Page 183 of Unwrapping Deviance

I move aside as they stalk to their dad’s whole life.

“Are you sure about this?” Daniel asks for the twentieth time since rolling into Jefferson for the last time and pulling up outside the Sheriff’s office.

“Yes,” I repeat.

“One of us should come with you,” Christian presses from the backseat.

“No,” I say again. “I’ll be quick.”

They still follow me into the genetic block of space cluttered by five desks and a whole wall of cabinets. Only two desks are occupied. A man in his thirties, the other mid sixties if not older. Both glance up from their paperwork when we stop at the narrow barrier separating us from them.

A wizened woman with a beehive of hair the steel gray of shiny floss and tiny eyes squinting through square glasses blinks up as we approach.

“Daniel and Christian MacAllister. As handsome as ever. Look just like your daddy, bless his soul. We were all heartbroken we didn’t get a service here for him. Such a wonderful man. Tragic how alone he suffered his last few years having lost everything and everyone he cared about. Never remarried, though there were plenty of single ladies eager and willing. He just loved your mama—”

I hadn’t understood Daniel’s thought process when he had his father’s body brought closer only to pay for the cremation

Having heard the kind of man he was, Daniel did too much already.

Unconsciously, I reach my hand and take Christian’s. His fingers are warm and strong lacing through mine.

Since hearing how he was treated as a child, all I want is to protect him, drown him in love and make sure he never doubts how much he means to me. It’s become an almost personal mission.

“We’re here to see the sheriff,” I interject a bit rudely, but we don’t have time to listen to lies.

She purses thin, overpainted lips, oozing the crimson paint into the fine lines and smearing her dentures.

“And who exactly are you, hunny?”

The frigid condescension in this woman’s shrill voice could reset the polar ice caps. Herhunnyalone made me want to reach over and smack her. Ninety years old or not, but we’re mere minutes from leaving this hellhole and I don’t want to get arrested for assaulting a senior citizen.

“I’m the one fucking them,” I tell her bluntly. “And we’re here to see Sheriff Brewer. He’s expecting us.”

Daniel’s muffled choking noise would have been comical if Christian hadn’t burst out laughing. Deep, belly rumbling cackles that nearly has my poker face slipping.

The two officers listening in the back seem equally amused, exchanging glances and smothering their grins by ducking their heads.

The woman — Margaret, according to the name plaque nearly covered in glittery stickers of unicorns — is not. She’s horrified. One thin, bony hand clutches at her literal pearls like my audacity could never.

“I beg your pardon, young lady?” she squeals with the high frequency of a dog whistle.

“Don’t.” Daniel warns low under his breath for my ears only. To the delicate daisy, he says, “Just here to see the sheriff please, Margaret.”

Margaret’s watery, gray eyes never waver off my face. “That is no way for a lady to speak. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“You should hear how I speak when they make me beg—”

Christian hoops his arms around my waist and drags me into his chest. His lips tickle my ear.

“Easy, brat. She’s a hundred years old.”

“She started it,” I mutter, but relent as Daniel takes my place and tries to smooth down Margaret’s feathers.

“You make me so fucking hard when you get so feisty,” Christian groans into my ear, successfully making me forget all about the troll at the desk. “I can’t wait to get you home and inmy bed. My dick so deep in your tight cunt the neighbors hear you scream my name.”

His delicious promise trickles down my spine like sweet, warm honey. It makes my core clench with anticipation.

Fuck talking to Lucy. I’m ready for him to put his words into action.

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