Page 16 of Medusa

Each of the brothers had different colored scales; Augustine was purple, Finley was blue, and he was green. At any rate, he hadn’t shifted fully in years. He barely remembered what it felt like to fly, to have the wind carry him, lift him…

He shook his head. No use dwelling on that now. His internal count for his sit-ups was nearing three hundred; when he reached that even number, he flipped onto his stomach and started doing push-ups.

Unfortunately, this position made him think about the gorgeous redhead he’d fucked so thoroughly the night before. He’d held himself over her in a position similar to this, but with a lot more hip thrusting.

All right, not only like this.

I also took her against the wall and on the edge of the bed, but I’m not getting visions of her while I stand or sit in a chair.

I hope.

That would be awkward; getting a hard-on while being questioned for murder.

At one hundred push-ups, the door to the room opened and Jaden saw a pair of shapely legs wearing heels enter the room. He got to his feet quickly, rubbing his dusty hands on the seat of his jeans before sticking one out to the woman. “Ma’am,” he said respectfully.

She raised her eyebrow and shook his hand, her grip strong and sure. She handed him a bottle of water with her other hand. “Since you probably need it.”

“Thanks.” Jaden grinned and twisted the cap off, swallowing half of it in one gulp. “I usually do my workout in the morning. Didn’t want to waste my time even more.”

“You consider being here a waste of time?” the woman said, taking a seat at the table and gesturing at the chair across from her.

Jaden spun it around and sat with his forearms resting on the back of the chair. “I understand that you need to follow up on your leads. Murder is serious business,” he said.

The woman’s second eyebrow joined the first. “Murderisserious,” she said blandly. “Have you murdered anyone?”

“Of course not!” Jaden fought to lower his voice. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t like Pollux, that was no secret, but I kept it all in the ring, despite him wanting to fight me out of it. I didn’t see him after our scheduled fight at six, but I have no idea how to prove that Ididn’tdo something.”

“I have eyewitness statements that say that Pollux was waiting for you after your match,” the woman said calmly.

“My brother told me the same thing. Finley, I mean. He helped me sneak out the back door so that I wouldn’t make things worse.” Jaden shook his head. “Iamsorry I made the threat, but it slipped out. He punched me in—” He stopped, remembering he was talking to a woman.

She grinned at him. “I saw footage of the fight. Caught you in the family jewels, didn’t he?”

Jaden nodded sheepishly. “He lost a point for that cheap shot. You’re not supposed to aim there.”

“You didn’t have that shiner last night,” she said, indicating his left eye. “At least, not according to witnesses.”

“I can tell you exactly when in the fight I got it,” Jaden said. “I don’t bruise easily, and when I do, it takes a while for them to show up.”

“Did you know that DeLux Cafe is one of the public portals to the upper world?” she said, changing subjects.

“I did,” Jaden said cautiously. “I haven’t been topside in years. No need to. Everything I want is here.”

“Even women?”

“I have no problem getting a woman.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

“You’re not my type,” Jaden said with a lopsided smile and a wink.

The woman raised her eyebrow. “Not my question.”

Jaden sighed inwardly. “I’m not in a serious relationship at this time.”

“Is that why you went to the speed dating event?”

“Nope. I had no idea it was happening last night. I was in town to pick someone up for the evening, and a woman in a purple dress caught my eye as she entered the cafe. She turned out to be not my type, but I stuck around for a while anyway, to see if anyone else might be.”

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