I had.
I had a case of a married woman that thought that her husband was embezzling money from their place of business—a CrossFit gym that was prominent in the area.
“That was yesterday,” I grumbled. “Before I woke to you naked in my bed.”
She rolled her eyes, then went to the closet where she’d yet to unpack her boxes, and yanked out a t-shirt.
“Come on,” she urged. “I’ll go with you. You can tell everyone that we’re pregnant as fuck, and then use me to hang around afterward and talk. Ask about the town and shit since we’re ‘new.’”
I reluctantly found it to be a great idea.
Too bad her idea meant that I wouldn’t be getting my early-morning snack.
I.e. her.
“Fine,” I grumbled, forcing myself to get out of bed and head to the bathroom where I, too, got changed and ready to go.
Like her, I’d set my clothes out the night before in hopes that it would help when I’d had to pull myself out of bed.
From what the wife had said, the man that owned the gym only taught one class a day—the early morning one.
Which also meant that if I wanted to talk to him at all, I would need to get up early and get there.
Needless to say, I had no problem at all getting up early. What I did have a problem doing was getting up early and working out all before I’d had coffee—which made me sick to my stomach if I had it before a workout.
When I came out of the bedroom twenty minutes later, Blaise was looking bright-eyed and happy with Sarge leaning against her, the cat in her arms, and sipping on a cup of coffee that I knew she’d made for me.
“As much as I appreciate the thought,” I said, “I don’t do coffee before a workout. If I do, I’ll puke.”
Her brows rose. “Really?”
“Really,” I confirmed.
She went to the sink and poured the coffee into a Yeti cup and then fit the lid on top. “It’ll be good in this for an hour or two.”
With that she gestured at the door. “Come on. We’re going to be late.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face, and then walked out the door with her at my side.
Just as we breached the front door, the lights outside flickered, causing her to curse.
“Get the salt!” she muttered underneath her breath.
“What?” I asked as I pulled out the keys for my truck.
As much as I wanted to take my bike, the truck was going to have to do today seeing as I had a bag full of exercise shit that all ‘experienced’ CrossFitters needed, according to a blog Blaise had found off of Google.
Personally, I saw no reason to invest in wrist straps, or special shoes. I’d worked out in prison in a pair of prison-issued tennis shoes for years. I was more than capable of working out in a new pair of tennis shoes I’d found at the store.
But again, I needed to look like I fit in, and did this a lot.
Which also meant that I would be fitting in. Whatever it took.
“Are you still going to act like you know what you’re doing?” she asked curiously as we parked outside the gym.
Surprisingly, there were quite a few people here.
Including Zach who’d reluctantly agreed to accompany me.
Trouper and Trick would be joining me tomorrow if today didn’t go as planned.
When we arrived in the truck, I pulled my bag out of it and headed toward Zach who was leaning against his bike waiting for me.
“Didn’t think you were coming,” Zach said as he saw us approach.
“Almost didn’t,” I admitted. “Stayed up late with Blaise looking at real estate around the city and didn’t want to wake up this morning.”
Zach’s lips twitched. “There’s a house for sale next to me. Not that you’ll have me as a neighbor for long or anything since I’m just renting like y’all.”
Blaise grinned widely. “You could buy it. Then we could raise our children together.”
Zach’s eyes dimmed in the pre-dawn light at her comment. “No kids for me, babe.”
Blaise rolled her eyes. Hard. “Whatever. I’ll bet if you found the right woman, you’d be willing to do anything for her.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed.
“Juniper wasn’t the right woman, Zach,” she said softly. “Or she’d still be here.”
My eyes went between the two of them as I wondered what in the hell they were talking about.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Zach grumbled. “Thought you said last night that you didn’t do early mornings. Which was why I had to come.”
Blaise allowed the change of subject and hooked her arm around Zach’s as she all but pulled him into the building.
I followed behind, wondering who the hell Juniper was, and why the hell Zach had closed down so fast.
Entering through the front door, I was surprised to see quite the crowd of people there.
All of them were laughing and talking as they rolled out on foam rollers, but all talking ceased when the three of us walked through the door.
A decade of experience talking to new people settled in, and I walked up to the owner and introduced myself as well as Zach, who put on his doctor face.
