Chapter 14 Reid
FOURTEEN
Reid
Armchair_Detective: Who’s updating the blog post today?
ReidingRainbow: I can do it.
WhiteKnight31: Shouldn’t you be busy solving that cat cold case?
Armchair_Detective: Wouldn’t it be considered a live case? It’s active.
WhiteKnight31: Right, whatever. Either way, you should be busy.
ReidingRainbow: Kind of hitting a bit of a dead end. The ex seems like a solid suspect, but he hasn’t taken the fake-profile bait.
Armchair_Detective: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s always the boyfriend.
WhiteKnight31: Did you tell him you were a cat person?
Armchair_Detective: Maybe your flirting could use some work.
WhiteKnight31: Yeah, are you a professional at flirting with sociopathic men?
ReidingRainbow: I’ve had my practice.
Armchair_Detective: Any other suspects?
ReidingRainbow: Her neighbor is kind of fishy. Strange older lady. Already has a ton of cats. Hazel doesn’t want to believe it, but I think the circumstances are too perfect.
Armchair_Detective: How old we talking? Does it seem like she’d be able to figure out a burner phone number?
ReidingRainbow: I’m not sure, but regardless, we can’t rule her out as a suspect.
“Come on, add two more twenty-pounders.” West picked up two plates and placed them at the ends of the weight bar while I scowled at him.
“I’m already lifting past my goal,” I argued, but he slipped the plates on anyway. He always ignored my protests, insisted I didn’t push myself enough. Which, fair, I probably didn’t.
Going to the gym had been one of our shared routines since our college days. It had started out as more of West’s thing, but he’d dragged me along enough times that eventually, I’d started to enjoy it too. It felt good to move my body, to lift something heavy. The dopamine effect wasn’t a myth.
This gym was massive; I’d nearly gotten lost just walking in.
When I told West we should switch things up, he’d given me a strange look.
Our usual gym was a small, locally owned one.
We knew the owners by name and the place was always spotless and easy to get a bench at.
This place was the complete opposite—huge, industrial, packed with people trying to cram in a post-work workout.
One of those chains that were everywhere.
Decidedly not our scene. But they were offering a free trial, and I just so happened to know—thanks to some persistent location-tagging—that this was where a certain ex-boyfriend of Hazel’s liked to work out.
The idea that I would come here to spy on her ex was ridiculous.
So ridiculous, I hadn’t even admitted it to Hazel.
Because seriously—what could I possibly learn from watching him work out?
Unless he was bragging about his catnapping skills to the person blending smoothies at the front desk, I highly doubted I was going to gain any real insight.
Still, I was stuck. We weren’t getting any closer to solving the case and I didn’t want to let her down.
Plus, after spending a little too long stalking Paul’s profile, and seeing one too many old pictures of him and Hazel together, an obsessive curiosity had started digging its claws into my brain.
This was the guy. The guy Hazel had lived with.
The one she claimed had been kind of an ass, but also marginally helpful when her grandma’s health had deteriorated.
Was her type really gym rats with thick necks and bulking shoulders?
If so, then what did she think of me? I wasn’t scrawny.
I had muscles. But I was built lean, no matter how many protein shakes West had tried to shove down my throat over the years.
“Dude, let’s go. I’ll spot you,” West said.
I gave up trying to get him to remove the extra weights and laid down on the bench. The ceiling lights blurred above me as I gripped the bar and lifted it off the rack with a grunt. My glasses were set on a towel by my water bottle nearby.
I pulled the bar to my chest and lifted it with ease three times before West let out a whistle.
“See? I told you. You always undersell yourself. You get hung up on your goal weight and you don’t even try to do more.”
I did two more sets, slower each time, before I managed to get the bar back on the rack and sit up.
“I just did more, didn’t I?” I grabbed my water bottle and took a large sip while I wiped the sheen off my forehead. I scanned the surrounding area.
West shot me a disapproving look. “Only because I’m here.”
“And you’re always here.”
“Whatever. You’re impossible, man.” He shook his head and leaned against the rack as we took a small break to let our muscles reset.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this session to blow off some steam.
Hazel had been staying at my place for two days now, and while I’d call the experience mostly positive, there was this low, unspoken tension hanging in the air.
