Mary sadly scoffs. “I wish. Then I could maybe make myself find the courage to leave.”
“Well, I suggest you take precautions to protect yourself,” Zoey says. “Get a storage unit and start moving things there a few pieces at a time. Get pictures and important papers moved out, so if you have to walk one day, you can. And be prepared for crocodile tears and empty promises to win you back. Grand gestures, like showering you with flowers, and trying to cook dinner for you.”
Mary scoffs again. “He made me dinner last night. Had it ready when I got home. When I asked where Lucas was, especially after I saw his room, he told me he caught Lucas with Caine, and that Lucas got mouthy with him. Which I didn’t believe,” she quickly adds. “That you got mouthy. You’ve never been like that. Didn’t take long for him to drink too much and admit what really happened. Got so drunk he didn’t even remember this morning that he told me the truth.”
She looks around, like she’s seeing his room for the first time. “My sister lives over in Jupiter. She can’t stand him. She’s tried to get me to leave him. Even offered to let me live with her. I might finally take her up on that, but I need to do a few things first.”
“Like empty the bank accounts?” Zoey snarks.
Mary shakes her head. “There’s not much in them to start with. I doubt he’s hiding money because our paychecks are both direct-deposited into the main account. He’s always taking cash out and barely leaving enough to pay the bills. We’re practically broke all the time.”
Zoey snorts again. “Believe me, I know that. He pisses it away on bullshit and booze. And on the women he’s cheating on you with.”
Lucas watches Mary turn and leave, slowly shaking his head as she heads out of the bedroom and down the hall.
I realize we can’t stand here all day conducting an autopsy on that conversation. We need to get the hell out of here. I exchange a glance with Zoey and suspect she’s thinking how that easily could’ve been her if she hadn’t left the sonofabitch when she did.
* * * *
We pull out of their driveway at 11:52, according to my phone. Lucas is riding with Caine, and Zoey’s gone ahead to open the house and garage. We’re going to unload all the boxes into the garage first, then the furniture. We’ll swap out one bookshelf that’s already in his bedroom and move it to the guest room, then move the bookshelves we just took from Bill’s and put them in there. We need to anchor them to the walls before he starts filling them.
He had a twin bed at Bill’s house, and has a double here, so that’s staying put and his bed from Bill’s will end up being Katie’s. She’s about to outgrow her toddler bed, anyway. That’s money I don’t have to spend buying a new bed for her.
Lucas also has a ton of books, something I’d forgotten, because he’d moved most of them to Bill’s after the fiasco two years ago.
“Can you believe that shit?” I ask Arlo as we leave Bill’s house behind us. “What Lucas said to Mary?”
“Unfortunately, I can. He was so upset last night that he probably wasn’t even thinking about everything else. I’m sure as he decompresses over the next few days and weeks that we’ll learn even more. He’ll probably get angry as he processes it all.”
“You going to take him to a counselor?”
“I’ll leave that up to Zoey. Maybe he’ll talk to us. I don’t know.”
“What do you think the chances are of Bill showing up at your place?”
“Ourplace,” Arlo corrects, smiling at me. “Including you. Because it’s your place, too.”
“Not yet.”
“Not officially yet.” Then he drops the bomb on me. “Let’s start moving you this weekend. I don’t have to have the truck back until Monday morning.”
That is…
Reallyfreaking tempting.
“We’ll unload,” he says. “Run out to the cell phone store, and have Zoey and Lucas drive separately. You and I can make a run to your place. Grab some of the large stuff we need a truck for.” He turns the full force of those blue eyes on me and I feel as helpless against them as I did as a terrified teenager, and as a horny college kid.
I have to swallow because my throat’s gone dry. “Shouldn’t we ask Zoey and the boys to help us? Make it go faster?”
He smiles. “But then I can’t bend you over your bed and fuck you. That is kind of what I’d planned to do this weekend, anyway, before our plans got borked.”
Terrific. Now I’m hard.
I’m also vaguely terrified that this isreallyhappening.
Finallyhappening.
“You can also start by spending this whole week with us,” he adds before I can reply. “We can have Katie’s room ready by next Friday. Less readjusting for her to do. And we can have you moved out in plenty of time.”
