Joss was the coolest mom ever.
But still, like any mom, her “we’ll see” totally meant “no.”
I heard the door to the deck open and turned my head that way to see Deke coming out with a man I’d not yet met.
But he was clearly known by Deke, which meant he was a local, which meant his tall, dark hotness was off the charts.
And he was all those things, specifically tall. He was nearly as tall as Deke, though not as beefy.
“I gotta go too, Joss, I have company. We’ll talk later.”
“Right, baby, later. Your momma loves you.”
“And I love you too. ’Bye.”
“’Bye,” she repeated after me and rang off.
I said all this with my gaze going between Deke and this new tall drink of hotness at the same time taking my feet.
“Babe, this is Jacob Decker,” Deke said, getting close and claiming me with an arm around my shoulders, doing this then turning to face the man who was my private investigator. “Deck, this is Justice,” Deke finished up the introductions.
I shoved my phone in the back pocket of my jeans, stuck out an arm, eyed him up as best I could without looking like I was trying to imagine him naked (it didn’t take much to imagine, he’d be magnificent naked) and muttered under my breath, “Totally bottling the water out here.”
“Sorry?” Jacob Decker asked, taking my hand.
I gave him a smile. “Nothing. Just cool to meet you,” I said. “And cool to have the opportunity to thank you for all you did.”
He nodded, giving my hand a firm squeeze before letting it go.
“Cool to meet you too, Justice,” he replied.
“Jus, please,” I invited on a smile. “Feel free. All my friends call me Jus or Jussy.”
“Thanks, Jus,” he muttered, looking between Deke and me like something was amusing.
Deke allowed him to have his moment of entertainment but it was only a moment.
When he was done allowing this, he prompted, “You came with somethin’ to say, man.”
“Right,” Deck said, still muttering. He looked at me. “You got a minute?”
“I got a lot of them,” I said on another smile.
“I don’t,” Deke put in. “Not to be a dick but got rooms to paint so let’s hit this.”
I looked up at Deke and asked impatiently, “Can I at least offer the man a seat?”
Deke looked down at me and grinned. “You can do anything you want just as long as I can get back to my paint and soon.”
I fought an eye roll, lost and then threw out a hand to indicate the deck furniture. “Make yourself comfortable. I don’t have coffee made but I could offer you water, Coke or Fresca.”
“I’m good, Jus, thanks,” Decker told me, moving to the loveseat which was opposite the fire pit to the loveseat where I had been sitting.
He sat.
Deke adjusted us and he also sat, pulling me down with him so close to his side, if it was possible, my hip and thigh would have fused with his.
But after my conversation with Joss, and getting over the hit of another mountain man hot guy, it was dawning on me Jacob Decker was here and that might not be a good thing.
So I asked quietly, “Should I brace?”
He shook his head immediately. “No, Jus. It’s all…” He hesitated which took some of the meaning out of his finishing, “Good.”
I didn’t say anything, just held his gaze.
He took that as indication to keep going, thankfully, something he did.
“Okay, yesterday, a lot of shit went down with what happened at your friend’s place.”
I nodded.
Decker continued, “This bein’ the fact that they got in touch with Anton Rojas in Costa Rica. He expressed alarm and concern about what happened at his girlfriend Bianca’s apartment and shared that he and your friend would cut their vacation short so they can assist the police in any way. They’re returning tomorrow.”
So it was official.
Bianca and Tony were together.
And they were coming back home.
To a murder investigation.
“Oh boy,” I whispered.
Decker shook his head. “Nothing to worry about, Jus, seein’ as the police know Rojas’s MO and knew this wasn’t it so they started expanding their search. This included them getting a warrant to search several properties of a known enemy of Rojas. They got a big beef and it hasn’t been quiet. These searches bore fruit. They found a gun that’s a ballistics match on the slugs pulled out of Caswell.”
“Holy shit,” I murmured as Deke’s body got tight beside me.
“This enemy of Rojas, he also known to be stupid?” Deke asked.