Kenzie was still angry at herself, and the situation at the coffeehouse, as she drove back to the hotel. It probably would have been better to talk to Cheyenne without Austin around. At least then she couldn’t have gone crying to him during Kenzie’s inquiries, prompting him to play the knight in shining armor and protect her.
On top of that, Chief Crandall was right. Elijah was a celebrity, and in court, the burden of proof was reasonable doubt. The fact that he was a celebrity was enough to give reasonable doubt. If he was guilty of anything, she’d need something concrete to get him convicted. Or even if Cheyenne was involved, she’d need evidence to prove her involvement as well. And right now, all she had were her suspicions. That wouldn’t get her anywhere.
After parking her car in the hotel parking lot, she saw that Jillian’s car was also there. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, because she’d want to know why Kenzie’s eyes were all bloodshot when she saw her come back through the door.
At least, that’s what Kenzie assumed. Turns out, her eyes would be even more bloodshot after the bleach she’d have to douse in them to erase from her memory what she witnessed when she opened the door.
For a minute, Kenzie just stood there, not sure what to do. Had she seriously just walked in on her best friend and a vampire having woohoo? And they hadn’t even heard her come in? Isaiah was supposed to have very keen senses. Apparently they didn’t apply when he was otherwise occupied.
Jillian let out a shriek, but it had nothing to do with what Isaiah was doing to her. That’s because she finally saw Kenzie gaping at them in awe-struck horror. It was like her eyes were glued to the spectacle before her and she couldn’t tear them away. What the hell was wrong with her?
When Isaiah heard Jillian’s shriek, he looked up as well and saw Kenzie. Then he flew off the bed and grabbed his boxers (but he didn’t fly fast enough to show that he was immortal) while Jillian hastened to throw a robe over herself and her lingerie. Unfortunately, her underwear was still visible, and it looked like a thong from this angle.
Kenzie’s eyes finally willed her to look away.
“What the hell?!” Isaiah demanded. “Don’t you know how to knock?”
“Uh...don’t you know how to lock the door and put up a Do Not Disturb sign? I’ll have this image burned into my retinas forever!”
“Kenzie, hi,” Jillian said, stumbling out of bed in her lingerie. “I didn’t think you’d be back for a while. I know how you are with cases, and I invited Isaiah over to hang out, and...”
“Yeah, I see what happened. Thanks for that.”
“We didn’t ask you to come in.”
“You didn’t have the door locked or a sign up.”
“Would you have listened to the sign?”
“I would have knocked then. I didn’t even see Isaiah’s car. How was I supposed to know he’d be here? Much less getting it on with you?”
“There’s no need to be crude,” Isaiah interjected. “And this little incident better not leave this room.”
“Who would I tell? The paparazzi? Yeah, right. Look, I have enough to deal with right now. If you two have to get laid, do it somewhere else.”
Something in Kenzie’s voice made Jillian and Isaiah look at each other and then at her. She was staring at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing in the world, not saying a thing. When the two lovers didn’t move, she collapsed onto the second, untainted bed and put her hand over her eyes.
“Kenzie?” Jillian said tentatively. “What’s wrong?”
“It would be easier to talk if you were both fully dressed.”
“I’ll see you later, Jill,” Isaiah said. “I think you two should be alone right now.”
“Thanks. And uh...yeah, I’ll call you later.”
“I look forward to it.”
Kenzie groaned. She heard a quick exchange of saliva as Isaiah kissed Jillian goodbye, then some clothes ruffled as he put them on, and then he left and closed the door behind him. Jillian then threw her own clothes back on and sat down on the bed next to her friend.
“Now, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” she prodded.
Kenzie removed the arm from over her face and just stared at the ceiling. Where could she even begin?
“My eyes are permanently scarred,” is what she settled with.
“I told you, we didn’t ask you to come in. I had no idea you’d be back so soon.”
“I can’t believe Isaiah would do that.”
“Why? You said you knew him and that he was a good guy.”
“You haven’t known him that long, have you?”
“Oh for crying out loud Kenzie! You said he’s a good guy, and I really like him. You know it’s been a while since I’ve…you know. Is there something you know about him that you’re not telling me or something?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why do you keep acting like it? What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel right anymore. I don’t know who I am. And I’ve done a terrible thing.”
“And what terrible thing would that be?”
“I think I made Austin and Cheyenne both hate me.”
“You know Austin better than anyone. It would have to take something huge to make him hate you.”
“Would accusing his girlfriend of lying and being involved in a crime suffice?”
“That might do it. Ken, what the hell happened?”
Kenzie sat up and rolled onto her stomach, staring at the headboard.
“Ken, no offense, but I don’t like the view. What’s going on?”
Jillian’s misguided attempt to cheer Kenzie up did nothing to soothe her guilty conscience. As her story spilled out, so did the tears. Tears of anger, regret, guilt, remorse, and even...
“I think I know what the problem is,” Jillian said gently when she was finished.
“What?”
“You’re jealous.”
