Chapter 20
Easton Spears
“Jesus, brother, did a home goods store vomit all over your house?”
I took in Theo’s living room, which looked nothing like the room it was a week ago.
“Don’t ask,” Theo grumbled.
“Bridget?”
I couldn’t imagine Bridget caring about decorating their living room. She was just happy to be there with Theo. Hell, that woman would be happy to live in a conversion van in a junkyard as long as Theo was there with her.
He was one lucky motherfucker.
Bridget was not like any woman I’d ever known.
“No, it was Kira. This is my punishment for falling in love while she was on her honeymoon.”
Kira.
Yes, I could see Kira enjoying torturing Theo.
“Advice—don’t fall in love if Kira’s out of town,” Theo went on. “It will cost you a fortune in paint, pillows, towels, these fluffy rugs that apparently go in the bathroom so your feet are warm while you brush your teeth, and dishes. Lots and lots of fucking serving platters.”
“Not planning on ever falling in love so I’m safe.”
“Right. See, you don’t plan on doing shit, it just happens.”
I knew all too well how falling in love worked.
Thankfully, Bridget came into the room with her phone to her ear, cutting off a conversation I wanted no part of.
“Great! We can’t wait. I’m so excited.”
Bridget ended the call and smiled.
“Hey, Easton.”
“What’s up, Birdie Bird?”
“Oh, nothing, just coming back from the dead. You know, the usual.”
Damn, I adored this woman.
“Was that Troy?” Theo asked.
“Yeah. He’ll be here next Monday and he’s staying until Wednesday.”
“Good news, baby. We’ll have everyone over.”
“I bet he’d like that.”
Troy the truck driver. Who would’ve thought Theo would welcome a stranger into his home? The Theo before Bridget sure as shit wouldn’t have. Bridget’s Theo, however, caved to her every request.
“You’re going to spoil her if you’re not careful,” I teased.
“Don’t you have to go to Connecticut to ensure this Charlie guy isn’t going to murder me?”
“Not fucking soon,” Theo grunted.
I gave Bridget a wink of encouragement. Watching her wind up Theo was one of my favorite things.
“When’s Kira coming over?”
“She and Mellie will be here in about ten minutes.”
“We can wait,” I suggested.
“Nope. You two go so you can get back.”
Theo started across the room and I took that as my cue to leave the lovebirds to say goodbye in private.
“See ya, Gidget.”
“Don’t call me that,” she groused. “I let Birdie slide but Gidget is a hard no unless you want me to start calling you Silverback.”
“Silverback?”
“I did some research. The Silverback has the smallest penis and testicles of male apes, coming in at four centimeters. Seems fitting.”
Yeah, Theo was a lucky motherfucker.
“That’s me, a small-penis ape. Not all of us have big dicks to swing around.”
“Is that why you’re single?”
Ouch .
“No, Gidget, I’m single because I enjoy the many flavors the world has to offer. Why eat vanilla for the rest of my life when I can have chocolate tonight, peach tomorrow, and sorbet the day after?”
“Maybe because one day when you’re done gorging yourself you’ll be sitting in a lazy boy lonely and overweight with a mouthful of cavities wishing you hadn’t binged on chocolate, peach, and sorbet.”
Ouch again .
“Don’t worry. I brush after every meal. But your concern for my dental health is appreciated.” I glanced over at Theo. “Meet you outside, brother.”
* * *
Charlie Michaels’ ten-thousand-square-foot mansion was the very definition of gluttony.
It didn’t scream money. It slapped you in the face and shoved it down your throat.
“I have a problem I’m hoping you can solve,” Charlie said and tapped the thumb drive on his desk. “You do this for me, I’ll forget I had millions invested in Raven. Millions I lost.”
Millions he’d earned from shady business dealings.
Not that I’d remind him of that when Theo was vibrating with pent-up rage.
Though I had to admit Theo had handled the whole situation in the conference room better than I would’ve if the man who’d attacked my woman was standing in front of me.
I’m not sure I’d be able to live with him sitting behind bars instead of being buried, but the plus side to Gil Shaw being alive was he was a tattletale.
Heads were rolling from the DOJ, Attorney General’s office, Marshal Service, Dusk Mining Company, and C3.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when mommy offs a worker so he couldn’t report OSHA violations. The hilarious part was the OSHA fine wouldn’t have put a dent in the company’s profits. But it sure as fuck cost Kathy Cobbs a lot of money and her freedom.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“Everything you need is on this.” Charlie tapped the drive again with a manicured finger and I fought a lip curl.
As a rule of thumb I didn’t trust a man with soft hands. A man who paid to have his nails trimmed and filed was suspect.
Charlie Michaels was suspect.
“Take this and my daughter—”
“Your daughter?” I interrupted him.
“Yes, my daughter Nebraska. She’ll help you.”
Nebraska?
Who the fuck named their child after a state?
Just then a woman walked into the room. Her beauty was striking but her jeans, flip-flops, and plain tight white t-shirt were outrageously out of place in the gaudy mansion.
I waited for her to apologize to Mr. Michaels for the interruption.
That apology never came.
“I’m packed and ready,” the woman said.
“Good. Nebraska, this is Easton Spears and Theo Jackson. They’re going to help.”
We are ?
We hadn’t agreed to terms.
Nebraska turned her pool-blue eyes in my direction and gave me a tight but still sweet smile.
“Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
Every word was laced with relief.
“No problem.”
Theo’s head snapped to the side and he gave me his patented ‘are you fucking crazy’ look.
“No problem?” he repeated as a question.
Oh, there was a problem. I just didn’t have the first clue that the problem was about to turn my life inside out.