Page 14 of Playing With Love

Fuck.

“Did I know Arnie was a dick?” I dodged her real question.

“That he was cheating.”

I could play word games and ask her to clarify her timeline but that would only prolong a topic I was sure was still painful.

“Did he ever tell you I ran into him in L.A.?”

That got her attention.

“When you were undercover?”

She knew I’d worked a case in California. She also knew what had started out as a DEA investigation into Lorenzo Kelly, a drug smuggler, had bled into something arguably worse than drugs. Since I was already embedded and had earned the trust of Lorenzo when he’d invited me to join his father’s members-only sex club, my assignment morphed and my time under had extended even though I had more than enough evidence to take Lorenzo down for importing drugs from Mexico. Word was, women were being sold and one had been murdered. The rumors had been true; Lorenzo had turned his father’s legitimate club into a buyer’s safe haven.

“Yeah.”

Her face paled.

“Did you see him at the club?”

“No, baby, not at the club,” I rushed out to assure her, not that what I had to tell her was any better. “I saw him having dinner with a woman.”

I left it there hoping she wouldn’t ask me to elaborate, knowing it was in vain because Liza didn’t let anything hang.

“Go on,” she invited.

“I was with Lorenzo, couldn’t approach but I made sure he saw me and I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing.”

“If he would’ve approached you…” She trailed off.

I would’ve been fucked. He could’ve blown my cover, but seeing him cozied up to a woman that was not Liza had me seeing red.

“The chance of him approaching me knowing he’d be facing my wrath was zero. To answer your question, I suspected but didn’t know until you confirmed it in Tucson. And before you ask, I didn’t mention L.A. that night because there was no need, you knew what you knew and you’d already got shot of the dick. And I hope you know if I could’ve found a way to confront him, I would’ve.”

One side of her mouth tipped up.

“I know you would’ve. I know where you stand on cheaters.”

More proof she was mine and always had been. I’d never spoken about my father’s cheating to anyone but her. My father cheated, my mother found out, he apologized, she took him back—rinse and repeat. That was their life.

“Have you, um, talked to them recently?” she cautiously inquired.

I dipped my chin to indicate her food.

“Eat, Lizzy. You hate cold fries.”

I saw the disappointment in her eyes. She didn’t think I was going to answer, and maybe I shouldn’t have until she explained why she ditched me. Unfortunately I was a sucker for the woman and had never been able to deny her.

I waited until she dipped two fries into her ranch before I told her, “I talked to my mom a few months ago. She called to tell me she kicked my dad out and asked if I’d come over to help her change the locks.”

“Come over? As in fly all the way to New Mexico to change the locks?” She paused then followed up with, “They still live in Santa Fe, right?”

“Yes and yes.”

Liza picked up a chicken strip but her attention stayed parked on me, waiting for more of the story.

“I told her I couldn’t make it out for at least a week.”