“Just doin’ the good citizens of Carnal a favor, visitin’ a new ex-con who lives local, makin’ sure he knows he needs to mind his P’s and Q’s.”
“Did you say ‘mind his P’s and Q’s’?”
That came from Lexie.
Walker looked down at her but not before he caught Rowdy’s eyes slice to her.
“That’s what I said, ma’am.”
“Okay,” she whispered but the switch was flipped, the light flooding out even though he couldn’t see her face fully as it wasn’t tipped to him.
Then she tipped it to him and he saw her eyes were dancing.
Then she full out smiled.
“P’s and Q’s,” she whispered and he felt her body start shaking against his and he knew she was about half a second away from bursting out laughing.
“Babe, get a handle on it,” he warned.
“Okay,” she choked out then her face disappeared because she shifted so she could shove it in his back.
Then he heard her snort.
Fuck. She was a goof.
He looked at Rowdy who clearly didn’t like being laughed at.
“My wife’s a goof,” he explained, that got another snort and he felt her fingers fisting in his sweaty tee at the back.
“Not sure what’s funny here, Walker, this shit’s serious business,” Rowdy snapped and then Lexie suddenly wasn’t at his back anymore.
She was at his side.
And she was no longer amused.
“You’re right. There’s nothing funny about a police officer showing up on Sunday morning on the doorstep of a man who did his time and is trying to get on with his life, simply, it would seem, to harass and threaten him. That isn’t funny.”
“Lex,” Walker whispered, sliding an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.
She didn’t take his warning. She kept throwing sass.
“And, by the way, the good citizens of Carnal threw a huge-ass welcome home party for Ty when he got back. They know he’s here and they’re happy he’s home. So, I don’t think you have to worry too much about the good citizens of Carnal. I expect they don’t need your kind of favors.”
Fuck.
“Lexie, shut it,” he growled and her head shot back so she could look up at him.
“Well, it’s my Sunday too and Sunday’s are good days and he’s ruining it. It’s still morning! He’s ruining it right off the bat,” she snapped.
“Lexie.”
“It’s true.”
“Yeah, babe, but get a handle on it. You stop yappin’, he’ll be gone and we can get on with what we were doin’.”
Color hit her cheeks, her mouth formed the letter and said the word, “Oh,” softly then she shut it and looked to Rowdy.
So did Walker. “We done?”
Rowdy scowled at him. “I think you get me.”
“You’re not talkin’ in code though you think you are. I get you.”
Rowdy continued to scowl at him. Then he scowled at Lexie. Then he stomped to the steps.
Walker shut the door and locked it.
Lexie pulled out from his under his arm, took three steps back as he turned and the minute his eyes hit hers, she whispered, “Got a wife who knows your every move?”
He didn’t answer that. Instead he crossed his arms on his chest and advised, “Promised none of my shit would blow back on you. I can deliver on that but I see you gotta help me do it and the way you can help me is not gettin’ in these motherfuckers’ faces and settin’ yourself up as a target. News, Lexie, no man likes a woman laughin’ at him. More news, that man’s an ugly fuck who’d thank his lucky stars he dips his wick in skank pussy, he’ll like it even less when the woman laughin’ at him looks like you.”
She ignored that and repeated, “Got a wife who knows your every move?”
Walker remained silent.
She stared at him.
Then she said, “He’s dirty.”
Walker didn’t reply.
Lexie kept going by guessing wrong, “He’s the one who lost to you at poker.”
Walker still didn’t speak.
Lexie did. “You’re paying fifty grand for an alibi.”
Yep. He was right. She caught it.
He again didn’t speak.
She again stared at him.
Then he watched her pull in a deep breath and when she let it go, she spoke softly.
“This is the only time I’ll ask, the only chance you’ll get to tell me. You think it’s not my business, I’ll know where I stand.”
That wasn’t a good opening.
She finished it. “What’s going on, Ty?”
He didn’t speak. She held his eyes. He still didn’t speak. This went on a long time.
Then she dropped her head at the same time her shoulders sagged. Defeat.
She was giving up on him.
No, strike that, she was giving up on them.
Two weeks ago, sitting in his cell wondering who he’d walk out to, he would never have guessed he’d walk out to a them. But he did. Lexie knew it. So did he. He hadn’t had her pussy yet but she gave him all the rest. He’d pushed it away. But right then, he knew she was giving him another shot. If he wanted it, he’d have it all.
And, him not taking that shot, she was giving up on them and his silence and distrust was forcing her to do that.
And, fuck him, he couldn’t take it.
“You know Tate?” he asked, her head shot up and her light flashed, hope so bright it blinded him.
There it was. She was giving him another shot and she wanted him to take it.
And so did he.
So he took it.
“Yeah,” she said quietly.
“He’s a bounty hunter.”
“Okay,” she whispered slowly.
“Used to be a cop.”
She didn’t reply.
“For the Carnal PD.”
He watched her body go still.
He kept talking. “His captain, Arnie Fuller, now Chief of Police, was an asshole. Tate didn’t like workin’ for an asshole. Fuller was also on the take. Tate liked workin’ for a cop on the take a lot less than workin’ for an asshole. He quit and became a fugitive apprehension agent.”
