Play Fling (A Stupid Cupid Book) (24 page)

For a Wednesday afternoon, the place was
pretty packed. She’d better stay and Millie knew in her gut, she’d
be here today. Michelle had a habit to support.

A longtime affinity for shoplifting. She’d
been caught six times in the last seven years. Music, in
particular. Seemed like a bit of a hobby. Maybe more.

Someone needs attention from Daddy.

So, where does a sweet little klepto with a
crush hang out between class and an assistant’s office hours?
Someplace with a little merchandise. The bookstore/café seemed like
her best bet.

To his credit, AJ did successfully put off
her final decision. For all of seven days. Millie had waited, hit
the files again. Re-wrote their notes, outlined, clustered, the
works. She could still smell marker. AJ went back for more files
again and again, trying to find help in whatever way he did,
wherever it was he went. He even got the bull in the china shop’s
file, Elliott’s cousin’s.

Thank goodness for Nancy and her strays.
Because of her, Millie had that conversation between Gordon and
Elliott about Michelle to go on. And not much else.

“Can I get you more?” the waitress asked.

“No, thanks.” Pushing her sunglasses back on
her head, Millie toyed with her latte. Her tongue felt fuzzy from
all the sugar. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Almost four.”

Millie nodded as the pregnant girl moved to
the next table. How had an hour already passed? To tears didn’t
cover how bored she was. What if she’d missed Michelle? Her file
had been clear. Thursday. Kelpto. Book Exchange. Like
clockwork.

Where did AJ get all those files from,
anyway? She envisioned some sterile looking, all white office
building, a-glow halos and file cabinets. White and blank, like
what little she could recall from her trial. Faces, impressions but
nothing solid until he crossed back over. She pictured his return
as a cross between Narnia’s wardrobe and Captain Kirk’s sparkling
teleportation.

She didn’t actually want to know. She had
enough failure on her plate as it was. Adding more to the list of
what she should be able to do wouldn’t help Brooke. Maybe one day,
she would know it all, including all about AJ. Who he’d been, what
he’d done to land here, all of it.

One day.

Millie flicked at her bracelets, which
tinkled. Looked like she’d have to go loiter Ross Hall, the second
most likely place to find Michelle. Not the safest approach when
Elliott could spot Millie and report the sighting to Brooke. If
Brooke got freaked over Millie calling her ex-husband, imagine what
an appearance outside the building her lover worked in. A lover
Millie was supposed to not know about. Bad. Very bad.

Millie wouldn’t kid herself. Brooke was bound
to go back for thirds.

Elliott was self-esteem heroin. Charming,
young, good-looking. Millie knew the effects of looks like those he
gave Brooke. A few hits of that would addict any sane woman. Why,
just look at the fool Michelle made of herself over Elliott. She’d
thrown herself at his cousin to try to make him jealous. Poor
girl.

Brooke deserved better. She deserved a man
who would build a home and a life with her. Not burn hot and die
cold. She needed steadiness, certainty. A man who would see what
Millie saw in Brooke, and want to nurture it.

Elliott should be with a girl like Michelle.
Someone young and vibrant who craved being swept up. Someone still
at the beginning in life, who had time to make mistakes, time to
learn from them.

“Screw this,” she mumbled and tossed her
drink in the garbage on her way out. If she didn’t go and do this
now, she’d be back at her low point, watching True Hollywood
Story’s,
Have You Seen This Heiress?
, again.

Her past, Kiki’s disappearance. The things
she tried not to think about.

Millie strode across campus. The cold wind
bit at her cheeks and hair. She shook off wishing AJ had come.

First of all, Kiki wasn’t an actress or a
part of Hollywood. Yes, most all her friends were. Rock stars and
movie stars. So, she supposed her disappearance’s inclusion in the
“Hollywood” series was not entirely off the mark. Still, a
stretch.

Maybe she’d watch it one more time after
locating Michelle. She could skip the party scenes and the smarmy
commentator who only got Kiki half right. She could go straight to
the interviews. The good stuff. All the attempts at an interview
with Glen. The clues. The last day of Kiki. Maybe she would pick up
on a clue, make a new connection that nobody had made.

Ross Hall came into view. Millie wiped her
nose.

