Page 14 of Moonshine Kiss
Same pretty, freckled face, only a touch pale today. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her hair, that tawny blonde-brown mix, was a mess. She wore a hoodie and gym shorts that highlighted that mile of leg that I was so fond of.
Deputy Cassidy Tucker was the literal girl next door. And I never had a shot at her.
“You don’t own any shirts?” she demanded, shivering at the cloud of cold air that I was letting in.
I pushed past her into the foyer that was the twin of mine. Beadboard and plaster. She’d painted hers a soft gold. Mine was still the dingy ivory it had been when I moved in. A more romantic frame of mind would have me waxing that fate had us buying opposite sides of the same house around the same time. But realistically, I knew I’d put my offer in because I wanted to be close to her.
Pathetic. Yeah, I was well aware.
“Come on in, why don’t you?” she muttered, closing the door behind us. I was too riled for conversation. So I stormed down the hallway to her kitchen. Like mine, it was too small with a minuscule amount of counter space and squeaky cabinets that were born sometime during our grandparents’ generation.
She always had her coffee maker set to 7 a.m. I pushed the override button and it sputtered to life. I pulled a mug out of the cabinet and then shot her a look. She was perched on a stool at the tiny island she’d squeezed in on top of the black and white tile, still yawning. Reluctantly, I pulled a second mug off the shelf.
“Late night?” I asked. I couldn’t seem to quit caring when it came to her.
“Accident on Mountain Road. 2 a.m. No injuries. Just a hell of a mess.”
I poured coffee into the Bootleg PD mug, keeping her favorite Cockspurs mug for myself, and put it in front of her. She could get her own damn cream and sugar. “When were you going to tell me about the DNA results?”
I saw the shadow in her green eyes come and go. I knew this woman as well as I knew anyone on this earth. At least, I had.
I swung away from her, not wanting to face her betrayal. “Goddammit, Cass.” I wanted to hurl my mug into the sink and shatter it. She was one of us. No matter what had or hadn’t gone down between us all those years ago.
She sighed. “Look, Bow. What do you want me to say? I’m a cop.”
“You’re a deputy.” If I was good and pissed, she should be, too.
“Same damn thing,” she said, coolly. It was a sign I’d landed a direct hit. Where my little sister Scarlett raged with hellfire, Cassidy froze me out until every inch of my body was frostbitten. “It doesn’t change anything anyway.”
“It’s a bloody finger pointing at my father as a murder suspect.”
“The investigators are looking at all leads—”
I took the step that brought me to her, and it pissed me off even more when she recoiled. “Don’t feed me that bullshit, Cass. You owe me more than the standard line.”
“You may not take my job seriously, but I sure as hell do,” she shot back, working up the energy to get mad.
“Apparently I take our friendship more seriously than you do.”
“That’s not fair, Bowie. I’m doing my job. Connelly says keep a lid on it, so what do you want me to do? Run blabbing all over town?”
I crossed my arms, not inclined to get out of her personal space. “No. I want you to come to me. Or Scarlett. I assume my sweet little sister doesn’t know about you holdin’ out on us since she isn’t here burning down your life.”
Now Cassidy winced. The fear of my sister was strong in all of us.
“Why, Cass? Why’d you keep this to yourself?”
She slid off her stool and paced the eight feet of tile. “What do you want me to say? That it’s been eatin’ me alive? That I hate being in this position between you…Bodines and the investigation? I’m not even supposed to know about the results. I’m some peon to Connelly. Someone he dumps grunt work on and orders coffee from.”
That would irk her, I knew. She’d worked damn hard to stand on her own two feet and not just be seen as an extension of her father, Sheriff Tucker.
I grunted, not feeling particularly sympathetic. “You owe us all an apology.”Me. You owe me an apology.“You chose to work in Bootleg. You chose to be a part of our family. Now deal with it.”
She skidded to a stop in front of me. “I’m not apologizing for doing my job!”
“Then apologize for being a shitty friend.” It was a low blow. One I wasn’t particularly proud of. There wasn’t a more loyal person in my life than Cassidy. She reacted as if I’d hit her. By that I mean she balled up her fist and started to wind up. I took defensive measures and pinned her up against her fridge.
“Now, Cass—”