She nodded slowly.
“Fuller likes to play poker.”
Her eyes flared but she remained silent.
“He likes it but he’s not good at it.”
He watched her swallow.
“He’s also got a lot of opinions he don’t mind sharin’.”
When he said no more, she prompted carefully. “And those would be…?”
He answered immediately. “He likes a certain kinda people. Only that kind. His kind. Which means other kinds, like gays, liberals, hippies, he don’t like. He also don’t like color. Top of the heap he don’t like is color.”
She closed her eyes slowly then opened them and locked hers with his.
“Fuller’s got a brother,” he told her.
She pressed her lips together.
Walker continued, “Cut from the same cloth, Fuller and his brother.”
She stopped pressing her lips together and he saw her clench her teeth.
He kept going. “Fuller’s brother is a cop in LA.”
She closed her eyes slowly again but this time she dropped her head, reached out a hand, took a step back, her hand hit island and she leaned into it. Then she sucked in another breath, lifted her head, opened her eyes and caught his.
He went on, “Don’t know yet why. Just know the California Fuller had a problem. His brother offered me up as a solution.”
“Ty,” she whispered.
“Got his boys in on it. Recruited outside help. I didn’t have a prayer.”
“How?” she asked quietly still leaning into a hand, this news weighing on her. He could see the weight. She was barely holding up.
“There are about three clean cops in the Carnal Police Department that’s how.”
“But… Calif
ornia? You said you’d never been there.”
“My word against theirs. Rowdy Crabtree made a statement that he heard me talkin’ in Bubba’s about hitting a game in LA over Labor Day weekend. Witnesses in LA corroborated I sat that game.”
“So?” she asked, pulling herself straight, expending effort to do it, having that effort to give because she was getting pissed.
Getting pissed for him.
“So, cop says I headed to LA, I headed to LA. Cop buys witnesses, pulls in favors or extorts statements, they got witnesses.”
“LA isn’t an hour away, Ty,” she told him something he knew. “You can’t pop over there, commit a crime and pop back no matter what witnesses say.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Lex,” he replied. “But see, over Labor Day weekend, I hooked up with pussy named Misty. Hot snatch, all over me, she didn’t let me up for air for three days. It wasn’t the first time I had her, we were on and off. I liked what I got from her but knew she was trouble. Like it or not, Lexie, pussy can be trouble and it can be the worst kind. She’s the worst kind. Thought I had it under control. She let me in, I took what she gave, I didn’t give back shit except as many orgasms as she could squeeze outta me. Had no fuckin’ clue she was also bangin’ someone else. Now she’s married to Chace Keaton. Detective Chace Keaton, Carnal PD.”
Lexie sucked in a sharp breath.
Walker finished it. “She was my alibi. The only person I saw the whole weekend. When I offered her up, they talked to her, she said I’d lied about bein’ with her but also shared I told her I was hitting a game in LA. Can’t prove it was her but there were prints found at the scene in LA. Someone had to lift mine. Not hard, Bubba’s, Pop’s garage, coulda got them anywhere. But she was here, in this house, for three days and she’s a cunt and that weekend she was a cunt sent on a mission.”
“That’s why,” she whispered and he knew what she meant. That was why he knew pussy came with a chain.
“That’s why,” he confirmed.
She stared at him.
Then she stated, “You’re going after them.”
“Fuck yeah,” he replied immediately.
She took her hand from the counter and straightened her shoulders and Walker thought this was an interesting reaction. He thought she’d bolt. He thought he’d see disappointment.
She wasn’t giving him that.
“What are you going to do?” she asked and he shook his head.
“Can’t keep you clean, you know.”
He watched her and he could see it working behind her eyes he just didn’t know what it was. He felt his body was tense. He was preparing to do what he had to do. Stay still and let her walk out of his life or go after her if she tried.
“So, as you do this business, someone finds out and asks questions, you’re paying me fifty thousand dollars to cover for you,” she said.
He pulled in breath.
Then he gave her what she needed and what he needed to give her.
“Your money is in my safe upstairs in the bedroom. Part of the reason I had to sit a game is to make sure I covered you as well as my business. Right now, you take the diamonds, I go get you the money, you pack your shit, you go and I let you. I can see what I’m doin’ don’t sit well with you. You’ve already had that kinda shit in your life, too much, kept yourself clean, I’m gettin’ you dirty. This is your chance to stay clean. Take it and go.”
She held his gaze and asked, “How is this getting me dirty?”
“Lexie, it comes down to it, I’ll be askin’ you to lie to cops.”
“Ty, it comes down to it, I’ll be lying to dirty cops and everyone knows a double negative is a positive.”
At her words, Walker felt his lungs seize, so bad, he couldn’t breathe or speak.
He battled for oxygen as he watched her look around the kitchen, over her shoulder, taking in her surroundings.
Then she whispered, “Life interrupted.”
“What?” he asked quietly.
Her eyes came back to him.
