Page 84 of The Body in the Backyard
“Goodbye, Ma.”
Nick disconnected and made his way over to his girlfriend.
“You have a stick shoved so far up your ass?—”
“Hey, Jasmine,” Nick said, interrupting her insult.
“Oh, hi, Nick. You doing okay? No stray bullets take a bite out of you?”
“All good,” he promised.
“You didn’t ask if I was okay,” Weber pointed out like a petulant child.
Jasmine narrowed deadly brown eyes on him. “That’s because I don’t care if you’re alive or not.”
“Really? Because kissing me on my mother’s doorstep seems like caring.”
“They’ve been at this off and on for almost thirty minutes. I think it’s their love language,” Riley reported to Nick.
“Love language?” Jasmine and Weber scoffed in unison.
“I need you for a second,” Nick said, taking Riley by the hand.
“Have you guys ever heard of enemies to lovers?” Riley asked Jasmine and Weber as he dragged her away.
“I wouldn’t sleep with him if he needed an orgasm to live,” Jasmine said, pretending to dry heave.
“I don’t even find you attractive,” Weber shot back.
Jasmine’s gasp followed them as Nick led Riley into another overgrown flower bed next to the police cruiser with Lizard Boots in the back seat.
“Why do you look like you want to punch someone?” Riley asked.
“Because it’s not freaking over.”
“What do you mean it’s not over?” she demanded. “The guys with guns are in custody. They were clearly trying to kill Griffin.” She gestured at Lizard Boots through the window.
The arrestee winked at her and puckered his lips.
“Barf,” she said.
“Stop flirting with my girl, asshole,” Nick snarled, slapping the window.
“Okay, let’s go waaay over here and talk.” Riley dragged him toward the relative quiet of the garage. She pulled him inside and stabbed the button to close the garage door. “Why is this not over?”
“Because those two dumbasses are pros…ish,” he amended. “Stupid, bad-at-their-job pros. They’re hired guns. Which means someone did the hiring. Someone who didn’t want to get their hands dirty. Someone?—”
“Who’s still out there,” she said with a groan.
“Exactly.”
“Damn it. What do we do?”
“We figure out who’s at the top, take them down, and force Griffin to cough up the cash…after we raise our rates of course.”
“Of course,” she said with a teasing eye roll.
“We’ll get started as soon as I get back,” Nick said as the SUV hauling Lizard Boots pulled onto Front Street.