It was Blaise who all but faded into the background as she observed, listened, and eavesdropped.
But just as suddenly as the talking started, it stopped because class had commenced.
“All right, class,” the older man I was investigating said. “Today’s class is running, strict pull-ups, push-ups, and overhead squats in a partner WOD—workout of the day—that’ll have you each doing twenty a piece while the partner rests. When you’re through your sets, you’ll finish it up with a mile and a half run.”
“A bad one for y’all to come to,” one of the obviously experienced CrossFitters said as he looked Zach and I up and down, finding us lacking.
I looked at Zach and grinned.
He just had no idea at all.
Because Zach and I had spent the last few years in prison, and we were well and truly in shape.
Beyond anything that these men and women could imagine.
When you had nothing else to do but workout, you tended to get in really great shape.
“Ready to do this?” I grumbled as Zach and I found our area of the gym.
Zach ripped off his shirt, and I did, too.
Blaise whistled between her teeth, causing us both to laugh.
Then the coach had us doing a warm-up before starting the actual workout.
We finished first.
All the while finding plenty of time to talk to the owner while everyone finished.
I got exactly what I needed and got to show up a couple of men who thought they were hot shit when they weren’t.
As we walked out an hour later, it was to Blaise giving us a recap on what had occurred.
“Those poor guys,” she wiped tears from her eyes. “They kept trying their damnedest to keep up with y’all. They started out their mile about a minute after y’all, and I could see the determination in their eyes to catch you. But as I watched them try to catch up with y’all’s all-out sprint, I knew that they were going to die trying.”
Which explained why the two men were currently still on the floor trying to recover while Zach and I were headed out for the day.
Zach snorted and offered me a handshake, then reached into his bike and pulled out his cut before whipping it over his shoulders.
The two women that came out of the CrossFit gym saw the move and gasped.
Zach ignored them and mounted his bike.
His eyes were all for Blaise.
“The thing is, Blaise, we had nothing else to do but train for the last few years. All day every day if we were bored. They couldn’t catch us if they tried.” He started his bike up with a roar and headed out of the parking lot in the next minute.
The drive home I explained what I’d found out from the owner, and then explained that I thought he was innocent, but would still need to do
a little more digging.
By the time I was showered, and had finally gotten a chance to get my coffee fix in, it was time for me to go to work.
“I gotta go to work,” I grumbled. “Do you?”
She batted her eyelashes at me.
“Beckham is expecting me.” She sighed as she ran her hands up my side.
Reluctantly I pushed away from her, groaning when my sore muscles made themselves known. Today, although fairly easy, was still a workout that I hadn’t done in the six weeks I’d been out of prison.
I needed to get back on it.
“I’ll see you tonight?” I murmured, pressing my lips to hers.
She grinned. “Of course.”
Then I was headed out of the house and to a job that I was still learning the ropes of but also finding that it was fun as fuck to do.
All the while I was at work, though, a certain blue-eyed blonde stayed on my mind.
Even after my day went to absolute shit.
CHAPTER 18
Throw pillows are the stuffed animals of grownups.
-Blaise to Sin
BLAISE
Two weeks ago, when we’d found out about Ames being our mail carrier, I’d known without a shadow of a doubt that shit wasn’t going to continue being good now that she knew we were here.
And I was right.
About three days later, I’d realized that I wasn’t getting the mail that I was supposed to be getting.
Starting with an electric bill that hadn’t come in the mail but had come to my email. Then there was my car insurance. Which wouldn’t be a big deal bill-wise since it was on autopay. Except for I needed my new insurance cards, of which I’d called about for a second time today.
Which now prompted me to getting a new PO Box, for which I needed freakin’ Sin’s driver’s license because I didn’t have an updated freakin’ driver’s license with my current address.
Or some bullshit excuse that the man behind the counter—again the one that grossed me out—had come up with.
So, killing two birds with one stone, I’d decided to head to Sin’s office and call the insurance office at the same time.
“I’m sorry, but what?” I asked, frowning.
“The check’s already been cashed,” the receptionist said. “It shows on our end that you cashed the check last Friday.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I didn’t.”
