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I planted my feet firmly once again, and Audrey almost walked into me a second time. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m just worried we got off on the wrong foot, and I don’t love that you keep telling people that you saw me kill Phil Hill.” What the hell was I saying? I didn’t care that we were on the wrong foot. I wouldn’t stay around long enough for it to be an issue. But I didn’t like her telling everybody I had killed the man. That was a truthful statement.
Audrey snorted and stood back, holding her purse straps over her shoulder. “Well, duh, I obviously don’t think that now. What with you and the mayor off gallivanting in the woods.” She rolled her eyes and acted bored. “I only pointed to you as the possible killer because you weren’t screaming. You weren’t reacting at all. It was suspicious. Honestly, even if you did kill that obnoxious human deputy, I’d still be trying to keep you out of jail now that I know you’re engaged to Ridge Blackwood.”
I cocked my head at her. “Seriously? Because I’m engaged to Ridge, you’d help me get away with murder?” I stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “Also, I want to be clear that I didn’t kill the deputy.”
“Uh,duh.I already told you I know you didn’t kill him.” The woman rolled her eyes at me again.
“Okay. So, why?”
Audrey moaned. She was irritated with me and this conversation and had no qualms with me knowing. “For as long as I can remember, my parents have pushed me to make the best mate match possible. There is no better match than with a Blackwood. Their name has so much influence, power, and money that my parents constantly pushed me at Ridge. He and I never hit it off, and constantly getting rejected—even though I rejected him, too—is hard on the ego. But now that he’s taken, my parents have stopped their incessant needling and I’ve gotten a much-needed break. So, I’m thrilled. I get to party and have fun. Well, until another high-quality mate who meets my parents’ standards becomes available.”
She looked at me as if I was doing her a favor. She was happy and felt free. I couldn’t fathom being rejected by the same person over and over. It must severely damage a woman’s self-esteem, yet her parents had subjected her to it, anyway.
I ached, actually ached, for the young woman. Was she so happy now because she thought she could be with Mateo freely?
Audrey obviously thought our conversation was done and moved to step around me, but without thinking, I blocked her once again. I couldn’t believe I wanted to protect her from seeing her mother in Mateo’s room, the bedsheets freshly sexed up.
“Okay, really, move already. We had our little talk.” She waved her hand at me like I was an annoying gnat.
But I couldn’t do it. Audrey wasn’t nearly as bitchy as I’d thought. She’d just been dealt a shitty hand like everyone else. She didn’t need to see that her mom was shacking up with the same man she was happy with.
As much as I liked Mateo, I couldn’t hold much favor with him over this situation. Soon, I’d chat with him about what he was doing.
“Audrey, don’t give your whole heart to Mateo—you’ll just get hurt.” I cringed. I’d never been someone who gave advice or had heart-to-heart conversations. This situation was more suitable for Margo or Diane, but I was the one standing in front of her.
She was about to walk into a situation that could break her heart, and I didn’t want that for her.
Audrey blinked at me several times, then a loud, hysterical laugh flew out of her mouth.
I stared at her with my mouth agape. What kind of reaction was that? I must be even worse at these heart-to-heart things than I thought.
Tears of laughter started leaking from the corner of Audrey’s eyes, and she slowly wiped them away as she got herself back under control. “Is Mother Dear holed up in Mateo’s room right now?”
I lifted a brow and slowly exhaled. “Yes.”
Audrey let out a few last chuckles. “I assure you, Mateo is just a friends-with-benefits situation for me. I know my mother is having an affair with him. That’s why I suggested my parents start marriage counseling with that new psychiatrist, Lola—for all the good it appears to be having if Mother has just rolled out of Mateo’s bed.”
I swallowed. Audrey willingly slept with a man who was also sleeping with her mother. Just how fucked up was this family?
Audrey patted my shoulder. “It’d be sweet that you were trying to spare my feelings, Tori, if you hadn’t wasted so much of my time. I’ve been dying to get wasted, and you interrupted that.” She slipped past me. “Good talk.”
I slumped against the wall, my face burning. My stomach churned at the idea of a mother and daughter sharing a lover. That had been an embarrassing conversation. I didn’t need to know that about the Greenthornes…about anybody.
Mateo was just another gross male. Lola had her work cut out for her, and I didn’t foresee anything resolving with that family. They were way too fucked up.
As I walked back to the manor, I figured I could rule out Audrey as the murderer, but that didn’t mean the other two Greenthornes were innocent. As much as their family dynamic gave me the major ick, I needed to dig deeper. Mr. Greenthorne could hate that Mateo was sleeping with both the women in his life, and if Deputy Hill had found out, it made sense that he’d want to shut him up.
Who was to say he hadn’t caught the deputy spying, killed him, cleaned up quickly, and then left the tavern? Maybe he lured the deputy there with stories of an emergency that needed his special touch. I was sure Martin Greenthorne was capable of anything to keep his name proper within the town.
Christie Greenthorne was no different. Just because she was screwing around with her daughter’s friend-with-benefits didn’t mean she wanted others to know about it. She placed high importance on the Greenthorne name and savored lording over others. It was her bread and butter.
Either way, I wanted to get to the bottom of this murder. I wanted a clear answer, and I wanted to know why, so much so that I was willing to tell Ridge enough so he’d understand why I didn’t want to be a shifter. If giving him a piece of my past helped me move forward to my future, then solving this case was what would help. Having Ridge know more about me would be the key to doing that.
Contemplating my wants and needs had me antsy, and I couldn’t keep my fingers from fidgeting. Would it be so bad? So far, Ridge had been good to me. He’d given me no reason not to trust him, even though I’d kept him on his toes time and again.
Watching Margo and Diane in town made me desire that kind of closeness again. I missed my mother, and I still mourned for her to this day. Everyone in town was extra nosy, but their hearts were in the right place. They cared as a community, which was new and strange to me. I had Ridge constantly at my back, guarding me, protecting me, and though I wouldn’t admit it to him, it was amazing.
