Chapter 30 Diem #2
“I didn’t always. For years, the only person I had was my grandmother, and she’s sick.
Doesn’t know who I am half the time. My dad beat me.
My mother couldn’t love me. And I was too angry with life to make proper friends.
I pushed people away before they could push me away.
I drank. I smoked. I did drugs. I fought.
It’s a wonder I didn’t land in prison or wind up dead. ”
Darcy said nothing, staring down at the street below.
“My grandmother lives in the home where you did your first job and scammed Elwood.”
The kid shrank under visible shame. “I’m not a good person.”
“Neither am I sometimes.”
“What are we going to do? About Lukyan?”
I wrapped an arm around him and tugged him against my side. “First, you’re going to tell me exactly how you got tangled up in this mess.”
“I already have.”
“It’s in the details, Darcy. Start at the beginning. Your landlord knows Lukyan. He brought you into the fold. There is a web of players in the background. We need to untangle that web because someone will lead us to Lukyan. Someone knows where that fucker went. Someone helped him escape.”
***
“Like I said to Darcy. It’s all in the details. You lift up enough rocks, eventually you’ll find the worm you’ve been looking for. Here’s your fucking worm.” I flicked the computer screen and sat back, smugly crossing my arms.
Tallus’s lips parted as he watched the grainy video play out. It showed Darcy’s first visit to Evergreen, bundled in his jacket, hood drawn, hands in his pockets. His nerves showed despite his determined approach and confident strut.
The man behind the receptionist desk greeted Darcy with familiarity and a friendly touch to the hand after he’d signed in. A man who didn’t work the reception desk at all, but so happened to be covering for Sandra’s break at the exact time Darcy was told to arrive.
Tallus paused the video. “Are you sure?”
Darcy nodded. “Evergreen was my test run, and Luke said I had to be observed by one of his people before he set me free. He said a close friend of his would be at the desk to ensure no one suspected I was anyone but who I claimed to be. If Elwood was skeptical, his friend would help steer the narrative. He never told me the guy’s name.
Apart from that,” he tipped his head at the screen, “we didn’t interact again.
I was told not to talk to him. I saw him on subsequent visits, but he kept his distance and watched me. ”
“Aaron Daily.” Tallus threaded his fingers through his hair with a long exhale. For a long time, he stared unseeing at the paused footage, his gaze flitting back and forth, as though slotting the information in place like I’d done earlier. “That skanky motherfucker.”
I grunted in agreement.
“What do we do?” Darcy asked.
A mischievous smirk spread across Tallus’s face. He stood taller and propped his hands on his hips. “If you boys will excuse me, I think I’ll shower and make myself extra appealing for my meeting with flirty Aaron this morning.”
I would have told him not to jump the gun, but my boyfriend sashayed to the bathroom, his swagger cranked to a level ten, and I swallowed my tongue. It was impossible not to stare at his perky ass.
The minute the bathroom door slammed, Darcy snorted. “He’s so gay. How do you not see it?”
“Oh, I see it. And he’s so fucking mine.”
“Gross.”
I considered Tallus’s unspoken plan. I knew my boyfriend and had a good idea where this was going. We would need to work out the flaws, but I trusted he could handle it.
Tallus might not have been athletic. He might not have been Cirque du Soleil qualified. But when it came to acting, manipulating, or schmoozing suspects, he won all the awards. Aaron wouldn’t know what hit him.
A short time later, Tallus appeared from the bedroom wearing a cock-hardening outfit that hugged him in all the right places. It was one of the mind-numbingly expensive purchases he’d made while on a shopping trip with Memphis. I’d bitched about it for a month, but that was before I saw it on him.
He’d paired it with platform ankle boots that I was sure were Gucci or some brand meant for models and not PI record clerks.
I was learning to recognize the labels. They should have looked ridiculous with the outfit, but on Tallus, they looked fan-fucking-tastic.
The chunky heel gave him an extra inch of height and brought his ass to a god-tier level.
