He scooped up the joint box, tucked a bottle of gin under his arm, and followed her back into the bedroom. She was booting up the iPad when his cell phone rang.
“Shit. I gotta take this.”
He scrambled for his cell, and went to the window.
“Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay.”
He glanced back at Skylar, and held up a finger. Won’t be long. Only a minute.
“How much?”
He turned toward the view and listened some more.
“I’m in the middle of something. A friend.”
More listening. He glanced at her again and shrugged.
“Couple of hours, maybe. Less.”
Skylar gave him a thumbs-up. Grady returned it, but suddenly frowned.
“Here? Can I bring it over later?”
His frown deepened.
“Boss, I’m running out of room. It’s piling up, and I don’t like keeping it here. It’s yours. What if my building burns down?”
His frown became a scowl, and Skylar knew Grady Locke was not happy.
“I guess I could, but— I know, okay. Yes, sir. Yes. You’re the boss.”
Grady held his phone at arm’s length and gave it the finger.
Skylar laughed.
Grady said, “Yes, sir. Okay. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
He ended the call and flipped off his phone again.
“Asshole.”
Grady came back to bed, put his phone on the nightstand, and pulled off his pants.
“Fucking dick.”
“The Sandman?”
“You wouldn’t believe the guy. The shit I put up with.”
He pulled off his underwear, swung onto the bed, and patted a spot beside him.
“C’mon. A double feature might help.”
Skylar took a spot next to him and played one of her scenes. The scene had taken three hours to shoot and was cut to fourteen minutes. They were six minutes into it when Grady’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. He scooped his phone and immediately scowled.
“Oh, for crap’s sake, my fucking brother-in-law. Pause it.”
Skylar paused it.
She watched him thumb a fast reply, and a furious text exchange ensued. Grady mumbled as he tapped.
“Aw, c’mon, you dipshit! No way!”
Skylar said, “Is everything okay?”
Grady’s landline rang.
“Idiot!”
He tossed his cell on the bed, grabbed the landline phone from the nightstand, and entered a code. Skylar knew this unlocked the lobby entrance so a guest could enter.
Grady said, “Sorry. He wasn’t supposed to get here until later.”
“Pretend you’re not here.”
“Can’t. He knows I’m here. Stay out of sight, okay?”
Grady got out of bed and pulled on his pants.
Skylar said, “Don’t sweat it. We can reschedule.”
“No, no, no. It’s cool. He’s just dropping something off.”
Grady pulled on a T-shirt as the doorbell rang, and hurried into the living room. Skylar slid from the bed, and watched him. It was a very long room, and the doorbell rang twice more before Grady reached the door.
His brother-in-law was a pudgy guy in a navy suit with a bucket of fried chicken in his hands. He presented the bucket to Grady with a big smile on his face.
Skylar thought, “What the fuck?”
The brother-in-law pried the lid from the bucket to show Grady the contents. Grady reached inside and lifted out a banded pack of cash. He dug around in the bucket, and Skylar realized he was counting more packs. He kept digging and counting, and Skylar realized the bucket contained many, many packs. Then she understood why Grady was running out of room and what was piling up. Cash.
Grady’s brother-in-law left a few seconds later, and Grady turned toward the bedroom.
Skylar ran to the bed, grabbed her iPad, and called out.
“Is he gone?”
“Yeah. Want something from the kitchen? A bottle of water or something?”
Grady had stopped in the kitchen to stash the bucket.
She noticed his phone on the bed, and wanted to see their texts.
She called back.
“Yes, please. Oh, wait, could I have a diet soda?”
Buying more seconds.
Grady called back.
“Sure.”
“With ice, please!”
Skylar reached for his phone, and quickly read their texts. Her eyes widened, and she felt a blood-burning excitement she never felt during sex.
Skylar grabbed her iPad and snapped a pic of their texts. She scrolled to reveal more of the exchange, snapped a second pic, and a third.
She placed his phone where he’d left it, pulled the sheet over her legs, and queued up the video.