The DVD was a bad idea. She knew that.
Holding her last day’s memories against the dramatized facts for
the thousandth time wouldn’t reveal what the police missed.

Millie was at a loss as to how she got here.
Was Kiki dead? Glen, the police’s only person of interest, couldn’t
have killed her. Her former lover might’ve been a cheater, but a
killer? Not likely.

The campus bell jarred her, marking four
o’clock. Millie scanned the area. Still no Michelle. Figures. With
her luck, she’d have to go in to find Michelle, strike up
conversation then have Elliott step right in the middle. Maybe AJ
was right. Maybe this idea stemmed from her own insecurities,
residue from finding her mom’s third husband in bed with Kiki’s
best friend. All Kiki’s fault.

She wasn’t Kiki anymore.

Her aversion to Elliott went beyond her past.
She had to trust her gut. This was the best next move. A few yards
away, she caught sight of blonde hair. Brooke? Millie’s heart
slammed. Brooke shouldn’t be here today!

Millie ducked her head and veered toward
another building. She paused near the corner, out of sight, and
watched. Turn, blondie, turn. Was it Brooke? The head turned. No.
Millie exhaled loudly. Then her neck hairs prickled. AJ. She sensed
him seconds before he spoke low, near her ear. Millie closed her
eyes against the thrill running through her. She had given up, but
he had come.

“Aren’t you going to check your trusty
photographic likeness again?” AJ said. She didn’t have to ask what
he meant. Her internet printout of Michelle’s profile page sat
folded in her pocket.

“No. I’m not. I’m good with faces.”

“I imagine you’re good with far more than
faces.” AJ stepped beside her. “Tell me, Millicent, will we look
odd standing about in the bushes?”

A tingle wiggled in her belly when she caught
his sweet scent. “Ah, who cares?”

“Wrestle down what you’re going to say to her
yet?”

Not at all. “Of course I have.”

AJ snorted.

“Sort of. Look, I haven’t gotten that far.
I’m better on the spot than prepared, any day. Besides, how
difficult can it be? Especially now that you’re here.”

He grinned at her in that way of his. The one
that made her all gooey and itching for more. Imagine what his
touch would do if one look—she dropped the thought before it
completed. Maybe later she’d indulge. Not now.

“Do you at least have a line of attack in
mind?”

“Of course.” Was it her or did every last
passing female look his way and sigh? “It’s not as if I need Brooke
to walk in on the two of them in action. Really just knowing he
gave in to any kind of urge with Michelle will be sufficient.”

“Blackmail?”

“Maybe.” Yes.

“What makes you think something hasn’t
already happened?”

“Because Elliott is too flipping honest. He’d
have said so, even in front of a table of strangers on a holiday.”
What was a former fling compared to a felon father, after all?
Either one had gambled his chances with Brooke.

They waited.

“You know,” she grumbled. “This whole thing
would be a helluva lot easier if the files they gave us actually
had anything in them.”

AJ shrugged. He didn’t need to say it. She
knew. Couldn’t be easy, wouldn’t be a punishment. Blah, blah,
freaking blah.

“The IRS has more information on people than
we do.”

“Probably.” He nudged her.

Millie followed the direction of his gaze.
Michelle. Front and center heading their way. Her pulse picked up.
Her first instinct was to hide. Thankfully, she remembered Michelle
didn’t know who they were and didn’t dive for cover. She was going
to do this, really and truly. She was going to contribute to
wounding her best friend? For the short run, remember? It felt like
the long run.

She faced AJ.

“Backing down?” he said gently, as though
doing so would be okay.

Shaking her head, she motioned AJ to follow
her. “Tell me more about how this works. Do they have to be alone
to administer it and have it work?” She should have paid better
attention during AJ’s attraction lesson. “Do they both have to be
there?”

AJ pulled her arm. “You make it sound like a
magic potion.”

Better yet, she should have done this before.
No use thinking about her failed matches now. “Well, isn’t it? Sort
of?”

“I’m no magician.”

“But, that is why you’re here, isn’t it? To
help me out and give Michelle some sort of love shot then watch
something happen?”

“Why did I hope you weren’t going to come to
your senses?”

“Because ye have little faith?” Millie said.
They didn’t have much time. “You’re here, why not try to trust me
now? Why not go for the gold?” She needed him. “Don’t tell me
you’re still against this?”

