Jeremiah’s eyes slid to me and they were so cold, my freak out magnified to creepy proportions.
“Walt and I drew straws for you,” he told me, voice and smile oily slick. “Once we got a look at you, we both wanted a shot. I got the short straw which meant I got Aunt Jemima here and Walt got a good taste of you. He said you tasted sweet as cherry pie.”
Mrs. Conrad had gasped at the Aunt Jemima comment. I felt, rather than saw, Luke go still. I was frozen to the spot from the minute he began talking.
“Ava, get Mrs. Conrad out of here,” Luke ordered, voice controlled but it held an angry edge.
I still couldn’t move but I could talk and I was pissed way the hell off. Pissed enough to disregard Luke’s order.
“You aren’t very smart, are you?” I asked Jeremiah.
“Smart enough to get her money, her car, not that she could use it, and a whole shitload of gold from you.”
“But not smart enough not to get caught and not smart enough to know you just fucked yourself by not keeping your mouth shut,” I returned.
“Cherry Pie, been dyin’ for a good eye full of you and you gotta know, it was worth it,” Jeremiah said, his eyes sliding the length of me and I added a long hot shower to my evening schedule.
“Ava, get out of here,” Luke’s voice had turned deadly.
“You keep digging deeper,” I ignored Luke and said to Jeremiah.
“They can’t do dick,” Jeremiah taunted.
It was my turn to smile. He was so wrong.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, do you?” I asked him.
“Ava –” Luke said.
“Yeah,” Jeremiah broke in, standing and everyone in the room tensed. “Supposedly shit hot PIs but not shit hot enough to know they got the wrong guy.”
“Yes, I will give you that,” I allowed. “They should’ve known no way I’d give a piece of my ‘cherry pie’ to a guy like you. It was lucky when you two were deciding who would screw me over that Noah got the long straw at least he was cute. You wouldn’t have got a first date.”
The smile fled from his face.
I went on. “Anyway, fortune favors the bold and if these boys are nothing else, they’re bold. They may have been looking for Noah but they found you which works just as well because Mrs. Conrad might have a few words to say to you.”
“I don’t give a shit what Aunt Jemima has to say,” Jeremiah snarled.
You would think I couldn’t move faster than three shit hot PIs, especially wearing four and a half inch spiked heels, but I could.
I was on Jeremiah in a flash, hands on his shoulders and, lucky for me, a slit in my skirt deep enough for my knee to connect pretty fucking hard with his gonads.
He dropped to his knees, hands to his crotch, a long groan escaping his mouth.
A steel-band-like arm wrapped around my waist and I was pulled back several feet, my body pressed tight against Luke’s.
I ignored Luke and his arm and hissed to Jeremiah, “Be nice.”
“Fuck you,” Jeremiah moaned and it didn’t sound all that convincing, probably since he had temporarily lost that particular ability.
I looked at Winnie. “Mrs. Conrad?” I called, sounding sweet as sugar. “Do you have anything to say?”
Winnie’s eyes were on Jeremiah but she answered me. “I think you covered it.”
There you go.
Time to move on.
I turned in Luke’s arm and lifted my eyes to his. “I’m guessing you’re not coming to dinner with the Moms.”
Luke just stared at me like I’d broken into a tap dance while singing “Mr. Bo Jangles”.
“All righty then,” I declared. “Don’t worry about getting blood on your clothes. I’m really good at stain removal.”
I leaned into him, hand at his chest, and gave him a quick lip touch. Then I pulled out of his arm but lifted my hand to wipe the lip gloss off his mouth with my thumb.
“Don’t be too late,” I whispered and I watched one side of his mouth go up in a half-grin.
Then all business, I turned to Mrs. Conrad and grabbed her wheel chair.
“Welp, better go. We don’t want to be around when Luke’s meting out gonzo retribution. It might get messy and this is a new dress. Do you want to go to dinner with my family and Luke’s Mom? My treat,” I asked conversationally as I wheeled Mrs. Conrad out of the room.
“That would be lovely. Would be a shame, we both got all dressed up but had nowhere to go,” Mrs. Conrad replied cool as could be, as if we were wheeling through a park, not exiting what amounted to a cell.
“We’re having steaks,” I told her. “You like steak?”
“Girl, I love steak. Who doesn’t like steak?”
“I like steak,” I agreed.
We passed a smiling Monty. We stopped outside the room and I turned to look in. Hector was already moving toward Jeremiah. Vance was watching me and he was wearing a very attractive shit-eating grin. My eyes slid to Luke, his were on me and my heart stuttered when I watched, fascinated, as he winked.
Then I shut the door.
*