Page 180 of Cheater

“How can I help otherwise, Chloe? I’m gonna deal with Hallman’s ex. She’ll stop slandering you. Not to worry.”

“Don’t take care of it with violence, Derek,” I warn. “Violence is never the answer.”

“I beg to differ, but what else beyond that? Anything?”

“Okay, first: how about if you let Craig off the hook?”

“Ah. Why are you worried about Officer Jenkins? He’s a big boy that can take care of himself, I’m sure.”

“He’s Adam’s best friend; he’s my friend. A part of my life. He’s into Alannah and might be in my life going forward. Even if he wasn’t, I still give a shit.”

“Okay…” He lets that hang.

“And he’s just doing his job. Alannah pulled him into this … this thing with us today because she cares about me and because her and I try to help one another when one of us is stuck. And now you’re gonna try to force him to be a dirty cop? You’re punishing him for simply being who he is, trying to help me when he thought I needed help. He’s a good guy.”

He snickers. “He’s not been made to do anything. Yet. He’s on standby to help me, should I need the help.”

“He’s an actual good guy and there aren’t many of those around.”

“So…”

“So I’d like you to let him off the hook.”

“And I’d like you to give me a shot at making you happy,” he fires back.

“More blackmail? Great. Great way to start a marriage.”

“Is this going to be a marriage, Chloe? It is to me, but what about you? If it is, there won’t be any blackmail required. Because you’ll be giving me what I want.”

“Which is for me to pretend I’m okay with all of this?”

He shakes his head. “Which is for you to let me do my job. I wanted to be your husband and now I am. Now I have a daily goal and checklist for that. I really think that’ll go a long way for both of us if you let me do my thing. Needing to deal with the gossip blog tonight snapped me out of a bad mindset. Will doing my job as your husband help me stay out of a bad headspace? Maybe.”

I cross my arms and stare out the window.

“Think about it,” he requests. “You’re attracted to me. The sex is incredible. That’s a basis for a relationship to develop, right? Let it develop. Be open-minded.”

I continue staring out the window.

“Think about it,” he repeats.

A while later, I pull my phone out and reply to Craig.

I’m so so sorry about today. I’m trying to talk sense into him to get him to leave you be. Thank you for trying to help.

My phone almost immediately rings. Craig calling.

I answer it.

“Hello?”

“You alone?”

“No.” Though it wouldn’t matter if I was since he’s got my phone bugged.

“Right. I’ll make this quick and I’ll do the talking. Not your fault. Don’t worry about me. I knew exactly what I’d be wading into, and I made the choice to do that. I’ll figure things out. I wanted you to know Adam didn’t push Jeannie to do any of that blog stuff. She works at City Hall and saw you guys when you got your marriage license and went apeshit. The only thing I will ask is for you to please request Derek gives me 24 hours to get her to back off before he retaliates. We don’t need any other casualties. I was instructed not to reach out to him directly, ever, and I wouldn’t normally put you in the middle, but I needed to do that just this once. My dad and Jeannie’s mom are first cousins. They’re close. I can’t just stand by and let her get on the Steele shit list.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I say.

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