Chapter 80
CHAPTER EIGHTY
CASPER
“You okay?”
I peeked one of my eyes open to find the bossman crouched at my side.
“I think I love her.” I smirked, closed my eye, and blinked them both open again. Except no one was there this time. Didn’t know if I’d imagined him or if he’d been creeping around like he usually was. Could have gone either way and I couldn’t be fucked enough to find out.
I pushed up on my elbows and saw Bellatrix’s silhouette disappearing down the long driveway, her shoes swinging in her hands and her hair blowing behind her. She was walking like she was pissed. But thankfully, I didn’t think it was aimed at me anymore. Or at least not all of it was aimed at me.
I rolled onto my knees, cracked my neck from side to side, pushed off the ground, and sprinted after her. “Wait up!”
“Why?” she grumbled out of the side of her mouth.
I slowed my pace to walk beside her. Which wasn’t easy. I could tell her feet were bothering her on the gravel and two of her steps were already one of mine. “You gonna ask her?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you care.”
She glared at me from the corner of her eye. “Since when has that mattered?”
“Since you became my girlfriend.” I grinned.
She opened her mouth to argue with me but must have decided against it and shook her head instead. “You got a car around here?”
“You wanna ride, babe?” I quirked an eyebrow, and she ran her gaze over me. From head to crotch.
“In a car and nothing else.”
“I don’t believe you.” My grin widened as I guided Bellatrix off the driveway and towards the side of the house. When she stumbled on a stray rock, I gripped her up at the waist and tossed her over one of my shoulders.
She responded by hammering her fists against my back, followed by the heels of her shoes. “Put me down, asshole!”
We were back to the pet names. That was a good sign.
I ignored her and kept walking until the bossman’s Merc came into view. Then I set her onto her feet and let her huff herself over to the passenger’s side while I slid behind the wheel and slipped his keys out of my pocket.
“No bike tonight?” I asked her as I maneuvered the car onto the path that would take us out of the gates and onto the main road.
“No.” She mumbled some shit under her breath and turned in her seat to look out the window.
“Back to the house?”
Bellatrix nodded once but she didn’t bother to look over at me.
Guess some of that anger was still directed my way.
A few good orgasms would change that. Always worked for me.
I popped a piece of chewing gum into my mouth and offered her some from the packet. Bellatrix shook her head and I added, “It’s sugar free.”
She glanced at the shiny label for a moment before snatching it out of my hand. She spent the rest of the drive over to her place gnawing on the gum like it had personally offended her.
I looked around Bellatrix’s bedroom, picking up a random ball I found on her dresser and tossing it against the wall. It dented the sheetrock instead of bouncing back at me.
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll fix that.”
“Yeah, you will.” She rolled her eyes, slammed the bathroom door shut, and came out a few minutes later in a pair of black pants and a tank top. I could see her sparkly jumpsuit rolled up behind her on the floor. “Come on,” she grunted, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the hallway.
A few quick turns and she was guiding me into an office and shoving me into an empty seat. It was weird being here with all the lights on and no one knocking me out and taping me down.
“Don’t move,” she said, pausing at the threshold before adding, “And don’t touch anything.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I saluted her. As soon as the door clicked closed, I leaned forward in the chair and extended a finger, poking the side of a gold pencil holder. It wobbled for a few seconds before settling on the desk. “Touch.”
Then I stretched back into my seat, spread my legs wide, and scanned the room while tapping my hands on the arm rests.
The office wasn’t that different from the bossman’s.
Dommy Mommy liked old shit and gaudy gold accents too.
No pictures, nothing really personal. If it weren’t for the name on the door in matching gold lettering, you wouldn’t know who the space belonged to.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, swiped the messages from Bugs off the screen, and checked the time. Bellatrix was gone for nearly twenty minutes before I heard her feet stomping in my direction again.
She flung the door open and Vee appeared behind her a few steps later. The woman glanced at me and I smirked.
“What’s he doing here?” she asked.
“He’s here to make sure you don’t lie to me,” Bellatrix answered.
“About what?”
“About Allie.”
Vee’s mouth dropped into an almost frown. “What about her?”
“Is she alive?”
Vee glanced in my direction.
Bellatrix squeezed between the chairs to stand in front of me. “Is my sister a-fucking-live or not, Veera?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
“So that’s a yes.” Bellatrix nodded once. I pulled her down to sit on my lap. She didn’t stop me. Probably because she was too shocked to notice. “Whose body was it?”
“No one you need to worry about.”
“Was she mentioned in the journal?”
Vee pursed her lips as she stepped around her desk to put distance between us. Or maybe just try to reclaim the position of power. Her son did that shit too. “Not specifically.”
“If you knew I had it, why didn’t you just take it then? Why chance me figuring it out?” Bellatrix pressed. I ran a hand up the inside of her thigh. She didn’t stop me from doing that either.
“It would have just made you more interested in it.”
“So you had no intention of telling me about Allie?”
“If she wanted you to know, she would have found you,” Vee replied.
Bellatrix shot to her feet, grabbed me by the wrist, and dragged me out of the office the way we came.
“Where are you going?” Vee called after us.
“To stay with someone who didn’t lie to me about my sister for most of my life,” Bellatrix called back.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I chimed in. “I’ll be sure to send ya a wedding invite.”
Bellatrix slapped me upside the head, but she didn’t let go of my hand, which was as good as a yes to me.