Chapter 58

Mo’s eyes were mesmerizing pools. Her reply broke the moment, “Not being a fugitive or locked in jail is pretty important.”

“No bars could hold me for long,” I joked.

“Aida still taking care of that for you?”

“You meet Aida?”

“Yes. She came by and talked to all of us.”

“She’s a very thorough lawyer,” I commented.

“She said I needed to text her if you came by,” Mo said, smiling mischievously.

“If the FBI comes charging in here, will you run away with me?”

She stood, and looked down her nose at me, brushing imaginary wrinkles off her dress, “Are you asking me to go on the lam with you, Mr Roberts?”

“Are you really?” Molly asked, as the entire room moved from their own conversations back to the two of us.

I looked around, then back at her. She had this little grin on her face, and a quirked eyebrow.

I was about to answer when Paul stuck his head in the room, “Mo, good, you’re ready, we’re up.”

The room broke out in “Break a leg.” and “We’ll be here when you’re done.”

They both left, and I remained sitting on the couch, wondering what had happened.

“So that was bold,” Molly offered, “Monique is going to be so disappointed she had to miss this. She said you were painfully shy, very reserved. What happened to you?”

I shrugged, and tried to sink into the couch further.

She snickered, and Lois saw her opportunity, “If you tell me the secret of your magic trick I won’t call the cops on you.”

“Lois, that’s terrible. You’re not going to do that,” Stan said, seeming to come to my defense, “He’s rich, ask for money instead.”

I took a deep breath, and made eye contact with each person in the room, one at a time, “I was having fun with a pretty cool group of people. Do I really need to worry that with out Mo around, you’ll turn vicious?”

I had my truth power on, waiting for a reply, and Lois didn’t disappoint, “You better worry. I called the cops on Stan’s dad for parking too far from the curb when I was tired of his visit.”

Stan whirled on Lois, “You what?”

I flipped off the skill, and Lois suddenly realized what she had said. The rest of the room was grinning at the scene, schadenfreude at its best.

“Dude, you’re cool with us,” Ken said, and Bert nodded along.

I summoned and pulled from my jacket pocket a black rose, an uncolored early version of the one I had given Mo. I leaned forward, sliding so I was just on the edge of the couch. I held it out to Lois, and spun it slowly back and forth in my fingers, as it glinted off the lights.

“Are you suggestable?” I asked her.

The sparkle had caught her eyes. “You’re not going to hypmotize me.”

I held back the laugh, letting my voice, grow deep, “I suggest you sit back and relax. Let yourself grow limp and quiet.”