Page 65 of The Voices are Back

“Is that the district attorney dude?” I asked.

I knew the other man.

“Damn, that dude is a tall glass of black water,” Folsom said dreamily.

“What the hell is black water?” I wondered.

“I think it was a euphemism,” Morrigan said softly, her throat still scratchy despite her speaking a lot better this morning. “A tall glass of water is something people say when they’re talking about a man that’s a sight for sore eyes, you know? I think the black part was just her saying that man looked really good. And he’s an African American god.”

I looked down at her to see her cheeks pinking.

She went back to her chair, and I wondered if she was going to sit there just to sit, or if seeing Sheriff Sunny Summers was just making her heart wonky.

Jesus, I hoped it was the former.

I didn’t want her feeling like that for any other man but me.

And now I was sitting there considering punching the sheriff for being attractive. Go me.

I opened the door to the two men, and Danyetta all but hid behind Folsom, behind us all.

Derek Shepherd, who definitely wasn’t a doctor on television but an actual real-life district attorney for the state of Florida, walked in first. Followed by Sunny Summers, the new sheriff that was instated shortly after I was released from prison last year.

Derek’s eyes scanned the kitchen the moment he breached my door, looking for the one woman that he’d likely been dying to see. Sunny’s eyes came directly to me.

He held out his hand, and I shook it.

“Just making a friendly visit to let you know that Adler Newsome was seen around town today, and he left with a warning never to show his face in the area again.” He looked at me as if he knew exactly who Adler had made an acquaintance with this morning.

Which was right.

Me.

When I’d seen Adler out and about this morning, something enraged had come over me. He was acting as if he hadn’t changed the lives of hundreds of people. As if he was just out for a cruise of the town, when we both fucking knew the only reason he was there was because he wanted to stir trouble. To let people know that he was back and wasn’t leaving.

“Imagine that,” I drawled.

“Were you anywhere near The Wharf today?” he asked, looking pointedly at the McDonald’s wrappers still on my kitchen table.

“Sure was,” I said, not seeing the point in lying.

A, it would be lying to Sunny, the sheriff of the county where I currently lived. B, he knew, and was just confirming. And C, there were a lot of witnesses.

Not that I was sure any of those witnesses would be talking.

It bugged me to no end that motherfucker could move freely through our town.

If he suffered a fucked-up face every time he went out to see the town, well, that was his own problem.

“What’s this got to do with anything?” Morrigan asked then, her arms crossing over her chest. She glared from her position sitting at the table.

“Just making friendly conversation.” Sunny shrugged, his eyes going to Morrigan, or more specifically, Morrigan’s throat. “How are you, coffee lady?”

Morrigan snorted. “I’m well. How’s the coffee shop doing this morning?”

“Exceptionally well,” he confirmed. “Your milk order arrived on time, and I got my usual cup of hot chocolate right as the doors opened this morning.”

Morrigan fist-pumped the air, and Derek finally looked away from where Danyetta was hiding to stare at my girl.

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