Page 15 of Hitched

Beckett takes a seat across from me, on the armchair, while Chas sits on the opposite side of the couch, next to me. “So, it looks like we’re fucked for prints.” Beckett states. “No viable prints on the goddamn knife.”

I look at my fingers, with still some scant remnants of the ink they used to take the prints from me, on them.

“Where’d they find the knife?”

“Tossed in the bushes from what the lawyer said.” Chas explains.

“Yeah, but the neighbors are reporting a shitload of people going in and out of her place at all times of the day and night, so a lot of questions.” Beckett adds.

“That’s probably why they weren’t so inclined to keep us there.” I volunteer.

“Hey, was that Laney McAdams I saw leaving just after me today?” Chas asks.

“Yeah.” I answer, not wanting to divulge anything further, but I know that it can’t be avoided.

“What was she doing there? What, is she following you around now?” Chas guffaws.

“I don’t know. I guess a girl tends to do that once you tell her that your da wants you to marry her.” I shrug.

“She was sweet on the idea?” Beckett inquires.

I snort. “Exactly the opposite. She came there to interrogate me. Torture me.” I leave out the part where I came so close to her I could smell her perfume, where my cock woke straight up, and where I could have pushed her onto that shabby couch and fucked her brains out until she begged me to stop.

Beckett furrows his brows. “Why did they even let her in?”

“The chick out front is as dumb as a bag of fucking rocks.” Chas snorts. “So, what now, man?” He asks both me and Beckett.

“Well, we wait it out.” Beckett shrugs. “Lay low until the cops decide if there’s enough evidence to make an arrest.”

“Fuck, am I ever glad that our folks aren’t alive to witness this shit. Now I’ve seen everything.” Chas says, laying his head on the back of the couch. I notice that nobody is eating the donuts, so I help myself to one, and one of the coffees, without asking, but neither of them seem to care.

“Thanks, man. Both my mama and my da are still alive and are going to kick my fucking ass for this shit.”

“I guess you’re going to have to come to some sort of an agreement with Laney now, huh.” Chas jokes. “To get back into your dad’s good graces, anyway.”

“I’ve got a bigger chance of sprouting a third fucking leg, man. She hates me and the feeling is mutual.” I add, especially since she also appears to be a huge fucking cock tease, something I absolutely cannot stand in a woman. But I still can’t wipe that look on her face out of my head. It was as sexy as hell. Those needy, vulnerable eyes, the want in them. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. “Fuck, I better get out of here and go see my da, man. Before he finally hunts me down and tears me a new one.”

“Sounds like a sensible plan to me.” Beckett says.

I rise and head for the door, taking the coffee and the rest of the donut with me. Before reaching the door, noting that neither brother is seeing me out, I turn to say one last thing. “You guys…you guys are still going through with the investment plan, right?”

Beckett gives me a ‘level with me’ look. “As far as I’m concerned, yes, but it all depends on what unfolds with all this shit. If anyone loses confidence in us on account of Chas’s alleged involvement, we could be in a heap of shit, you understand.”

I nod. “Yeah. Same goes for me, too, I guess.”

“It’ll all come out in the wash somehow, man.” Beckett adds. “The truth will set us free.”

Another nod. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I’ll see ya.”

“See ya, Caleb.” The boys say simultaneously, as I walk out, closing the door behind me.

But instead of going home or to the office, I do something stupid…again.

After discovering through my resources that she’s at the office, I head there, wondering what my plan is. It occurs to me that she’s accosted me twice now, so I owe her one. Technically, I showed up at the bar last night, and I minded my own business, even though I knew that she’d be there, but in the end, she was the one that approached me and gave me the lashing. I figure I owe her one at least.

Laney

“You did what?” Brandy barks into the phone, eating a bagel. “Let me get this straight. You dressed in your fuck suit, traipsed your way down to the police station, got nothing on him, and then you almost kissed him?” By the end of that summation, her voice is a squeak. “This…this is like a trashy romance novel without the heat. You gotta give me something, Laney!”

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