Extraits

They were talking to each other, but watching me. I pointed to my chest. “Yeah. Right here. Address all statements with the appropriate pronoun, me, not her. Wait. You, not her. Right here. Stating it again. No insinuations here.”

We had stepped inside, and Denton shut the door. Overhearing our conversation, he piped in, sliding his hands into his pockets, “Oh, we all know.” He glanced at Bryce. “I heard Sheldon’s in the house? Is that true?”

Bryce’s grin grew. “I heard that, too. You think she’s around? Corrigan?”

“Nah.” Corrigan clipped his head to the side. “I don’t think she’s here. I think the mob came after her instead of her dad. She’s gone. That ship has sailed.”

“You guys are annoying.”

Bryce ignored me. “You’re right. We should make up now, for real. No reason for this distance.”

“You’re right.” Corrigan held his arms out. “Come here, you big Super Soccer Stud. Let’s be best friends again.”

Bryce stepped forward, and the two hugged each other, their arms patting each other on the backs.

“Yep. Annoying. That’s what all three of you are being.”

“Wait.” Bryce lifted his head. He turned to Denton. “We’re not including Denton. Come here. He’s the big star. He’s an A-list movie actor. That’s what Oprah told me. I watched her Master’s Class last night.”

Denton burst out laughing.

Corrigan tugged him over. “You’re right. How selfish of us. Come here. You’re so handsome, Denton. You make my lady parts throb.”

“Oh my god.” Denton was shaking his head, but he hugged both of them back. “I forgot how the three of you could be.” He glanced at me. “Sheldon—”

I flicked him off, then held my hand up and waved my middle finger at all of them. “Screw you, guys.”

“Come on.” Corrigan lifted an arm to me. “We’re just having fun. Get in here, too.”

I didn’t move and continued to glare at them. My middle finger was still in front of me. I wanted that gesture showcased and dipped in bronze.

Corrigan waved my hand away and grabbed my wrist. He tugged me in. Bryce and Denton both moved and all three of them tugged me so I was in the middle of the love fest.

This was just wonderful.

I stood there, rigid, as the three of them moved closer.

“Oh, Sheldon. You’re the glue in our friendship lockets.”

“Screw off, Corrigan.”

His head rested on my left shoulder.

Bryce’s head went to my right shoulder. “She’s the stick in our kebab.”

Corrigan barked out a laugh. “That was good, Bryce.”

“Thanks. I’ve been working on being funnier.”

“It’s paying off.”

“You guys,” I growled in warning.

Denton added, squeezing closer and his forehead rested on the back of my skull. “My turn.”

“Oh god.” I groaned.

“Sheldon, you’re the hotdog in our bun.”

“That’s a good one,” Corrigan murmured in my ear.

“Without you, it’s just bread.”

Bryce said, “Yeah. No taste. We’d go dry. Cracked.”

“Pure carbs. No enjoyment.” Corrigan was laughing in my ear.

“We’d all get fat then.” I could feel Denton’s silent laughter, as he pressed closer into the back of me. “Denton and I can’t. Our careers depend on our lean beautifulness.”

“Ha. Our beautifulness.”

“Oh my god.” I’d had enough. I tried to break away from them, but all three tightened their hold on me so I ducked down and crawled out through their feet. “You guys are too annoying now.”

Corrigan started for me. “Come on, Sheldon. We’re having fun.”

Denton opened the door and leaned against his porch’s railing as he waited for us to come up. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head back with a smirk appearing on his face.

I shook my head. Only Denton could get away with wearing red khaki pants, loafers, and a buttoned-down white and red striped shirt with sunglasses on top of his head. As I went up the stairs to him, I said, “You know it’s one in the morning. You got paparazzi skulking around in your bushes? You need to look cool at all times?”

