Page 6 of Copper

I stand up and walk back into the living room, and Coleson follows at my heels. I stop at the coffee table and look at the watch. It’s gold Rolex. “This was personal.”

“Why do you think that?” Coleson asks.

“They killed him but left some valuable shit. You can rule out him being surprised by a robber.”

Coleson scratches something on his pad and takes a picture of the watch with his phone. He puts it back in his pocket. “Do you have any thoughts?” he asks. “I’m at a loss on this and Cannon. No DNA evidence means I have to actually pound pavement and start finding people that want to talk. Other than a frazzled landlady, I don’t know where to start. No boss to interview. No family.”

“I have no idea, but Deputy Mitchell said you found a paper in Cannon’s office that had ties to Murphy Beckett. Let’s start there and see if this guy did business with Beckett too.”

***

I close my eyes and run my hands through her hair as she wraps those familiar lips around my dick and takes long pulls from me that make my toes curl inside my shoes. “It just bothers me that it’s two murders in my county over such a short amount of time.”

Lucy comes off my cock, and I look down at her. Her hair is wild and mussed. Her lipstick is bright red and smeared around her mouth. The red smidge she left on my dick reminds me of the red on my dick after I took her virginity, and my heart clenches in my chest. Will I ever get this woman out of my system?

“You’ll figure it out, Aaron. You’re a smart guy.”

“It’s not my job to figure it out. I have detectives for that. Coleson can take the lead, and I’ve got great deputies like Mitchell to do a lot of the grunt work. It just makes me look like an idiot to the press and to the public since I’m the face guy.”

She takes a long lick up my dick and grips the base, jerking me as she presses whisper kisses to my thighs. I wonder how many clients she kisses. “The public loves you. Sheriff is an elected position. It wasn’t even close last election.”

“Yeah, it may be this next time with all this shit.”

“I’ll vote for you.”

I smile at her and almost cry at how beautiful she is and how much it means to me that she’s willing to show up at a polling station and check a box with my name on it. I affectionately run my hand through her hair, enjoying the feel of it in my fingers.

“Are you worried about keeping your job?” she asks.

A chuckle comes out of my chest. “Yeah, Lucy, I am. I’ve already lost so much.”

She stops jerking my dick and presses a kiss to my knee before crawling up my body. Her face is an inch from mine. We haven’t been this intimate in years. Her eyes flick to the door, probably worried her douche cousin’s bouncers will come in and catch us doing more than blow jobs. She leans her forehead against mine, and I wrap my arms around her. I know there’s supposed to be no touching in a strip club, but how do I not touch her? We’re mostly alone except for the unlocked door. I just want a moment.

One moment to be present with her. I want a moment with the first girl I loved. The first girl I fucked. The girl sitting on my lap because she knows I lost her years ago before losing my wife. I came here for comfort, and she’s giving it to me.

I was a stupid kid when I left her, and I’ll do anything to get her back. It’s why I show up here. Sure, I get sucked off when she feels like it, but I’m here for her. If we did nothing but sit like this with our arms around each other, I’d pay hundreds of dollars. I’d make it rain on her in the club every night. I know damn well that I’m going to go home, take my shirt off, and put it over my face just to breathe the scent she’ll leave on it.

“Can we have this again?” I ask. “Just this, Lucy. No worries about the past. I know I have kids now, but sometimes I look at them and wish they were yours.” I close my eyes in shame. “Don’t ever tell anyone I said that. That stays between us, and I’ll take it to my grave.”

She buries her head in my neck and inhales like she’s reacquainting herself with my scent. I run my hand up her spine, letting her do whatever she wants. Her nose nuzzles my jaw, and I rub my own face against whatever skin of hers I can reach. She’s warm…so warm.

“That ship has sailed, Aaron. You don’t want me now. Look at my life.”

“I don’t care about the dancing, Lucy. If you’ll be my girl again, you won’t have to spend another night on the pole anyway. I’ll take care of you, and that doesn’t mean you being kept in my house like it’s a dungeon. I’ll help you get a job. Skills. You can go back to school if you want.”

She pulls back and looks at me. She’s a foot from my face, and her breath is warm and sweet like she had a piece of candy before she came in to suck my dick. She runs her index finger down my nose. “There are circumstances right now that mean I can’t be with you the way you want.”

“Why?” I whine. I sound like a boy who was just turned down for the school dance.

She slides back down my body and hums a little as she takes my cock back into her mouth. “It’s just the way it has to be. You’ll thank me later. You should focus on the girls now. Your family. I’ll always be here to play.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and blink away tears. Here I am, laying my heart bare to this woman, and she denies me.

But it’s hard to be annoyed when your dick is getting sucked.

“I just wish I could connect this bullshit to Murphy Beckett, you know?” I ask to the void. I don’t expect her to answer. I sure don’t expect her to suddenly stop sucking.

Lucy’s eyes furrow together and she comes off my cock. She looks up at me and tilts her head. “Murphy Beckett?”

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