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She stepped backward, her teeth clenched. Snatching a black carrier off the bench on the front porch, she returned with quick steps and shoved it into Leander’s arms. “Go to Hell.”
Turning from the door with the carrier in one hand, Leander swatted it closed with the other. No “Thank you.” No goodbye. Not even a “Fuck off.”
I, however, had to lob one last grenade at her. My hand shot out, stopping the door from closing all the way. Taking a step closer to the threshold, I bent my head in Lorelei’s direction and lowered my voice. “If I were you, blondie, I would refrain from making accusations you can’t substantiate. Call my husband a murderer one more time and I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do.”
She tossed her head, assessing me with a sneer. “How does the bar feel about lawyers fucking their clients?”
I smirked at her brashness. Hell, I might have liked her if we met under entirely different circumstances. “I’m sure the same way the IDFPR feels about doctors fucking their patients.”
“I don’t know what you think you know about him, but make no mistake,Iknow what he is. I know what he’s capable of.” Her shoulders squared, strengthened by her self-righteousness.
“Oh, you do, do you?” She didn’t have a fucking clue.
“You’re out of your depth, counselor.”
I gave her a blithe smile, leaning closer. Her perfume was even more noxious in person. It was syrupy sweet to the point I’d inhale a cocktail of bleach and ammonia to get it out of my olfactory system. “Let’s see if I can put this in terms you’ll understand... Go to the police, or anyone for that matter, and I’ll cut your fucking heart out. I assure you, it’s not a metaphor — I mean it with the utmost sincerity.”
Her scowl tightened, but she recoiled nevertheless, a flicker of fear in her eyes. If she thought Leander was a psychopath, I could only imagine what she thought about me. Maybe one day I would get a chance to show her, up close and personal.
“Ta ta, Doctor.” I slammed the door an inch from her pert nose and pivoted on my heel.
Leander was in the kitchen watching the scrawny, orange cat at his feet devour a plate of tuna. “Dare I ask what that was all about?”
Both eyebrows lifted as I passed by. “Hmm? What?”
His eyes narrowed briefly, calling me out on my deliberate refusal to answer.
I continued to ignore him and stepped into the pantry.
“To think, all this time you’ve been jealous of something that wasn’t even real,” Leander mused when I reappeared with a jar of peanut butter.
“It was real for her.” I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye, fetching a spoon from the drawer. “And I’m not jealous.”
“That’s not what it sounded like.”
“I’m not jealous — I’m...” I squinted up at one of the can lights, waving the spoon in small circles. “Territorial.”
“Consider your territory well and truly marked.” He laughed and scooped up the cat, scratching beneath her chin. “I hope now you realize you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“No, but you do.” Leaning against the counter, I licked a glob of peanut butter off the spoon.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, nuzzling the cat, completely oblivious to the fact she was shedding orange fur all over him. I could feel my eyes prickling, even from a distance. When they started to water, I made a mental note to have Gavin set up an appointment with an allergist ASAP.
“She all but threatened to expose you.”
“She wouldn’t dare.” His eyes darted to mine over the top of the cat’s head.
His faith in her overarching goodness was cute, and entirely misplaced. He did as I asked — he crushed her heart to reassure me of his loyalty, but in the process he obliterated whatever goodwill she might have had. The fact she tried to shock me by divulging Leander’s secrets showed how deep the wound actually ran. Had I known how attached she was in such a short amount of time, I would have advised a different strategy.
“Nevertheless, you might want to be prepared. Or... come up with another option.” I licked the majority of the peanut butter off of the spoon, arching an eyebrow pointedly.
Kissing the cat on the head, Leander set her on the ground before walking over to me. “Are you planning on killing her?”
“Notplanningon it, no.” I smiled brightly, swiping my tongue over the spoon, cleaning off the remaining peanut butter. It wasplanned. All I was waiting for was a green light, since I couldn’t to do away with her ten minutes ago.
He considered me for a moment, nodding to some conclusion in his head. “I’ll send Jake up there to keep an eye on her for a while, make sure she doesn’t get any ideas.”
“Yeah, sure. That sounds like a good idea. Very responsible of you. Speaking of which, do you want to tell me how sheknowsabout you?” I forced a pleasant expression to my face, trying not to be accusatory even if I could feel my blood start to boil.
