Checkered Thief (A Laurel London Mystery Book 3) (7 page)

“Get back to the bet.” I coaxed her ignoring her comment about Jax, making me wonder why Jax was at the casino at five in the morning when he was usually lying next to me.

“She said she would win more money than me by the end of the night. If she won, I had to make her a pie and if I won she had to clean my house. I lost.” Sharon harrumphed. “So this morning, I had to hurry home and make my pies.” Her lips thinned. “I even told Brittany I would make her pie and she said not to waste my time because she hated pies. She must’ve been nice the day she sucked down the apple cobbler I made for the party at the council meeting to celebrate the opening of the casino.”

“She was there?” I asked.

Granted, I spent most of the council meeting staring at Jax on the stage because he was accepting the new position as the casino security guard, but I didn’t recall seeing Brittany.

“Yes.” Sharon confirmed. “That was the night I think she met Derek.”

“But Derek was late.” I recalled looking for him and he was on cop duty. He had taken a call about some rowdy teenagers down on the river dock and he wasn’t there when I left. “Trixie told me.”

“And Brittany was the last to leave only because she was having car trouble. It was so cute.” Sharon smiled. “He was like her knight in shining armor.”

I gripped the wheel.
Knight in shining armor my ass.
She was going to be the death of him. . .literally.

A few minutes later, we pulled up in front of Sharon’s doctor’s office building. I brought the car to a stop and placed it in PARK.

“Now, you be here on time. I always get hit on by men who are my age when I have to sit out here and wait on you.” As she opened the door and swung her legs out, I jumped out and grabbed her walker from the back. She slapped my hands away. “I don’t need that. I don’t need these old men thinking I need their help, it’s their ‘in’ for talking to me.” She slammed the door and I put the walker back in the car. “If I want a man, I want one at least half my age.”

She didn’t bother saying bye, she just waddled up to the glass sliding doors of the entrance and disappeared into the building.

What Sharon had said about Brittany’s turn of behavior was making Bethany’s case even better. The fact that Derek went to that extreme to keep it from me until he was able to tell me was not the right thing to do, but I did feel like he was trying to find a way to tell me. The only way I was going to get to the bottom of the real truth was to talk to Derek himself. If he would see me.

Before I could get out of my thoughts, I was crossing River Road and pulling into the Walnut Grove Police Station on the left. I sucked in a deep breath while putting the car in PARK. The police station was a good place to see him after last night and the confrontation this morning. He would at least be somewhat civil if he was really, truly mad at me.

There were times he was mad, but one wink and some good old memories never let him stay mad for long.

The dispatcher sat behind the glass and slid it open when I walked in.

“Not here,” he barely looked up from his crossword puzzle. “It’s slow today so he said he had some car to work on.”

The car was no doubt Brittany’s since Louie said she claimed she had car trouble.

“Thanks,” I muttered. My insides churned at the thought of going to his service shop. There was no time to waste. By the time I got to his place and groveled for forgiveness and pulled the information I needed out of him, it would be time for me to go back and pick up Sharon.

I steered the car back to River Road and took a right, passing Porty Morty’s and Fiddle & Sons before turning into Derek’s shop on the right.

There he was, buried under the hood of a yellow Jeep Wrangler. Without realizing it until after it was too late, I rolled my eyes and got a bad taste in my mouth about Brittany. Of course she would drive an awesome car. I rubbed my hand over the old Belvedere.

“I do love you.” I gave it a slight pat to ward away any bad ju-ju I might have given myself.

Derek’s head cocked over his shoulder. The three-second stare was a little too long before he stood up. I hated how he always contemplated his actions before he did them, unlike me. A fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl, I am. There were some situations I should’ve been more like Derek.

He took the dirty oil rag from the back pocket of his mechanic’s jumper and rubbed his hands off on it before he put it back and leaned on the guts of the opened hood.

“Laurel.” He crossed his arms across his chest. “If you are coming here to defend what you’ve done, you are wasting your time.”

