Page 35 of Single Teddy
Fuck!
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I reached for the first thing I could use to defend myself and closed my eyes. When there was a knock on my window, I jabbed the wooden coffee stirrer at the glass.
“Oh,” I said when I saw the big blond dream staring back at me.
“What did the window do to you?” he asked.
ELEVEN
TEDDY
Ididn’t know what to think.
Wesley didn’t strike me as someone who did drugs or distributed them, but appearances could be deceiving. I wasn’t going to let Wesley’s easygoing smile and my idea of him as someone kind overrule the safety of my kid and all the others in his class.
I couldn’t help but tap my foot while waiting for him to leave the house, anxious for any sign that I was misinterpreting things or that this was something else entirely.
“You know the guy?” Joey asked from the passenger seat, and I nodded.
It turned out Autumn had been right. All it took was a simple Google search and I’d learned that not only had Joey been cleared of his stepfather’s murder, but they’d caught the person who’d done it, and he’d confessed. So Joey was in the clear. It still surprised me that the news wasn’t much more widespreadaround the base. It was unfair to Joey, who’d gone way too long being an outcast.
But he’d turned his life around in so many ways. He was the head chef at The Outpost, married to a local journalist, and a cat dad of four. A complete one-eighty from the troublemaker who loved explosives a little too much.
“He’s Bear’s teacher,” I said and passed him a napkin for the doughnuts I’d brought along.
Chapssaltteok was good, if not addictive, but it was such hard work to get off my teeth, so I’d resolved to buy some more traditional Western stakeout pastries from the Happy Witch Café. An odd name, but it more than made up with its delicious offerings.
“Oh crap,” Joey said and reached for another sugary doughnut. “What are you going to do?”
I shrugged.
“I honestly don’t—” I started, when Wesley emerged from the house looking half as tall as when he’d walked in.
He fiddled with his fingers as he walked to his yellow car, which stood out like a buoy in the sea of dark vehicles along the street and when he got in, the resident of 68 Aster Lane appeared and glared him down.
“That…doesn’t look friendly,” Joey said.
I didn’t say anything. I just turned the car on and followed Wesley because I needed answers, and I needed them now.
To my surprise, he turned into the driveway of my dream home. The little green paradise that smelled of lavender and peace, andI hated to admit it, but it made sense. It seemed so him, even though I didn’t know him that well.
And that would explain the lavender scent that seemed to follow him everywhere.
I came to a screeching stop right behind him and rushed out of the car to get to him. I needed to know how he was involved with the house on Aster Lane, and I needed to know now.
I knocked on his window, and he stabbed it with something thin and small that bent as soon as it touched the glass.
“What did the window do to you?” I asked before he’d even rolled it down.
“It’s you. Thank fu—god,” he said, clutching his chest with a heavy sigh.
“Wh-who did you think it was?”
Wesley took a deep breath and dismissed my question.
“How can I help you, Teddy?” he asked, forcing a smile.
