CHAPTER ONE
Addison
FRIDAY MORNING, I
was awakened by the phone buzzing on my nightstand. I rolled over with a groan
and checked the caller ID. Harley. “Um, hello, no calls before eleven on
Fridays. You better be in a ditch with a broken leg somewhere.”
My best friend groaned into the phone.
“I just got fired.”
I sat up and gasped. “What the hell? Why?”
Harley Linn James had been my best
friend since she transferred into my exclusive private school in the fourth
grade. She’d been given a special scholarship due to her family’s financial
situation and the shrew girls (we’d named them that because they were way worse
than mean girls) clocked her the second she walked through the doors.
Harley was gorgeous. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. As
in, soft, curly red hair, a smattering of freckles over her nose that was cute
as hell (as my brother said all too many times), hazel eyes, and when she hit
her teens, she developed a curvy figure which was all too often noticed by all
the right people...and many of the wrong ones too.
On the flipside of all of her beauty,
there was a quick wit and an even faster trigger with her mouth. Although she
rarely stood up for herself, she fought for everyone else: me, the janitor
being harassed by the shrew girls, random dogs locked in hot cars on sunny
days, bugs about to be squished in the hallway. And while this kept her from
belonging to the “in” crowd, it made me love her even more.
And now she was calling me at
nine-fifty-nine in the morning because her asshat of a boss had fired her. And
I’m pretty sure I know why she was let go—because despite his many advances, she
wouldn’t sleep with him.
“Why do you think?” she confirmed.
“Come over.”
“I’m already here.”
“Well, then come in. Why are you not
already inside?”
“Because I didn’t know if you had your
gun in its safe, or next to you, and I didn’t want to be fired and dead!”
I giggled. “Gun is in its safe. Come on
in.”
I slid out of bed and wrapped my silk
Armani robe around me. I could walk
around half-naked in front of Harley, but she’d already been traumatized enough
for one day.
I hustled into the living room and
pulled her in for a hug. “He’s a dick.”
“I know,” she said, her stoic nature
working overtime.
“You can cry you know.”
“I’m not
going to cry over that asshole!” she snapped. “I might drink bleach later,
a nice two-thousand-fifteen Clorox, but I won’t cry!”
“Okay, lady.” I forced myself not to
laugh as I raised my hands in surrender. “Coffee?”
“Yes,” she breathed out. “Coffee. STAT.”
“You should have been a nurse,” I mused
as I grabbed containers for my Keurig.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you have the lingo down.”
“Shut it.” Harley gave me her “I will
stab you in your sleep” eyes and I smiled.
“Nurse Harley. I wonder if you’d be
anything like Nurse Jackie. Let me see your eyes. Are your pupils pinned?”
I heard a quiet snort and turned to see
her biting back a smile.
“I totally beat your record!”
We’d had an unwritten contest for as
long as I could remember that whenever one of us was having a bad day, the
other one had to get her to laugh. Harley usually won; however, I just bested
her, so I did a happy dance around my kitchen while I’m sure she plotted my
murder in her mind.
“Let’s go out tonight,” I suggested, and
handed her a cup of coffee.
“Um, hello. No job, no money.”
“I’m paying.” I smiled. “Or Daddy is.”
My father was how do you say...absent?
So when my parents separated, he gave Asher and me credit cards to use whenever
we wanted. Even after my parents reconciled (for appearances only, let’s be
honest), Daddy insisted we keep the cards “for emergencies.”
Asher never touched his...as a highly
skilled attorney, he didn’t need to. Me, however? I hadn’t quite found myself.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I did nothing,
but planning fundraisers and events for Mother and Daddy isn’t what I
ultimately wanted to do with my life. I was good at it, but it wasn’t my bliss.
Of course, using Daddy’s money whenever I wanted to did bring a certain measure
of joy, and since I did the work for less than most meeting planners would
charge, I let my father assuage his absent-parent guilt when I needed cash for retail
therapy...or bar hopping.
“Addie.”
Before I could respond, my phone buzzed.
“Oh, look, it’s my brother.”
“Don’t answer,” Harley demanded.
“Hey, Ashy.”
“I’m killing you in my head,” she
hissed.
I gave her a sassy smile and focused on
my brother. Asher was two years older than me and besides Harley, my best
friend. It had been the two of us against the world (or our parents) forever...still
was, to be honest. Then along came Harley, using her sharp wit and small-town charisma
to carve her way into the position of (her words) third wheel, although,
admittedly she was the axel and we were the spokes.
We’d had more fun than three kids should
legally be allowed to have, until she and Asher caught the feels for each other
and started acting more like two stooges.
“Hey, sis,” Asher said.
“What’s up, favorite brother of mine?”
“Can I swing by
and grab that portfolio I asked you to look over?”
“When?”
