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“Again, Deacon. What the hell are you talking about?”
“Look at everything that’s been going on,” he said. “Something just doesn’t add up. Don’t you see it?”
I let out a long and tired huff. “Damn it, Deacon. Are you still clinging to your suspicions about Brook?”
He let out a quiet huff of his own. “You have to admit that she…”
“I’ll admit that I feel very strongly about her,” I cut in. “And you know that. You know exactly how I feel about her.”
“Well, I certainly know how your dick feels about her.”
“Are you going to deny that your dick feels the same?”
“Leave my dick out of it, Rhode. It has its reasons for behaving the way it does and wanting what it wants, but that doesn’t mean that I have to act on it. Come on. Admit it. There’s something about her.”
Gustave drove up to the main entrance of my father’s lakefront house and stopped. I gestured to him to wait as I finished my call.
“Thereissomething about her,” I said. “Something very special. You, on the other hand… You’re paranoid. You’re jaded. You’re cynical. And it’s all turning you into a boring old man, Deacon. Chill, will you? Just chill.”
“She’s special, all right, but not the way you think. There’s something… I don’t know… something off. Something is definitely off about the way she’s been ever since she arrived. From the very first day… there’s something strange. It doesn’t fit.”
“Okay, Deacon. I’ll tell you what. Give me some evidence… some hard evidence that she’s not on the up and up, and then we’ll talk. But don’t give me this crap about having some vague feeling that she’s up to something.”
“I can’t believe how hardheaded you’re being, Rhode. This isn’t like you. You’re letting that girl’s beauty and booty blind you. Don’t you realize how this affects your father’s business, not to mention mine. And what about Bishop? He has his family business to think about as well. Rhode, this is so much bigger than you, me and Bishop. So much bigger.”
“I’m well aware of that, Deacon,” I said. “Look at me. I’m paying the price, aren’t I? Damn. They expelled me. I still can’t believe it. Me. Rhode Rector. I’m no longer president of the Saints. Do you know what that does to me?”
“I do know, Rhode, and that’s what makes your refusal to look into this all the more befuddling.”
“Deacon…”
“Think about it for just a minute, Rhode,” he cut in. “Damn it, just humor me a second. Think about the money. Follow the money… the money trail. Who do you think could benefit from all this shit?”
“Benefit?”
“Yeah. With you out of the way, who is going to benefit from your absence?”
“Bishop?” I said as I stepped out of the car, suddenly feeling trapped in the large vehicle.
“What do you think?”
“Well… so far, yeah, I guess he’ll benefit.”
“Exactly, Rhode. Think about it. How long have we suspected that we have a mole in the Saints’ house?”
“No,” I said bluntly as I paced the length of the car. “It can’t be. Bishop would never do that.”
“Really? Why wouldn’t he?”
I stopped pacing and looked at the paving stones beneath my feet. “Okay. I still have serious doubts, but… keep an eye on him.”
“I am. And I have… ever since Brook arrived. I mean, he’s really tight with her. They’re always cuddling together… a lot more than they should.”
Grinding my teeth and fighting a sneer, I looked up at the glorious weeping willow, its dangling tendrils dancing in the ever-present lakefront breeze. My gaze latched onto a blue jay that flew from branch to branch.
I looked at the colorful bird, trying to lose myself in the beauty of nature that my father’s house invited. I needed to find beauty and goodness in something because the words that Deacon had spoken disturbed me too much.
The thought of Brook with Bishop hurt.