I was surprisingly at ease around her, and she was clearly making an effort to be tidy, even though it didn’t come naturally to her.
But still. Something felt…off. Just out of reach.
I kept telling myself it was her situation—the one I was supposed to be helping her fix. Maybe the guilt of not having any answers yet was settling in. Maybe I felt like I was failing her.
Deep down, I knew that wasn’t it.
The tension wasn’t constant. It only showed up when she was close, when we talked, when we made contact.
Like the other day, when I was grabbing a bowl from the kitchen cabinet and she’d reached past me for a glass of water.
She laid a hand on my waist, just to keep me from backing into her.
But the way my entire body locked up at that single touch?
Yeah. Hard to pretend that didn’t mean something.
And it was also hard to pretend that my heart wasn’t racing a little as I scanned the gym for a face I’d only cyber-stalked up until this point. He had to be here. He was always here.
“How’s the new house guest?” West asked, reading my mind as per usual.
“She’s good,” I said, knowing full well that Ruby had probably already filled him in on all the details. I knew they talked a lot. In fact, I was positive everything had made it back to my entire family by now. That was their way. Gossip spread faster than a cough during flu season.
“Just good?”
I shrugged and took another sip of water. West was always the talker in our friendship. Which I supposed I was grateful for. If it weren’t for him, I’d likely have way more of a shell surrounding me.
“Seems like you’re fishing for something,” I said.
He frowned at me. “Yes, I’m fishing. For something fucking interesting. You have a single, attractive girl living in your guest room and you have nothing to say about it?”
“How did you know she’s attractive?”
He smirked. “I didn’t, but you just confirmed it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “She’s got a lot on her mind. We’re just cohabitating,” I said.
A slight lie. We’d had some solid conversations.
While I might have expected us to retreat to our own corners of the house every evening, that hadn’t been the case.
After we got back from the animal shelter last night, she’d lingered in the kitchen while I made dinner.
She’d said she didn’t want any, but I made way too much on purpose, insisting she take some.
Then we’d watched another movie—rather, we’d talked through another movie.
For someone who liked my space so much, I was surprised to find that I also genuinely liked having Hazel around.
“And you haven’t made a move?” West asked.
I looked to the ceiling for patience. “She’s grieving.
Her grandmother passed away a month ago, she had her cat stolen, and she has money problems. The last thing she wants is for me to make a move.
” I said the last words in a mocking tone.
This line of questioning from West was something I’d expected.
Ever since my divorce, he’d been hounding me to meet someone new.
If they had it their way, West and my sisters would be managing my dating life, and I’d be going on blind dates five times a week to increase my odds.
But that wasn’t me.
“There’s no flirtatious vibe there? Absolutely nothing?” West asked.
I hesitated—just for a split second—but that was all it took.
“I knew it!” West clapped me on the shoulder, his brown eyes brightening with excitement. “You like her.”
I shoved his hand away. “I do like her, just not in the way you’re thinking. She’s a nice girl. I want to help her. Maybe we could be friends. But she’s a mess, West.”
My pulse pounded as those words spilled out of my mouth. Guilt swarmed me. Hazel was a bit of a mess. It was part of her charm. But saying the words out loud like that, to West who didn’t even know her, felt like an act of betrayal.
West frowned at my answer. “You’re never going to find someone who likes color coding as much as you do, Reid.”
“Did I even say that was high on my list of criteria?”
He sighed. “You didn’t have to. It’s written all over the way you refuse to bend for anyone.”
“I have a stranger living in my house right now. Is that not bending?”
The corner of his mouth tugged up. “It is bending. Which is exactly why I know this girl is more than nothing to you.”
“Jesus…”
I let my words trail off as I snatched my glasses from where they rested on the floor. I wiped them off on my t-shirt and put them on. I could make out West well enough without them, but he somehow looked even smugger in twenty-twenty.
I gave the gym another cursory scan now that I could see more clearly.
The bar benches had filled up since we’d arrived, but I didn’t see the person I was searching for.
I watched absentmindedly as the guy next to me lifted nearly twice what I was doing.
His biceps flexed as he struggled with the weight and a flash of irritation coursed through me as I noticed he didn’t have a spotter. Some people were so irresponsible, and…