Page 164 of Not That Ridiculous

“I am abusyman and it’s someone else’s junk!” I shouted back. “I’ve got my own life to deal with, thanks.”

“Fuck.” Liam sounded pissed off. “Shit.”

“Don’t get mad at me, Liam.”

“I’m not mad at you. It’s…shit. Kevin said he’d done a survey and?—”

“This is not Kevin’s fault!” I said.

“What isn’t my fault?” Kevin said behind me.

I whirled to face him. “Nothing. You’re blameless and I love you. Get back in the car.”

“Uh, no? Also, thank you.”

“You could even—yes, that’s a great idea. You and Phil go ahead to the pub and I’ll join you.”

He smiled at me and tilted his head to one side. “No.”

“Okay. Okay.” I set a hand on his chest, and said into the phone, “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Whether Liam heard, or had already hung up, I didn’t care. I hit the red button, slipped the phone into my pocket, and put both hands on Kevin’s broad chest.

He took hold of my hips.

“Kevin,” I said.

“Charlie.”

“Okay, Kevin? I don’t want you to overreact about this.”

“Not much for overreacting, me,” he said placidly.

“Fair point. It’s one of the things I adore about you.”

“Aw. I adore you too.” He kissed my nose.

I swatted him away. “Normallyyou don’t overreact. But. However. In one particular area you have, historically, gone in the opposite direction.” His brows pulled together. “And panicked. So I want to tell you right now—” I sped up as Liam’s car turned at the top of the road, “—to remember that I love you and I will not dump you. I will never dump you. Okay? Kevin? Okay?” I cupped his face.

Behind us, a car door slammed. Kevin’s wide eyes went from me, over his shoulder to where Liam was walking towards us with a stoic DS Patel at his side, back to me, then up to the loft.

He paled.

“It was just one this time,” I said hurriedly.

“Oh my god.”

“Just one.” So far.

“Oh mygod.”

“This is a good thing,” I told him, stroking his upper arms soothingly.

“How can it be good? I’ve done it again! They had it right in the papers. And at the gym. Down the pub. IamKevin the Corpse Finder.”

I let out a short laugh. He gave me a wounded look. “Technically, this timeIfound it. This one’s my discovery. You were way over the other side of the loft. You may as well have not been involved.”

“It’s my fault we were even up there in the first place. If it wasn’t for me pushing you into it, you could have lived there for fifty more years and never gone up!”

He wasn’t wrong. I rubbed his arms again. “It’s fine. It’s helpful, even.”

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