“I never said you did!” Nick put both hands on his hips. “Think of it like life insurance. No one expects to die, but it’s nice to have a good payout if you do.”
Parker narrowed his eyes. “Nick, did you take out life insurance on me?”
“Yes,” Nick admitted. “As soon as we moved in together.”
“This is a Lifetime movie,” Parker moaned. “You’re about to kill me. Are thesepoisonedvegetables?”
“Parker, they’re vegetables, not poison,” Nick said. “Eat them.”
Shaking his head, Parker stabbed a snow pea. “I know how you work, Nicholas King. First, the healthy eating. Next, you’re going to expect me to start Pilates or CrossFit.”
Nick hid a smile. “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of my black widow plan?”
“People die from working out all the time! Heart attacks. Weights falling on them. Those resistance bands.” Parkernarrowed his eyes at Nick, the smile that played in the corner of his lips turning into a grin as Nick started laughing.
“Parker, there are so many easier ways to kill you than forcing you to eat healthy and work out,” Nick said.
“I really think you’ve given this some thought.” Parker ate another bite of the fried rice and closed his eyes, moaning in pleasure. “I don’t think I like that.”
“You’ll take me and the lawyer tomorrow?” Nick asked.
“Is she going to tell them that I’m invoking my right to remain silent?” Parker asked. “Because, uh, I really don’t do well with silence.”
“You don’t say,” Nick said, deadpan. “Hopefully with her there, you’ll be able to explain what you were doing there. Which was…”
“You remember the gold digger case I’m working?” Parker asked, his fork scraping across his plate.
Nick frowned. “The guy who the daughter thinks is marrying her mom for her money?”
“Yeah. Cayo Durkavic. Talk about a guy who looks like he does CrossFit. So my client is convinced that this guy is after her mom for Mom’s money. Only she doesn’t have any evidence, and he’s willing to sign a prenup, so she wants me to tail him and see if I can spot what game he’s running.” Parker leaned forward, getting into the story, and Nick loved the way his eyes lit up, the grin on his face as he could see he had Nick’s full attention.
“Was he planning to sign the prenup but then move everything into a shared account? That would get around any clauses in the prenup.” Nick thought back to the documents his parents had made him and Parker sign before they’d gotten married.
“Maybe, who knows? All I know is that he walked into the smoke shop, and then I heard some shouting in Russian, and so I went to check it out.” Parker leaned in even further, and Nickfound himself mirroring him, waiting to hear what happened. “And when I get to the door, Durkavic has his back to me, and he’s pulsing. His skin is literallypulsing. I open the door, and before I even finish—” Parker mimed an explosion with his hands, fingers spreading wide. “—person soup. Red mist.”
“You didn’t tell the cops you saw the explosion,” Nick pointed out.
“Yeah, well, they didn’t really give me a chance.” Parker made a face. “There was a lot of ‘get down on the ground’ and ‘how did you do this,’ and one guy threw up.”
Nick leaned back, staring at his own half-finished plate. “Okay. Let’s see what Major Crimes has to say.”
“Yeah.” Parker slouched in his bar chair. He finished his plate, his eyes darting to the cookies. He grabbed one and picked up Sugar’s note, frowning as he read it.
“So, the western,” Nick said. “Is she?—”
“Riding a guy with a dick like a horse?” Parker asked. “Yeah. Most definitely.”
CHAPTER THREE
Nick wokeup the next day to Prometheus begging next to him. He had a leash in his mouth, and his eyes glowed with flames, and he whined, tilting his head to the side, as pathetic as a demon could look.
Yawning, Nick managed to slide out of bed without waking Parker, who was breathing evenly beside him. As Nick put on his running gear, he watched Parker roll over and cling to Nick’s pillow, mouth falling open a little.
For a half second, Nick wanted to crawl back into bed and wake him, but then Prometheus whined again, and Nick knew he’d be gnawing on the granite countertops out of boredom by ten in the morning if he didn’t get some of his energy out.
Sugar was just arriving as he grabbed his keys off the entry table. She waved, covering a jaw-cracking yawn with her free hand.
“The cowboy was fun?” Nick teased.
