Page 18 of Sinful Seduction
“Minding your own business would be staying inside your apartment. In the air conditioning. Not out here in the stairwell oven. And don’t apologize to Mrs. Mayweather on our behalf.” I swing the door wide and hold the heavy glass with my hip. “I do not apologize for my behavior. Cato was unnecessarily difficult and could’ve saved himself an almost bludgeoning if he’d simply kept his shoes on the floor where they belong.”
“Let’s go.” Archer grabs the back of my neck and walks me into the putrid heat outside, shaking his head—at me? Or at the fiery waves of lava pulsing off the black tar road?
The second, I’m sure.
“You’re searching for violence today, Mayet.”
“I am n?—”
“It’s like you have this savage need for a fight. You have bloodlust, and anyone will do. I draw the line at throwing hands with sweet old Mrs. Mayweather.”
“I will not throw hands with her.” I roll the cold soda can over my cheek in search of relief from the heat. “I just said I won’t apologize. If anyone should, it’s Cato. If he could learn to be a normal, respectable, civilized human being, there would be no issue.”
My phone vibrates in my back pocket, humming against my butt and annoying me long before I’m forced to know who is on the other end. I grab the device and catch the letter F. That’s it. That’s all I need to see before I answer and slap the stupid thing against Archer’s chest. “Your brother wants to talk to you. Tell him I drowned in the shower and I’m no longer available to take his calls.” I leave him—them—behind and stride to the edge of the sidewalk.
It’s not often I catch a cab in Copeland City, and hailing one here, compared to New York, is an entirely different experience. But while Archer brings my phone to his ear and mutters something about Zorabeing completely okay, the gods shine down on us and bring a taxi to a stop just two feet from where I stand.
“Thank you, Jesus.” I grab Archer’s belt and drag him toward the back door, slinging it open and sliding onto a cracked leather seat. “Windows up,” I order, cranking the old handles and death-staring the driver via his rearview mirror until he complies and flicks the air conditioning on. “We’re going to some dumb dress shop.” I settle back, peeling hair off my sweaty neck. “Zara’s something. Zeo’s?” Frustrated at Archer’s distraction, I lean across his lap and tug his door closed. “Zammi’s, maybe?”
“Lori’s,” he rumbles, then back to Felix. “She’s not in the right headspace to be your therapist today, Lix. She doesn’t know why Zora has a diaper rash, but there’s probably a cream for that. Have you asked Christabelle?”
He stops to listen, closing his eyes and dropping his head back.
I have a sneaking suspicion his answer is less than desirable.
“Ask Christabelle, dipshit! She’s the mother. She’s probably entirely fucking capable of figuring this out, and if she finds out you’re calling another woman and going over her head, she’s gonna rip your voice box up through your eye sockets. It’s disrespectful not to accept Christabelle’s answers on this…. Yes!” he exclaims. “Even if you’re worried… No, she won’t see it as you trying to lessen her load. She’ll assume you don’t respect her enough to value her thoughts on the matter.”
“He probably won’t survive until Christmas.” I cross my legs and smooth my lightweight pants over already-sweaty skin. “He’s too stupid to live. Especially when Christabelle finds out he’s calling us thirty-seven times a day.She’s got too much fire to tolerate this BS.”
“No, Lix. Youcan’ttalk to her.”
“Damn right. I have free will, and don’t wanna.”
“Because she doesn’t want to!” He brings his eyes down again and lays his hand over mine, lacing our fingers together. “We’ll see you on the weekend. I suggest youdon’tcall Minka again between now and then, because she’s ready to catch some charges, and you might be the guy she spends them on.”
Amused, I lower my chin to my chest and snicker. But in my peripherals, Archer nods and says his goodbyes. Nods again, like he thinks that’ll shut his brother up. Then nods a third time and simply pulls the phone away from his ear, killing the call even with Felix’s voice still yammering on the other end.
“Your brothers are exhausting.” I turn my head to the side, lazily staring up at my handsome husband and his clenching jaw. That rage Iwoke with has been successfully transferred to him.Oops. “I’m concerned about Steve.”
And just like that, he sets my phone on my lap and turns on the seat to face me. “You weren’t doing that just to annoy him?”
“No. Signs of abnormal sinus rhythm, excessive body heat, but lack of sweating. His hug was…” I chew on the inside of my cheek, searching for the words that verge toward medically objective, andnotpersonal involvement. “His hug was stiff. Not as squishy as usual.”
He lifts a single, questioning brow. “Squishy?”
“Shut up. You know what I mean. It would be extremely easy for a man his age to dehydrate and suffer heat stroke, and he’s too damn stubborn to even consider his symptoms unless he’s already on the ground and dying. And by then?—”
“The damage is done.” Considering, he sets his water bottle between his thighs—all to avoid releasing my hand—then reaching under himself, he takes out his phone and swipes with a fast flick of his thumb. “I’ll text Cato and tell him to keep his eyes open. He has all day off, every damn day, and nothing better to do.”
“Not according to him. Ellen is on the TV, so…”
He taps at the screen, typing up his message, but chuckles anyway. “Do you even know who Ellen is? And since we’re going, why the hell are we in a cab?”
“Of course, I know who she is. I was raised by the television, remember? And we’re in a cab because we’re going to the dress shop.”
“But we typically take a cruiser from the station.” He hits send and lowers the phone. “Now I’ll have to catchanothercab back to the station after I leave you at the shop. Wasting time, Chief Mayet. Have you no sense of urgency?”
“You’re heading to the hospital after this.” I inch to the left and lay my head on his shoulder. “Catch a cab to the station, or to the hospital… It’s the same commute either way. And I didn’t relish the idea of walking even a single block further in the heat, only to sign out a crappy cruiser with broken air conditioning. I hedged my bets and hoped for the best.”
