Total pages in book: 767
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 732023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 3660(@200wpm)___ 2928(@250wpm)___ 2440(@300wpm)
I grabbed my keys and headed out of my apartment. Nix leaned against his SUV out front.
“You look like you slept as well as I did,” I grumbled, walking up to him.
His hair was a mess, as if he’d run his hands through it and dark circles were beneath his eyes. It went unsaid that while we’d spent two nights in bed with each other—naked—it had been because of Kit. For Kit. With Kit. I had no interest in Nix. I didn’t play for that team. We had a shared interest in our woman. Making her happy, keeping her happy. And since two dicks were in her playbook, we stripped down and gave her what she wanted.
“You slept?” he asked, taking a sip of his to-go cup of coffee. “This isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t?” I practically growled. If he was going to agree with Kit, he was going to be sporting a black eye.
He held up a hand. “Hear me out, fucker. She broke up with us to protect us.”
“Yeah,” I said, waiting for something I didn’t know. I was surly as fuck and didn’t have time to wait for him to get his ass in gear.
“We should be together, no matter what.”
That, I agreed on.
“But she’s trying to protect us,” I said. “Our jobs.”
“Exactly. We’ve known all along that being with her while working the Erin Mills case was not a good idea.”
“But we did it anyway,” I added. “Why should it tear us apart? It’s not fucking fair.”
Nix smiled, let it fall away. “This isn’t kindergarten. I think Miranski has an idea about the three of us, but she hasn’t let on. If my boss found out through channels… he’d shit a brick.”
I could imagine. “There’s epic conflict of interest on my part. Any case against Kit could be thrown out because of impartiality alone.”
“Which is why we shouldn’t be together,” he replied.
“Fuck that.”
A couple walking by eyed me funny at my vehemence. I ran my hand over my head, stepped closer to Nix.
“I’m resigning,” I said.
He froze. “You’re serious.”
I tucked my hands in my pant pockets. “Deadly.”
“Good.”
My eyebrows went up. “Not what I was expecting to hear.”
“I called my boss. Told him I was in a relationship with Kit, a suspect, that it had been going on for a while and that wasn’t going to change.”
“I thought you said he’d shit a brick when he found out.”
“If he found out from someone besides me. Kit’s worth whatever he wanted to do to me. I don’t want to hide what we have.”
“Holy shit. You got fired?”
“He wanted to fire my ass. He wanted to suspend me. But he can’t. Not with the murder case.” He laughed, rubbed the back of his neck. “He put Miranski on the Mills case. I’m tackling all others. He’s not happy, but he’ll survive. It’s only been forty-eight hours since she was found. I handed over my notes. Miranski ran Kit’s questioning. It’s all recorded and legit. Keith Mills might have his panties in a twist, but it would only become an issue for your office… if she were actually under arrest for the crime.”
I sighed, because that was never going to happen. “Which she won’t be.”
“You’re quitting?” he asked, circling us back to my earlier announcement.
“I’ve been my dad’s pawn in the DA’s office all along.”
“You didn’t win cases because of your father.”
“No, but I got the resume building cases because Daddy’s mayor. He has plans for me.”
He studied me and I waited for him to connect the dots. “The mayor and his future DA. Nash and Nash.”
“Exactly.”
“You don’t want to be his right-hand man?” The words were laced with sarcasm. Nix knew Pops well, knew how slick he was.
“I’ll start my own practice. He won’t be happy, but his happiness is not my concern.”
“Kit’s is,” he replied, pushing off the side of his SUV.
“That’s right. I have to run. Time to watch the shit hit the fan.”
I couldn’t be happier.
***
KIT
I was going through the motions. I spent the night on Dolly’s couch. I’d slept on there before, back in high school when my mom had either been in one of her manic moods or in the hospital on psych eval. But I hadn’t ached for two men, nor had lusty thoughts about them that had me slipping my hands beneath my sleep shorts, still leaving me unfulfilled. I also hadn’t had nightmares of my friend being murdered.
Between crying over what I couldn’t have and waking up afraid I was next on the murderer’s list, I’d barely slept.
Thankfully, makeup covered most of the puffy eyes and dark circles. I didn’t have to think all too much working at the diner. Not that it was easy, but because, besides the one year I was in Billings, I’d been working there for a decade.