Pup sighed and plopped down onto the black leather couch beside me, pulling her legs up onto the cushions and resting her chin on her knees. “He feels off to me. It all feels off.”
King shrugged. “Everyone deals with shit their own way and he hasn’t been around in a while. Let him ease back into things in his own way. He’s gonna freak out now and again. He’s been through some shit.”
Pup sighed, her eyes looked tired. “I don’t know how to say this to you so I’m just going to say it,” she took a deep breath and looked at the floor when she said. “I don’t think Preppy is telling the truth.”
“About what happened to him?” I asked. “No fucking way. He’s not saying much and that’s understandable, but Bear’s guys dragged him out of that hole themselves. There’s no way he was lying about that.”
She shook her head. “No, about the girl. About Dre. About who she is to him.”
I shook my head, “Why would he lie about her?”
“Because don’t you see? He lies to us because he doesn’t want us to worry about him. He says he’s fine when clearly he’s not fine. If this girl meant something to him then he’s keeping that to himself so we don’t go trying to fix things for him.”
I wiped off the last part of my tattoo gun, setting the tools in the sterilizer and hitting the button. Neon blue lights lit up the mini fridge looking contraption. A low hum vibrated from the machine. “Don’t you think he deserves the benefit of the doubt? After all he’s been through?” I turned around and leaned against the arm of the couch, towering over my girl.
“Yeah, I do. But...”
“What about after all WE’VE been through? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go digging into shit that don’t need digging into just because a part of his story seems off to you. It’s all fucking off. WAY fucking off. What matters is that he’s home and he’s got to deal with his shit when he’s ready. Cut him some fucking slack, babe.”
“I know, but he won’t even talk about what happened to him,” she said, looking down at her hands.
I tipped her chin up and I met her worried blue gaze. “He needs time. You feel me, Pup?”
“I feel you,” she breathed, giving me that look that made my balls tighten every fucking time.
“Good,” I said, leaning in to press my lips to hers and pushing down on her shoulders so that her back was against the cushions. I pushed her legs apart and quickly settled myself between them.
My favorite fucking place in the world.
“Now let’s quit all the serious talk while I seriously fuck you until you’re the one begging ME for another baby.” I reached behind her and grabbed her ass, lifting her off the couch enough for my cock to press against her shorts covered pussy.
“I’ll quit. I promise,” she assured me, breathing heavy. “No more digging.”
“Good girl,” I said, palming her tits through her tank top, feeling her nipples harden underneath my touch had me impossibly hard and I was well on my way to fixing the situation she’d started the second she came into my shop wearing that little scrap of material she calls shorts and that impossibly tight top that did all sorts of everything for her already amazing body.
“I’ll quit,” she said again and I sensed we weren’t done talking about it when she pushed against my chest until I had no choice but to set a knee on the floor so I could lift up off of her. “As soon as you take a look at this,” she pulled a folded piece of paper from between her tits and I could give two shits if it was the declaration of independence or directions to the holy grail, all I could focus on was my need to tongue between her tits while I fingered her pussy from behind. “I dug this up a while ago. But I promise no more digging. Please,” she begged, snapping my focus back up to her eyes.
It wasn’t the kind of begging I was hoping for.
I rubbed my hand over my face and snatched the paper from her hands. She sat up next to me and watched as I unfolded it. It was a copy of some sort of official document. “What exactly the fuck is this?” I asked, looking down at some sort of photo copy of an official document. I mentally braced myself at what was to come because anything having to do with the law usually didn’t end well.
At least, not for me it didn’t.
Pup jabbed her finger at the paper. “Just keep going. Please,” she insisted, her hands curled up around my bicep, her head against my shoulder as her lips silently moved as she read along with me. The smell of whatever girly shampoo she used wafted into my nostrils and did nothing to help reduce the massive hard on still pressing painfully against my jeans.
Focus.
I sighed, started at the beginning and then paused after reading the very first sentence. No fucking way. Not believing what I was reading I glanced from Pup back to the page and started all over again. Pup was no longer looking at the document, but at me as I read it again, this time out loud. “State of Florida, Division of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Marriage. Issued to Samuel Clearwater and Andrea Anne Capulet, issued this day, June the...” I paused and read the rest quickly, mumbling my way through the rest of the numerical facts with my hand over my mouth until I reached the bottom where the both the official seal of Florida and the County’s stamp were right there on the bottom. “What did that girl say her name was?” I asked.
“Dre. Short for...”
“Andrea,” I finished for her.
Pup nodded. “I showed this to Dre. She was surprised as hell. She said she was trying to help Preppy get Max by forging some documents to make Preppy seem more like an upstanding citizen but Preppy actually filed this with the clerk’s office after she’d already left to go back home.”
“Holy fuck. He did lie to me,” I said, hating the way the words sounded coming from my own mouth and feeling bitter and hurt that my best friend, a man I saw as my brother could lie to me. “For YEARS he’s been lying to me.”
“So you don’t care that he’s married?”
“No, I don’t fucking care. I mean, I don’t know WHY but him getting married would never fucking bother me. What I fucking care about is that I was lied to by one of the only people on the planet I never thought I had to worry about lying to me!” I said, my voice rising along with my temper.
“You should talk to him. Ask him what it’s all about. Maybe we can help him,” Pup said.
“That’s what I’m going to do,” I said, stomping out the door with Pup close on my heels.
“What are you doing?” she asked, struggling to keep pace beside me as I stormed over to the main house.
“Going to get some answers,” I replied.
“Wait!” Pup shouted, grabbing me by one of the belts on my arm. I stopped and turned around to face her. “We don’t’ even know where he is!”