Page 14 of Justice for Daesha

“Got it.”

“Good. And now I have your number and you have mine. Want me to text you when I get home?”

She nodded and the corners of her lips turned up into a tiny smile. “Yes. Please.”

“Will do. So goodnight and thank you for a lovely dinner. I had a great time. See you tomorrow night.”

“See you tomorrow night. Night, Amos.”

“Goodnight, beautiful.” Walking to his car, he didn’t look back, but when he got in and pulled it into the turn-around spot, he looked up and she waved. He waved back, then turned and drove away.

There was something about DaeshaWilkerson that fit in the empty hole deep inside him. It had been a void like a spot in a puzzle he’d never found the right piece for. And when he’d kissed her, he’d heard its little sticky-outie thingsclickinto place.

All his life he’d heard that phrase, “You complete me.” Now he knew exactly what that meant, and there was no way he was going to let her get away.

* * *

He hadto be imagining things. No, he hadn’t?somebody pulled into his drive right behind him. And when he stepped out of the Jeep, he groaned.

“Hey, bro! Aleta asked me to bring this back to you.” Jack held out something, and it took Amos a second before he recognized it. It was a bundt pan she’d borrowed from him the week before. How he wound up with a bundt pan, he wasn’t sure. The only explanation was that a woman accidentally left it, and he couldn’t imagine which one.

“Oh, that was okay. She could’ve kept it. I’ll never use it.” Instead of taking the pan, Amos went to the passenger side of the Jeep and pulled out the box of files he’d brought home from Daesha’s house.

“You might.” He could feel Jack watching him. “What’s all that?”

“Just a case I’m working on.” He struggled with the door until Jack took his keys, unlocked it, and opened it for him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Amos set the box down on the coffee table, but he forgot her sister’s name was on the end of the box, and the first words out of Jack’s mouth were, “Daesha’s sister? What are you doing with those?”

“I’m going to go over them for her.”

“Oh.” Jack stood there for some seconds and Amos could feel it coming. “Is that where you’ve been?”

“I really don’t feel like the third degree here, Jack. I mean, really, I?”

“No third degree. Did she bring them or did you pick them up?”

Here it comes, Amos’s inner private person groaned. “I picked them up.”

“So you went to her house.”

Might as well get it over with. “Yes. She cooked dinner for me.”

“WAH-HAHAHAHAHA! BAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Jack bellowed, and Amos knew he was fucked, royally and completely fucked. “OH MY GOD! SHE COOKED DINNER FOR YOU! WAH-HAHAHAHAHA!”

“Stop.”

“You went to her house and had dinner! It was a date. Bah-hahahahahaha!!!!” Jack just kept laughing and Amos was growing more pissed off by the minute. “Did you have drinks too?”

“We had wine.”

Amos’s little brother just wouldn’t let it go. “Hahahaha! Wine, huh, Mr.Beer Drinker? Oooo, sounds like a fun time! Hahahaha!”

“Just. Stop.”

“But seriously?hahahahaha?that’s pretty awesome! Hahaha! I’m sorry. So, just out of the blue?” Jack asked, and Amos could tell he was trying to get his laughter in check.

“No. I met her for lunch Sunday and she told me all about it. I offered to look it all over, and after I did, I asked if I could take all the files to the office with me for the other guys to just take a gander at. I mean, two heads are better than one and all that stuff.”

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