“Like, now?”
I glanced at
Harley and she glared at me, shaking her head. She must have heard Asher’s
question.
“Ummm...”
“I know it’s
before eleven, but it’ll only take a second. I can just let myself in, but wanted
to call in case your gun wasn’t in its safe.”
“What is with everyone and my gun?” I snapped. “I
wouldn’t just shoot anyone willy-nilly.”
“Bobby Moore,”
he said at the same time Harley asked, “Who the hell says willy-nilly?”
Bobby Moore had
been my shooting instructor and he’d made the mistake of trying to flirt with
me while teaching me to shoot. I almost shot his leg off when I’d thrown my
hand up in frustration because he kept distracting me. In the end, the bullet
went through his jeans, just grazing his calf, and I realized he’d never be the
man for me. He was way too weak...blubbering like a sissy at the minor flesh
wound. I still shuddered thinking about it, and Asher loved to remind me.
“One time,” I
replied. “And it was just a flesh wound.”
Asher chuckled. “Sure
we’ll go with that. Did I hear Harley?”
“Yep,” I said,
stepping away from the laser-beam glare Harley shot me. “She says ‘hey.’”
“I hate you,”
Harley breathed out, and I blew her a kiss.
“I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Sounds good,” I said, and hung up.
* * *
Harley
“Addison
Angeline Allen don’t you turn your back on me,” I demanded in the most
threatening tone I could conjure.
“More coffee?” Addison asked.
I slid my mug toward her. “Please tell
me your brother is not on his way
here.”
“You couldn’t possibly want me to lie to
you, could you?” she asked, looking appalled. “Harley, you know I’m not that
kind of girl.” Then she beamed me her signature, hundred-watt smile, reminding
me why I could never stay mad at her. She was like a cute little blonde-haired,
blue-eyed demon whose great intentions were sure to lead me straight to my own
personal hell.
“He can’t see me like this, Addie. I’m
so…” Destitute, jobless, beaten, pathetic; none of the adjectives I could come
up with did my situation justice.
“Are you kidding me? Right now is the
perfect time for him to see you. You’ll tell him what your boss did and he’ll
swoop in and drag the asshat to court, saving the day and forcing you to
finally admit you’re in love with him so the two of you can get married and
give me lots of gorgeous nieces and nephews.”
Addison was also a hopeless romantic.
“You think you got this all figured out,
don’t you?” I asked, preparing to crush her dreams.
She nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve even
found you the perfect dress.”
And I bet the glamorous creation would
cost more than I made in a year. I needed to derail this train before it
flattened the pennies left in my savings account. Don’t get me wrong, when it
came to Asher, Addison and I had the same goal in mind–I’d marry her smart,
funny, kind, handsome big brother and have his babies—but I intended to make my
own way in this world first. I was working on a plan to dig myself out of the
hole I’d been born into so I could climb up to his level, but losing my job
would take me back to square one. And at twenty-four-years old, and acutely
aware of my biological clock ticking toward thirty, I didn’t want to start
over.
Feeling defeated, I collapsed on the sofa
and stared at the ceiling. “You don’t get it, Addie. I want Asher to see me as
an equal…as someone he’s chosen to love because of what I bring to the table.
Not because he has to rescue me like some damsel in distress, getting harassed
by my pervert of a boss.”
She put her hands on her hips and stared
me down. “You’re an idiot, you know that? Ash has been in love with you since—”
“Since when?” I interrupted. “Since that
stupid “Seven Minutes in Heaven” game when I threw up in his lap? I’m sure that made quite the impression. Not my
best moment, Addie.”
She cracked a smile while shaking her
head at the memory. Some people got sweaty hands or stuttered when they were
nervous. Turns out I threw up…all over the boy I’d spent my entire life crushing
on. Epic.
“That was years ago, and you—”
“Can still barely talk to him without
losing my lunch,” I finished for her. “Admit it, Addie, I’m a lost cause.”
“So you like the guy so much it ties
your stomach in knots. It’s…it’s sweet.”
I barf on him and she calls it sweet. See?
Hopeless romantic.
“And when he finds out what your boss
did to you, he’ll—”
Asher picked that very moment to walk
into the living room. Of course he did, because I was having the best day ever.
“What’s going on with your boss,
Harley?” he asked, without missing a beat.
My cheeks heated as my eyes sought him
out, wondering what else he’d overheard. Asher was suited up for the day. Probably
Armani, since both he and Addison had a penchant for the designer. He had the
same blond hair as his sister, but his blue eyes had an intenseness to them
that always managed to steal my breath away. He was currently rocking a short
beard that added a layer of ruggedness to his posh handsomeness, taking him to yet
another level out of my league. Hell, now that I was jobless, we weren’t even
playing the same sport. I sat there in my clearance-rack skirt and blazer,
acutely aware of the small run in the back of my nylons, wishing I could blend
in with Addison’s leather sofa. When I didn’t answer his question, he turned to
Addison.
