34. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
M ICAH
Despite the chaos of the previous night, I start the next day in relatively high spirits. Maybe it’s because of Carly and everything we did last night. And this morning before she went to school.
Or maybe it’s the breakfast I had at My Fair Lady, which wasn’t half bad at all.
Or maybe it’s just the fact that I’m starting up a new project with Declan and I’m super excited about it. This deal could change everything. It might even be enough that I no longer need my grandfather’s help after all, depending on if more work springs out of it. I’ve already called my team and informed them, and they’re all ecstatic too. So far this will be our largest project yet and it’s a great thing to add to our portfolio.
I’m in high spirits by the time I make it to Declan’s home that morning.
I arrive earlier than our meeting time, expecting to find Declan having breakfast or something.
Instead, it’s Amelia who’s emerging from her room as one of her bodyguards, a tall blonde woman with a stern face, opens the door.
“It’s you,” she says, sounding unenthusiastic about my presence.
“Nice to see you too, princess.” I nod at the guards and try to ruffle her hair when I walk in. She slaps my hand away characteristically, giving a very teenage grunt as she turns her heel and walks back in. I step in and glance around the cool hotel suite. “Where’s your dad?”
She shrugs. “I think he’s off with Emma doing gross adult stuff. And Sandy went to get us breakfast, but I’m pretty sure she met that guy she likes at the coffee shop again and that’s why she’s taking so long.”
Sandy’s Amelia’s nanny and babysitter who Declan had brought from New York. According to him, she is also settling in town nicely.
“I see.” I settle on a couch, opposite Amelia who takes her place on the floor once again. A plethora of books and papers are sprawled in front of her. She also has her iPad propped on a low table and she’s peering at it every now and then before hunching over the books once more.
Then the iPad vibrates and she glances at it. She reads whatever it says and then mutters, “Of course.”
“What’s up?” I ask, halfway not expecting her to answer, at least not without snark. I know how teenage angst can be.
But she must be dying to share the information because with little prompting it starts spilling out.
“It’s this guy that my friend Jace found,” she says. “Jace is a friend I met online who’s helping me solve the case and find the thieves from Madam T’s diary.”
“Right,” I say, recalling the story briefly. “What about them?”
“Well, Jace’s dad is a cop in Texas and according to what he said, there was this guy who mentioned long ago that he thought he’d seen them. Madam T and the two other thieves. It was in Texas and he called the police and reported it and everything, but by the time they got there the thieves were gone. Jace managed to get some of the files from that incident and found the guy who made the report. He wanted to meet up with him and ask him a few questions. But guess what? Now the guy’s missing.”
I frown. “What do you mean he’s missing?”
“Well, Jace went over to his house and they said he’d wandered off somewhere. His family thinks he’s probably just lost because he has dementia or something and has been saying crazy things about seeing ghosts. But I dunno.” She shrugs. “This is like the third dead end we’ve had in the past two months since we’ve been searching for clues. It’s almost like someone doesn’t want us to figure out what happened.”
“Or…” I propose, “it was a weird crime that happened fifty years ago before they had the Internet and probably even before most of the forensic knowledge that we have today. All that evidence is probably lost and rotting somewhere.”
Amelia thinks about it, but her expression remains stubborn. “People have solved lots of cold cases before, even older than this one. If there’s any clue, I’ll find it.” Her chin goes up. “What if they’re still alive? The thieves that is. What if now they know we have it, they come back and try to steal the pearl again?”
“With that much FBI attention on that thing, I don’t think they would be that stupid,” I say. ‘“Also, if they’re still alive they’re going to be what, like eighty? The only things they’re looking to steal are dentures and Depends.”
Amelia smirks a little at that, but then she says, “Anyway. I’m not going to stop looking. It’s what Madam T would have wanted.”
“The dead lady?”
“Yup. But we don’t know if she really is dead. Remember they never saw her body or Vincent, so she could be alive.” Her eyes glitter. “Maybe she’s still in hiding because the other thief wants to kill her. Or maybe something supernatural happened to her and Vincent, and they’re asleep like vampires waiting to be unearthed.”
My eyebrows raise. “Wow.” Who would have thought that sensible-to-a-fault Declan would have such a conspiracy theorist for a daughter? “Anyone ever tell you you’d make an amazing writer?”
She lingers on that thought for a second and shrugs. “Maybe. But I think I want to be a detective when I grow up instead. Dad says he won’t let me because it’s too dangerous. But I’ll probably do it anyway.”
