The houses in the neighborhood are either brick or stone, have those big archways around the front doors and the greenest grass you’ll find in Arizona.
That’s where all the water’s going in this goddamn drought. Gotta make sure their pools are filled, and the grass meets the HOA’s standard.
Judgement shakes my head. “302, 302, 302… Ah… There you are.” Cutting the lights that are good for nothing, I pull up to the curb a few houses down and kill the engine.
Breaking into a detective’s house isn’t my smartest idea. I’ll admit that. But I’m not too worried about it. I’ve broken in through Bunny’s window several times and no one has ever caught me.
Don’t tell her. Letmedo that.
Breaking and entering is a sneaky game of being fast, efficient, and vigilant. It helps to be overly obsessive and observant. I guess being a little sick in the head doesn’t hurt either.
Creaking open the old door of the truck, I quickly toss a foot out to the pavement and double grip the rusted paint, pausing long enough to glance around the shadows clustered around streetlights.
No one’s out. That I see, anyway. So, I creak open the shitty door until I’m able to slip through the opening, then I move like the fucking wind to get it closed and kick it in gear across the street.
I won’t waste my time with any of the doors. The guy probably has at least eight deadbolts on each. Yeah, I could fuck with them. But I don’t have patience for all that shit right now. So, window it is.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BUNNY
Lifting the mug to her lips, Duse takes a steaming sip with her narrow eyes fixed on me from across the table, her golden brown skin glistening in the morning sun.
My heart has been beating too fast for over thirteen hours now. I’m shifting and blotting my face, trying to pretend like I’m normal and everything’s fine, like I can sit across from Duse and Gwen reading the paper as if Junior’s name won’t be in it soon.
Or will it?
Was Razor just trying to scare me?
My chest stretches up with a deep inhale, eyeing the kitchen door, waiting for him to walk through it at any moment.
“What’s going on with you?” Duseasks.
“Hm?” I look back at her, trying to breathe away the burn of my face. “Nothing. I’m okay. Why?”
Gwen lowers her shared half of the newspaper, adjusting her legs on Duse’s lap and doing a fast scan of me.
“You’re exceptionally, uh…. antsy.” Duse rests her mug on the table, leaning back in her chair and sharing the same laser-like study of me as Gwen.
“Is it that good?” Gwen questions.
My brows plunge, my heart ticking faster. “What? Is what good?”
“Razor’s dick. He’s got you sittin’ on a vibrator.” Gwen frowns, her blue eyes getting bigger to slide down me.
“Babe.” Duse’s braids shake with her head.
Embarrassment gushes to the forefront of the turmoil I’ve been experiencing, making my hairline damp and my skin hive up. “I haven’t had sex with him…”
Gwen gasps, the newspaper rattling with her hustle to smack it down. “He only ate your cookie?”
“Gwen,” Duse warns, cocking an eye at her with slack jaw.
“Now what?” Gwen turns a palm up, messing with her frizzy rollers and twiddling her peach toenails in the air. “Razor’s the one that blabbed while goin’ all psycho. I’m just curious.”
Duse sighs, shifting her jaded attention to me about to vomit everywhere. “Sorry, Bun. I think what she’s trying to get at is that you’ve been even more anxious after…” She rolls her lips, sharpening her vision to slits that say what she’s thinking. “Um, are you okay? Like… do you feel safe?” Her eyes dart toward my bedroom door, pointing out the crater I already had to lie to Ora about.
“Oh, my God,” I rush, my eyes rounding with a pacifying hand shooting up. “No, uh, yes. I’m sorry, it’s nothing like that. I think, uh…”
