Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

Nico frowned. “Really? You’re sure she applied?”

“One hundred percent,” I agreed. “I talked to her about it yesterday on the way home from the movies. She applied and hasn’t heard anything back.”

Nico frowned and pulled out his phone.

Seconds later his fingers were flying over the keys.

“I texted him, we’ll see what he…” He trailed off as his phone beeped in his hand. “That’s weird. He’s coming over.”

My brows rose.

“Luke’s coming over here?” I asked in curiosity.

Nico nodded.

I looked around his living room and grinned. “You gonna clean up?”

Nico looked at the mess his kids had left in his house and shrugged. “Luke has his own kids. I’m fairly sure he isn’t going to notice the crumbs on the couch.”

He was right.

Ten minutes after his declaration, Luke came in without knocking, walked to Nico’s fridge as if he’d done it before, and sat down on the couch with his beer, crumbs and all.

“You should probably vacuum before your wife gets home,” Luke suggested as he sighed and leaned his head back against the couch. “I’m so tired.”

I looked at the big blond man and grinned. “You look like you just got in a fight.”

“That’s because I did,” he sighed. “I’m off duty as of five minutes ago. I thought I’d use your bathroom to clean up so my wife doesn’t see me and freak out like she did last time.”

Nico snorted. “You’re more than welcome. I think your clothes are still under the sink from last time, too.”

Luke held up a thumb, then turned his head on the couch and looked at me. “You’re the guy who knows the woman who applied to be a crime scene tech?”

I nodded once. “Ace Valentine.”

I held out my hand, and Luke took it, shaking it once before dropping my hand.

“You have her number?”

I blinked. “Yeah. She’s mine.”

He grinned. “Let me take a shower. Can you call her over here and I can just interview her now?”

The surprise must’ve shown on my face because he grinned.

“I’ve been looking for a new crime scene tech for months,” he said, reading my thoughts. “As long as she doesn’t have a record, and she’s hard working, I’m willing to interview her.”

I shrugged. “She was a problem teen, but I don’t think she actually has a record,” I felt it prudent to point out. I didn’t want to call Codie all the way over here and get her hopes up if Luke didn’t know what he was in for.

“What’s her full name?” he asked as he headed for the bathroom.

“Codie Spears,” I answered.

He paused and turned. “Is she the one that stole the old assistant chief’s cruiser?”

Nico snorted. “One and only.”

I shook my head. “She didn’t steal it. Her boyfriend, who happened to be the assistant chief’s son, did. Yet Jace didn’t correct his father when he blamed Codie.”

Luke shook his head. “I remember her vaguely through a few stories. Call her up. Get her here. Give me ten.” He paused and looked over his shoulder at Nico. “Call Ricky and ask him to run a background check on her. Give her the full name and address. You know the address, Ace?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

Luke nodded once and walked into the bathroom, slamming it shut behind him.

“I don’t miss all these goddamn toys,” he called out loudly.

Nico grinned. “Welcome to toy hell!”

I rolled my eyes. Toy Hell was an understatement. There were so many toys in the bathtub that I was fairly sure he’d have to stand on them. Even if he did take most of them out, he wouldn’t be able to step out of the shower once he was done.

“You really do need to get that under control,” I pointed out. “Tell your wife to stop buying them shit.”

Nico’s brows rose. “Yeah? Well, how about you pass that along to my sisters and yourself first. It’s not us buying them shit. It’s y’all.”

He did have a point. I’d had the twins with me just that morning before dropping them off at school. They’d conned me into toys at the gas station of all places when I’d stopped to get them something quick to eat.

“I guess that’s true,” I said as I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Codie’s number. “Now shut up.”

Nico flipped me off and went back to thumbing through his reloading magazine, casually turning through the pages and then writing a number down every so often.

I waited for Codie to pick up, and grimaced when it went to voicemail.

Determined, I called Callum who answered on the first ring.

“What?”

“Will you ride over to Codie’s place and tell her to answer her phone?” I asked politely.

“No, go fuck yourself,” he quipped back.

I snorted. “Please?”

“Why?” he challenged. “I literally just got in and I smell like shit because a cow was stuck in the pond and I had to help her out. If I ride over there it’ll take another fifteen minutes of me being in wet, shit-covered clothes.”