Page 14 of Violent Little Thing

Then there was feminine laughter that had my eyes narrowing.

This motherfucker.

“Sure, thanks.” I continued pouring on the sugar. “Have a good day, sir!”

I wondered if Chris knew that Seraphina was loyal to nobody.

I’d seen her out just last week with another rich prick who ran the ski resort in Jawbone.

He was so self-centered that he probably thought he was her one and only.

Dummy.

He didn’t reply, just hung up, allowing me to go inside breathing easier.

My phone rang seconds later, and I answered it, despite knowing what I would hear.

Chris always called me back. It was “accidentally.” But between me and Jesus, I knew that he was doing it on purpose. He got off on me hearing him jerk off or have sex.

I answered without bothering to say hello, and of course heard the squeals, grunts and slapping of skin on skin that I knew I would hear.

I hung up.

It rang again, and I nearly hit decline, but saw that it was Beau’s name on the screen and not Chris’s.

“Hey,” I said. “What’s up?”

“You got a minute?”

I walked to the coffee machine and poured myself half a cup, then filled it the rest of the way up with vanilla creamer before saying, “Depends. If it has anything to do with your sister, then no.”

He paused. “Well, it’s kind of got something to do with her…”

The way he said it had me intrigued.

I spooned three spoonfuls of sugar into my cup and stirred as I said, “What?”

“Well…” He hesitated.

“Beau, spit it out.”

“I want you to listen to me carefully…”

Three

The person that came up with lefty loosy, righty tighty, absolutely cranked it out of the park.

—Charleigh to Court

Court

“And she said yes?”

“She said she’d think about it.”

The voice sounded from behind me, and I would’ve winced had I felt badly about talking about her when she wasn’t here. In this case, Charleigh was so often on my mind that I would have a permanent grimace on my face from all the wincing.

The woman never strayed far from my mind.