Page 37 of Skeletons in the Closet

“I’m not sure about the York professor either. I know that Noah went to York, and this guy taught there at the time. It’s a loose connection, and I don’t know if Noah would have taken any of his classes. But the drag story time event made me curious. I could spin tales with that one.”

Tallus rubbed his hands together and paused with an anticipatory look gleaming from his hazel eyes. I realized he was waiting for a response, so I grunted, unsure what to say.

It must have been all he was looking for.

“What if… Hear me out. What if Noah had a secret?”

“We all have secrets.”

“Sure, but what if his secret was that he dressed in drag, and his wife didn’t know? What if he had a gay lover? What if someone at these protests threatened to expose him?”

Again, Tallus paused, seemingly waiting for a response. None of it made sense. He was a thirsty man in the desert racing toward mirages. Spinning tales, as he said. None of it fit, but I didn’t want to burst his bubble. His excitement was intoxicating, and so long as he was talking, I could watch. I could soak up his presence.

I made a noncommittal noise and rose to find more beer.

“You don’t believe any of it, do you?” Tallus asked as I pondered the line of bottles in the fridge. “Beth pointed out something from both those newspapers. I spent all day going over them. I’m telling you, one of those pieces is relevant.”

I grabbed a half-empty bottle of bourbon from the freezer instead, taking a few swigs before turning to face Tallus. By planting my ass against the counter, I didn’t have to rejoin him on the couch.

“I can look into them. I still have to check out Beth, so maybe I’ll learn something more from her.”

“That’s it?”

I shrugged. “She’s the one who seems guilty of the affair or at least somewhat entangled with Noah.”

“When will you start that?”

I shrugged again, sipping the liquor. I had a feeling the newspaper articles would send me on a goose chase with a predictable ending. Tallus was inventing a far more dramatic outcome. The truth was simple. Noah was a cheating husband.

The end.

Be it with Beth, or Olivia, or both, it didn’t matter.

Maybe the drag idea wasn’t as far-fetched as I originally thought. If Noah was leading a secret gay life, he might have tangoed with the wrong person. Hell, if that was the case, maybe the wrong person was Mr. Politician, whose career might get worse if people found out he was involved with a man.

NowIwas twisting shit up like Tallus. Great.

Could it explain the sheer volume of home protection Noah had acquired before he killed himself? Clearly, the man had felt his life was in danger. But by whom? And in the same breath, he took the coward’s way out. Why? Fear of prison? Fear of exposure? Exposure of what? An affair? It hardly sounded right. Who cared if he was caught cheating? So what if Faye divorced him? It wasn’t the end of the world. Olivia’s husband wasn’t exactly a threat. He was a stay-at-home Dad. A softy from what I’d gathered. I doubted he could kill a spider, let alone a man who’d cheated with his wife. I hadn’t looked into Beth’s husband. A gay lover? An anti-drag protester? A politician’s thug?

Okay, I could see a politician posing a threat. Those fuckers thought they were gods and would protect their reputation at all costs.

I drank more bourbon as new ideas tumbled around my head. Spinning tales. Good grief. I forgot Tallus was even there until he removed the bottle from my hand and helped himself to a sip before putting it on the counter out of reach. A warmth seeped through my veins. I’d swigged far more than I realized and was on my way to a decent buzz.

“Your brain is whirring so loud I can hear it. What are you thinking, Guns?”

I was thinking I’d had enough for one day. I was thinking Dad had tipped me over the edge, and my stress level, although better, was still way too high. I was thinking about how Tallus had looked naked with my cock halfway down his throat. I was thinking it wouldn’t be so bad to end up there again. Fuck rules. Fuck Spark.

Tallus caught me staring at his mouth, and he grinned deviously. “Tsk, tsk.” He reached out and swiped a thumb across my bottom lip. I reacted with a jolt but couldn’t move away since I had the counter at my back.

“Relax. I’m cleaning up your bourbon dribbles. You’re almost drooling. I’ll take it as a compliment.”

I licked my lips in response, my neck burning with heat. It climbed to my cheeks, and I wanted to push Tallus out of the way, but I couldn’t move.

Tallus dragged his fingers down my chest before letting his arm fall to his side. “I thought we weren’t going there again. You made it perfectly clear last time, remember? But let’s be honest. It was a mess. Do we really want to make things awkward?”

No. The answer was no. “You should go.” It was the safest solution.

Tallus chuckled. “Afraid you can’t control yourself?”

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