Beer showered the table as August choked on his drink. “How’d they know?” he wheezed. “So that’s how you score so many deals around town?”
Everest set down his beer. “Fine, someone’s living with you, but you need to chill out. She seemed nice.”
Hunter rolled his shoulders and shot up from his chair. “I don’t know how else to say this.” He stood from the table and paced, shaking out his arms like he was preparing for a few rounds in the ring. “You need to see it for yourself.” He left. We exchanged looks.
I grabbed my beer and got up, following him out of the room. “You’re freaking us all out. What the hell is wrong?”
The rest of the guys joined our apprehensive game of follow the leader.
“My grandma’s friend said she needed a place for her granddaughter to stay since she was new to the city. I told her I could get a great deal on a hotel, but she put her foot down and said she was staying here, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
We passed the living room and formal living room toward his bedroom.
“She shows up, moves in all her crap, takes over my bathroom since it has a tub, leaves her laundry everywhere, and I’m left to clean it up.”
Jameson clapped him on the shoulder. “Who knew you were so uptight?”
“She’s driving me crazy already.” Hunter stood in front of a closed bedroom door.
“I figured, it won’t be long. She’ll leave in a few weeks. But she’s making herself at home.” He pushed open the bedroom door.
Everest pushed in first and his eyes bugged out. “Holy shit.”
I nudged past Hunter and pushed Everest out of the way. Lights hung from a mini scaffolding set-up. There had to be at least ten lights set up all over the room, all spotlighting the bed.
“Holy shit.”
“Exactly!” Hunter shouted as though vindicated.
The bed was stripped down and a fresh bundle of sheets sat on the floor beside it.
“She gets like twenty sheet deliveries a week.”
Jameson stepped inside and looked around the room like he’d walked into an abstract painting his brain couldn’t process. “What is all this?”
“Hey, guys.” A sunny voice from the end of the hall broke through our gawking session.
We all bolted out of the room, but there was no playing it cool. “Sabrina!”
“We were just—” We were just shit at covering our tracks, is what we were.
“Guys, this is my friend, Rex.” Her friend was a guy who looked like he could’ve played in the pros with me. He was ripped and towered over Sabrina, who stood there in her jeans and oversized t-shirt covered in pineapples. Rex gave us the ‘what’s up’ head nod.
“Did you need something from my room, Hunter?”
His jaw clenched. “No, I was just showing the guys how little light there is on this side of the apartment, and why you needed to set up your own lights.”
“No, it’s perfect. When natural light screws with your artificial lighting, it makes editing a pain in the ass. The darker the better.” She edged past us with Rex following behind her.
He checked his phone and dropped back through the doorway. “Brina, can we get started? I only have an hour before I need to head to my next job.”
“We’ll get to work.” She set her bag down inside the room and turned back to us. “This should only take an hour, but if you’re still around, I’d love to show you our work. It’ll be a rough cut, but I try to keep things simple. I don’t do much fancy camera work. Who needs that when you’re getting your hands dirty, right?” She tapped Hunter on the chest.
I swear they must have heard our jaws hitting the floor from the lobby.
Her gaze bounced between all of us. “It was nice meeting you all again. See you in an hour?” She closed the door in our stunned faces as Rex tugged his shirt up and over his head behind her.
August broke through the silence reigning on our long walk back to the dining room. “Hunter…”
Everest flicked his lighter. “Do you think you can get a cut since you’re supplying the location? Don’t people usually get paid for that?”
Jameson pulled out his chair. “I’m sure it’s…” His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Tasteful.”
I stared at the documents at my spot, unable to focus on the words on the page. “I guess we’ll find out what she’s been up to in an hour.”
Hunter’s jaw popped. “We sure as hell will.”