it back over her thigh. She’s a distraction. One I can’t have at the moment.
“It really explains a lot,” says Allie, voice hard, clearly to interrupt us, her gaze throwing daggers at me. “It’s why they only know pieces of stories, not the whole thing. Like they knew what happened with Shawn, but they never printed his name.”
“Because that wasn’t ever discussed?” Taylor asks.
“We are usually very careful with things like that,” I tell her, pleased she doesn’t look upset for talking about her to others. “Though, of course, we never thought anyone would go as far as recording us.”
Micah runs a hand over his face. “We’re only lucky what’s been printed is all that’s gotten out.” He drops his hand, and the dark circles under his eyes speak to his worry.
I nod, understanding where his mind’s at. We’re damn lucky that we never spoke of the DC, our sex clubs, or anything else at Gabe’s bar. Fuck, the scandal would be an exhausting one. I examine the pictures a little harder now. “It looks like the bugs are still there. Why didn’t Ryder remove them?”
“Because he thinks it’s best to pretend that nothing is wrong so we can find out who’s behind it,” Micah explains.
“I suppose that makes sense,” I agree.
“Which in itself is so messed up,” Allie comments, tucking her legs underneath her. “Is this what life is about now? We are actually allowing someone to tape your lives?”
Micah takes her hand, his voice soothing. “It’s a means to an end. We can feed them stories that we want to feed them, keeping them away from things we don’t want them to know about.”
I suppose that also makes sense. “Knowing Ryder, it won’t take long before he narrows down a suspect,” I tell Allie to reassure her. To Micah, I say, “Did Ryder get anything off the video surveillance? Someone must have planted the bugs.”
Micah shakes his head. “Ryder told us that about a week before the stories began to get personal, there’s an hour where the video system went down.”
“Which is likely when this person placed the bugs?” I offer.
He nods.
“And,” he adds, “the bugs cancel out noise, focusing on voices alone.”
“Holy crap,” Taylor interjects, sitting up a little straighter. “That’s gotta mean someone has money.”
I nod at her and add my thoughts, “And it also means this person is being paid well to get this information, if they have access to that type of high-tech equipment.”
Micah gives me a firm nod, leaning forward, taking another look at the photos of the bugs. “It worries me they knew we meet there sometimes. I can only take that to mean we’ve been followed for a long time to discover our habits.”
“Agreed.” I see the tension in the corners of his eyes, and I understand why it’s there. Sure, finding the bugs puts us back in control, but this is worse than any of us could have dreamed up. Taking down Gabe’s surveillance to set up bugs, high-tech equipment…Someone is very determined to expose our secrets, and the scariest question of all is, why? Is this a businessman seeking to destroy us? An enemy we don’t know we have? “Did Ryder fingerprint the bugs?”
“He says he did,” Micah answers with a nod, confirming his thoughts went to the same place mine did. “But whoever placed them doesn’t have a criminal record.” He pauses, his mouth set in a firm line. “I have no idea who could be behind this.”
“It’s gotta be for either revenge or money,” Taylor offers.