Page 37 of Sex, Lies, & Techy Guys (Love on the Sunshine Coast)

“Not like that, Penny. We think he actually did undercover work. His knowledge of money made him an asset but something went wrong. He might have been jeopardized.”

Her shoulders relax ever so slightly. “That doesn’t make any sense. And how would it help me, especially if you can’t find proof?”

“It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do but you deserve to know that he might not be a bad guy.”

Penny closes her eyes and breathes methodically. What is going through her mind? I need to hold her. Our decision to come completely clean is killing me. She hung onto that letter, waiting for him, what if we find the proof that he wanted to come back?

I stand by my belief that what we have is strong. “It’s okay if you need to think about this.”

“I don’t need time to think.” She opens her eyes and forces a smile through the shock.

There can’t be any doubt in her decision. I nod at Kyle to ask the most painful question we possibly could. “If he walked in that door right now with a legitimate reason for disappearing, would you let him back in your life?”

“It’s too far-fetched to play that game.”

He says, “You have to be honest. Do you still love him?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

I need an answer. “It does, because if you still love him and he resurfaces, we have a problem. We can’t promise that we’d let you go without a fight, but we could consider letting him into what we have. He was an important part of your life.”

She smiles more freely. “Wait. If it wasn’t hard enough to believe I would find happiness with two guys at the same time, you’re willing to bring in a third?”

“If it made you happy.”

“And if the only alternative was losing you,” Kyle explains.

“Thanks for your honesty, but I can safely say, that even if he comes back and has proof he was abducted by aliens, and finally made his way back to earth…I don’t want an intimate relationship with him. He never made me feel the way I do when I’m with you. We had attraction but not chemistry, if that makes sense. You guys do something to me.”

“We’re going to do something to you.”

“Yeah, especially now that we don’t have to worry that your attention could ever be pulled from us.”

“And your ability to be honest about what you found is another reason I love you.”

Mila says, “Oh damn girl. These guys are winners. You go home with them right now. And you guys do whatever you’ve got to do to kiss and makeup.”

And we do.

CHAPTER 17

penny

Heading back into the lawyer’s conference room, I’m a whole new woman from the one I was the last time I ran out. Kyle, Lance, and my pro bono lawyer, John Richards the Fourth are on my side of the table. Tony and his lawyer sit on the other side.

I asked for us all to be present when we reveal the evidence of my innocence. It’s kind of petty, but I want to see Tony’s reaction. I want him to have to look at the evidence and then look me in the eyes and tell me he is still going to go through with the charges…worst case scenario.

But by the time Kyle and Lance show all of the digital evidence, the possibility any rational person could consider me a suspect becomes pretty slim. I’m only slightly chagrined that in order to clear my name we show that I was at a male strip show and was actively withdrawing money from the ATM while the theft was occurring. Unfortunately, the video surveillance at the strip club showed me stuffing bills in a stripper’s G-string, but it seriously helped.

Prior to that evening, there’s nothing to connect me to any of the accounts used in the crime. And during several documented conversations between involved aliases, I’d been found in video surveillance, out on the town with Mila, and consoling my broken heart with an embarrassing number of Danishes and tears.

Kyle and Lance cringe every time that evidence is revisited but I have their full support as they sit on either side of me in the conference room. They give the presentation from their laptops, each of them holding my hand underneath the table. I don’t know if anyone in the room realizes their intimacy, and at this point it doesn’t matter.

Tony and his lawyer ask us to leave the room for a moment, as John said they would. I’m about to take a seat in the lobby, but Lance grabs my hand, tells John we’ll be back in a minute, and leads me down a hallway.

“Where are we going? They just need a minute.”

“They need however long we give them.”

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