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“Oh, don’t get me started.” She sighs, and I’m onto something. Redix. That’s how we’ll bond. “Redix Dean is sweet too, isn’t he? I just know it.”
She’s got a fantasy that’s close to real.
Yes, Redix was sweet. The candy he loved eating off my body was evidence of it. That and every sentimental thing he did for me. Every time he held me or made me laugh. It makes my throat burn because I have to let him go. Redix hates me. And after every emotion we’ve been through, hate was never one.
Ironically, TJ’s death was our death. And I’ll mourn losing Redix until I die, but I had to stop TJ. Other women were getting hurt because of me; it was the least I could do. No. It’s the only thing I could do.
So why does life keep screwing me so wrong when all I did was try to make things right?
“Yes,”—my voice softens—“Redix is a very sweet man.”
“I knew it,” she sighs. “Those are hard to come by.”
That’s odd words for a loyal wife. “Gentry’s kind too?” Those words taste like shit in my mouth.
“Politicians don’t get to be kind.” Ice freezes her tone. “They’re calculated. Everyone’s a pawn for more power.”
Am I any different than Gentry? Here I am trying to use his wife as a pawn to get to him. Fuck, Redix was right. I’m gambling with my soul in this game.
“Tell me.” She leans over. “Tell me one sweet thing Redix Dean does so I can believe in romance again.”
Yeah, I really do like her. We could be friends, so I give her this.
“We had our first kiss over a lemon sherbet ice cream cone, so… let’s just say ice cream became a very sweet way he’d enjoy me at night.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus.” She closes her eyes. What she’s imagining? It’s nothing compared to what my body will never forget. “I wish.”
It’s sad the way she shakes her head. Like so much is missing from her life.
“There’s got to be something sweet in your marriage?” Okay, that’s a legit thing a friend would ask, not just a detective digging. “Just one thing?”
The roll of her blue eyes is subtle. “Gentry likes giving pearls. Lots of them.” The triple strand she’s wearing is evidence. “I mean… he really likes giving pearls, if you know what I mean.”
Gag. I have to fight it.
Redix giving me a pearl necklace? I’ve moaned for his hot jewelry several times.
Gentry? I’d rather be spewed with cabbage vomit.
“Maybe Gentry shows his love with romantic places? Or lavish trips?”
Okay, now I’m digging. But I need to know where “they play,” as TJ admitted with my hands strangling his throat.
Where do those men take their victims? The ones who haven’t come back?
“If Gentry’s not on the golf course, he’s on his yacht.” The way she shifts, she’s pissed. “And it’s all business, and I’m not invited.”
Silence sits between us while she enjoys her foot massage and the polish dries on my toes.
What’s next?
Gentry, golf, his yacht, and all the rental condos he owns. How are they connected? That’s what I’ll investigate. And this woman needs a friend. She deserves to know what evil she’s married to. What if he’s making her an accomplice, and she doesn’t know?
“You got special plans for that fancy pedicure?” Her toenails are Christmas red.
“Yeah,” she groans, “we have the Holiday Riverboat Party tonight in Savannah.”
“Really? I’m going too.”