“I’m not.” I stopped in front of him. His five o’clock stubble was already starting to spread across his strong chin. The dimples I had grown to love were nowhere to be seen. “I’ve come to get the scoop from you, but first I have to apologize for my behavior.” I scuffed the toe of my shoe in the loose gravel. “I hate that it upset me so much. And don’t get me wrong.” I held my hands out. “I know I did wrong, but I really thought something like this, you would’ve told me before I found out. The way I found out was not good for me. You are my best friend. My brother.”

“Laurel, you and I both know the brother and sister thing changed that night at the river.” His eyes bore into mine.

I tried to bury the memory of the night he was referring to. We were adults and we consented. And it wasn’t too long ago. Only the two of us knew about it.

“I didn’t let it change me.” I bit back the memory of how he looked at me in the moonlight that night.

His blue eyes were crystal and very clear. I could see his feelings for me had changed and he wanted more from us than a sister-friendship.

“We made love. And then Jax Jackson comes to town and you fall all over him.” There was still hurt in his eyes. “I made sure I put what happened in the back of my mind and let you explore a relationship with him. You and I never discussed what happened.”

I gulped, uncomfortable.

“Now that I’m moving forward, you get all crazy.” He shook his head. “Brittany wants to be with me. She wants a relationship. She didn’t run off after we slept together or look for a reason not to be with me. You are the one who ran to bed with Jax and expected me to be the loyal friend I had always been when you knew I wanted more than that.” He ran his hand through his dark hair, and unzipped the mechanics overalls, stepping out of them.

He had on a pair of light blue jeans that fit him as if they were made for him. His white t-shirt contoured to his muscled chest. My mouth went dry as parts of my body tingled and my mind flooded with memories of him caressing my body and my fingers outlining what was under his clothes.

It was a night I would never forget. Derek had just finished his last class before he was sworn in as a real police officer. He asked me to meet him and was waiting for me on the docks when I got off work. He had surprised me at our favorite spot on the river where we always hung out as kids with carry-out on a blanket and a bucket of beers.

We spent hours talking about our past and how he had accomplished his dreams and how I was on the straight and narrow. Everything was looking good, and then I screwed it up. I leaned over and kissed him. One layer at a time, he peeled off my clothes, drinking me in with his eyes, touching me in places that hadn’t been touched in years. We ended up making love all night long under the stars in our favorite spot.

We had talked about how we would explore the relationship without telling anyone, including Trixie and Gia, because if both of them thought there was a future between Derek and me, they would have the wedding planned.

He was right. I jumped on Jax Jackson as soon as he got into town.

“Right?” His brows lifted as if there was an inkling of hope between he and me.

“Right. I’m with Jax.” I couldn’t tell him Jax was furious over my reaction to the news Derek was dating. He could’ve been dating anyone and my reaction would have probably been the same.

 “That’s what I thought.” There was a bitter look in his eyes that unsettled my heart. “Please let me have my relationship with Brittany. It might not go anywhere, but she does make me happy. If you love me like a brother, as you say,” his words stung me. There was no way I liked him like a brother. He had become a lover, one I wasn’t doing a good job forgetting. “Then let me be happy. I embraced Jax into this community even though it cut me to the core.”

“I’m sure she’s a great girl.” There was a deep unaccustomed pain in my chest. “Why don’t the four of us have dinner tonight so she knows my true intentions are for you to be happy.”

My only problem was getting Jax to go along with it. He was so mad, I wasn’t sure he even wanted to see me.

“I don’t know, Laurel.” Derek raked his teeth over his lip. “I’m not sure if Brittany will want to. She was so weirded out last night about what had happened. She was acting so strange and stand-offish.”

“I’m sure she will be fine.” I encouraged him knowing Brittany was really Bethany. It made me feel better to keep him in my sights and know he was safe. “And I will be on my best behavior.” I crisscrossed my finger across my chest. “Scout’s honor.”

“I’ll ask.” He gave in like he always did.

“Great!” I lurched forward and threw my arms around his neck. It took a minute, but he put his hands on each side of my back on my ribcage and patted. His nose was planted in my hair next to my ear. He took a long, steady inhale through his nose, sending chills all over my body.