I shake my head and then a beep signifies that a card was scanned over the keypad. The door opens and Declan walks in looking a bit disheveled without Emma. She probably had to get to work. There’s a hickey at the base of his neck and his hair looks like someone was clutching it and pulling. It doesn’t take a genius to tell what he’s been doing.
I let a smirk spread on my lips. “Well, look what the cat dragged in.”
He frowns at me. “Didn’t think you would be coming today.”
I raise an eyebrow. “We have a meeting, don’t we?’
“Yeah, but Emma told me you got locked up last night for starting a riot in the Tiki Bar.”
“You went to jail?” Amelia’s eyes widen and I nod with a grin.
Hopefully, that gives me some street cred.
“Is that where you got the black eye?”
“Yes,” I respond, grinning even more. Carly tried to cover up the bruises with some of her concealer but I guess it didn’t work entirely. “I was defending my woman from some thugs, but one of them got in a sneaky hit.” Luckily, it didn’t hurt too bad and the swelling had gone down considerably after I iced it. Figures that the muscle-bound asshole hit like a total pansy.
“Your Uncle Micah started a riot,” an amused Declan repeats.
“I didn’t start that riot,” I correct. “The asshole who was bothering Carly did.”
“But you threw the first punch.”
“Well, he threw a symbolic punch when he insulted my woman. What was I supposed to do? Stand there like an idiot twiddling my thumb while he went at her? And the bastard grabbed her arm too? You would have done the same thing if that was Emma.”
“No,” Declan smirks at me. “I would have done a lot worse.”
“Is Carly alright?’ Amelia asks, and I nod.
“She’s fine. She was pissed at me but we’ve made up now.” I grin to myself thinking, Boy did we make up.
“Was Emma mad that I got her place wrecked?” I ask. “I can pay for all the damages if that makes it any better.”
“Nah.” Declan waves a hand. “They’ve got insurance. Besides, she wasn’t actually mad. She just thought the whole thing was funny. Carly on the other hand was mortified.” Declan eyes me for a few seconds, as though deeply considering the words he’s about to say. He even goes to pour a coffee for himself from a coffeemaker before he can speak.
“So this thing with you and Carl,” he ventures, “it’s getting serious, isn’t it?”
I cock an eyebrow. Even though Carly and I talked about our relationship last night and this morning, I don’t feel comfortable discussing it yet. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m not ready to accept all that quite yet, because it just feels so huge. Maybe I don’t want to jinx it when it’s so new and tentative.
I never thought I would be in a relationship, a real one that is. I always figured that I would either be a scoundrel for the rest of my life, or I would do what my dad did and settle for some type of arranged marriage where we lived in different houses and barely tolerated each other.
A part of me is scared that I’m misreading my own feelings and I’m leading Carly on.
I’m scared I’m going to fuck up.
“I guess,” I say to Declan and he frowns at me. That clearly isn’t the answer he’s looking for.
“You guess?”
I shrug. “I still don’t know yet. But I do care about her.”
His frown deepens and I can’t resist joking. “Is this the part where you play protective brother-in-law and tell me to stay away from her?”
Declan hesitates. “I was going to but now I’m not so sure.” He cocks his head. “So what do you feel for her?”
Sigh. He really is going to make me talk about this, isn’t he?
“I care about her,” I admit. “A lot. But love... I don’t even know what that is.”
Declan nods like he understands. He takes a sip of his coffee, grimacing slightly.
“I didn’t know I was falling in love with Emma either.” He gives the window a nostalgic look. “Didn’t know what love was until she tried to break up with me and suddenly it was like my world came crashing down. I couldn’t eat or sleep or breathe without her.” He smiles a little. “Still didn’t figure it was love until it knocked me over the head.”
“Gross,” Amelia says. “If you guys are gonna talk about this stuff don’t do it in front of me. I’m a kid.”
“Yeah, a kid with a secret online boyfriend,” I tease and she blushes.
“He’s not my boyfriend. We’re just solving mysteries together.”
“That’s how all the best love stories start,” I say, and she makes a face.
“How was jail?” she asks and I have a feeling she’s eager for some cool stories full of violence and turf wars and people getting shivved with sharp spoons.
I want to give it to her, just to raise my street cred a little more, but Declan shoots me a warning look.
I sigh.
“Don’t ever end up there,” I tell her. “It smells like piss and donuts.”
Declan’s words about love stick with me even after our meeting and after I go pick Carly up from school.
We go for a walk and have lunch by the lake. And then we go home to take a nap. We do plain old relationship stuff but for some reason it’s never boring. I can’t be bored with her.
It’s a nice, relaxing day.
Until I wake up to the feeling of her tongue circling my cock.