Page 55 of Small Town Beast

He pretended to dab a tiny bit on her “ashy” arm and she actually screamed and cussed him. Chuckling, he set down the little mystery bottle and thought no more about it.

While Saverin waitedfor Tanya to clean up he sent his cousin Crash a text, put off that the man hadn’t replied yet. Sometimes Crash went off for days on end around Virginia hunting down bail jumpers, and sometimes he was just in a story with his crazy wife. But Crash was reliable and the best man to ask for the job. Saverin needed to know if he could do it.

“You still wantto go Rowanville today?” he asked Tanya through the bathroom door, in case she changed her mind and wanted to wait here for him, naked, oiled, and tied to the bed.

“Yes. I owe somebody money,” she called back.

“Who’s that?”

“None of your business,” she sang.

When she came out of the bathroom he asked her again what she meant but she just shrugged him off. Likely it was that private investigator. Saverin didn’t have time to shake the man down today but for certain he’d be getting Tanya’s money—technicallyhismoney — back from that cretin before the month was out.

“I need to check on something up here so you can just take my truck down to Rowanville and back,” he told her. “You okay with that?”

Tanya stared at him. “Are you forreal?”

“You got a license, right?”

“Yes… You’re really letting me drive your truck?”

“I’ll use my brother’s.” He hadn’t touched Sam’s truck in months. “You’ll have to give me a jump but it should work fine,” he assured Tanya as if she had asked.

“Okay, Saverin.”

He put the Legacy keys in her hand and she was still looking at him funny.

“For Chrissake, Tanya, it ain’t nothing.”

“You still have that gun in there?”

“No, I took it out. You want it?”

“Hell no!”

“Then go on.” He smacked her ass and she hugged him again, and they were kissing again…

“Go before I turn you out a third time,” he growled.

“Hm,” she said. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Very late inthe day Tanya returned his truck, and from the look on her face he could tell her journey had been as pointless as his.

“The office was closed,” she said tiredly, handing him back his keys. “I need to get back there tomorrow. Shoot, I work tomorrow. Day after that.”

“So your loan shark has an office?

“He does, but don’t ask me for no address. I know how you get.”

“How do I get?”

“Crazy,” said Tanya.

She sat next to him and crossed her arms on her knees. Doubling over, she hid her face.

Saverin rubbed her back and stroked her hair. Despite her breeziness he could tell she was hurting.

“I went to the place he went missing,” she revealed to his surprise. Her arms muffled her voice. “Looked around there some more…Then I went to Mama’s house.”

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