He pulled away. The look in his eyes almost broke me.

“I. . .” He swallowed. “I’ve got to get back to work before my shift at the station.”

“Yeah, sure.” I gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. He turned back around and disappeared back under the hood of the Jeep.

For the first time I felt our relationship had shifted. After we made love, I was good at ignoring my feelings and sticking the whole thing behind me. I figured Derek and I just needed to celebrate his accomplishment. We were all the family we had growing up and it was a connection that just seemed right that night. The next day when we didn’t say anything or even act like we had made love, I thought he felt like it was just a celebratory hook-up, not an emotional tie. That was why I moved on. I had never seen Derek look at another girl like he had Brittany that night at Lucky Strikes. No pun intended, but I felt like a bowling ball found its way into my gut; my heart wasn’t sure how to handle the feeling.

Having feelings was something I wasn’t used to. I had shielded myself from any heartache. It sort of came with the territory of growing up in an orphanage and having to fend for yourself. But I also fended for Derek.

“Derek,” I knew it was uncharted territory, but I had to get the answer, “why didn’t you tell me about Brittany?”

“Truthfully?” He didn’t turn and look at me. He continued to beat and bang on whatever he was fixing. “In my head, if I told you, then I knew the relationship we have always had would have been changed forever and I wasn’t sure I felt enough for Brittany to change the course between me and you.”

“We are fine,” I said. It was easier to lie to him with his back turned. I was glad he didn’t turn around. Derek had only seen me cry a handful of times and today I didn’t want him to see the puddle of tears that threatened to spill out of my eyes.

His lack of words and body movement spoke volumes. I really didn’t care about the fate of Brittany, but I knew in my heart that I did love Derek and I wanted him to be happy. It was the least I could wish for him. And if Brittany was it, then I knew what I needed to do. Find her and bring her back to him, even if it did alter the course of my life.

Dinner tonight was going to be easy.  I would be able to be on my best behavior with Bethany by his side. So tonight should be easy, at least that was what I told myself. Only my gut told me differently.

“You’re late.” Sharon Fasa shook her umbrella at me. “I swear I’m not going to use your service again.”

“Okay.” I shrugged. No sweat off my back. Shit, she never paid anyway. I was really just being nice and I could use the free time to work on finding Brittany.

“But I’m not.” Sharon stuck her chin in the air after she got in and slammed the door. The umbrella stuck up between her legs. “Since you saved me and all, I should at least pay you in some way.”

“What way would that be?” I asked.

It was true. Sharon had been a victim of a violent crime with a big knock on the head and someone trying to overdose her on her insulin. She had an appointment with Drive Me and when I went to pick her up, she wasn’t waiting with a nasty scowl on her face as usual. She was face down on her kitchen floor barely breathing. It scared the Bejesus out of me. It made me come to the realization that even though we had a love-hate relationship. . . the love outweighed the hate.

“If you don’t want my business, just say so.” She crossed her arms in front of her with a huff. “I can always walk or try to get one of the Holy Rollers to take me.”

“I’d go with walking,” I teased and turned the car back toward town. “Only because I don’t think any of the Holy Rollers drive.”

“Shut up and take me to your house. I want to take Trixie that pie,” Sharon ordered.

“Is she expecting you?” I questioned. Trixie would kill me if I showed up with Sharon unannounced. Trixie and Sharon had as much of a love-hate thing as me and Sharon.

“Yes. I told her I was going to bring the pie over this morning.  We just need to stop and pick it up.” Sharon didn’t bother looking at me. She stared straight ahead with a stiff jaw.

When we got back to town, I took River Road instead of going down Main Street to go back to Sharon’s house. After we stopped by her place to grab the pie, I turned right on Fifth Street.

“Look-y there.” Sharon Fasa pointed to Shear Illusions hair salon on the right. “Brittany is making her rounds, isn’t she?”

“I guess.” I slowed to a crawl and looked in the window. Kim Banta, the owner of Shear Illusions, was cutting away on Bethany’s hair. It made me wonder if Brittany would cut her hair the same way once we resolved this mess.