“You were what? Thirty years old? Thirty-one? You had a job. A house. Friends. And just because you’re a half-black man who won a poker game, they took all that away for five years? Then when you get out, they follow you for days and show up at your door on a Sunday morning just to give you shit?”
The air came back into his lungs and it did this because her voice was getting louder and shriller. She was working herself up.
She was not getting pissed.
She just was pissed.
For him.
“Baby –” he started.
She leaned toward him and her eyes narrowed. “That is not cool, Ty. That is not cool.” Then she slapped her hand hard on the counter of the island and shouted, “I do not believe this shit!”
Oh fuck. She was off.
He moved toward her but she stepped back, lifting up a hand.
“No,” she shook her head, “head’s up, you don’t know this about me yet but when I get mad, it’s good to keep a distance and I’m… fucking… mad. I mean, what the fuck?”
She yelled this still backing up as he advanced thinking she was wrong. She got mad the other night. He’d learned then distance was good when Lexie went off. He just wasn’t going to give it to her now because then, she was pissed at him, now she was pissed for him.
Then she suddenly stopped retreating and planted her hands on her hips. “All pussy doesn’t have chains, Ty. This Misty bitch was a bitch. We’re not all like that. I assure you. Okay,” she threw out a hand then planted it right back on her hip, “we can be pains in the asses. I’ll grant that. But lying about your whereabouts? And doing it in order to steal five years of your life?” She shook her head, her voice loud, sharp, seriously fucking pissed. “Unh-unh.” She shook her head. “No way.”
He approached cautiously, got close and sifted his hands into her hair at either side of her head, holding it back and resting his forearms lightly on her shoulders, he dipped his head close.
“Babe, get a handle on it,” he whispered.
“That’s why you don’t trust me,” she returned, not whispering, hands still on her hips, body held tight.
“Uh… yeah,” he confirmed.
She nodded, the movement jerky, taking his hands with it. “Right. I can see that.”
He felt his mouth twitch.
“Lexie –”
“We’re not all like that, Ty.”
He pressed the pads of his fingers into her scalp and murmured, “All right, babe, now –”
“And I’m going to prove it to you and I’m going to prove it to you by not going. You need someone to take your back during this business, that’s me. I’m not going. I’m staying right here and giving you what you need.”
He felt his gut clench at the same time that thing pierced through the left side of his chest.
“All right,” he whispered through a pain that was exquisite.
She stared into his eyes and kept her hands on her hips. He stared into hers and watched the wet start to form.
And there it was again, she was giving him more because that wet was for him. And it was then he knew how she felt the day they arrived in Carnal, overwhelmed by something unexpected, something good, something she never thought she’d have. He knew how she felt because he felt it, right then, looking into her eyes, her giving him that, something good, something, after that mud was flung at him and it stuck, he never thought he’d get a shot at. And there she was, his hands in her soft, thick hair, her eyes growing wet, giving it to him.
She fought it and beat it back and she did this by continuing to throw sass.
“Now, are you gonna go with me to buy flowers for the deck or what?”
He bent his neck and dropped his forehead to hers.
Then, his eyes holding hers, he muttered, “Yeah.”
“I’ll warn you, I’ve never done any gardening. They’ll all probably die.”
“Whatever,” he replied, fighting a grin.
&nbs
p; She looked into his eyes for awhile.
Then she told him. “You need to shower. Do you need coffee? One of your powder thingies?”
Powder thingies.
Total goof.
“Coffee.”
She nodded her head, again moving his hands.
“I’ll fix it while you shower. Travel mug.”
He closed his eyes and pulled in breath. Then he moved the lower half of his face and touched his lips to hers.
Then he let her go and walked to the stairs.
He was one step up when she called his name. He looked through the open slats and saw her at the coffeemaker, her body turned to the side counter, her neck twisted, her eyes on him.
Then she dropped the bomb.
“FYI, there’s been no one since Ronnie. No one. For four years. You’ve got a year on me but, I figure, mostly we’re in the same boat.”
He fought the urge to move to her and drag her up the stairs to his bed.
Or, saving time and energy, take her to the couch.
Instead, he asked, “You gave me that, baby, what you want me to do with it?”
She looked to the coffeemaker and muttered loudly, “I’ll leave that up to you.”
Fuck.
He knew what he wanted to do with it. He also knew how he wanted to do it. He also knew he was going to do what he wanted to do.
But that was not for now. What he wanted to do would take time.
And control.
He didn’t have any of the last left. And they had plants to buy.
So he drew breath in through his nose and walked up the stairs.
Chapter Nine
Lady Luck Was Feeling Generous
I walked down the stairs behind Ty wondering what I’d been wondering the last twenty minutes while he took a shower, shaved and donned another black tee, faded jeans and boots.
Was I crazy?
Was I stupid?
Was I both?
Or was Lady Luck feeling generous for once and if I fucked this up, I’d piss her off?
We hit the utility room and Ty opened the door to the garage, stood clear of it but kept his hand on it, his long arm extended, keeping it open, he wanted me to precede him.
I did, took two steps into the garage, my mind cluttered then it uncluttered when what was hitting my eyes filtered to my brain. I stopped dead and stared.