She’s on the phone. She can’t hurt you. She didn’t hurt you, even if she tried.
Instead, she’d screwed with Zane, who never harmed anyone. I’d never met a guy less likely to cause trouble or mess with someone just because he could. He didn’t deserve any of this. But by God, neither did I.
“Teagan? Are you there?”
My immediate instinct was to hang up. But I couldn’t do that. If this woman was hassling us—though I couldn’t fathom why—I had to take advantage of this opportunity to get some answers.
“Yes, I’m here.” Keeping my voice low, I hurried into the bathroom. I flicked on the lights and shut the door, and then turned on the fan in the hopes of muffling my voice. “I’m glad to hear from you. I wanted to give you my number last night, but everything was so crazy.” I let out a hitching laugh that hopefully made me sound hungover. “You know how it is, right?”
“Oh, sure, of course. After your show last night, you must’ve partied hard. With Cooper, right? He’s gotta be your guy.”
I didn’t know what exactly she knew. In the end, I followed instinct.
“Kind of, I mean, when it suits us.” I added another breathless laugh. “We keep it loose. Too young to get settled down.”
Basically, the girl I was describing was the anti-Teagan. I’d always liked the idea of a family. I never planned to be married with kids super young, but I also wasn’t one to play the field just for the sake of it. Climbing off the dating merry-go-round was just fine by me.
“I hear that.”
“Say, how did you get my number? Lucky thing you did. I would hate to lose touch.” I gritted my teeth.
“Oh, Cooper. I ran into him after I went back to the bar. I think you guys were on your way out.”
Patently impossible, since Cooper hadn’t left my side once he’d given me the doctored drink, but sure, whatever she said.
I could lie too.
“Right. Probably.”
“I’m actually surprised to get a hold of you. I thought you’d still be sleeping it off, if you know what I mean.” She laughed.
Oh, I knew. The stone-cold bitch. I just didn’t get what I’d ever done to Priscilla to warrant her stalking me after this time. Or stalking the band and using me as a conduit? Unless she was working with someone I knew and it was just happenstance.
Like Pat.
I shivered. “Yeah, I just woke up, actually. We had a hell of a night. The world’s still spinning.”
“Girl, I know. Me too.”
“You met someone? Or do you have a boyfriend?”
She released a chuckle. “I like to leave my options open. Men are interchangeable, aren’t they? They do have their uses though.”
“Right.” Stomach roiling, I leaned against Cooper’s double sinks. I needed the support. “God, we need to catch up. It’s been so long. I bet you don’t have that little dog anymore, do you?” I laughed. “I guess you couldn’t, not after this long.”
“No, unfortunately not. He died.”
I frowned. “Oh, I’m so sorry. The dog probably passed a while ago.”
And he was a she, but who was counting? If I could remember that, Priscilla should be able to. Who forgot the gender of a beloved pet?
Now that I was thinking back, I remembered how Priscilla had carried Ginger Snap everywhere, and she’d had her parents bring her to football games. The little fluffy dog had even had her own cheerleading costume, which had made Priscilla’s boyfriend laugh his head off.
“Yeah, you know dogs don’t live long.” Her voice brightened. “Anyway, where are you off to next?”
“Philly,” I answered automatically.
Then I thunked the heel of my hand against my forehead. Jeez, why not give her a roadmap where to find us?
She probably already had one.
“Hey, so about your old high school boyfriend. Bobby, wasn’t it? You guys went to the prom together. King and Queen senior year and all that. I have to say, we all figured you two would end up married.”
“To him?” She let out a shrill laugh. “No way. Bob was okay for a high school boy, but I dropped him like a bad habit as soon as I got to college. Besides, high school relationships never amount to much.”
“I wouldn’t know. I barely dated in high school.”
“Right. You were pretty sheltered.”
I narrowed my eyes. If counting her lies was a game, so-called Priscilla would be voted off the show in about a minute.
Not only had her steady boyfriend not been named Bobby—try Tony instead—she had not been Prom Queen, nor had he been Prom King. And I hadn’t suffered from a lack of dates. I’d actually been on the Prom Court myself and had probably dated half a dozen guys junior year.
I wasn’t saying she was privy to my dating history. Even if she had been, she could have forgotten it since it had been ten years since I’d been in school with her. But I’d mentioned her being Prom Queen senior year, and I hadn’t even been a student in California then. I’d moved to New York with my parents when my father got a new job as a professor in the city. Shouldn’t she have at least remembered that?
But hell, since she now thought she’d been the Prom Queen since I’d told her she had been, what was one more lie?
I shifted the phone to my other ear and wrapped my arm around my midsection. I just couldn’t get the point to this. Why would she be trying so hard to get close to me, only to drug me? She hadn’t tried to kidnap me last night.
Did she want to get closer to the guys in the band? Not the first time I’d been used as a springboard for that, but she hadn’t even talked to any of them except Cooper. And she’d told him she wanted to meet me.
Unless she was pretending to be someone else as part of a much bigger scheme. Maybe for Pat. Maybe for
