Which wasn’t true. Demons named depression and delusion told Maddy not to take anything. And the only ones gossiping were Latoya Lace Front and Shanaynay with the Silk-press. Both hairstylists were not only lethal with a flatiron, but their mouths. Not that I cared what people thought, but I needed Maddy to buy the lie to spend time alone with me.
I’d gotten the idea from my younger brother, Montana. He’d had anincidentwhile playing baseball for the LA Dodgers and needed to fix his reputation. Fake dating was the solution. He didn’t last a month before he caught feelings for the woman who was living in hiding with her son and working at his restaurant.Now he was getting married. If it worked for him, it would work for me. The only difference was he’d marry his girl for the first time. I’d marry mine a thousand times, and we weren’t fake dating. The contract specifically outlined how real this would be.
“Three dates,” I said,and then you get to pick our next wedding venue.
“No. Never!”
“Here’s where I mumble,Aww, okay, like a Lifetime ex-husband.” I nodded to the detectives. “Call me on Thursday.”
“Bu-but today is Friday.” Madison lurched out of her seat. The chains on her wrists contained her.
“I think it’s Saturday morning by now,chère.” I approached the door, and a lock clicked.
“You said a couple of days?”
“Yes, before your name goes on the docket. All the judges watch Law & Order reruns on the weekends. The original, not theSpecial VictimsUnit.”
Detective Frick and Frack chuckled at that.
Madison glared at them as if salty they didn’t laugh at her earlier SVU joke. She sneered, “So y’all do get your notes on being cops from the original?”
Rook growled. “I went to Cedar Crest in Allentown.”
I gave him a glare that implieda little too aggressive, even if she hated me. Attention on Madison again, I nonchalantly leaned against the wall. “Unless …”
“Unless what?” She tried to stand again; those unfashionable ass steel bracelets stopped her. “Unless what, Washington?”
“I’ma leave you stuck in limbo.”Like you left my heart.
I was calling her bluff. She’d stay here for another couple of hours. I’d get coffee at Café du Monde while they processed her release. She’d be more agreeable to our dates when I returned with her favorite café au lait. And a couple of orders of beignets. Was she getting an entire order?Please.She’d get one.IfNOPDdidn’t take too long in bringing herto me. Yep. I liked the sound of that.
Then we’d go home.
Nah, what was I saying? Madison hadn’t been home since giving up on us. She’d charge me with abduction, calling us even. I couldn’t allow that. As long as Madison owed me…I’d show her we belonged together and stop all this crazy,madcrap.
mad
. . .
Afew hours later, the sight of that gorgeous specimen took a fishhook to my pride. I wanted to blame it on solitary confinement. Washington leaned casually against a silver Range Rover, his suit tailored to six feet, three inches of ambition and thick muscle. His beautiful bald head reflected like a beacon in the morning light. Mercy, I never shoulda gotten attached to that head! The smug look on his face read,Checkmate.
He did this little debonair thing while removing his sunglasses. “You cool down, Maddy?”
“Oh, no.” As I approached him, my legs moved with a graceful fluidity. One foot in front of the other, as if I were wearing stilettos. A stark contrast to my worn slippers. And the cheap Walmart pajamas that might not have matched since the top was emojis and the bottom? Hell, I didn’t know what my sister was thinking when she bought these pajama pants.
The fading but still legible words read:
Built for Netflix, PRIME, HULU, TUBI. ALL OF EM.
I need to stop stealing my sister’s clothes.
Still. My outfit epitomized my alternative lifestyle of zero craps to give.
He opened the passenger door.
My mouth turned up, a snide reminder of what I’d done. “Nice. A rental?”
He nodded. “Get in. You know I’m not that compulsive. Why would I have two vehicles?”
