“Bullshit.”
It was. It was bullshit. He’d seen it in Violet’s eyes, her face, the way she held her body, the dead in her voice when she spoke and, just like fucking Bonnie, he’d wanted to fix it. Bonnie’s shit was different, life started bad for her but in the end Bonnie’s shit was of her own making, not a tragedy forced on her, one she created. He couldn’t fix Bonnie. He’d tried, he’d failed. He wasn’t going to go there again.
“Get her out,” Cal told Colt. “You and Feb ask her and her girls over, let me know when she’s gone, I’ll recon her house and report to you. You can work something out for her with Chip.”
Colt didn’t answer this time, just stared at him.
“And I’ll keep an eye out,” Cal finished.
Colt returned to their earlier subject. “It’s done with her?”
“What?”
“You done with her? You finished it?” Colt pushed.
“Yeah.”
Colt stared at him again then shook his head and took a drink of water.
Then he looked back at Cal. “Not my business but, man, are you fuckin’ crazy?”
Cal’s body got tight again.
“Yeah, it’s not your business, Colt.”
“Known you awhile, Cal.”
“Still, not your business.”
“She’s sweet, she can be funny when she forgets to be sad. She’s good to her girls, a great Mom and fuckin’ gorgeous. Her ass is nearly as fine as Feb’s.”
He was wrong about that. Violet’s ass was far superior to Feb’s. Feb had a sweet ass but Violet’s entire body was built to make a man want to fuck her, want it so much, made it hard to think of anything else.
No, it wasn’t only that, it was built to make a man want to fuck her and it was built to be fucked. Her tits, her ass, her cunt, pure fuckin’ heaven.
“Noticed that,” Cal remarked.
“And still, you fucked her and moved on?”
Cal was getting angry. “Like I said, not your business.”
It was then Colt made a mistake.
“She’s not Bonnie.”
Cal straightened and his body got even tighter.
“We’re not talkin’ about this.”
Colt disagreed. “Bonnie was a long fuckin’ time ago.”
“Colt, stand down, this isn’t your goddamned business,” Cal warned, his control slipping.
Colt stared at him, his mouth tight, his eyes angry. Then he shook his head in a way that made the point he thought Cal was an asshole and an idiot. This pissed Cal off but he let it alone. He liked Colt, respected him, lived across from him a long time, knew him before Colt moved across the street. Colt had even been there during Cal’s nightmare. Cal had always liked and respected him.
“I’ll let you know when you can slip in and I’d appreciate it, you stay alert,” Colt was letting it alone too.
Cal nodded.
Colt nodded back, lifted the water in a gesture of gratitude and said, “Later.”
Then he left.
Cal put his beer to the counter and walked to his second bedroom. It was practically empty. His Dad’s old medical bed was in there from when his Dad was sick, not much else.
He opened the curtains and looked out the window at Violet’s house.
Her Mustang wasn’t there, her daughter’s Fiesta was. It was four thirty, Violet was probably at work but her daughters were home from school, likely alone and he hoped to Christ her alarm was programmed for doors and windows and her girls armed it when they got home.
As he stared at her house, thoughts crowded his head.
Violet had a dead husband, an asshole obsessing about her and a neighbor who fucked her over.
Christ, but he was a dick. He should never have touched her.
He walked back through his house, opened the side kitchen door nabbing the key off the hook as he went. He opened the garage door and moved behind his ‘Stang to the back and started digging through his boxes of equipment. It was all shit, that was why it was back there and not in use somewhere.
He went back to the house, locked the kitchen door and went out the front door, locking that.
He walked to his truck, swung in and headed to Indianapolis.
*
It was the next day and Cal was standing in Colt’s yard by Colt’s GMC, talking to Colt.
“You bought the shit?” Colt asked, his eyebrows up.
“New system, Chip can pick it up, put it in,” Cal answered. “Coupla things on order but they’ll be in soon.”
“You haven’t reconned the house.”
“Been in that house before, Colt, a fuckin’ million times when the Williamses lived there. I know what she needs.”
Colt stared at him a second before he nodded and asked, “Is Chip gonna be able to install your system?”