“Addie?”
“Her boss is a douchebag,” Addison
replied. “He’s been hitting on her since she started there and when he finally
realized it wasn’t going to happen, he fired her.”
Asher’s eyes hardened and the muscles
along his jawline rippled as he turned his intense gaze back onto me. “Is that
true?”
I swallowed. “Not...exactly.”
“Harley!” Addison admonished.
When I didn’t elaborate, Asher walked
over to the sofa and sat down beside me. “Tell me.”
The heat of his body did crazy things to
my pulse, but I forced myself to woman-up and face him. “There were some
discrepancies with the budget. I brought them to his attention and he informed
me they weren’t my concern and ordered me to keep my nose in my own job. But
they affected my job because I couldn’t add his expenses without plunging the
budget into the red, so I…I took my issue to his boss. Next thing I know, “Kirk
the Jerk” is helping me pack up my desk under the watchful eye of the security
guard. Like I would take anything that reminded me of that place.”
Asher arched an eyebrow. “So he wasn’t
hitting on you?”
“Uh…well...let’s just say that wasn’t
the reason I was fired.”
“More like it wasn’t the reason he gave
you,” Addison countered with a huff. “Seriously, Ashy, you should hear some of
the things this Kirk douchebag has said to her. And the other day, he actually
patted her on the ass! Can you imagine? Don’t you think she should—”
“Not important right now,” I said,
feeling my cheeks heat up as I cast a hard glare at her. “Addie, you’re not
helping.”
She glared right back at me. “You can’t
let him get away with that crap.”
Asher grabbed my hand, forcing my
attention back on him. “Harley, if your boss did or said anything inappropriate,
you have options for—”
“For never getting a job in this town
again?” I asked, emboldened by my frustration. I tugged my hand away from his,
stood, and started pacing to work out my energy. “As much as I would love to do
a solid for women everywhere and nail Kirk’s balls to the wall, I have to think
about my future here. Do you have any idea what a sexual harassment case does
to a woman’s chance of employment? I need to work, Ash. I had a plan and I
was…” I paused long enough to swallow back my emotions, reminding myself that
crying wouldn’t solve anything. “It would be less detrimental to my career to
kill him than it would be to sue him.”
“Great, I’ll get my gun,” Addison said,
heading for the safe.
Always the voice of reason, Asher lunged
to wrap his sister in a hug, effectively cutting off the route that would begin
her murder sentence. “I get what you’re saying, Harley. I don’t like it and I
wish I could change your mind, but I understand why you don’t want to go after
your boss. Regardless, he’s definitely not worth those consequences.”
Addison snorted. “We can hide a body,
Harley.”
“You say that like you’ve done it
before,” Asher accused.
Addison raised her hands in the air. “I
will neither confirm, nor deny...”
“To be clear, we’ve never bagged a body
then weighted it down with twenty-pound cinderblocks before throwing it in the
river, watching it sink and never be seen again.” I winked at Addison and then
sighed. “Asher’s right, though, Addie. I don’t want to spend any more time or
energy on Kirk. I just want to drink my feelings away this weekend, and then
Monday morning I’ll put on my big girl panties and update my resume.” And with
a little luck, I’d have my college loans paid off right about the time I hit
ninety.
Addison’s expression softened. I could
tell she wanted to hug me, but was thankful she didn’t, because I could barely
hold onto my tears as it was. “You’re amazing and awesome and super duper
incredible, so you’ll find something quickly. I know you will. I’ll help you go
through job listings this weekend.”
“Thanks, Ad.”
“Tonight we party, though,” Addison
said. “On me. Ashy, wanna join us?”
“Can’t, sis. I’d love to stick around
and make sure you two don’t end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, but
I’ve gotta get back to work. And I have dinner with a client tonight. But call
me if you need anything.” He released Addison to grab a file off the coffee
table. Then he hugged me.
Asher had been one of my two best
friends for years, and his arms felt safe and familiar, like a lighthouse
directing me out of my current storm. I laid my head on his shoulder and
breathed in his scent, content to let him hold me while tears stung my eyes. I
wished I could stay like that forever, but all too soon the rest of my body
picked up on his nearness, increasing my pulse and launching my stomach into a
triple-tuck flip with a half-twist.
I started to pull away, but Asher gave
me one last squeeze, whispering, “I miss you” against my cheek. Then he
released me and headed out. I watched his very impressive backside disappear
out the door before turning back to Addison.
“That bit about the body in the river
was clever,” she said. “A little terrifying, but clever.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been reading mafia
novels.”
