Page 79 of Lost Kingdom

“It’s just you.” He holds the door and waves us in.

“Good to see you too,” Aubree drawls. “My morning is infinitely better now that you’ve welcomed me in with such a warm, brotherly embrace.”

“You want me to hug you, doc? Minka would warn you against it. I grab ass every time.”

“Grab mine,” she taunts, “and I’ll rearrange your testicles. Did I ever tell you how we remove them for autopsy?”

“Nope. But Mayet did.” He presses his massive basketballer hand to the back of her head and pushes her into the apartment. If he was any other dude, any other time or place, I’d slit his fuckin’ throat and bury him in the woods. But he’s Cato, and somehow, he manages to go untouched by the shit he does.

Maybe these are the lessons he’s supposed to learn, but we let him get away with it.

Maybe we’re setting the prick up for something worse in the future.

Cheery thought.

“Coffee.” Aubree announces her arrival and makes a beeline for the machine on Archer’s counter. “Morning, Bestie.”

“You can just call me Minka. Or Boss.” Minka follows her second into the kitchen and leaves Archer leaning against the back of the couch. “My Liegealso works. Or Duchess has a nice ring to it.”

“Minka will do.” Aubree fills her mug almost to overflowing, then she pours a little into Minka’s to top up what’s already consumed. “Any word on the Booth case? No, wait…” Her tone changes in an instant. From bored curiosity to sharp rage. I turn to the door, expecting a fucking war to siege through. But Aubree sets her coffee down and stalks across the apartment instead. She cocks her arm back, winds her shit up, and slams her fist to Archer’s shoulder with a grunt of anger.

He doesn’t move a single inch.

But his brows pop high on his forehead. “Issue, Doctor Emeri?”

“Don’t you Doctor Emeri me, Detective Asswipe! You knew he had Cordoza marry us and you said nothing?”

Panicked, his eyes swing to mine.

“You knew!” she hits again. “Married against my will? That is a violation of human rights, and you are a cop!”

“Ow! Stop hitting me.” He grabs her wrist and turns her around so she can’t keep swinging. “And I didn’t do anything.”

“No shit you didn’t do anything! The first step would have been to arrest the man who admitted to a crime.”

“You married her without her consent?” Minka gasps. “What?”

“Oh shush,” Archer chuckles. “You know. I told you.”

“I knew.” Minka brings her coffee up and snickers behind the lip of the mug. “He told me last night. Congratulations, Doctor Emeri. This is a testament to the power of manifestation.”

“I would have liked to be involved in my own wedding!” She glares across at me, like we didn’t already hash this out. “I’m allowed to like someone without it turning into a whole thing where consent no longer matters and?—”

“Which one of you told her, anyway?” I look to Archer. “She knew, and I sure as hell wasn’t the one who squealed.”

“Wasn’t me. I came home last night, medicated my wife, and went to bed.Now we’re awake and the rapture has arrived.” He accepts Minka when she crosses the room, grinning when she brings him coffee and a warm body to wrap himself around. “Maybe it was Fletch? He said he’d snitch if you didn’t tell her.”

“It wasn’t Fletcher,” Aubree grumbles. “But at least he had good intentions. What’s happening with the Booth Bay shooting?”

“Not our case. But the detectives are short-listing their suspects. We’re starting to think it came from above.”

“Above?” I move closer to Aubree and drag her against my chest when she’s not really sure where else to go. Because maybe we know who we are behind closed doors, but no one really knows what we are outside those four walls. Together? Not? Fighting? Married? Do we touch in public, or are we still just the couple who sleep in the same bed and read books sometimes?

I know the answer. So I press a kiss to her temple to let everyone else know, too.

“Above what?” She slips her free hand into my back pocket and rests against my side. “Above Booth?”

“Yeah. We’ve known all along he’s reporting to someone else,” Archer explains. “Ever since he popped up and messed with Fletch’s ex, we knew he was a mid-level gangster. And every mid-level gangster has a dude higher up calling the shots. No one has been able to pinpoint who that person is yet, but Detective Bird’s informantswearshe heard rumors that Booth is leaving too much of a trail behind, especially after he fucked with a cop’s wife. Only an idiot brings that kind of smoke into his own house. Whoever he reports to, this guy who clearly prefers anonymity, is quickly becoming intolerant of Booth’s fuck ups.”

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