Page 110 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
Looking at Nico, I spoke, my voice icy cold. “You can ask me, Barney. Nico doesn’t get to decide whether or not I speak with the police. And yes; it’s okay.” Lower, for Nico’s ears only, I said, “And thanks for asking how I’m coping with having everything I own destroyed. I guess you’re the only one around here whose feelings matter.”
Nico’s eyes flared. I could tell he was grinding his teeth together by the flexing of the muscles in his jaw.
I turned away, and went to face the police.
“Any idea who might’ve done this? You have any enemies, get into any fights with anyone recently?”
Officer Cox looked at me expectantly, a furrow between his brows. He was smart, and efficient, jotting down the answers to all his previous questions in smooth shorthand on a form on a clipboard, but I kept getting distracted by the vision of him slobbering kisses all over Chloe.
I looked away from his mouth, debating how to answer. Considering I’d just given Nico a lecture on degrees of truth, I was now faced with a dilemma. If I told the police I thought it was Nico’s brother who was behind the destruction at my house, the entire can of worms would be opened. If, however, I lied to the police . . . well, then I’d be a liar. And a hypocrite to boot.
Being with Nico was testing every conviction I had.
Barney stood discreetly to one side of the front door, pretending to watch a bird circling in the sky. Nico had stayed inside. He was probably breaking things.
“Actually I did get into a fight with someone recently, yes.”
Barney’s head snapped around. Officer Cox raised his brows. “Oh?”
I nodded. “There was a girl, a guest of A.J.’s—”
“A.J.?” Officer Cox’s pencil hovered above the form.
“The drummer for Bad Habit. I’m sorry, I don’t know his last name.” I looked to Barney for confirmation.
“Edwards,” said Barney. “The initials stand for Alex James.” His voice was smooth and untroubled, but I knew from the look in his eyes he was uneasy with where I was going with this.
“Yes, Edwards, that’s it.” Alex James Edwards, I thought. What a perfectly American name for a guy who’s trying to hide a James Bond villain accent.
“Anyway, there was a small gathering here a few weeks ago, and this girl of A.J.’s—honestly I don’t know her name, either, you’d have to ask him—well, she sort of got in my face when she found out Nico and I were dating. I guess they used to have a thing.”
Officer Cox prompted, “And? What happened?”
I looked him directly in the eye when I answered. “I slapped her.”
Barney coughed into his hand, hiding a laugh.
Officer Cox frowned at me. “Did she retaliate?”
“No. I mean, she tried to, but the guys separated us before it went further. I only did it because she was about to hit Nico, so I acted before she could. It was stupid, and I wasn’t thinking, and she left right after that, but,” I shrugged, “that’s what happened.”
Officer Cox scribbled on his pad. “Okay. We’ll look into it. Anything else?”
My mouth went dry. It was a calculated risk, but I had to do it. “Yes. There was an intruder here, eight days ago. Someone broke in to the house in the middle of the night.”
Almost imperceptibly, Barney stiffened. Officer Cox perked up like a dog when it hears the word “treat.”
“I heard about that. Officer Reynolds was on duty, correct?”
I nodded. “It was too dark for me to see the person’s face, unfortunately.”
Officer Cox had an unusually dire
ct, unblinking gaze. I began to wither under the weight of it. He said, “Nothing was taken? No damage was done?”
“No. We filed a report, though. Everything is in the report.”
“Hmm.” He inspected my face for so long I grew uncomfortable. “Hmm.”