Addison rolled her eyes. “You’re so
weird. No reading tonight, though. We’re gonna go out and make sure you forget
all about that sleazy boss. Which reminds me, I finally figured out a way to
deal with my own sleaze problem.”
Because Addison was gorgeous and at
least three tax brackets above the average working guy, she was often hit on by
greasy gold-diggers who wanted to get their hands on her daddy’s money. Yes,
male gold-diggers were a real problem for her, and just like their female
counterparts, they had no shame. Many of our conversations had been interrupted
by men, shirts open to their waists to thrust their ripped chests into Addison’s
face like she was some kind of bitch in heat who wouldn’t be able to stop
herself from rolling over and showing her who-ha at their manliness.
Right. But no matter how many cheesy
pickup lines they tried to sell to Addison, they couldn’t seem to buy a clue
that jobless, pretty-boy scrubs weren’t her type. And sometimes the
overly-confident jerks were really hard to deflect, forcing Addison to get
creative.
The last time we’d gone out some
douchebag who oiled his chest—not kidding, he was shiny and reeked of baby
oil—wearing an open blazer and skinny jeans wouldn’t leave our table until she
gave him her number. Seeing no way out of it, she scrawled some fake digits on
a napkin and handed it over. He took two steps away from our table, called the
number, then turned to freak out on Addison for throwing him a fake. As if his
pretty face and stacked body entitled him to her number.
“Good. What’s the plan?” I asked.
She grinned. “This time I’ll use a real
fake number.”
“Come again?”
“Well, I set up another phone line, so I
just need to record a voicemail for my fake name and bam! Problem solved.”
I scratched my head. “So you’re paying a
monthly line fee to give guys a fake number?”
She nodded, still grinning. “Genius,
right?”
I was thinking more along the lines of
expensive and unnecessary, but I could see where it would be useful. “You
sticking with the name Lynda?” I asked.
Both Addison and Asher called their
navigation systems Linda. I’d made the mistake of asking why once, and had
gotten some long, drawn-out answer that boiled down to neither of them knowing.
It was just something they did. So when Addison gave out a fake name, she used
Lynda. Using her navigation system’s name was her little inside joke way of
telling people to get lost. and writing Lynda with a “Y” instead of an “I” was
like telling them to get lost with a flourish on the tail. Which pretty much
summed up why she was my best friend.
“Of course,” she said, grabbing her
phone. “Then whenever we’re having a crap-lousy day we can dial in and listen
to the messages. It’ll be like our own little reality show. We’ll call it Clueless Scrubs.”
Despite my own crap-lousy day, I couldn’t
help but laugh as Addison set up an extra-breathy message on her new voicemail.
“You know…” I grinned. “If your dad ever cuts you off, I think you could have a
real future as one of those phone sex operators.”
She threw her phone at me. Then, knowing
exactly what I needed, my bestie clapped her hands together and said, “All
right, let’s get this party started.”
We drank mimosas for breakfast.
* * *
I
was sleeping off the worst hangover of my life Saturday morning when loud
pounding woke me up.
BAM BAM BAM!
Before I could even get my bearings, the
door of my studio apartment burst open and two police officers filed in with
their guns drawn.
I sat up and tugged my comforter around
me, instantly sobering up by at least three margaritas. “What…what’s
happening?” I asked.
Neither spoke. The Hispanic cop kept his
weapon trained on me, while the blond scoured the small space, checking behind
my sofa, searching the closet, and peeking under my bed before he paused in
front of the bathroom door. He swore, then squared his shoulders and entered. I
heard the shower curtain slide over its rod before he reemerged.
“It’s clean. Let’s take her in.” He
turned and spoke into his radio, but I was too freaked out to pay attention to
what he said.
“Take me in? To where? For what? What’s
going on?” I asked.
“We need you to calm down, ma’am. We
need you to come with us down to the station for questioning,” the Hispanic cop
said.
His declaration was the opposite of
calming. Heart thundering against my chest, I asked, “What?! Why?”
Instead of answering, he tugged me from
my bed, revealing my tank top and panties. The blond kept his gun on me while
the Hispanic officer gathered clothes and sneakers and tossed them on the bed. As
soon as I dressed, he handcuffed me. When he tugged me past the bathroom door I
peeked in. Dark streaks ran across the floor, the wall, and the shower curtain.
“What the hell?” I asked, leaning back
as they shuffled me forward. “Is that…is that blood?”
No answer.
Why
is there blood all over my bathroom?
We stepped out into the hallway where
the Hispanic handed me off to a female officer. She tugged me forward, around
two more cops who were roping off the area with yellow crime scene tape. I
looked past them to see the body of a man propped against the wall, only steps
from my front door.
I recognized the rumpled dark suit,
thinning brown hair, and beady little eyes immediately.
But the knife sticking out of his chest
was new.
* * *
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