Page 17 of Brutal Prince

She licked her fingers and smacked her lips. “I bet he looks lovely naked.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Liar. You didn’t get home until after twelve, so what were you doing?”

“Talking.”

“And the other night when you didn’t get home until the wee hours of the morning, what were you doing then?”

“Talking.”

“You sure talk a lot for a girl who doesn’t like talking.”

“Ha funny. Not.” The nurse tapped on the door to sponge bathe my mom and tend to her ulcers and bedsores, so I was pleased this conversation ended. Besides, I had a class to go to and a shift at Stads.

“I’ve been given my second job,” I told Ollie told when he came into Stads with Darryn. I was barely able to wipe the smirk off my face after spending the majority of the night with him. I would’ve loved to stay all night, but my responsibilities to Mom were always on the back of my mind.

“As in a creepy ‘cleaning’ job?” he inquired, gazing at me under those dark curls fallen over his forehead. My thighs clenched and…ugh…quivers ran from my center to the back of my knees.

“No details were given. Just the address and time, date etcetera.”

“Make sure you send me the details, so I can watch your back,” he demanded, the smile vanishing from his face.

“It’s the same place. Grand’Mere Hotel.”

He nodded and glanced at the entrance when a group of hungry freshmen walked in chatting about a woman’s body found under a bush on the side of the road. I searched the diner to see where Rhys and Lise were. Rhys was at the dessert counter while Lise was clearing tables. As manager it’s my job to make sure the staff are where they should be, however that wasn’t the reason I was looking for them. Ollie stepped away to let the freshmen girls step up to the counter.

“Sorry, can I ask…where did you hear about the dead body?” I asked the doe eyed brunette right in front of me.

“Oh my god, the internet has totally blown up…because she was naked and believe to be a student here at KVU.”

“They don’t normally kill the girls,” a second girl added, unhelpfully.

I spotted Lise’s shaven head pop up when she heard the words ‘kill the girls’ and she bustled near me to listen in. Rhys was too busy sprinkling broken Oreos and chocolate flakes on ice cream scoops to notice what was going on here. That’s good. I did not want my sweet girl worried. Lise on the other hand could take a little more heat than Rhys.

“Was she sexually assaulted?” I asked the freshmen.

“The article didn’t say,” she answered, gazing up at the menu board on the wall behind me. “I’ll take a cheese burger, hold the gherkins. Oh and a small box of fries.”

“Where was she found?” Lise asked.

“Apparently only a mile or so from KVU, heading north.”

“Towards Lake Superior,” Lise muttered and then grunted in disgust.

“Oh my god,” the brunette freshman gasped, turning to her friends. “I wonder if it’s connected to Adam Sweeney’s arm found on the shores of Lake Superior?” Her shrilly voice traveled further than she likely intended and Rhys’ head snapped up at the words ‘Lake Superior’ with cheeks burning red as usual. “They can’t figure how he died until they find the other pieces of him.” The girls sniggered, because in a weird macabre way, it was funny - to everyone except Sweeney’s family and…Rhys.

“How could they be connected,” I argued. “Sweeney disappeared last fall.”

“I bet there are hundreds of people lying on the bottom of that lake,” Lise stated, “it’s so deep and cold and full of fish, it’ll be the perfect place to dump a body.” She deliberately shot the girl a sharp, scary scowl that almost got me shaking in my boots. Lise was a freshman as well, although you wouldn’t think it. Life’s trials matured her. Underneath all that drama and pain was someone with a heart of gold who was eager to see an end to all the violence. I felt close to my two girls and had a strong motherly instinct to protect them.

Lise had more of her fair share of cruel violence at the hands of Sweeney and his father, and Rhys, well…let’s just say, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

NINE

Ollie

“You remember what you’ve got to do?” Darryn reminded me as he tossed the fork in the air and caught it without looking. Cody and I were the cooks in the house, and now he’s left it’s just me frying up practically a whole hog for the Hawks.

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