Page 10 of Finding Our Reality

It should be a sin for an asshole to look that good. All assholes should be ugly. They shouldn’t be sexy, strapping men. They should be sniveling, little weasels.

I’m caught off guard when the barstool beside me moves. “First, there’s the cussing.” He reaches out and grabs a lock of my hair, twisting it between his fingers. “Then, there’s your hair.” He drops it and nods down at my drink. “And now, there’s this.” He grabs my glass, spinning it around. “Lulu drinking. You’re right, a lot of things have changed in nearly twelve years.”

I push the drink away from him, careful not to brush my fingers against his. “I’m thirty years old. I don’t need to worry about lowered inhibitions anymore. A drink is just a drink.”

“You’re not thirty yet. One more month.”

He remembers my birthday.

He reads my mind. “It’s Valentine’s Day. Kind of hard to forget.”

Bastard.

“Is there something I can help you with?” I smirk, trying to bite back my grin because I know what’s coming.

“Well, somehow, I think you already know. But I just got off a conference call with the sheriff, the mayor, and the chief of the city police. Imagine my surprise, when they informed me that the brilliant Ella Hill wants to provide her services to the forgotten case of her missing older sister. Apparently, someone promised them involvement in a TV show if the case gains traction.”

“I didn’t promise them a TV show; I don’t have the power to do that. I simply said that it would make for good TV if the case actually went somewhere, and I have multiple lines of communication with all of the major TV news magazines and crime channels.”

He scoffs. “I didn’t even know what they were talking about. I had to put them on hold and web search your name.”

“You’ve never googled me before?”

“Nope. And I can only assume by your reaction today that you didn’t search for me either.”

“Nope.” His brow furrows. I can’t believe it, but that actually hurt his feelings. I sigh, “Well, you’re not good at groveling, that’s obvious. You could’ve just called to give me the news. Why’d you come here?” I tip my chin in the air. “Speaking of, how’d you know where to find me?”

“Your SUV is still in the parking lot at the station. I knew you couldn’t have gone far.”

I mock him with a bitchy reply. “Well, hedoesknow how to investigate.” I bring the glass to my lips but lower it before taking an actual drink.

He bypasses my snarky comment. “You still drive the same thing?”

“It was just sitting at my parents’ house. It drives perfectly fine. Why would I toss away something good?”

I side glance at him, waiting for him to tire of my catty comments, but he’s doing quite well at hiding his feelings, allthings considered. Cullen walks over from the opposite end of the bar.

“Crutch, what’ll it be?”

“Just a beer. Thanks, Cullen.”

Are you kidding me? I sit up straight, holding on tightly to my purse with the evidence bags tucked neatly inside. My eyes dance between the two of them. “You know each other? I mean, of course, you know each other, but…” I turn to Cullen. “You remember him?”

Cullen is completely confused by my reaction. Back in the day, Ridge never got into any specifics about my situation with his younger brother. Cullen just knew Ry was my boyfriend for a while, and then he wasn’t. He was just the guy who helped out when the tornado came through their neighborhood. I’m sure they’ve all shared a little bit more with him, now that we’re all older, but he’s never come right out and told me that he knows everything about my past.

“Yeah, he comes in here a couple of times a week. Why?”

I bore a hole into the side of Ry’s beautiful face.

Look at me, dummy.

His jaw twitches as he takes a long pull from his beer. A more expensive beer than what he used to drink. “You come in here all the time?”

“It’s two blocks away from the department. It’s a cop bar, Lulu. We all hang out here.” He waves his hand back at several of the tables, indicating that other patrons filling the seats must be deputies or cops as well.

I try to swallow, but I can’t. Has everyone lied to me? Every person in my life? “If you know Cullen, you must know Will, Raylee’s husband.”

Right then, Will comes walking around the back of the bar, carrying a case of beer. He freezes the second he sees Ry and me, sitting next to one another like long lost pals. “Oh, shit.”

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