"Ooh, Forrest Cross has a crush," Leif teased.
I rolled my eyes. "Fuck off."
What I felt for her was more than a crush.
"Jesus Christ," Woody whispered. "Don't tell me you've gone and fallen in love with the bitch."
Careful of the knife in his hand, I grabbed the front of his leather jacket and slammed him against the wall.
"If you ever call her that again, I'm going to fuck you up so bad you won't know what day of the week it is."
"Are you out of your mind?" He locked his eyes on mine, unflinching. "She was my stepmother."
"Is that what this is about?" I asked. "You're buying into some myth about wicked stepmothers?"
My tone was lighter now, because there was no way in the world he'd think something that stupid.
He snorted and pried my hands off the front of his jacket. "This is about what she did. Nothing more. No, there is more. You might be her next target. She wouldn't be the first black widow to move from one target to another."
I leaned in until our noses were almost touching. "How naive do you think I am?"
He still didn't flinch. "Naive enough, apparently." He gave me a vicious smile, a sloppy kiss on the cheek and then stepped sideways, away from me.
While we were having our friendly chat, Leif pulled out his phone. "Says here she's twenty-five years old."
"So?" I asked. "Age is only a number."
"Says the man twenty years older than her," Leif teased. "Sorry, but I have to agree with Woody. It seems like the perfect black widow setup to me. What else would she see in an old dog like you?"
I flipped him off. "Some women like mature men."
"She's shit out of luck with you then," Leif grinned.
I couldn't help my snort of laughter. Yes, there was an age gap, but I didn't see a problem with it, and neither did Sable.
"She might go for someone closer to her age," Leif added.
At twenty-eight, he was definitely closer. He might even be right. She might like him more than me. She might like himasmuchas me.
I'd seen my sons with Harlow and her other two boyfriends. I wasn't against the idea of a relationship like that, if that was what Sable wanted. If it wasn't, that was good too.
She deserved to be happy. So did I. So did Leif. So did Woody, although I might admit that grudgingly. Right now, he was good at pissing me off. When it came to Sable, he was pushing the envelope a little too far.
"You're both out of your minds," Woody said. "This woman is toxic, can't you see that? She's going to use you, suck you dry and throw you away."
Leif slid his gaze. "You say suck us dry like it's a bad thing," he said. "You know that might be what you need, to be sucked dry."
"Are you offering?" Woody said, cupping the front of his jeans.
Leif looked him up and down as if examining him carefully. "Let's put that on the maybe pile. I have some blood to clean up."
"Now I know you're fucked up." Woody dropped his hand to his side. "You'd rather clean up blood than suck cock."
"It's more about disposing of the evidence," Leif said. "Although a little bit of blood never hurt anyone, except this guy."
He poked the toe of his shoe into the corpse who lay on the floor, eyes half open, blood pooling around his throat.
"What did he do anyway?" I asked.
