Beth Ciotta - Evie Ever After

I think I set some sort of record blow-drying my hair and applying makeup. I was dressed and out the door in fifteen minutes. I shoved on sunglasses and race-walked to my car while dialing Arch.

“Yeah?”

“I won’t be here when you get here. I mean, there’s been an emergency. Jayne. She’s flipping out or something. I don’t know. Anyway, I have to cover one of her gigs.”

“Evie—”

“I know. I’m sorry.” I whipped open the door to my beat-up Subaru and slid behind the wheel. “If I don’t do this she might lose her job and I would feel awful. I already feel awful, but I can’t get into that.” I keyed the ignition only the car didn’t start. “Oh, no.”

“Evie—”

I tried again. Dead. Of course, I hadn’t started my car in two weeks, plus it was old plus…“Dammit.”

“Lass.”

Someone tapped on my window scaring the bejeebers out of me. I gasped and smiled.

Arch.

First I noticed he’d shaved off that sexy goatee. I’d never seen him completely clean shaven. Before the goatee, he’d sported a perpetual five-o-clock shadow—also sexy. Not that a clean shave diminished his appeal. You know how some women look great in any hair color? Same difference. Any way you cut it, or um, shaved it, the man was gorgeous.

He looked like a GQ model in his hip, casual wear. Like me, he was wearing jeans, only his looked pricey. He’d left the tails of his paisley oxford hanging out and the collar opened. I imagined ripping off that shirt, skimming my fingers over his chiseled abs, licking his sexy Celtic tattoo…I squeezed my legs together to suppress an erotic tingle. Get a grip, Evie. Think of Jayne. Right. I chucked my phone in my purse and rolled down the window. “You’re here,” I said, sounding surprised and breathless and, well, sort of stupid.

Arch grinned and pocketed his phone.

“My car won’t start.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“Thanks.” Honestly, I was happy for his company. I lived on Brigantine Island. Even though it was less than a ten minute drive to Atlantic City, it felt a world away. I felt semidisconnected here. If I didn’t see the casinos, I didn’t think about them. A blessing. I wish I could say those entertainment meccas conjured memories of the best times of my life. The incredible musicians I’d sung with. The wacky actress roles I’d nailed. Jeez, once I even sang backup for a famous boxer turned B headliner, and there was the time I’d been a featured swing dancer at a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert. But all I could focus on was the depressing fact that I was no longer “in demand.” In my current mind-set the casinos represented rejection. They made me feel old. I ached to let go, to move on. I had moved on. The past month of constant travel had been a welcome distraction. But I guess it had also been a form of evasion. Now that I was back in the city, my former insecurities and disillusions threatened to crush me.

At least with Arch at the wheel, I could focus on him and not the cash cows that made me feel as if I’d been put out to pasture.

“Wow,” I said as he opened the door of a black Jaguar. “Is this your car?”

“One of them.” He handed me in then rounded the sleek-mobile and climbed behind the wheel. “What?” he asked as he revved the engine.

I gawked at the leather upholstery and a couple of console gadgets that looked like something out of a James Bond car. “It’s just that, this looks really expensive.”

He shrugged as if to say not so much, which probably meant a small fortune. Again I wondered who he’d scammed in the past, how much he’d scored, and if he’d invested the money or stashed it in foreign bank accounts. He had to be rolling in dough because he lived and traveled in style. Not to mention, he’d bought a flipping Scottish Barony. I couldn’t begin to imagine how much that had cost.

I felt bad for envying his wealth. Mostly because he hadn’t earned it honestly. Then again, for all I knew, maybe he’d inherited a fortune from his family…although they hadn’t earned an honest living, either.

Crimany.

Arch backed out of my apartment complex’s parking lot and swung on to Brigantine Boulevard. “Where am I going?”

“Fannie’s Flowers. It’s on Baltic and—”

“I know where it is and if I didnae…” He tapped one of the fancy gadgets.

I buckled up and squinted at the screen. “Is that one of those GPS thingees?”

He shoved on his own dark sunglasses and smiled. My vocabulary was a constant source of amusement to the man. “It’s a navigation system with a few perks.”

He listed the perks and my eyes glazed over. I’d never been good with anything technical. I didn’t even know how to text with my cell phone.

“What’s going on with your mate Jayne?” he asked as he zipped over the bridge leading to the mainland.

His timing was great. Instead of looking at the upcoming casinos, I shifted and focused on him. In a long-winded ramble, I shared Nic’s concerns about Jayne and Madame Helene, including some background history on the area’s up-and-coming psychic. “Do you think we’re overreacting?”

“Last year Chameleon took down a fortune-teller who fleeced marks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by convincing them that the money—whether a result of investments or inheritance—was evil. She conned some of them into believing that the ‘tainted’ money was the cause of their personal or professional trials, you know?”

“Wow.”

“Others were warned of impending doom should they not allow her to perform a ritual cleansing. The ritual, of course, involved the mark handing over the money.” He glanced over. “Follow?”

“Unfortunately.” I’d been reading up on various short and long cons. I thought I’d read it all. Boy, was I wrong.

“One woman alone handed over three-hundred grand. It all started with a ten-dollar tarot card reading. Using tricks of the trade, the fortune-teller gave a semi-accurate reading. The mark was hooked and started attending regular readings.”

My arms prickled with goose bumps. “Sounds eerily familiar.”

“The more the mark revealed aboot her life, the deeper the grifter’s hooks. By earning her trust and manipulating her fears, over time the so-called fortune-teller was able to con the woman oot of a hefty inheritance. So, no,” Arch said. “I dinnae think you’re overreacting.”

I shook my head. “Why does it seem like everyone in my life is being scammed in some way or another?”

“Because grifting is easier and more lucrative than ever, Sunshine.”

A troubling statement on several levels.

“Dinnae worry aboot Madame Helene, love. I’ll look into it. Just do what you have to do for your mate now and then we’ll proceed, yeah?”

And just like that I felt better. Arch had an amazing knack of staying calm no matter the situation, a quality that impressed and irked me at the same time. Just now I appreciated his nonchalance. By the time he parked alongside Fannie’s Flowers, I was even-keeled and ready to tackle Jayne’s gig. Whatever it was. How bad could it be?

Arch slid his glasses on top of his head, revealing those hypnotic eyes. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

“No, that’s okay. I just have to run in and pick up the costume and assignment.” I scrunched my brow. “I think. I mean, I’ve never done one of these things.”

“Singing telegram, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“With your background, lass, how hard could it be?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. I just hope I don’t have to wear anything too skimpy. I don’t do sexy well.”

“Sure you do.”

Okay, that was sweet. That was…hot. “I’m hoping for a nerd or a Dame Edna or a dancing box of chocolates. You know, something goofy.”