He didn’t answer her.

“Isn’t there some point when it’s my call, my
choice to live with?”

“Absolutely. Which is why I shouldn’t get
involved.”

Millie paused. Michelle had entered Ross Hall
some odd feet ahead and Elliott was stopped in conversation with
her.

Perfect, right? She looked to AJ.

He shook his head.

“Fine. Don’t do it yourself. Just tell me how
I can.” Her stomach squeezed tight. Queasy or not, she couldn’t
just leave.

Elliott glanced their way. Millie ducked near
a cropping of trees to their left, pulling AJ with her. Keeping one
eye on the pair and another on where to stand inconspicuously was
no easy feat. She stepped on AJ’s toe, almost kneed a bench and
still couldn’t decide what to do next.

Maybe she didn’t need to do a thing. Would it
be too much to hope Heaven would send a gift in the form of Elliott
screwing up right there for her to witness? Pretty please?
Unfortunately, his body language read like a do not cross sign.
Michelle was either clueless to how put off he was, or persistent
in the extreme.

The twenty-ish brunette angled her head and
batted her eyes. Submissive, yet seductive. Like a pro. One leg
out, a little shift here and lean there. Millie almost found
herself cheering the girl on.

Millie closed her eyes and asked herself how
sure she was about doing this. How badly did she really need
Elliott to show his true colors? Was there another way to get
Brooke detoxed from this guy, thereby free and clear for Jason?
“Just explain what I would do if I decided to,” she pleaded.

AJ eyed her a moment. “There is an energy
between them. In order to amplify that energy you would need to
give it yourself. In order to increase attraction, you feel it
yourself, then give it over to him. The same with love.”

Feeling attraction herself was no problem.
Not with him less than a foot away, oozing sex appeal. But, what if
she couldn’t direct it? And, what if she was wrong?

She hated uncertainty. This just wasn’t fair.
Seconds ticked by, then minutes. She had to choose. But the longer
Elliott stood there, unmoved by Michelle’s best ploys, the less
sure she became.

What would Brooke do? If it were AJ standing
there and Brooke could, would she test him? Would she stay out of
it? Or would she feel protective and fierce, ready to strip AJ down
to the truth?

Millie clenched her hands. She looked at AJ.
Empathy shone in his eyes. Leave it to him to empathize how twisted
this match had gotten her.

Why couldn’t Elliott be the one? It’d be so
much easier if Elliott were older and wiser, trustworthy. Young,
hot Elliott was too much a gamble with her best friend’s fragile
heart. Even if he didn’t use and discard Brooke within weeks to
months. Even if they managed to spend years together. Wouldn’t her
heart end up breaking worse?

As Kiki, she’d seen the ugly truth. Her poor
mom.

Brooke wouldn’t just be older, she’d be old.
While Elliott would be hitting his prime. Twenty something’s like
Michelle would still be lined up to take Brooke’s place. With every
passing year, the pressure on Brooke would close in tighter and
tighter. She’d be fifty, researching breast lifts, he’d be
thirty-five and distinguished. She’d be sixty-five, worried about
her chin waddle, he’d be adjusting to a few sexy forties’ grays.
He’d be the hot history professor on campus and every other co-ed
would be fantasizing about him.

Brooke would not test AJ. At most she’d stop,
watch and prepare a full report. Millie would want her to do more,
though, she realized. If it were her heart on the chopping block,
Millie would want to know. Black and white. No what ifs.

“Don’t do it,” AJ said softly at her side,
sending warmth through her. “Don’t let your fears infect what they
might have together.”

Millie couldn’t face him. Doing so would
force her to look away from the unfolding scene. Elliott maintained
total cool. Not interested. If anything, worse. He might be a
little disgusted with Michelle’s antics.

Crap. “What if I give her a boost right now?
A little extra confidence to make a move. Can I do that?”

“She doesn’t need it. She already wants
him.”

“But what if I did anyways?” Would Elliott
pass the test if Michelle tried to kiss him? In the end, though,
she wasn’t sure how and didn’t have the gumption for it.

“You will only hurt her. Humiliate her,” AJ
implored. “Look at him, Millie. He’s doing everything he can to get
out of conversation with her. He’s hardly making eye contact. He
finds her attractive, but he doesn’t want her.”