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Cooper ignores my words. The way his eyes roam the front of me makes the space between us feel even smaller.
Creep.
“I hear you’ve been spending a lot of time with that neighbor of yours.”
Why is he always in everyone’s business?
Breathing heavy, I stare blank-faced.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” I challenge, “You didn’t ask anything, just made a statement.” Raising a brow, I keep my tone steady even though I feel anything but.
“Ha.” He laughs loud and sharp, slapping my shoulder like we’re two friends.
Kaleb’s right, the man’s insane.
Cooper shakes his head. “I thought you were smarter than this, but then again, you’re all over the Cromwells too.”
I flush at his words.
“They’re family, and families spend time with each other, but from what I hear, you wouldn’t know much about that.”
I regret the words the minute they leave my mouth.
Rubbing in the fact that his nephew ran away last year is below me.
Cooper takes a step closer and snarls. “Fucking murderers. That’s who your family is. They killed him, and you know it.”
Irritation replaces regret.
I roll my eyes. “The feds said he ran away, and the Cromwells all had alibis. Let it go, Kyle.”
His hand grips my arm, his fingers peevish and painful. “I’ll let it go when they’re all in jail. Along with that angel of death boyfriend of yours.”
“Hey!”
We both turn at the sound of an angry man.
My angry man.
Leo ushers Riley into the doorway of the bakery next door before jogging over.
Kyle turns back toward me. “Do you even know what brought him to town?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I shrug, not taking my gaze off an alarmed-looking Leonard.
It matters where you end up,I silently add.
Visions of my attic flash through my mind, but I quickly push them away. My fingers find the locket under my shirt, the one I still haven’t opened, too scared of what I’ll find. Cooper’s eyes drop to the movement.
I still can’t believe Leonard is my mystery man. But I’m not unhappy about it. I feel a tinge as I step around Cooper, a reminder of just how close Leo and I have been the past few days.
The grip on my arm pulls me back against the table.
“He gave you a necklace? Gold locket by any chance?” he asks around a cruel sneer. “I hear his dead wife wore one, one which she was ordered never to take off, yet she wasn’t wearing it when she left, or so the police report says.”
My stomach drops. Cooper is full of shit. It was his mother’s.I saw the photo, I remind myself.But it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worn by someone else,a dark voice argues.
