Addie could be wrong, but wasn’t Dexter a serial killer?
“What the hell?” Dotty whispered. “What is going on here?”
“Sorry I’m late, everyone. Was just getting some last-minute information,” Ink said, walking in. He stopped in front of Dotty and held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Ink Callahan. I own the security firm. Please, have a seat, all of you.”
Dotty took his hand and shook it firmly. “Dotty Stevens. And my sister, Monroe.” Monroe waved over at Ink with a smile. “I’d really like it if somebody could tell me what the hell is going on here.”
Addie winced, waiting for Ink to get offended. After all, he was helping them, and for a discount.
“Dotty, Ink’s helping us,” she whispered to her sister.
“Why? What does he want out of it? How much does this all cost? This place looks expensive. Not saying that I can’t afford it, but I’m not sure why we even need a security company. My sister and I got arrested because we were trying to get back into a barwhere there’d just been a bar brawl to find Addie, who somehow ended up in the hands of these three.” Dotty gave Cash, Ralen, and Butch suspicious looks.
“Not three,” Cash said, leading Addie to the table and pulling out a chair for her. “Just me and Ralen. We have nothing to do with Butch.”
“Wow, that’s good to know, and a point in your favor,” Dotty said.
“How about everyone gets something to eat and drink and then sit down?” Ink suggested. “We’ve got a bit to talk about, and I need you guys to all get along.”
Addie went to stand and get herself something to eat, but Cash placed his hand on her shoulder. “Stay seated, Addie. I’ll get you something.”
Monroe sat next to her with her eyebrows raised. “Wow. He’s something else, isn’t he? Is there something going on there, babes?”
“What? No. Of course not,” she said, shocked. Her throat started to dry up at the thought, well, at the thought of him knowing how she felt.
She’d never be with Cash and there was also no way he’d ever want to be with her. That still didn’t mean that she wanted him to know how she felt. That would just be too humiliating.
“Easy, sorry, I was just teasing,” Monroe said with a concerned look.
“Is everything all right?” Cash asked as he placed a plate of food in front of her. It was overflowing, and she just took a moment to stare at it. There were small sandwiches, two pastries, a muffin, some fruit salad in a cup, and a cupcake.
“The plates are small,” Cash said. “I couldn’t fit anything else on it. And there’re no hot options, sorry.”
Sorry? This was more food than she’d eaten yesterday.
“Wow, that’s a lot of food,” Monroe said.
A plate landed in front of Monroe, also piled high.
“Oh, thanks,” Monroe said to Ralen, who had set down the plate. “But I’m not hungry.”
Ralen frowned. “You need to eat.”
“But I don’t want to eat,” Monroe told him. “I’m very full. I had a big breakfast.”
Um.
“You didn’t have any breakfast, though, did you?” Ralen said as he sat at the end of the table. “I thought you said you couldn’t eat what you were served in jail.”
“Oh, I don’t think I said that. I think I said it was unrecognizable. I didn’t say I didn’t eat it.”
“So you did eat it?” Ralen said.
“Well, I didn’t say that either, did I?” Monroe smiled up at Ralen, obviously trying to charm him in her Monroe way. Unfortunately, he seemed to have some immunity to her charm.
Ralen leaned over and placed one hand on the table in front of Monroe, and the other on the back of her chair. “Did you eat, or did you not eat?”
Wow. She didn’t realize he could be that intense.
