Fireball (Cheap Thrills 1)

“Nine days,” I muttered, the weight of those days catching up with me all at once.

“Nine days,” she sighed. “But I can’t. I should have listened to you and heard your side of the story, and I should have seen that there was more to it than it seemed. I’m such a bitch.”

That was when I felt something wet under my ass. Lifting a cheek up off the floor, I felt around with my hand and groaned when I discovered the amount of water that my fireball had managed to get under me. It could only have come from her, because I’d checked the floor before I’d sat down in case there was water left over from all the cups she’d thrown in my face since she’d been here.

“Was that really necessary?” I didn’t need to say what she’d done, she knew full well what I was talking about.

“Well, yeah. You upset me!”

Only five minutes ago, I didn’t think I’d ever get to laugh with her again like I’d done a million times since I’d met her, so the burst that came out of me felt damn good.

When it finally left me, I went all in. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t tell you for a number of reasons. Dad married her mom out of the blue, and they made my life an uncomfortable hell from the start. I moved here to get away from Rita and Luli, but she followed me and kept going with her bullshit. Most of the time I forgot she existed, and then she’d do some shit to remind me all over again…there were a lot of days where I wondered if I was gonna be stuck in that repetitive evil cycle for the rest of my life.”

“Why did he marry her?”

Groaning, I tried to shift so that my ass didn’t feel so wet, but it was impossible – more than likely because my ass was fucking soaked through. “He only told me the full story today. I knew after they were both caught trying to break into my house three years ago that he was still with her because of a case. There had been an investigation into a group of women who targeted men online going on for a while. The women would convince the men to file for divorce, begin a relationship with them, and then leave taking the divorce settlements with them. Six years ago, a man who’d been a victim of theirs committed suicide, and his ex-wife hired a PI to track down the women responsible for the group after she found out about it. That led back to Vegas where Luli was working from. Dad went with some friends and pretended to be a high roller with cash to burn, she took the bait, and there you have it. Unfortunately for her, Hurst got some information on her and the man running the operation from Greece, and she was arrested yesterday.”

I only just managed to hear her response through the door. “Holy shit.”

Jarrod’s on the other hand was clear as day. “Jesus Christ, what a fucked up bitch. Rita tried to get on my dick, ya know. Freaked me the hell out and now I know why.” This was followed by him singing Redneck Crazy by Tyler Farr, a song I recognized because the title never failed to make me laugh, not even when we were discussing the big mess that had been my life.

“I also didn’t tell you because…” shit, this part was the hardest. I’d never laid my feelings out to anyone before so getting the words out was hard. Then again, I’d explained about the tattoo on my side to her and talked about Mom, so I was capable of doing it. And there was no incentive like trying to get back the woman that you were in love with. “I didn’t tell you because she’d done so much to Jose, Olivia, and you, and I didn’t want you to judge me. Sometimes, even if you’re innocent, you’re presumed guilty by association. Hell, I’ve done that enough times in my job to know that we do it without realizing. From anyone else it would be ok, but from you?” I trailed off, remembering the look on her and Jose’s faces when they’d found out.

I started to fidget when she didn’t say anything back. As the silence stretched on it got even worse, until I felt more wetness under me. Shoving my hand back under my ass, I growled, “Will you stop doing that?”

A thud beside me had me turning my head to see that Jarrod had tipped his half full bottle of water out of the still open window on his door. Because I crawled over to get it, I missed what she said and only came back halfway through it.