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The woman who’d pushed away from my chest burst out laughing.
That was much more preferable to her tears.
“You?” She snickered, wiping her eyes. “I would never expect that from you.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just… she pissed me off. Kept talking about how we were taking a long time to solve these murders, as if it’s all our fault that this motherfucker knows what he’s doing. And then she proceeds to tell me that I am the reason that we’re not getting anything accomplished. Because ‘I have a new girl’ that I’d rather spend my time with than solving these cases.”
Mavis drew in a swift breath. “What?”
“Somehow, she knew that you were a part of all of this.” I shook my head. “I’m not sure which officer told her. I’m not sure I really want to know, because if I knew, I’d kick his fucking ass, but someone spoke about you. How you fit into all of this. And then she concocted that shit story. I’m sorry, honey.”
She sighed. “I mean, it’s not like I wouldn’t have spoken up about this if I could have. I mean… maybe this is a good thing. Maybe him thinking that he screwed up, left a witness, will make him screw up for real. Maybe…”
“Maybe you’re dumb.” Mavis rolled her eyes.
Fran flipped her off, going as far as to put her finger right in her face.
Mavis slapped Fran’s hand away and said, “Don’t treat this as a joke, Fran.”
Fran grumbled something under her breath, then scrambled to her feet using my thigh as leverage.
I came up much more slowly than she, catching her before she could stalk out of the room. “Where are you going?”
She whirled in my arms and poked me in the chest. “To pack.”
My lips twitched, and I couldn’t stop from placing my lips to hers.
“Okay.” I reluctantly released her.
Fran made sure to shoulder-check Mavis as she left the room, leaving me alone with a very upset sister.
“I’ll watch out for her,” I promised.
Mavis narrowed her eyes. “You better.”
“I’ll never leave her alone,” I promised.
“You better not.” She crossed her arms.
“When I need to do something, I’ll call you. Or Madden. Or someone. I promise. She’ll never be alone,” I repeated myself.
Mavis sighed. “Don’t call Madden.”
My lips quirked up. “Why?”
Mavis sighed again. “Because I don’t think I want to be around him at all right now. And if my sister is around him, I’ll be forced to be.”
I didn’t bother arguing with her.
In fact, instead of doing any of that, I went to Fran’s bedroom, surprised to find her emptying out her drawers.
“Coming for the long haul?” I teased.
Fran looked at me and flushed. “I just… I have a lot of workout clothes. And I’ll need workout clothes, and regular clothes, and pajamas, and I don’t know how long that I’ll have to be there so…”
“It’s okay,” I teased. “I was just kidding.” I paused. “If you want to go ahead and move in permanently, you could.”
She looked at me in surprise. “Really?”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but then realized that despite my joking nature, I really wouldn’t mind her moving in with me.
“I definitely wouldn’t mind having you there,” I told her honestly. “Then I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to you every night because you’re too scared that I’m going to get tired of you.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. “I-I just don’t want… I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
My lips quirked at one corner. “If I thought that you’d overstay your welcome, I wouldn’t have asked you to stay,” I told her honestly. “Baby, I’m a pretty open and honest man. If I feel like you need to know something, I’ll tell you. If something is bothering me, I’ll tell you. If you’re doing something that’s getting on my nerves, I’ll definitely tell you.”
Her lips quirked.
“And if I need some time alone, I can just go to the gym. Or go to my office which you’ve yet to follow me to. Or, I’ll just plain ol’ tell you I need a break,” I informed her. “But the same goes for you. If you need a break, tell me. I’ll give you a break. If you want me to go fuck off, tell me. I’ll go fuck off. That’s the point of communication.”
Fran rolled her eyes.
“And while we’re on the subject of being honest, I know who your grandmother is. Everyone knows who your grandmother is, because she’s a fuckin’ bitch. Trust me when I say the name Pope is very symbolic around here. There’s no way that I wasn’t going to know who you were related to.”
She snickered. “I’ll bet your grandmother is way nicer than mine.”
I smiled then. “There’s no fuckin’ doubt in my mind that she is.”
• • •
“I want you to meet her,” I said as I helped her bring her things into my house.
