Page 55 of Stay in Your Lane!

“How do you know these statistics?” he asked.

“Who is this guy?” Stuart asked.

I went with the more important question first. “Coffee consumption is actually really well-researched in America. Over three quarters of Americans drink coffee at least once a week, and since I’m kind of hard to deal with on the best days, I sometimes bring a variety of coffees to a scene while I’m waiting to retrieve a body so that the people working it are in a better mood.” Nothing smoothed over an uncomfortable situation like fresh coffee.

“Whois thisguy?” Stuart insisted, staring between us for a long second before—ah, there it was. “Wait, this is the guy you were trying to make up with?”

Kyle put him out of his misery and introduced himself. Stuart got up to shake his hand. “The pleasure is all mine,” he assuredhim. “I never thought I’d meet someone who’d willingly seek out Everett more than once outside the family.”

I glared at him. “Ouch.” Forget me being compassionate about him and Penny, my brother could fuck right off.

“Sorry, but?—”

“Everett is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” Kyle said calmly as he sipped the coffee I made him.Yeah, suck it, Stuart.“And he’s really hot and he likes my piranhas, so from where I’m standing he’s the catch.”

Stuart looked a little stunned. “You…have piranhas.”

“Yeah. Want to know how fast they can strip the meat from a bone?”

“Oh, I know that!” I chimed in, because I’d done some research after the first time I’d fed Steve and the others. “It’s actually?—”

“Everett?” My dad walked in, phone in one hand, donut in another. He was wearing his blue suit, which meant he was going out. Black suits were for the funerals, while the blue one was for business outside the mortuary. “And. Uh.”

I went through the awkward introduction phase again, made even more awkward this time for the fact that my brother at least knew I was dating Kyle, whereas my dad probably thought he was meeting a random hookup. Which, unfair, I hadn’t had random hookups with anyone for over a year now.Growth, that’s what that was. Also a crazy schedule as the business expanded, which left little time for hookupsordating.

That would have to change. I watched Kyle navigate the choppy waters of meeting the more abrasive members of my family like a pro and knew that this, what we had together…it was serious for me. Kyle deserved serious. He wasworthserious. Especially given what we were doing, trying to prove a suicide was really a murder and that someone high up in the police was trying to cover it up, he deserved serious. My familyhad come first for a long time, but when I thought about my future, all I could see was Kyle.

Coffee hour was interrupted by Kyle getting a call. He pulled his phone out and frowned. “It’s my brother,” he said to me. “I need to?—”

“Yeah, of course.”

He went down the hallway and through the door that led to the back lot. I watched him go until a sharp “ahem!” from my father drew my attention back.

“Bringing boys around here without permission?” he snapped.

Oh my God.I rolled my eyes. “I’m twenty-five. Kyle is almost thirty, I think. Neither of us are boys, and I’m well past the age where I need to ask your permission to bring someone home.”

“You need to think about more than just yourself,” my dad replied. “Your brother and sister live here too. How do you think they feel, walking in on breakfast with a total stranger?”

I was ready to snap right back at my dad, but to my surprise Leanne spoke up from behind. “Is that how you felt every time I brought Theo over?”

He turned to her, still grouchy. “You know it’s not. We’ve known Theo since your Mom was still around. Penny’s practically family, and Theo’s got a good job.”

“Kyle has a good job,” I insisted. “He runs his own business cleaning up crime scenes. That’s how we met. He’s a good guy, not some creep I pulled off the streets for a quick fuck.”

“Watch your language, young man.”

It felt like being in high school again, except high school me would never have argued like this with Dad. I was done being pushed around, though. It was one thing to badmouth me; there was no way I was going to let my family get judgy about my boyfriend. “I’m not a kid you can order around!”

“As long as you live in my house, you obey my rules,” my father said, raising his hand and shaking a finger at me. “No mouthing off.”

“Or what, you’ll ground me?”

“Guys.” Leanne stepped forward, holding up her hands. “Let’s calm down, okay? There’s no need to fight. Dad, I know you’re stressed about the holdup with the paperwork, so why don’t you let me take care of it?” She smiled brightly at him, her “happy front” smile. “I’ve got a meeting down there at noon anyway. And yes, Iwillbe back in time for Mr. Singh’s funeral.”

My father nodded gruffly at her, then killed all her hard work by looking back at me. “You see this? You see how your sister handles things? You need to be more like her.”

“What, forever at your beck and call and totally depressed because of it?”

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