The sultry scent of his cologne made my mouth water.
The faint touch of mascara threatened to buckle my knees.
He’d styled his auburn hair in a purposefully messy sweep that did things to my insides I hadn’t experienced since I was sixteen.
But the icing on the cake was the come-fuck-me frames paired with the sultry look in his hazel eyes.
He struck a pose. “How do I look?”
“So gay,” Darcy said.
I smacked the kid across the back of his head. Not hard, but enough to get his attention. It was reflexive, and when he scowled at the assault, I shot him a dirty look. “Don’t be a fucking brat.”
He mumbled an apology.
Tallus took the comment with grace, dipping his chin and peering seductively over his frames. “Guns? How do I really look?”
“Like you could set the world ablaze.”
“But the question is, can I set Aaron’s libido ablaze?”
I swallowed the excess saliva pooling in my mouth. “If that man doesn’t pop wood and trip over his tongue, he’s not gay.”
“He’s totally gay,” Darcy interjected, dodging out of my reach like I might smack him again. “I could tell.”
Tallus and I looked at him.
“What? He had a vibe. You can’t say that’s not a thing.”
Tallus rolled his eyes and sauntered toward me. He took my face between his palms and tugged me down for a bruising kiss. I melted against him. If we didn’t have an agenda—and teenage company—I’d have hiked him into my arms and taken him to bed.
Darcy groaned.
I ignored him.
Tallus mumbled against my mouth, “Fuck off, Darcy.”
The kid laughed—possibly the first time I’d heard him do so—and sauntered to the bathroom. “I’m taking a piss. Be done when I get out. Where do you keep the bleach?”
“Brat,” I growled.
The door slammed, and Tallus broke from my mouth, speaking louder than necessary. “Kid’s all hot and bothered. Probably went to jerk off.”
“I am not!” Darcy yelled from the bathroom.
I chuckled and drew Tallus against my mouth again.
After Tallus left, Darcy flopped onto the couch. “I don’t get it. You just sent your boyfriend off to flirt with another guy. On purpose. Aren’t you jealous?”
“No. It’s for a case. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t know. Isn’t it weird? He looked totally…”
“Hot?”
“No. I mean… yes, if you’re into that. I’m not. But…”
“Shut up, Darcy.”
“I’m just saying.”
Once upon a time, I would have been livid at the prospect of another man laying eyes on Tallus. I would have struggled to keep my temper in check. My insecurities ran deep, but those days were behind me. I wasn’t sure I could explain it in a way Darcy would understand, but I tried.
I dropped onto the couch beside him and kicked my feet up. “The thing you have to understand about Tallus is… he’s solid. Everyone notices him. Everyone, man or woman, is drawn to him. He has one of those personalities, and he’s ridiculously attractive.
“Tallus has always been ten steps ahead of me in this relationship, but one thing he’s never been is impatient or unfaithful, and I’ve given him every reason under the sun to walk away, but he doesn’t.
He waits for me to catch up. When I act like an asshole, he calls me out but doesn’t take it personally.
He knows I struggle with a hundred different things at once, and sometimes, I need time to pull my shit together.
“That man took a bullet for me, and when I told him I didn’t want to get married, he didn’t flinch or leave or get angry. He stayed. He always stays. So, no, I’m not jealous or worried or upset. For whatever reason, Tallus always chooses me. I choose him too.”
“Oh.” Darcy fidgeted with a hole in his jeans, then stopped and turned to face me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, kid. Knock yourself out.”
“How long have you been together?”
“Dating? About a year and a half, but we were hooking up for close to nine months before we made it official.” Before I grew balls big enough to ask him out, I didn’t say.
“So, why don’t you want to marry him?”
I stared for a long time at the dark screen of the TV. The impression of Tallus, dressed to the nines and smiling his sassy smile, was stamped in my brain. I tried to remember all the reasons I couldn’t marry him because there had been many, right? Dozens?
But not a single one of them came to me. “I… I don’t know.”