That was the final emotion that was in Kenzie’s tears. Jealousy.
Still, she had to ask, “W...what?”
“Think about it, Ken. You’re not an official detective anymore, and here’s me and Austin with our careers just fine. Austin’s didn’t get screwed up because of a mistake that he also contributed to, and mine’s starting to take off. You’re the one that got the short end of the stick there, and for a very stupid reason if you ask me. Then there’s me and Austin again, and we’re both in relationships. Now I know you’re going to say you don’t care about that, but we both know that’s not true. I’ve got Isaiah, and Austin has Cheyenne. You’re kind of left out in the dust, you know? And that’s not what we want. I bet you’re beating yourself up over telling Austin you just wanted to be friends with him, but now that he has someone else, you’re thinking you shouldn’t have. You thought you didn’t feel anything for him except what you had in high school, but that’s not the case, is it? It just took him getting a new girlfriend to realize it.”
Kenzie shifted onto her back and sighed as she stared at the wall. That was one thing about having a best friend since childhood – she knew practically everything about her, sometimes even what she was thinking. Her assertion was spot-on. Except for one part.
“I don’t feel anything for Austin. I just don’t...”
“You don’t want anyone to have him?”
“Jill, look at her! She’s almost a clone of me!”
“Uh...how do you figure that?”
“She’s a little hefty, and she’s got kind of strawberry-blonde hair, and she’s from a farm-like town like Riverview. Plus she loves animals, or at least horses.”
“See? That just proves my point. You’re jealous because Austin has Cheyenne, and she reminds you a little bit of yourself. Are you sure you aren’t trying to make her out to be guilty of something because you’re jealous? Kenzie, the green-eyed monster visits everyone sometimes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“It is when it causes you to make a scene like I did at Flying V’s earlier.”
“You guys had this argument in public?”
“I’ll never live it down.”
“Does this have something to do with Cheyenne talking with Elijah last night in the corner?”
“Yeah, and Jill, this is weird but, Elijah told me that Cheyenne is his ex-girlfriend. He also said she was a total bitch.”
“Well, how true is that? Not very, right? How do you know he isn’t lying?”
“I don’t, but Cheyenne slapped him pretty hard if he was just hitting on her, which is what she says happened. I don’t know, something doesn’t feel right. She denies ever knowing him. Someone’s lying.”
“Do you really think it’s Cheyenne?”
“I don’t know. That’s the problem. And Austin basically said to stop trying to solve a case because I don’t have a badge. So I guess I’ll never find out.”
“Are you feeling okay? Since when do you give up on anything, especially a case?”
“Since I realized I’m nothing more than a jealous hypocrite.”
Kenzie rolled over entirely and felt Jillian shift positions.
“You’re not a hypocrite,” she insisted firmly. “You’re only human. Why don’t you swallow your pride and just call Austin and tell him you’re sorry?”
“Do you really think he’d listen to me?”
“You’ve known him a lot longer than he’s known Cheyenne. If he’s going to let something like this screw up your friendship, well, then I’ll deal with him myself.”
“Jill...”
“I’m serious. Do it.”
Kenzie sighed resolutely. She stood up and withdrew her cell phone from her pocket and dialed the familiar number. She’d have to remember to enter Isaiah’s into her memory too, since apparently he and Jillian were going to be hanging around together for a while.
She just hoped she didn’t have to catch another glimpse of either of them in the buff.
The phone on the other end rang incessantly until it went to voice mail. Kenzie left a sincere message and hung up. She doubted she’d hear back from Austin, at least not for a while.
“Let’s do something tonight,” Jillian suggested. “We’re still here for your birthday, you know.”
Yeah. Happy birthday. Kenzie was at the point where turning another year older was dreadful. She was pushing 25, which was halfway to 50. She already felt like an old woman who needed a cane to support herself and all her burdens. But she didn’t want to spoil Jillian’s fun, so she agreed.
“How about no more magic shows?” Jillian said as she skimmed a brochure.
“You read my mind.”
“Elijah’s performing tonight at the Los Suenos Private Club, so let’s avoid that place at all costs. There’s some master acrobat called Marnie the Magnificent performing at the Ultimate Venue in a few hours. I’ve never seen an acrobat perform.”
“Me, neither. What do they do?”
“This says they perform actual stunts, like with this giant balance ball and ring of fire. Plus they juggle stuff and twirl fire batons. Sounds interesting.”
“Yeah, it does. Okay, let’s go there tonight.”
“Awesome. But before we go tonight, we have to look sexy. The Ultimate Venue is the swankiest one here in Starlight Shores, and we have to be hot.”
“Good luck getting me to look or be anything above freezing.”
“Oh stop it. When I’m through with you, you’ll be ready to be a model for my clothing line.”
Kenzie just rolled her eyes playfully and let Jillian take her hostage as a fashion and style guinea pig. Although, with Jillian, she didn’t need a guinea pig because everything she did came out perfect.
Despite the lousy day so far, she was looking forward to having some fun this evening. Hopefully things would start looking up again.
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