Page 28 of T-Bone
Faith set down both frames on the kitchen table and sighed heavily, shaking her head. “Nothing, just another lesson learned.” She mumbled under her breath and went back to searching, this time in the kitchen as if she didn’t trust me to search properly.
My jaw clenched tight at her words. It stung to be anotherlesson learned, especially when she said it sounding so fucking disappointed. “Just ask what you’re doing a very shitty job ofnotasking, Faith.” This shit right here was exactly why I kept my interactions with women on the surface. If they remained shallow, then I didn’t have to dig too deep and I didn’tletthem dig too deep.
“I don’t care about your past, T-Bone. Honestly, I don’t, unless it’s something you’re trying to hide that can help me find Gemma.” She looked up from the bottom drawer filledwith utensils and sighed. “If you’re trying to protect my feelings because you think I’m jealous, don’t. I need to find my niece.”
That was both hot and annoying as fuck. “Jealous?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Men tend to make themselves untrustworthy by hiding things, usually insignificant things they simply don’t want to deal with.”
“Men?”
She nodded. “Yeah, men. Like right now, youthinkI’m jealous you might have screwed your best friend’s little sister so you’re acting sketchy right now. All I’m saying is don’t. I don’t need you to.”
“I’m not,” I growled, taking a step forward.
Faith stood and took a step forward, fire burning in her eyes. “Then explain to me why it seems like you knew Ashley better than you’re saying.” Every syllable was laced with steel.
“She was Pike’s sister, so she hung around a bit and yeah, I knew her. Knew she was an artist and loved shitty pop music. Knew she liked fish tacos but that’s it. I don’t know the intimate details of her life.”
She studied me for a long moment and then nodded. “So you never had sex with her?”
My brows rose. “Now you are sounding jealous.”
“You didn’t sleep with her and share intimate details afterwards, like her helping out a woman with a little girl? Like her getting fake IDs for a woman and a little girl?”
“No,” I sighed, shoving disappointment down deep. Why the fuck did I want her to be jealous? That shit led to complications I didn’t want. Ever. Period. “I didn’t fuck her.”
“So you’re not hiding anything?”
“No, Faith. I’m not hiding anything.” Except the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about having her again.
“See?” She tossed her arms up in the air. “Five wasted minutes and for what? Nothing!”
I let out a low growl, ready to tell her how crazy she was being when she smacked a hand over my mouth. My eyes widened with shock, and I reached for her wrist to remove her hand.
She lifted a finger to her lips to quiet me and then moved to her ear, motioning for me to listen.
Her scent wrapped around me, sweet but mixed with motor oil and highway. I shouldn’t be thinking about how good she smelled, I should be thinking about sliding into her sweet little cunt, which was interrupted by Faith motioning wildly.
“Listen,” she mouthed to me. She didn’t say a word but somehow, I heard her annoyance.
I shifted my focus from fucking her, to the voices outside. Deep, masculine voices sounded in hushed whispers. Faith and I stood frozen, listening to the conversation.
“I know that bitch knew more than she ever said,” the first voice said.
Faith’s eyes widened and she whispered one word. “Nate.”
I nodded and we kept listening.
“What did she do with the fucking brat, Sheriff? Did your deputies say anything?”
“Maynard,” Faith whispered.
“No, they didn’t say a damn thing, certainly nothing like they found a little girl in the crime scene.” He sounded offended at the thought.
“That bitch’s sister is in town right now. That can’t be a coincidence.” Blade let out a low growl of frustration. “Thanks to the asshole who had the job before you, everybody thinks she’s dead, but there’s no fucking proof. The sister knows something.”
“So just ask her what she knows,” Maynard grunted. “If she won’t answer the nice way, see if she responds to the not-so-nice way.”
