He shook his head. “I’ve already told her more than once that I wasn’t interested. In fact, she came by the precinct two days ago asking if I had time to talk to her. I told her no. It’s going to look suspicious if I all of a sudden strike up an interest in her.”
“Well then, tell her to meet you when I meet Weston. That way you can keep an eye on me, and tell her you’re not interested at the same time. Maybe you’ll learn something. Maybe you won’t. But you’ll be there if I need you,” I tried.
He glared.
“She has a point,” Downy observed.
Luke threw an unpeeled potato at his head.
Downy caught it with a laugh, launching it back at him like a missile.
“Just try it. What’s the worst that could happen?” He asked.
Apparently, a lot more than we bargained for.***Luke
“Listen,” I said, rubbing my hands along my hair. “I know you’re upset, but you and I have nowhere to go. I don’t want you anymore. I don’t even like you. I’ve got a new woman. A woman that makes me happy.”
I knew it’d be a bad idea to talk to her. Meet her.
At least it was in a public place.
“I used to be that woman,” she whispered brokenly.
I shook my head. “You were never that woman.”
She lifted her head, eyes brimming over with tears. “They’re over there eating dinner together. If she loved you so much, she’d never be doing that in front of you.”
I turned my head in the direction of Reese and winked at her. She must not have been enjoying her food, because the entire plate was still filled to the brim with crawfish.
Although, I’d asked her before, and I knew she didn’t like it. Which made me wonder why she’d ordered it in the first place.
“Stop,” I ordered her. “You’ve got no fucking clue when it comes to anybody but yourself. Even then, I’m not quite reassured on it. So how about you take your fake tears, and your thousand dollar shoes, and find somebody else that’ll appreciate it. Because it’s definitely not me.”
Lydia stood and walked around the table, staring into my eyes.
If I’d known what she had planned next, I would’ve moved. In fact, I thought she was just going to say goodbye. The things I’d said to her hadn’t been nice. However, they’d been truthful, and I’d meant every word.
“So,” she said, leaning on the table. “It doesn’t affect you when I do this?”
Then she kissed me.
It felt wrong. All wrong.
And the smell of her made me want to gag.
I yanked my head back, but there was literally nowhere to go since we were in a two person booth, so I had to push her away from me.
Gently, of course, because it wouldn’t do to be seen ‘assaulting’ a woman. Because I knew Lydia was vindictive like that, and would use any advantage she could get.
I wiped my lips free of her lipstick and glared at her. “Listen, Lydia. That was your one out. Don’t fucking do it again. Obviously, if you don’t comply, I’ll need to press sexual assault charges on you. Then I’ll need to call your daddy to tell him that you’re hanging with the trash again,” I growled.
She stared at me like I’d just kicked her puppy.
“You wouldn’t,” she hissed.
It was Reese’s voice that spoke next. “Oh, he would. Then again, he’s not who you have to worry about. In all honesty, he’s not really allowed to do much since he’s an officer of the law. I, on the other hand, am just a poor soul who doesn’t know the letter of the law. I just saw you trying to kiss my man. I could use being under distress as an excuse when I’m questioned later by the cops on why I had to kick your ass.”
I couldn’t see Reese, but Downy could.
Which was why he moved so quickly to intercept the punch that Reese threw at Lydia’s face.
He caught it easily, twirling Reese around until his front was pressed to her back.
Sadly enough, then my emotions started to get the better of me.
I wasn’t a jealous guy. Not usually. However, seeing my best friend holding my girlfriend like that did not inspire nice thoughts in my brain.
Rationally, I knew he’d never do anything. We were best friends and Downy tended to lean towards women who were docile and meek.
Which Reese was most definitely not.
My irrational brain didn’t have that objectivity. It only wanted to kick ass and take names. It didn’t care about the fact that Downy had my back no matter what.
“Downy,” I said quietly. “Get your goddamned hands off my woman.”
“That’s not what she was telling me moments ago. She told me she was done with you. That you’d even moved on, dating someone else,” Weston replied angrily.
I wanted to grit my teeth.
It’d been a ruse, after all, to get more information out of both parties.
I’d had a sinking suspicion that there was more to the story than what met the eye when it came to Weston.
I’d seen Lydia and Weston getting chummy out in front of Lydia’s store two days past, and I’d been suspicious that something wasn’t right.
And in order to figure out what it was, we needed them both to talk. What better way than to make it look like we’d broken up?
Except Lydia had pulled that stunt and Reese had immediately gone psycho Reese on her.
Not that it didn’t make me feel all warm inside and all, but now we’d not have the same opportunity that we’d once had.
Downy chuckled and ran his beard along her hair, inhaling her scent, and I nearly came unglued.
I was standing face to face with Downy in the next second, glaring daggers at him. “Don’t, pecker head. I’ll kick your fucking ass.”
He bellowed in laughter before letting go of his charge and slapping me hard on the back. “Let’s go eat, fuckers. I’m hungry.”***Reese
“I don’t like when you’re touching strange men,” He growled against the inside of my thigh hours later.