Page 43 of Cash

Again, Taja barks out a laugh along with my dad and Terry.

“Yeah, that one,” I answer while fighting back a grin at his look.

James turns to Taja and looks her over from head to toe.

“Damn. I may be gay as fuck, but I have eyes. I get now why he was in a hurry to get home that night,” James says while grinning wide at Taja.

“God, I wish I was there to have seen that!” Taja says with another laugh.

“With the way he looks, I can’t have been the first guy to hit on him,” James returns.

“No, but it’s always fun to watch him squirm,” Taja answers.

“Now that all that’s out of the way, you making lunch anytime soon, Son, or you going to just let me sit here and wither away?” Dad asks.

“Yeah, I can do that,” I answer while giving Livi a slight squeeze.

“You want to stay for lunch, James?” Terry asks.

“I could eat. That’s if we don’t get a call. And Livi’s always up for food,” James answers.

“Hey!” Livi shouts indignantly at James.

There’s a slight knock on the front door before it flies open and Tessie comes rushing inside. At a slower pace, Vex follows her in with his arms full of grocery bags. Behind him, carrying nothing, is Axel. Looks like I’m cooking for a shit ton of people today.

“James? Livi? What are you guys doing here?” Tessie asks as she throws her arms around James in a bear hug that he returns while lifting her feet off the floor for a moment. After he releases her, she walks directly to Livi and repeats the gesture. I have to release Livi while the two women hug like old friends.

“I think the real question here is how do you know two cops so well, Tessie?” Taja asks while shooting a squint-eyed look at her sister.

I watch as Tessie keeps her back to her sister but shoots big eyes at Livi. Again, I find myself beating back a grin because I’m sure I already know the answer to Taja’s question.

Tessie slowly releases Livi and turns to face her sister. Plastering an innocent look on her face, Tessie attempts to smooth out Taja’s expression.

“Oh, well, you see, I met them…” Tessie pauses.

“I know! I know! I knowwwww! Can I answer this?” Axel shouts while raising his hand in the air like he’s in a classroom.

“No, Axel! Hush it! You don’t know anything!” Tessie shouts back.

“Do too! I do too!” Axel insists just as loudly.

“Go lay by your dish and mind your own business!” Tessie hollers back.

“Tessie! Don’t be rude!” Taja admonishes.

At this point, Dad, Terry, Vex and me are laughing our asses off while Tessie and Axel have a staredown going on.

“How many times have you met them, Tessie?” Axel asks with a huge smirk while crossing his arms over his chest.

Tessie does her own arm crossing and shoots Axel an evil look. He’s going to pay for this at some point, and I sincerely hope I’m there to see how it goes down. Her eyes are promising a painful payback, and I know her mind is already spinning with ideas.

“We met Tessie at the school while doing an anti-drug presentation,” James interrupts the stare down to answer.

“I call bullshit!” Axel says with a laugh while pointing at James.

“We did, actually,” Livi affirms.

I lean around Livi to look at her face and see she’s put on a careful, professional expression to back up her words. I’m on the verge of believing her when her eyes meet mine and widen slightly. She’s covering and so is James. It instantly hits me that they’re both loyal and sincerely like Tessie. They don’t want to see her get into trouble and instinctively they covered for her. Leaning back against the counter, I give Livi another slight squeeze and drop a kiss on her temple.

---