Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
Ace and Romeo wake hungover to find Keres gone, leaving only a note and no number. Ace quietly investigates her background but discovers no record of her supposed accounting job, prompting suspicion about her identity. He withholds this from Romeo and continues protection duties with Joey.
Summary
Ace wakes late, head pounding, and realizes Keres has left their bed and the apartment. Romeo finds a note thanking them for the night and hinting they might see her at Molino’s again, but there is no phone number. Ace checks his wallet and the apartment safe; everything appears untouched, yet he’s frustrated and fixated on contacting her.
Later, Ace waits outside a coffee shop for Romeo and Joey, nursing the remnants of his headache. He has asked a police contact to verify Keres’s claim of working for an accounting firm. The contact replies that no one by that name appears on any registered firm’s roster.
Confronted with the likelihood that Keres used a false name or an unregistered employer, Ace questions why she is under his skin despite their rule of keeping hookups casual. When Romeo and Joey join him, Joey offers coffee and light banter. Ace conceals his findings, blames his condition on a cold, and the trio carries on with their security work.
Who Appears
- AceBodyguard and narrator; wakes groggy, finds Keres gone, secretly investigates her and discovers no employment record.
- RomeoAce’s partner and lover; wakes to Keres’s note, remains unaware of Ace’s investigation.
- JoeyClient under protection; meets Ace and Romeo at a coffee shop, brings coffee, continues with the day’s light schedule.