AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My eyes scan over the picture Drake sent of Liam Carmichael, aka Deputy Robert Peters, with Aria Thomas and Owen Taylor again. It’s easy to see Liam is Peters now and just how deep the connection between the three of them goes.
Aria is in the middle and while there’s a smile—a wide one—on her face, it doesn’t reach her eyes.
Snatching the phone back, she mumbles something about knowing she’d seen him before and taps away.
“I knew it,” she exclaims a couple of minutes later, looking up at me. Then she reels of the names of three towns, all of which have had a recent development done by Titan Industries, and all of which Deputy Peters has lived in over the last seven years or so. “He’s the cop that was the first on the scene in the death of one of the workers here.” She shows me her screen, pointing to a town on the outskirts of Richmond Virginia. “When I drove through this town, I remember stopping in a coffee shop and overhearing a resident talking about the guy’s death and a how the new deputy was looking into it. More like covering it up,” she scoffs, tutting and shaking her head.
“He’s the cleaner. The man that makes any problems disappear or cleans them up if he’s too late,” I say, my mind working hard to figure out why he didn’t come here sooner.
“Doesn’t explain why he didn’t come here earlier.” I can see that she’s thinking the same as me.
“No, it doesn’t, but if I had to guess I’d say it was for damage control seeing as you’d already gone. And the fact that the investors pulled out meant there was no reason for him to try and keep the development going.”
“So, why stick around all this time? Why hasn’t he moved on?”
I shrug, but I have a strong suspicion it’s linked to Aria and her dad living here. Now with the development in Tungsten Bay adding another reason.
She frowns while still looking down at her phone. Stepping forward, I take the phone from her hand and drop it onto the couch, then I slide a hand along her neck to her nape and grip it tight.
“Hey, we’ll work this out. But for now, you need to go and get ready for dinner.” She looks up at me, words of protest on the tip of her tongue. I don’t let them fall, instead I mute them with my lips on hers. For a split second she tenses, fighting the need to give in, but then she melts against me, and I take until I’m hard as fucking steel and desperate to bend her over the couch and fuck her. But I don’t. I have something special planned for later tonight, so I’ll suffer the blue balls for now.
Letting her go, I spin her around toward the bathroom and slap her ass, as I say, “Now go.”
She throws me a scowl over her shoulder but heads off to shower all the same. She even adds an extra sway to her hips as payback, I’m sure.
I resist the urge to go after her, but as soon as she’s out of sight, I quickly adjust myself with a groan before climbing the stairs to my room.
* * *
We just about made ourreservation for dinner at the restaurant down by the marina, no thanks to Kenz and the tight fitting little black dress she sauntered down the stairs wearing, which instantly had me hard again and almost forfeiting dinner to feast on her instead. Now, we are sitting at the bar in the Wheelhouse before heading down to the beach party.
Despite everything that’s going on, we managed to enjoy a nice dinner without discussing anything to do with Titan or anyone connected to it. I know that we can’t avoid it all night, I mean, we’re going to Aria’s party for that exact reason, but I would have liked to enjoy this time with Kenz for a little longer. But the second Calvin Carmichael steps through the door, the whole vibe changes, tainting our time together.
He’s not alone either. Walking a step or two behind him is his bodyguard, Luca Santos, who immediately looks this way, pinning his gaze on Kenz and me. The corner of his mouth kicks up into a sadistic smirk before he turns away.
As Calvin makes his way to the bar, he’s greeted by several people, each of them offered a seemingly warm smile and hello, and I hear Kenz scoff.
“Makes me sick. If people only knew the real Calvin Carmichael. They’d be kicking his ass instead of kissing it.” She picks up her glass, downing the last mouthful of her cocktail.
“His time will come soon enough, Kenz. Come on, let’s get out of here,” I urge, finishing my own drink and climbing from the stool.
“I told Everly I’d meet her here,” she protests yet gets to her feet anyway.
“Message her and tell her to skip the bar and meet us at the beach.” I take her hand and lead her to the door.
Outside, I lead her toward the beach along with a throng of others who are chatting excitedly about Aria’s party. Kenz tugs on my hand just before we reach the beach, pulling her phone from her bag and typing out a quick message to Everly.
There’s still no sign of Aria, or her father. I imagine she’ll make some grand entrance when she does finally show up.
When we arrive at the beach, an area has been cordoned off with waist height freestanding panels decorated with silver glitter and happy birthday Aria written across each one. Everyone is entering through a central balloon arch reached by a red carpet, of course, and manned by two security guards dressed in smart black chino shorts and polo shirts. Even though it’s open invitation, each security guard has a clipboard and takes the name of everyone that enters.
“This couldn’t be any more over the damn top,” Kenz grumbles as we step through the balloon arch.
There’s a DJ set up on the right alongside a large table that is already overflowing with gifts. There is even a dance floor that changes color with the beat of the music.
“You’re not fucking wrong,” I agree. Silverbell is a wealthy town, so extravagant parties aren’t out of the ordinary, but this is something out of Hollywood. It’s a far cry from the beach parties we used to throw as teens. I steer Kenz toward a bar area with the same glitter panels and large balloon trees either end.
There’s a commotion behind us that has us both turning to see what all the fuss is about. Aria enters with an entourage behind her, including her father, but no sign of Owen.
