Page 202 of Heartless Legacy

“Who said anything about a brawl?”

“No stabbing. No one-punch knockouts, no choke outs. Nothing. We’re not leaving the hotel tonight.”

“We need to eat, Finn.”

“We will, but we don’t need to leave to do it. What about the diner down the street? You like spots like that.” I say, to distract her from whatever she’s planning.

As I’m talking I’m searching online for a menu. “Oooh. It says their most popular menu item is their double-decker barbecue bacon, pepper jack turkey burger and loaded cheese fries with a chocolate shake. Doesn’t that sound good?”

She says, “I know what you’re doing, Finn.”

“Trying to feed you?”

“Trying to distract me from the fact that you went on a job and came back with a date.”

I love that she’s jealous. I’ve had girls be jealous before, but that was annoying. That wasn’t about me. It was about them, their egos, and what being seen next to me would do for them. But Thea, she’s the stab you in the eye kind of jealous and that makes me feel wanted.

Pulling her into my arms, I ask, “Are you even listening? Pax had to point out I got asked out on a date. I didn’t even know it was happening. If I had, I would have told her no. Now if you want to go to karaoke to listen to horrible singing, or because you think we might get more intel, then we can. But no, I’m not taking you out to hurt that poor girl. If you need to fight, we’ll move the furniture, and you and Pax can go at it. I’d love to see you do that thing with your legs around his neck again.”

Her lips twitch, and she says, “Make the fries and shake a large please.”

Chapter 111

Thea

Wolfe made it back to the hotel before Holden did. He was a sweaty mess and looked so relaxed; he was damn near floating. Maybe I should’ve taken Finn’s suggestion to beat Pax’s ass. Holden showed up while Wolfe was in the shower, and Pax ordered dinner while we were waiting.

Finn and Holden included him in our plans because they’re trying to mend their relationship with him, so I didn’t put up too much of a fight about him coming along. He’s basically background noise and hasn’t done anything suspicious.

We’re discussing our day over our meal. Finn recaps his trip to campus, but this time he leaves out the part about his date. Pax’s job was to find out what he could about the fire. Sixty years is a long time, but we figured there could be some people that remember hearing their parents talking about it. Or maybe learned about it in school. That lead was a bust, and Wolfe didn’t fare much better at the gym. They both said the age demographic was too young.

The welcome center had photos of the original town layout, including the archives, and gave a walking tour of what they called the historical district. The tour guide kept going on aboutthe old post office system. I pretended to be excited too, but was really bored out of my mind. Who cares about snail mail?

Holden tells us the articles in the library say the fire was ruled accidental, caused by sparks in a bad circuit box. All-in-all, this trip turns out to be a waste of time. We finish our food and the guys tell me they’re tired, and head off to the room they’re sharing. I get bored watching tv and crawl into bed, prepared to spend the night staring up at the ceiling.

The adjoining door between rooms opens, casting light from the other side. Wolfe stands in the doorway with a beer in his hand. “You’re still up.”

“You know me. Sleep doesn’t come easy.”

He motions for me to join him. “You need to see something.”

Crawling out of bed, I walk into the other room. There are two six packs on the table. “What’s all this?” I ask. Holden’s got pages upon pages of papers all over the beds and floors.

Handing me a beer, Finn says, “We’re following up on a lead.”

“What kind of lead requires beer, copy paper, and duct tape?”

He grumbles, “We didn’t have to use the duct tape, and the beer came afterwards.”

“So when you say, following, you mean it’s already done. And all of you went. Without me?”

Pax says, “We didn’t go to karaoke. So relax.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Paxton.”

“Why not? I hear you like being bossed around.”

“I do when orgasms come with it. But since you’re just flapping your jaws and it’s nowhere near my pussy, kindly shut the fuck up.”

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