He was in luck because Kane picked up, though the line was scratchy. “Sorry, we’re up in God’s country and apparently God has no need for good cell service,” Kane said. “I got your message, though. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know how they found us. I used that old hotel on Juniper Street, off Exit 204. It’s hardly ever used, no traffic, and it was dead when we checked in. But whoever took a shot at CoCo had been waiting for us. The only thing I can figure, and it makes me sick to admit this but...they might’ve followed us back from the club.”
“The club? I’m not familiar with that protocol,” Kane said, being deliberately obtuse. “Because I know you didn’t just admit to going out clubbing with a client, right?”
“Okay, you can bust my balls later. Right now, I need advice.”
“I think busting your balls now is appropriate. What were you thinking? This isn’t like you to be so unprofessional.”
Rian gritted his teeth, hating getting dressed down by his older brother, but he knew he deserved it and Kane didn’t even know all the details. He wavered on keeping the full details to himself but figured, seeing as Kane was his partner, as well as his brother, he’d better come clean. “There’s more,” he admitted with a heavy sigh. “I got drugged at the club and...things got heated between me and the client.”
“What does heated mean?”
“We... Aw, hell, you gonna make me spell it out for you?”
“No, I get the message loud and clear. Man, what’s gotten into you? Are you okay? Not still impaired, right?”
“I’m fine. Been working since 5:00 a.m. with Warren. Nothing like good old-fashioned backbreaking work to make you sweat out the toxins, you know?”
“Yeah, true enough. All right, so this isn’t so bad that it can’t be fixed. The client understands that it was just because of the drug, right? That you’re not really into her like that.”
“Yeah, sure,” he lied. “It was the drug.”
“Great. So, as long as you stay away from any narcotics for the rest of the gig, you should be fine.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. I doubt Warren has any club drugs lying around.”
“Yeah, Warren in a dance club, can you imagine?” Kane barked with amusement. “He’d have all those whippersnappers pulled out by their ears and put to work.”
“Maybe that’s what the world needs. More people like Warren,” Rian grumbled, thinking of all the rich, useless young adults frittering away their youth with drugs and meaningless sex. Speaking of sex...a sudden memory of that intense connection between him and CoCo flashed in his mind and he tried to shy away from it. It’d been the drug. Logically, he understood that a chemical had been manipulating the pleasure centers of his brain but he was left with the residual yearning to touch CoCo again. That’s why he’d deliberately put her in a separate room. He simply didn’t trust himself to keep his hands off her body.
“All right, so you’re safe for now. Did you call the FBI agents handling the investigation? They’re going to want to know what happened.”
“I will as soon as I’m done with you.”
“Good. No one is going to find you at the Bradford Ranch so just hunker down and let the feds do the dirty work. In the meantime, enjoy some home cooking, help Warren around the ranch and, for God’s sake, keep your damn hands off the client. There’s more at stake than your libido.”
“You don’t have to lecture me on that,” he told Kane. “I was on a drug, not trolling for chicks.”
“I know, but I know a little bit about those so-called ‘love drugs.’” When Kane didn’t elaborate, Rian was left to wonder. “The thing is, they can’t make you want someone you don’t already have a passing interest in. If there’d been nothing there to catch fire, it wouldn’t have happened, so be careful. You’re attracted to a client and that’s just bad news for our business. We don’t mess with clients. Plain and simple.”
“I know. I’m not going to touch her again. Lay off and stop lecturing me.”