“Didn’t you hear from the tabloids? I’m so vain that I have mirrors on the backs of every door? I constantly have to reassure myself that I’m still good-looking enough.” He laughed, raking a hand through his dark hair and dislodging his sunglasses. Taking them in his hand¸ he held his arm out and gestured for me to come closer. I did and he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. “Damn. It’s good to see you, Jeneve. I thought the next time I saw you would be with you behind bars.”

I laughed, but stepped back and delivered a strong punch to his chest. “Not funny, douche bag.”

“Oh, come on.” He made a show of looking me up and down. “Orange could be your color. It brings out those precious lips of yours.” He flicked a hand to my lips and shot me a grin. “And really. You should be thanking me. I normally have a butler open the door. Good for you that I figured out how to let you through the gates or you would’ve been sitting in those very securely-looking and heavily guarded cars of yours.” He frowned over my shoulder. “Do they have guns?”

“Don’t worry about them. I think they’re more for show than actual harm. They won’t murder any of the paparazzi you pay to take your pictures.”

Denton barked out another laugh. “Damn, Sheldon. Just like always, you got cutting remarks.”

“I try.” A slow grin was forming the longer we traded jokes and jabs. I agreed with him. It was good to see him, too. It felt like too long. Then the reminder of why it’d been so long since we last saw each other filtered in—nope, not going to the last night I saw him. It was too serious. I needed to bring the light-hearted banter back so I made a show of looking around.

“And are you serious?” Not only had he added a security gate, but skimming over his house, I saw he had added almost an entire house onto his. It was a mansion now. I waved a hand at the renovations. “Did your house birth another home?”

He burst out laughing. “No, I’m not serious about the butler. I have no staff except a chef that comes in, and yeah, my house got pregnant.” He turned to look at the outside of his home. “Once the community put up the gate out there, I decided to add my own. I figured it was time to expand. I didn’t want to move and find a new home so there you have it. I did my own expansion. It was a bitch to plan, though. Some of the pictures were sold to a celebrity gossip website. They didn’t run the story. Nothing there, but still pissed me off. I had to fire half the construction crew to weed out the freeloader.”

I was still grinning that his house got pregnant. Feeling the rest waiting behind us, being polite, I allowed myself one more joke. “Your house got pregnant? All your orgies do that? Too much sperm flying all around?”

“Yes.” More laughter came from him. “What can I say? I’m fertile enough to infect my wood structure.”

Oh no. There was so much I could do with that, but Neil came up the stairs. He held a hand out. “Please stop, you two. Seeing you two joke like this is bringing back a lot of memories right now. Let’s keep the traumatic events to one thing right now.”

“I know. I just,” Corrigan hesitated, “she’s going to pick you. I can see it. She loves you so much she’s scared of it.”

“You don’t know that.” Bryce stiffened underneath me. “Trust me, you don’t know that. She might like to get fucked by me, but she goes to you for the emotional stuff. You don’t think that kills me?”

I was sitting on the back terrace when the gates were buzzed. I knew who it was. I’d been waiting all day. My body was riddled with knots and when I heard the tires on the gravel, I couldn’t sit still anymore. I stood, knocking the orange juice over. As it spilled across the table, Beth gasped. She dove forward with her napkin. “Sheldon!”

Two guards stood at the entrance. I paused for a moment. My father had said they were for my protection, but I wasn’t sure. As I started for them, their hands went to their guns. I stopped. They stopped. My eyes narrowed and my chin moved down. I asked, “Why can’t I go out there?”

They glanced at each other, but didn’t say a word.

She said from behind me, “Because they have to make sure it’s them.”

“I know it’s them.”

Beth came around with her hands full of wet napkins now. She was thin and frail-looking, but I wasn’t an idiot. My father’s girlfriend had her own agenda. Disapproval was heavy in her gaze now as she raised chin towards me. “You’re here for your own safety—”

I swore at her. “I’m here so dad can keep a tight rein on the investigation. That’s it. I’m the murder suspect. No one’s out to get me.”

She sucked in her breath. The napkins had started to soak the front of her cashmere dress. She seemed not to notice as her hands clenched around the pile in them. “You were framed, Sheldon. There is someone out there.”

