Chapter 5
Blake
Lenox tosses the keys over the hood then stretches his neck. “I’ll walk back.”
“We’re like two minutes away,” I say as I round the front.
“I need to clear my head.” He steps away.
“You sure you're not just putting off the inevitable?”
“Inevitable?” He scoffs and continues toward the house.
I hop in, roll out of the parking lot, and ease into the twenty-five-mile-an-hour zone. No going anywhere fast in this town.
The small moving truck is waiting when I get to the house. They followed directions and backed into the driveway. Can’t have nosey neighbors judging how much we brought.
Our cover is that we’re developers moving to the area and need a rental until we find a place to buy.
I pull up along the curb. It only takes a second for a spontaneous decision to make me explain that the mismatch of boxes labeled ‘B’ go in the bedroom on the left and the brand-new boxes labeled ‘Lennox’ and a number go in the bedroom on the right.
Lennox wanders in as I’m untaping boxes. “I thought we agreed that you’d take the bedroom with the paisley bedspread.”
“Changed my mind.”
“Let’s switch then.”
Wadding up a strip of tape, I toss it into the corner with the rest. “I’m taking a liking to the plain blue bedspread.”
I’m not. And when I note his irritation, I question that I shouldn’t have used bedspreads as a nudge to encourage him to embrace a little fun. We have much bigger issues. But I commit.
I tear tape off another box, wad it, and toss it into the corner.
“You could throw them all into a box, not get the carpet sticky,” Lennox mumbles before crossing the hall to his bedroom.
“I wasn’t sure if you were just trying to get rid of me so you could hang out with—”
He reappears in the doorway. “Let it go, Blake. Completely.”
I grab a handful of clothing. “Can’t do that, Lennox. In fact…” I hold up my boxers. “I might go shopping to replace these. Didn’t expect to be fantasizing about where else Ceci might want to put that icing.”
He waits as I drop them dramatically into my drawer, then says, “Our assignment is clear. In and out, no fanfare, break up the check-whitewashing ring.”
I gather up the socks I haphazardly packed. “The department doesn’t own us. We’re allowed to have personal lives.” I hold up a sock with a big hole in the heel. “I should replace these too.”
“You should, but not to impress a girl half your age.”
I kick the box out of the way and grab the next one—shirts. “This whole thing about making it look like we’re developers planning on staying for a while seems overdone.”
“Small towns get suspicious of newcomers.”
“Banging your long-lost son’s ex girlfriend would be the perfect cover. No one would suspect you’re a cop.” Having emptied the shirt box, I toss it at Lennox. “Be honest with me.”
“Fine.” Lennox removes the tape from the bottom of the box, flattens the cardboard, and sets it against the wall.
“If by total chance, you met Ceci in a diner and she let you lick icing off her finger, would you walk away?”
“I would—just like I made you do.” He turns away, untapes another box and adds it to the first flattened box. I think it’s kind of pointless, but that’s when I notice him adjusting his pants.
“We both know you’re lying. And if you weren’t attracted to her, you would have sat beside me and we’d still be at the diner with her.”
“I’m able to control myself.”
Annoyingly so, at times. Yet he could blow me off by going to his room. It’s like he needs me to convince him it’s okay to want Ceci.
Grabbing my phone from my back pocket, I search up Eggplant Canyon. It’s exactly what Ceci and her friend were saying. I pass my phone to Lennox.
He pauses, so I nudge it toward him. He reads. And reads. His breaths grow more and more intense. He rakes a hand through his hair. “This…” He points at the screen. “This is where they want to go? It’s a real place?”
“From what they said, that’s where they’re going unless they find a better offer.” That’s not entirely the truth, but close enough.
“Haven’t they heard of human trafficking? Why would two young women do that?”
“It’s a lifestyle, not human trafficking. You should be asking why wouldn’t they?” I set a box of work stuff aside—bulletproof vest, extra police shirts, files.
He hands my phone back and heads across the hall to his room.
“Think about it, Lennox,” I say loudly. “I didn’t know you when we were their age, but if we heard about a town where groups of older, sexually knowledgeable women wanted to care for all of our needs, we would have gone.”
“You would have gone.”
“Don’t tell me you were as grumpy back then as you are now.”
“It’s called common sense. Let me remind you that we have two weeks to make these arrests. We’re here posing as business developers, and we’re supposed to fit in.”
“I’d like to fit in—”
“Don’t you dare finish that joke.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Not funny.”
“You cock-blocking me is not funny.”
“What if she’s part of the check-washing ring?”
I go back to the mission box and pull out my handcuffs, rattling them. “I was hoping to cuff her, but not exactly like that.”
“You’re so goddamn immature. Have you thought about how this is going to affect her? Presuming she wasn’t just teasing an old, desperate fuck and is actually interested. You’ll have your fun and what? Just leave? Break her heart right after she just got cheated on?”
A huff rumbles through my chest. I step to his bedroom door. “That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t plan on leaving her.”
Lennox rakes a hand through his hair and sits on the bed. I doubt he can think about how much he hates paisley after the bomb I dropped.
The silence goes on long enough—no argument—that I know he’s thinking the same. “I think she’s my fucking soulmate.”
He angles his head up to narrow his gaze at me. “You’ve lost it.”
“Love at first sight. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her move to Eggplant Canyon.”
“They were probably joking about moving.” Lennox is doing his best to rationalize why he shouldn’t pursue her, but I won’t let him miss this opportunity.
“She’s got a free spirit like me. Get an idea and go. What do you say?”
“I say we still have to deal with her being my son’s ex.”
“He won’t text you back. He cheated on Ceci. I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but he’s an ass.”
“What if he’s an ass because I wasn’t around?”
“Don’t beat yourself up about not being there for him. There’s a big difference between abandoning a kid and not knowing he existed.”
“Hopefully he’ll let me explain that. We could have a future together.”
I toss balled-up athletic shorts at him.
“It would be a lot easier if he hadn’t inherited your stubbornness. But it’s not your fault if it’s too late. He’s an adult.”
He tosses the shorts back. Good. A little levity. “Look at you doling out parenting advice.”
“How about you keep trying to talk to him, see if you can make headway. Meanwhile, we get to know Ceci. She could be useful. She knows him.”