Page 24 of By His Side

Darien lay back down, his eyes on the ceiling. “That makes sense.”

I hardly dared move, never mind speak, in case he realized he was supposed to be hightailing it out of here. What did it mean that he wasn’t? That he’d come to terms with his attraction to me, that he’d fully given into it? Probably not. It was more likely he was tired. He had, after all, been the one doing most of the work, my slightly sore arse a testament to that.

“I read up on your case. More than just your official report, that is.”

The words hung there while I turned them over in my head, a hundred questions all clamoring to be asked, without me being able to decide which should come first.Why? When? What did you read exactly? What were your thoughts on what you read? Why are you telling me?“I suppose that’s something you do for most of your clients?”

“No.”

A flat denial, which told me nothing while also telling me a great deal.

I turned onto my side, propping myself up on one elbow so I could see his face. “So, why do it forme?”

“You kept saying you were innocent.”

“You haven’t had anyone claim that before?”

Darien pulled a face. “Yeah, sure I have, but they were mostly petty crimes. John Doe, who didn’t really rob his grandma to pay for his drug habit. Jane Doe, who didn’t know that her boyfriend put something in her luggage, even though it had happened before.” He flicked a glance my way. “You get the picture. Not…”

“Murder,” I supplied when he didn’t finish his sentence. “You can say it.”

Darien gave a slight shrug. “Most people don’t even talk about it once they’ve served their sentence. It’s over and done with. They look to the future, not the past.”

“Lucky them!” My words dripped with bitterness.

Perhaps realizing this was a strange conversation to have while still naked, Darien got off the bed. His movements were unhurried as he dressed, providing me with one last opportunity to look my fill before he deprived me of the sight. I had high hopes of getting to see a naked Darien again, but there was no guarantee, so it paid to make the most of it. I waited for him to say more, the seconds turning into a minute. Eventually, I lost patience. “And?”

“And what?”

“You brought it up for a reason. If you have questions, just ask them.”

Darien shook his head. “I don’t know what I expected to find.”

Something cold settled in my chest as I sat up. “Don’t you? I can tell you. You were hoping to find evidence that the courts had fucked up. Something that would make you feel better about this.” I waved a hand between the two of us to illustrate what I meant by this. “And you found nothing. Yet, here you are, anyway. I wonder what that says about you.”

Darien paused from fastening his jeans, his gaze when it met mine slightly narrowed. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” I got off the bed and grabbed a robe, my nakedness bothering me now that Darien was almost dressed.

“Go on the attack because I’ve made you feel vulnerable.”

His words stunned me. Not because they were ridiculous, but because they were true and he’d worked that out about me in such a short amount of time. Taking my frustration out on the fabric, I belted the robe so tightly that it dug into me. “You should probably go now. You got what you came for.”

Darien snorted. “And what’s that? A whole bucketful of guilt?”

“A fuck,” I said bluntly. “And an orgasm. Let’s not pretend you came here for my sparkling conversation.” Darien crossed his arms over his chest and regarded me silently. I stared right back, refusing to be the first to look away or to blink. The stand-off dragged on way beyond what was comfortable, both of us equally matched when it came to stubbornness. And still I didn’t give in.

Darien raised his chin slightly. “Fine. I’ll ask my questions. Where were you on the night Lily Reynolds was killed? Everything I read said you were home. You have to see how hard it is to believe you weren’t involved when you were there.”

I was equal parts hot and cold at the same time. “I’m not having this conversation with you. I might have let you fuck me up the arse, but it doesn’t come with permission to fuck

me in the head. No one gets to do that, anymore.”

“Okay. You don’t want to answer that. What about the night Julian disposed of the body using your car? Where were you that night? Because again, you were supposedly at home. How could you be at home both nights and know nothing about what was going on right under your nose? There were two days between Julian killing Lilyand him disposing of her body. How could you not notice you were sharing your house with a corpse? And what about Julian? He must have been acting weird, surely? He’s not a serial killer. That was his first murder, or so we’re led to believe, so there had to be some tells. Come on, give me something, Felix. Some crumb that will make me believe you’re telling the truth.”

It was like the court case all over again, panic rising in my chest just as it had when I’d stood in the witness box and tried to make a jury believe me. They hadn’t, so why would Darien be any different? Grabbing him by the shoulder, I steered him toward the door, taking care despite the maelstrom of emotion I was experiencing not to dig my fingers in so hard they’d leave bruises.

Darien didn’t put up much of a fight, letting me lead him toward the top of the stairs. At which point, he turned and went down them of his own accord. I stood in the hallway and waited while he took a detour to the kitchen to collect his jacket and then accompanied him to the front door.

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