“Yeah, some idiot who killed Grace. Not me. Trust me,” I shot her a look, sneering at the same time, “I would welcome them to come at me.”

“You’re not invincible,” she started.

Fuck it. I started forward. I didn’t hear the car doors open, but I didn’t care. If they didn’t come to me, I was going to them. They were only a few yards away now.

“Sheldon!”

The two guards moved together. They were a six foot wall of muscle and machine guns. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t just my mother that tended to exaggerate. The amount of weaponry my father had was unnecessary. We weren’t in the drug cartel.

“Move,” I barked at them.

They waited for Beth’s command.

“I said, move!”

A disgusted sound came from behind me and she muttered, “Yes, move. If she dies, she dies.”

They parted and I surged through them. Rounding the corner of the mansion, the doors on a black SUV opened. Even before the foot stepped on the ground, I knew who it was. None of us had parted on good terms, but I didn’t care. I felt them both in there. Then his black hair cleared the door and I saw Bryce’s startling blue eyes turn to me and then I launched myself. He took one step forward and caught me. His arms went around me and my legs went around him. Shit. He was family. He was here.

It felt right. No matter the crap that happened, it was right.

“Sheldon.”

At the sound of Corrigan’s voice, I turned. My legs fell to the ground and then he was hugging me, just as tight as Bryce had been. Both of them were my family. He smoothed a hand down my hair and back and murmured, his head tucked against the side of mine, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. I couldn’t talk, but I was okay at that moment.

Bryce said, “We saw the news, but didn’t know what happened to you.”

I pulled away from Corrigan and looked at him. He was frowning, his gaze skirting between Corrigan and me. I rolled my eyes. Seriously. “My dad bailed me out. I thought you would’ve.”

“I was coming. Denton too, but when we got there they said it’d already been posted.” He gazed around, taking in the estate and mansion. “This is your dad’s?”

Corrigan grunted. “Not so missing now, is he?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about my dad.” I paused. “Or my mom. Is there any news on the investigation?”

“Yeah.” Corrigan’s tone was somber.

“What?”

“That you did it.”

I swatted at him. “That’s not funny. I’m not laughing. I’m pissed.”

He shrugged and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. “That’s all that’s on the news. It’s you, you alone who killed her.”

“I didn’t kill her.”

Bryce said, “We know, but that’s all there is on the news. I doubt they’d talk about anything else if it shed light on a different suspect. You’re a known name now. The police’s reputation is at stake if they find out someone else killed her.”

I groaned. A headache was starting. “I can’t handle this. I’ve been here for a week and I’m already going nuts.”

“Your dad wouldn’t bring us to you. He wanted to make sure no one had tailed you back here from the station.” Corrigan sounded frustrated. “He’s hardcore.”

I wasn’t listening. It’d been a week. The news was still all about me. What Bryce said was true. An anchor dropped to the pit of my stomach. They weren’t going to look for a different killer. They were going to pin it on me, one way or another. I closed my eyes as a helpless feeling came over me. I was drowning and I was going to die if I didn’t fight my way back to the surface.

I had to go back. One way or another. I had to go and find who killed Grace.

Bryce had been watching me. He asked now, “Sheldon?” His eyes were narrowed.

I met them and shook my head. “We have to find who killed her. We have to if they won’t.”

Corrigan let out a deep breath and raised a hand. “Can I make one suggestion?” He waited as we both looked at him. “Can we not bait the killer to your house and can someone else get stabbed this time? That really sucked last time.”

I grinned. A small chuckle escaped me. So did Bryce.

In that moment, that one split moment, it felt good. The three of us were back together. I took a moment to savor it and then I decided, no matter what else happened, the three of us had to stay together. All the other shit was stupid.

“You okay?”

I didn’t know which one asked that, but I knew what they meant. I shrugged. I couldn’t answer that then. I didn’t know how I was.