Page 51 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

ar. Tucker was moving his hand around animatedly as he talked to his friend. It looked like he was arguing with him about something. I had clear tells for when I was upset. I started doing everything in threes. Most people could hide their mood a little easier than me. But Tucker didn’t know that anyone was watching him. And I had a feeling that he was upset right now. The only question was why.

I wiped my hands off on the front of my jeans and kicked the dishwasher closed with my foot. All I wanted to do was eavesdrop, but I was trying to do the whole trust thing. I tossed the dish towel on top of the dry rack.

Lizardopolous 2 was safe in his predecessor’s aquarium. Our fake story for how he came home was solid. Zeke would most certainly avoid the whole conversation about death for at least a little longer. The house was once again spotless. There was nothing else for me to do.

I glanced at Tucker out the window again. It was only nice to offer them a drink or something, right? Bringing them coffee on a cold day like this wasn’t eavesdropping. It was being polite.

I opened up my cupboard. Coffee made sense, but Zeke would be home soon. Maybe I could make hot chocolate for all three of them. Was that weird? I drank hot chocolate with Zeke all the time, but I wasn’t sure most grown-ups drank it. Especially those without children. Who cares. Tucker already liked me. He had made that pretty clear. Damien did not like me one bit. He had also made that very clear. A good cup of hot cocoa wasn’t going to change either of their opinions. I pulled out the mix.

When I had two cups with the perfect ratios of milk and chocolate, I dropped a handful of marshmallows on top of them. Who could resist a steaming cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows? Sure, murdering your whole family made you a monster, but not liking this beverage? Extra monstrous.

I opened up the front door while balancing the two piping hot mugs in my hands. Tucker and Damien’s conversation drifted to my ears and for some reason I froze instead of making my appearance known.

“It was foul play, I’m sure of it,” Damien said.

Were they talking about me? Or some random case? I held my breath.

Tucker placed his hand on the side of the truck. “And I think there’s more going on here than that. How has no one looked into this before?”

They could be talking about anything. Or anyone. Tucker had told me they were done investigating me. They were done with the case, period.

“You’ve been completed blinded by a nice pair of tits. I’ve arrested plenty of dimes. Just because she’s hot doesn’t mean she didn’t do it.”

I cleared my throat.

Damien jumped, slamming his head against the hood of the car. “Fuck.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” I quickly walked down my porch stairs. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t just retreat back into my house without another word. They knew that I knew that they were talking about me. They had been, right? The best thing to do would be to pretend I didn’t hear. Besides, my motherly instinct had kicked in and I wanted to make sure he was alright. “Are you okay?” I thrust both of the mugs in Tucker’s hands and tried to examine Damien’s head. I was surprised when he didn’t pull away from my touch. There was already a welt forming at the base of his skull. “I’m so so sorry, Damien.” I stopped touching him when I realized I was being weird. I wasn’t this grown man’s mother.

He rubbed the back of his head where my hand had been. “Yeah, I’m fine. You just startled me. Never sneak up on a man underneath the hood of your truck.” He gave me a super charming smile. One that he probably only gave when he was trying to get a woman to forget he’d just done something stupid.

“You’ll probably have a nasty bruise if you don’t ice it right away. I have an ice pack inside I can grab. If you want.”

“I’m almost finished out here. But I might take you up on that when I’m done. Is that for us?” He nodded to the hot chocolate.

“Yes.” I smiled at Tucker as I took one of the cups back and handed it to Damien. I was actually getting along with his friend for once. It felt almost normal. Like we’d all been friends our whole lives.

“Is it spiked?” Damien waggled his eyebrows at me.

Never mind. We were most certainly not friends. Anyone who really knew me would know why I didn’t have any alcohol around. But no one really knew me. “I don’t actually keep any alcohol in the house.”

“Why is that?”

I shrugged. “It’s usually just me and Zeke. There’s no need.” That sounded better than the truth.

“Maybe the four of us could all have dinner tonight?” Damien asked. “I can bring the wine.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t exactly tell him no. I certainly owed him after he’d spent all afternoon working on my truck. “Yeah. Sure, that would be great. Making dinner for you is the least I can do to thank you.” What the hell was I doing? One detective in my house was bad enough. But two? Two? Had I lost my freaking mind?

“Perfect. I just need a few more minutes out here and then I’ll go get cleaned up. Need me to grab anything else for tonight?”

I glanced at Tucker.

“Maybe we should do it another night,” Tucker said.

“What? It’ll be fun,” Damien said. “Right?” He looked back at me.

“Absolutely.” I thought about what they’d been talking about when I had first stepped outside. Just because she’s hot doesn’t mean she didn’t do it. I’d need to keep a close eye on Damien tonight.

---