Page 27 of Sinful Promise
I glance across just in time to see his jaw flexing. His teeth clenching.
“What?”
“I’m not gonna keep her away. I won’t ever stop her from seeing her daughter. But Mia is only three years old, Arch. And while Jada was getting high, my daughter was making her own meals, sleeping in filth, and witnessing Jada’s bad choices. Shesawher mother fuck,” he grits out. “She saw her unconscious. She saw too much, and that home wasn’t secure.” Angry at his ex, angry at himself, he shakes his head. “I can’t go back to how it was before and pretend that shit isn’t happening. Not now.”
“So… court? You’ll have custody papers drawn up?”
“I’ll demand drug tests,” he counters. “Hair and nails. If she’s sober and rents a place that is both clean and safe, then we’ll work on getting her overnight privileges. But she’ll never take primary again. I’m not letting it happen.”
“Which is why you’ve been stressing this shit, and wondering about letting her back into your life. If she lives in your home, you can keep Mia safe, and never have to watch her leave.”
“But since my friends insist that’s not healthy,” he chuckles, “I let Jada set herself up. Get an apartment, keep it clean. If she’s doing the program and staying sober, then I guess we’ll share fifty-fifty custody. But, fuck…” With a pain-filled groan, he glances across at me. “To not see my baby for an entire week at a time?”
“It’s gonna work out.”
I pull away from the city, and weave through residential streets a few blocks from our crime scene. These are two-story homes, kept by upper-mid-level incomes. They’re not mansions on the hills, but they’re for solid, dual-income families with two cars, new cell phones, and who take yearly vacations somewhere sunny.
“Even when Jada was at her worst,” I murmur, “she was never cruel. I don’t think she’ll strike out and fight you for custody, Fletch. I think she’ll do the right thing and workwithyou.”
Considering, he dips his chin in a gentle nod. “I hope so. I don’t wanna fight with her, either. I don’t want to hate her. I just want Mia to be safe and happy.”
“And seeing her mom and daddy being nice to each other is how you’ll get that.” Reaching across, I tap the ball of his shoulder with the side of my fist. “You and Jada were best friends for a long, long time. Just go back to that, and Mia is golden.”
“Ha.” He stares out the windshield as I pull up in suburbia.
Minka would hate it here, with the homes butting up to each other, and windows everywhere so no one has privacy. Gardens are impeccably kept, and lawns are watched with eagle eyes to make sure not a single blade grows out of formation.
Someday, eventually, Minka and I will find our permanent home. Somewhere with more space. A kitchen that isn’t just a nook off the living room. A place with more bedrooms—maybe a home to be filled by a family. Though, fuck knows, that’s a long way down the road for us.
But when we go looking, when we’re searching for the perfect spot to land and plant roots, it won’t be on a street like this one.
No fucking chance.
“SUV’s in the garage.” Fletch’s eyes scour the exterior of the home the way mine do, nodding toward the three-quarters-closed garage door. “She’s here. Wonder if she killed anyone today?”
Snorting, I unsnap my seatbelt and push out of my door as Fletch snatches his phone and does the same on the other side. “Probably won’t ask her that question straight up,” I grin over the roof of the car. “You gonna flirt to make her comfortable?”
“Ya know, you used to do that too, Arch.” Circling the car, he comes up on my left and starts toward the front porch. “I remember the days you would touch their knees and smile so they thought they were gonna orgasm before the day was out. Now you’re a prude.”
“Now, I’m married. Happily. Which means the flirting is just for you. Unless,” I turn to him at the door and smirk when his eyes show just a hint of fear, “you become all monogamous with Miss Sera. In which case, no one flirts anymore.”
“Oh please.” He brings his hand up and rings the doorbell, sparing a look for the camera that clicks to life. “Sera’s beautiful, and I reckon she’d be dynamite in bed. Ya know, since she’s wound so fuckin’ tight at work. Once you take her hair down and force her to relax, I bet she’ll be a lot of fun. But I’m not looking for monogamy.”
Bull-fucking-shit.“I don’t believe you.”
“What? I don’t do commitment. And truth be told, I doubt she would either.”
“You absolutelydocommitment,” I laugh. “You had no issue with loyalty when it came to Jada. You’re just feeling a little burned right now.”
“You think? The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome, no?”
When the door opens and a woman standing around five feet, seven inches, looks us over, Fletch straightens his face, remembering that we’re here to, at the very least, inform the next of kin that her husband is dead.
It just so happens wemay, at some later point, also arrest her for his murder.
“Whitney Patterson?” My partner takes out his badge and holds it up for her to read. “I’m Detective Charlie Fletcher.” When her gaze comes back up, he puts his badge away and nods toward me. “Detective Archer Malone. We’re outta Copeland PD.”
“Wh-what…” Her eyes take on the panic that most do when cops are at the door. She looks from me to Fletch. “What’s going on? Are my kids—”
