Buttons and Blame (Buttons 5)

“Didn’t seem like it when I talked to her.” I poured a glass of scotch at the bar.

“Don’t stick your nose in my marriage.”

“Don’t stick your nose in my relationship,” I countered.

“Relationship?” he hissed. “This is a relationship now?”

Very poor choice of words. “You know what I mean.”

“Cane, I want your word that you’re returning this woman. She’s a nice girl and I feel bad for her, but she’s not our problem. Do you understand me?”

I drank my scotch and ignored him.

“Give me your word.”

“Fine. You have my word, alright?”

Crow still didn’t look like he believed me.

“What do you want me to say?”

He grabbed his own glass and poured the scotch.

“I am fond of her.” I watched my brother down the liquor as quickly as I did. “I do like her. I don’t want her to go back. I admit all of those things. But there’s nothing I can do for her. She asked me to help her in another way…and I agreed.”

Crow set his glass down, his eyes on me.

“She asked me to get her cyanide pills…”

Crow’s eyes darkened in pity.

“So it’ll look natural, and they won’t hurt Lizzie.”

“It’s sad, but…it’s the best thing for her.”

“I agree.”

“Did you get the pills?”

I nodded.

“Then I guess you are returning her.”

I nodded again.

He finished his liquor and turned the glass over on the counter. “This stays between us, alright? Pearl doesn’t need to know about it.”

“I agree.”

“It’ll just get her upset again.”

“I know.”

Crow looked to the other side of the room, seeing the men haul equipment from the storage unit.

“You really should drop the fight. Pearl is pretty heartbroken about it.”

“We worked it out last night.”

“You did?” I asked. “Took long enough.”

“She needed to apologize to me.”

“Didn’t you slap her?”

His face immediately fell like I’d punched him in the gut. “We worked it out. That’s all that matters.”

“I’m either gonna get the details from you or her. So you may as well tell me.”

“Fine. She said she wouldn’t be stupid anymore, running off whenever she feels like it. And I promised her I would never…do that again.” He bowed his head, looking ashamed for the first time since I’d known him.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over. I was afraid the fight would never end.”

“We’ll always work it out. I just… I was so fucking mad at her.”

“I know, Crow. I was there.”

“What did she say Tristan said anyway?”

I definitely wasn’t telling him about the trade Tristan wanted to make. That would send Crow over the edge into the biggest rage I’d ever seen him have. “That he would never sell Adelina. She’s invaluable.”

“Then you were right.”

Of course I was right. I was fucking her, wasn’t I?

“Did he say anything else?”

“No. Just told her not to come back. Said she was trying to act like one of the men when she’s just a stupid woman…” I pulled that out of my ass, but I had to make it sound believable. No way in hell was I telling him the truth.

Crow sighed in relief. “Thank god we’re valuable to Tristan. If any other woman walked in there…”

“Doesn’t matter. Pearl is home.”

“Yeah.” He eyed the bottle of scotch before he poured himself another glass. “Simon checks out. The shipment looks good to me.”

“I didn’t need your input to know that.”

He clapped me on the shoulder before he walked away. “I know you didn’t, brother.”

* * *

I had a few things to wrap up at work, but I didn’t want to stick around.

So I bailed.

I was taking time off to show Adelina around, so I needed to work longer days when I was at the base. But I didn’t end up working longer hours to catch up. So my work was starting to pile up on me, slowly drowning me. If Crow figured it out, he’d be pissed.

Who was I kidding? If? When. When Crow figured it out.

I pulled up to the house and walked through the front door, expecting to see Adelina watching TV or cooking in the kitchen. She wasn’t in either place. I investigated the house but didn’t find her in any of the bedrooms.

For a brief moment, I panicked. “Bellissima?” I walked back into the living room and glanced out into the backyard.

There she was. She was lying in one of the lounge chairs in her bikini. Her top was gone, and her perfect tits were exposed to the sunlight. She wore a large sun hat, and a book was sitting in her lap. A glass of wine was on the table beside her.

She looked like she was having a good day.

If I’d known she was sprawled out like this on the lounge chair while I was at work all day, I wouldn’t have gotten a single thing done. I stepped onto the back patio, and she stirred when she realized I was home. She sat up and tilted her head back so she could look at me from under her sun hat.