Page 33 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
“True,” he conceded. The apartment he was renting boasted spacious dormer windows, two full bedrooms, and two full bathrooms. One of the bedrooms housed two pairs of bunk beds with a sliding board coming off the top bunk of one bed. A kitchenette around the corner from the bedrooms opened to a cozy breakfast nook and living room.
A.J. parked and hurried around the truck to open the doors for Aurora and Aaron. Aurora allowed him to assist her to the ground, but Aaron’s expression suggested he might try to gut A.J. if A.J. offered the same assistance to him.
More out of kindness to the guy’s sister than anything else, A.J. stayed close while Aaron wheezed his way to the external stairs leading up to the apartment over the garage.
“Go,” Aaron growled, irritably motioning for A.J. and Aurora to ascend the stairs ahead of him.
When A.J. hesitated, Aurora reached for his hand and tugged him up the stairs with her. “Let him suffer in peace,” she hissed.
A.J. unlocked the door and ushered Aurora inside, lingering on the balcony until Aaron finally joined him there.
His features were chalky as he gripped the railing with both hands and gazed toward the lake home he was renting. “I have to hand it to you,” he growled. “This is the perfect place to spy on the Cannons.”
“Or date your sister.” The man wasn’t wrong, though. A.J.’s proximity to his lake house had been necessary—both for Aurora’s protection as well as A.J.’s ongoing investigation into the guy’s alleged crimes.
Aurora poked her head around the door to see what was taking them so long. “Introduce your boyfriend to the family, they said,” she intoned in a high-pitched voice. “It’ll be fun, they said.” When neither of them answered, she sighed, “New plan. How about you come inside before one of youaccidentallythrows the other one over the railing?”
A.J. and Aaron exchanged a glare, and Aaron moved first. A.J. followed him inside and shut the door. A furry streak shot across the living room to hug his ankles.
“Hey Bandit!” A.J. bent down to rub his head.
“We missed you, sweet boy.” Aurora squatted down next to him to scratch beneath his chin. Glancing up at her brother, she trilled, “Look who I brought to see you!”
A.J. straightened and stepped aside while Bandit launched himself at Aaron next. The way animals treated people often revealed volumes about their character, and Bandit clearly adored the guy who’d opened his rentalhome to a stray. A.J. was almost disappointed to admit it was a point in Aaron’s column.
“I’ll get the coffee pot brewing.” A.J. moved to the kitchenette to load the coffee maker and set out mugs. While he rattled around in the cabinets, Aaron and Aurora engaged in a terse exchange on the far side of the room that he could only make out bits and pieces of.
“Need to tell A.J. soon…floated your idea past him…said no.”
“Why?” Her voice rose, but her brother quickly hushed her.
“…sending Elise instead?—”
“Your ex?” Aurora didn’t bother lowering her voice this time. “How could he?” She whirled to face A.J., stomping over to join him in the kitchenette. “Aaron’s ex-girlfriend is on her way into town,” she seethed, “which neither of us is thrilled about. She pretends to be nice. Beneath the surface, though, she’s pure nastiness.”
A.J.’s eyebrows flew upward. “Why is she coming here?” For the life of him, the Cannons were some of the most baffling people he’d ever met.
“To attempt a reconciliation,” she fumed. “As if!”
Since Aaron seemed to be in agreement, A.J. drawled, “Feel free to hang out at my place for as long as you need.” It was fun needling Aaron and watching his face grow red over the mere suggestion he might require anyone’s protection. A.J. gave himself a mental high-five for bringing the color back to his face.
“She’s staying through the weekend,” Aaron taunted. “Five whole days.”
“I think I can put up with you for that long,” A.J. smirked at him, “but only because Aurora and Bandit are part of the bargain.”
Instead of answering, Aaron’s gaze returned to his sister, who was now hunkered down near the floor with Bandit. She was tossing him a fuzzy green ball, and he was expertly batting it back to her with his paws. His whole expression softened as he watched them, verifying that his sister was his biggest weakness.
A.J. tucked the detail away, fully intending to pull it back out later. It was the thread he would tug on until Aaron’s entire deck of cards came tumbling down around his ears.
Without warning, Aaron yawned. He tried to hide it, but A.J. had already seen it. Feeling bad for the guy, he angled his head toward the kiddie room they would be sharing. “I’ll show you around.”
To his surprise, Aaron followed him. “I know what you did.” He yawned again as they entered the bedroom with the bunk beds. “Luke Hawling paid me a visit this morning in the ICU and told me everything.”
“I presented the facts.” A.J. wasn’t about to apologize for it.
“Not all of them, because you don’t have the whole story.” Aaron made a sound of disgust. “If my hands weren’t tied, I’d set you straight on a few things, but…” He eyed the double set of bunk beds in the room and the pair of sneakers A.J. had tossed under one of them. Moving to the other set of bunk beds, he tossed his Stetson on the pillow and took a seat beside it. “Listen, I know you want me behind bars.”
“If you’re on the wrong side of the law, I do.” A.J. propped his boot on the lower rung of the bed railing and leaned his way. “But the sheriff insists your hands are clean.” The opening remarks of their confrontation weren’tgoing anything like he’d expected. For starters, his opponent wasn’t donning his boxing gloves.
