Page 70 of Just Between Us

Bug shook her head again. “Nonsense. This is my home, no matter what the deed says. I’m not going anywhere simply because your father threw a temper tantrum.” I was shaking my head and trying to argue when her hand came up. “But there is something you need to see.”

Before I could stop her, Bug disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a dark-brown, leather-bound notebook. “Take this.”

I accepted the notebook and flipped through the pages. It was filled with dates and notes scribbled in my aunt’s looping, feminine handwriting.

May 23, 2:00 p.m.: Meeting with Bowlegs & Bootsy Sinclair regarding the property at 281 Apple Blossom. Money exchanged for information about the current owners.

February 15, 9:00 a.m.: Closed door meeting with Ed Sherwin at the Department of Natural Resources. Still unable to purchase Wabash Lake.

August 2, 12:30 p.m.: Phone call with unknown person. “I’ll take care of the money, just make it go away.”

My eyes scanned, piecing together the tidbits scrawled on hundreds of pages. Entry after entry were filled with dates, times, meetings, and notes. I had no idea what it all meant.

Bug looked at me. “Take this to your brother. That girl he hired is a smart woman. She’ll figure it out.”

I frowned. I didn’t like that Veda was getting mixed up in my family’s dysfunctional—and likely very dangerous—drama.

My aunt exhaled and smoothed a hand over her hair. “I’ve got to get going. They’re expecting me at the library.”

“What? You can’t go in after what happened ...” I was still dizzy from everything that had transpired, and she was talking about going to work. It was unreal.

She laughed. “Life goes on, Royal. I’m a big girl.” She looked up at me and squeezed my forearm. “Thank you for today.”

I watched my aunt compose herself and sail out of the kitchen like I hadn’t just interrupted my angry, unhinged father berating her.

I clutched the notebook, crinkling the cover in my grip.

This is the beginning of the end of Russell King.

TWENTY

VEDA

Royal sat on the couch,and I kneeled before him, playfully walking my fingertips up his thighs. I wore a sheer black bra and a matching see-through thong that barely covered anything. My eyes glittered with mischief. The tracing of my fingers stopped at his belt buckle, and I blinked up at him before licking my lips.

I’d quickly learned he liked the soft, submissive side of me, and it was a part of myself I was just beginning to understand, but there was no denying it—I loved this new me.

Royal leaned forward, capturing my mouth with his. He groaned into the kiss as his tongue swept across mine, and my heartbeat ticked higher. His cock twitched to life beneath my palm as I stroked the front of his shorts.

I softened against his rough kiss.

With Royal, I could let everything around us dissolve. I didn’t have to make decisions or be strong or at the top of my game. With him, I could simplyexist.

Sitting on the floor between his spread legs, I leaned back from the kiss and took him in. His arms stretched across the back of the couch. Bare chested, his array of tattoos covered his torso from his neck until they disappeared under the waistband of his shorts. I’d spent weeks memorizing each one, askingquestions and silently trying to understand the complex and creative man.

My eyes caught on the hot-pink cast, and I chuckled with a shake of my head.

One finger hooked under my chin as he looked down at me. “What’s so funny?”

My hand gently brushed across the rough exterior of his cast. “Just you.” I shrugged. “You’re so unaffected by what people think of you.” I exhaled, blowing the loose strands of my hair out of my face. “I have no idea what that’s like.”

He smiled down at me. “You mean to tell me that badass Veda Bauer, the woman who can cut a man down with a single look, actuallycareswhat people think of her?”

I gritted my teeth and shot him a bland look. “It’s not ideal.”

His hearty laugh filled the living room. “You’re the most complicated, incredibly warm woman I have ever met.”

I bloomed under the ease at which he gave the compliment. “Well, you’re the first to think that.” I laughed in an attempt to cut the tug at my heartstrings. “I am a black cat, after all.”

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