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“Holy shit,” Drew said.
“Yeah.” Aithan led them upstairs and into the kitchen. He put the kettle on to boil and pulled the jar of cold brew from the fridge. “Want coffee?”
Zel shook her head. “We just got back from Liquid Mud. I want to know about the arrests.”
Aithan puffed his cheeks and exhaled a hard breath. “She hired a guy to kill me. Guess she didn’t pay him enough for that kinda job, so he just took me out of commission long enough to miss the deposition. She decided not to pay the full amount because I’m still breathing. He trashed her car and got arrested, then he ratted her out in exchange for lesser charges.”
“Whoa,” Drew muttered. “Sounds like stupid shit my family would do. Wonder if she’s related to me.”
Aithan cracked up. That was just the kind of absurdity he needed. “Man, only you would think that.”
“What? It’s true. From what I know, my family’s full of criminals, psychopaths, and fuckups.”
Zelda shook her head and grabbed Aithan’s arm. “Does Tobias know?”
“Yeah. I stopped by the pub. He’s rattled but also relieved.”
“No doubt. That lifts two weights off his back.”
Aithan nodded and poured cold brew into a mug. “He was calling his attorney when I left. They’ll move to dismiss her custody case. He’s free of her.”
She hugged him, her expression full of relief and concern. “But you’re freaked out.”
“Well, yeah. Someone I know paid a guy to kill me.”
“Not exactly,” Drew pointed out.
“Right?” Aithan laughed again. “She screwed herself by being cheap.”
“Is Tobias still at Scumwater?” she asked.
“No. He planned to see his family and in-laws after talking to his attorney.”
“Jesus H. Christ, this is nuts,” Drew muttered. “I couldn’t make this shit up.”
“But why you?” Zel asked Aithan.
He sighed. “Two days before Tobias threw her out and filed for divorce, I was over at their place for dinner. We were hanging out, eating sushi and drinking sake bombs. Mari was with John and Dianne for the weekend. Maeve went out with friends. Tobias and I got shit-faced and I opted to sleep in their guest room rather than drive home. Short version is that I awoke with Maeve Houston riding my cock.”
Zel’s beautiful blue-green eyes widened. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Wish I was. Apparently, part of me was sober enough to function. But it was the wrong part. When my brain figured out what my body was doing, I threw her off and started hollering. Thank God Mari wasn’t home ’cause I owed Babcia a lot of money after that.”
Drew leaned against the breakfast bar. “That must’ve brought Tobias running.”
Aithan nodded. “Maeve started making excuses: She thought I was him. I came onto her. Iforcedher.” He curled his lip at the last. “You know I’m no angel, but there’s not enough booze in the world to make me a rapist.”
“And Tobias knows that,” Zel said.
“My boy isn’t stupid. And it turned out I wasn’t the first one.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Took me a long time to be able to look him in the eye. Testifying against her during their divorce proceedings was a no-brainer.” He folded his arms. “I knew she hated me.”
“But you didn’t know she was crazy?” Drew asked.
“Not hire-a-guy-to-kill-me crazy.”
Zel hugged him. “Will they grant her bail?”
“Dunno. Kevlin’s calling her a flight risk and asking for none, but I doubt we’ll get that lucky.”
