AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can see it now. She’s not a one-night stand, is she?” he asked them.
“No, she’s not.” Steele turned to give him a firm look.
“Does she even know that? I mean, you guys haven’t made it obvious. I would’ve called you as soon as she turned up for Vanessa’s shift if I’d known.”
“We were going slow,” Steele told him.
“This is slow?” Nate asked.
“Things are a bit different now,” Grady said. “She needs some care, don’t you, Twinkletoes?”
She grinned up at Grady. “I like that nickname. But I like sweetheart too. And Baby girl. Not Spitfire, though.” She glared up at Steele.
“That’s too bad, Spitfire.”
“Never had so many nicknames. Does it mean you like me?”
“That’s exactly what it means,” Steele told her.
“Goodie. That means you can be my horsie.”
He shot Grady a look as the other man snorted.
“I’ll explain it later,” Grady told him as he stood.
“Right. Tell us about this fucker that touched her,” Steele demanded.
Nate ran his hand over his face. “Uh, yeah. This old guy got grouchy with her over the drink she served him. Grabbed her arm. I was making my way over, but Lex got to him first and threw him out.”
Anger filled Steele. “What the fuck!” He swung to Grady. “She should never have been in that position.”
“No argument from me,” Grady replied.
Effie was doing something with her fingers that he couldn’t figure out.
“Anything like this happens again, you call us. Immediately,” Steele told him.
“Got it.” Nate nodded. “But I’m guessing nothing like will happen again.”
“Damn straight,” Steele muttered, furious at the thought that some asshole had put his hands on her. “And that’s when her back really started to hurt?”
“Yeah, I think so. Lucy came in here and got her handbag. I think Effie took some painkillers. Didn’t realize they would do this to her, though, or I would have found someone to take her home.”
Steele searched through her handbag and drew out the same bottle of pills from the other night. That was odd, though.
“The bottle says not to take them with alcohol. She definitely didn’t drink any alcohol?” he asked Nate.
“Not that I gave her,” Nate said. “However, fuckin’ Lucy poured her some drinks. She said they were free of alcohol, but I wouldn’t trust that bitch.”
“Wait,” Grady said. “You said that Lucy got her handbag for her?”
Nate nodded. “Yeah. Shocked me. Nicest thing she’s ever done.”
“She could have gone through it,” Grady said. “Found the bottle, read the label, and snuck some alcohol into Effie’s drinks.”
“It can’t have been much alcohol,” Steele said.
“I don’ts like alcamahol,” Effie said. “Icky. Makes me feel funny. Don’ts drink it.”
