Chapter 26 Tallus #2
Darcy bumped into me until he saw why I’d stopped and barreled into the room, shouting, “Oh, cool. Can I hold Baby?” He didn’t wait for a response and scooped the snake off the ground, draping her around his neck like a freaking feather boa.
“Diem Krause. What have I said about that snake?”
“He’s so awesome,” Darcy said. “Why do you hate him?”
“Her,” I corrected. “She’s female.”
“She’s the best.” Darcy smooched her head like she was a cuddly kitten, and I cringed, waiting for the snake to rebuke with fangs.
She didn’t, docile as ever.
I inched into the room, giving Darcy and Baby a wide berth, and deposited the pizza on the counter.
My boyfriend hadn’t moved, spoken, or acknowledged our arrival at all.
Seeing a six-and-a-half-foot, full-grown tank of a man sprawled on the floor, petting his dog, who lay belly-up against his side, was a testament to how Diem was feeling.
Darcy deposited himself on the couch, cooing at Baby, pizza long forgotten.
Determining I was fairly safe with Darcy holding the snake, I joined Diem. The floor was unforgiving and cold—and needed to be swept—but I lay and studied his face, reading the distant expression behind his stormy gray eyes.
He glanced from the dog, making brief contact and offering a weak smile.
“You okay, Guns?”
He grunted and nodded.
“Not talking? Are you mad?”
“No.” A pause. “I don’t like it when you don’t answer my calls or texts.”
“I know.”
“I worry about you.”
“I know.”
“It usually means you’re up to no good.”
I bit back a grin. “You know me too well.”
He arched a brow, a shadow of a smile curling his lips. “So what were you doing?”
“Surveillance.”
Diem winced. “And?”
“Don’t worry. Having Darcy present kept me in line.”
I stroked my fingers through Diem’s thick mop of hair and leaned in for a kiss. For as troubled as he seemed, he didn’t taste of alcohol or cigarettes. I was mildly shocked but also relieved.
“We got pizza. Come eat, and I’ll fill you in.”
He hummed, but as I disengaged, he caught my wrist and dragged me back against his mouth. For all Diem struggled to connect at the beginning of our relationship, he’d become extremely affectionate and didn’t care who witnessed it.
Leroy Krause didn’t count. That man still had a hold on his son, and if I knew how to sever it, I would.
I kissed Diem again and didn’t argue when he laced his tongue with mine, delving deeper into my mouth. I didn’t complain when he growled and moved closer, or when Echo decided she didn’t like being smooshed between us and left.
I didn’t protest when a soft moan of pleasure passed from his mouth into mine. But when he pressed his hand to my crotch and stroked my growing erection, I chuckled and broke free, stilling his wrist.
“As wonderful as that is, you’d better not. You’ll upset the child.”
“The child is going to vomit all over the couch,” Darcy announced.
Diem eyed the brat and sighed, a sound laced with frustration as he released my cock.
“You don’t get to be disappointed, Guns. You brought the puppy home. Now you suffer the consequences.”
Darcy, face pinched in disgust and doing all he could to not look at us, put Baby back in her terrarium. We gathered around the table and enjoyed pizza—boring cheese pizza because the kid hated every topping known to mankind, including pepperoni.
Diem shared about the storage locker fire and his inability to get information.
When I explained what we’d witnessed—Lukyan delivering banker boxes to kids who were possibly living in a building that was supposed to be under construction—Diem put his pizza down and leaned forward, brows knitted together.
“You think he cleared important documents out of a storage unit and set fire to whatever remained?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know anything. All I know is everything about this guy is sketch. His money is sketch. His dealings with Darcy are sketch. His properties are sketch. We know he’s behind the Elwood thing. I suspect this is much larger than we realize.”
“Dude.” Darcy interrupted with a mouthful of pizza. “Don’t say sketch. You’re way too old for that.”
I glowered at the kid
Diem, the bastard, chuckled.
I threw my crust at him, which he happily ate.
“So what do we do now?” Darcy acted as though he was part of the team and not an unfortunate side effect.
Diem and I locked gazes. I pulled out my most endearing and mischievous smirk, the one that set him ablaze and usually got me whatever I wanted. “I say, we enjoy our Saturday, rest up, and revisit these locations tonight under the cover of darkness.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Diem popped the tab on a Dr Pepper and drank deeply, eyeing me over the can.
Darcy’s gaze bounced between us. “Can I come?”
“No,” Diem said, an edge of finality in his tone.
Darcy looked like he was about to protest, but I held up a hand, stopping him but not taking my eyes off Diem. “You can come.”
“Yes.” Darcy pumped a fist in the air.
“On one condition,” I added.
Diem’s eyes narrowed.
My smile grew.
“Anything.” Again, Darcy’s gaze bounced between us.
“Give Daddy Diem and me some uninterrupted alone time.”
Diem’s lips quivered as Darcy groaned and shrank in the seat. “Noooo. What am I supposed to do? Your apartment is tiny. I’m gonna hear everything, and I’m too young for that.”
Diem tugged his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and dropped a twenty on the table. “You’re out of smokes. Go buy some and… walk slowly. Don’t talk to strangers.”
Mood shifting, Darcy reached for the twenty as Diem slapped a hand over the bill. “And no alcohol.”
“Okay. Just cigarettes. How slowly?”
Diem eyed me. “At least forty-five minutes. I hate to be rushed.”
“Got it.” Darcy bounced up, grabbed another slice of pizza, and hightailed it for the door.
“Wait,” Diem yelled before he escaped. “Do you have a license?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Diem tossed him the keys to the Jeep, and Darcy caught them one-handed. “You fuck up my Jeep, I’ll fuck up your face. Be very fucking careful.”
Darcy looked as stunned as I felt. “For real?” he asked.
“I don’t want you wandering the streets for forty-five minutes. It might be a big city, but that guy is looking for you. Stay safe, and don’t waste all my gas.”
Darcy hightailed it out the door without another word, like he was afraid Diem might change his mind.
The second he was gone, I guffawed. “Did you seriously give him your Jeep?”
“Did you seriously call me Daddy Diem?”
“I…” Tried really hard to hold a straight face and failed. “Might have. Problem?”
Diem arched a brow. “Are we going there?”
“No! Definitely not. It slipped out. I’m sorry. It was weird and wrong. The point is, I never get to drive your Jeep.”
“You never ask.”
“I always ask.”
Diem shrugged. “Do you want to spend our precious forty-five minutes arguing… boy?”
I winced. “Diem Krause. That is not funny, but I deserved it.” Pushing away from the table, I aimed for the bedroom. “Now move it, Guns. I want you balls deep and coming before the puppy returns.”