“But it shows that you did,” she explained. “Would you like to receive a copy of the signed check?”
Actually, yes. Yes, I sure the fuck would.
Because the check in question was for twelve hundred dollars.
“Yes, please,” I said as nicely as I could.
I’d canceled my car insurance because I didn’t drive my car anymore.
And I’d been waiting on that check so that I could buy Sin a present for his birthday.
That check hadn’t ever come.
Along with several other bills lately.
“Okay, I’ll be sending it to the email that we have on file,” the woman said.
“What do I do now, though?” I asked. “Do you reissue the check even though it was forged?”
“That would be something you have to take up with the bank, ma’am.” The receptionist was losing her cool. She now sounded like she’d rather kill me than be nice to me.
“Thank you,” I paused. “I’m sorry to cause you trouble. But we have a mail carrier that’s not delivering our mail and it’s getting really freakin’ old.”
She hadn’t expected an apology from me after all that bitching I’d just done.
I winced.
I shouldn’t take it out on the good guy.
That wasn’t fair.
“Have a good day,” I tried for cheerful, but it came out as reluctantly polite.
“You, too. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” she murmured softly.
I hung up without replying to her.
I wouldn’t be having a good day.
In fact, today was already shaping up to be a bad day.
I hung up then and stared at Sin’s business.
The front door read ‘Revenants Investigations, Inc’ and the building itself was very circumspect. There was nothing special about it. Hell, one could walk past it a hundred times and still not realize it was an investigations office.
Not with the wing store to the left of it with all their patio seating, and the trendy clothing store on the right with their sidewalk sale going on.
Sighing in frustration at how my day had gone from great—I mean wouldn’t it always be great when you woke up to a man like Sin?—to this.
The worst part was, Ames was still fucking delivering some mail. Only, it was the bad shit that nobody wanted. The flyers for the car lot’s ‘big giveaway’ and the annual back to school bash at home depot where they gave away wood to the first two customers.
Honestly, I knew what she was going to do the moment that I realized she was my mail carrier.
But I hadn’t expected her to go forging checks and cashing them.
Gritting my teeth, I jumped out of Sin’s truck and started marching forward, only then realizing that I’d forgotten to button my jeans.
That, and my fly was halfway down because I could officially not fit into any of my pants anymore.
Not my skinny jeans. Not my regular jeans. Not my fat jeans. Not even my damn yoga pants.
I’d woken up one day a week ago to realize that though I didn’t have that gorgeous ‘bump’ that I would hopefully one day have, I did have a very thick, undefined waist now.
Speaking of, that waist was now forcing my pants down.
Grabbing them, I also grabbed for the handle of the door and walked inside.
Today I’d officially started my job with Lynn.
Or Beckham. I wasn’t sure which.
Whomever the job was actually with, I’d been having a great day. Even greater, the hours were the bomb. I worked from seven until four, with a paid lunch. Not to mention I got to do a lot of fun things like run background checks, study trends in the area, do research online on any possible trafficking connections in the area, and got to play with baby Hiro while I did all of that.
Though, when I’d left this morning, Sin was a little mopey that I hadn’t chosen him to work with, but Beckham was really determined that we work together at her office.
And Beckham didn’t have a Lulu to help her with appointments and paperwork, so I’d chosen to help her out. For now, anyway.
I might split my time between the both of them depending on whether Sin could use the help or not.
I was officially a free agent that was allowed to do what I wanted when I wanted and get paid for doing it by Lynn.
It was a pretty sweet situation that I would have.
At least while I was pregnant, anyway.
“Blaise,” Lulu’s sweet voice had me looking up the moment that I walked in.
I smiled in the direction of Lulu. “Hey, Lulu. How are you doing today?”
Lulu was gathering her belongings up and shouldering her purse when she replied. “Doing great. Your man has a tough case that he’s not able to crack right now, so he’ll be staying a little bit longer. But I have to go pick up the grandbabies so my daughter can get herself to work. How did your doctor appointment go today?”
I winced. “It was fine. My regular doctor is back in town and she was a little worried about some protein in my urine. But we’re going to monitor that at an appointment next week.”
“I’ll keep you in my thoughts, honey child,” she said. “Just make sure that you’re not overdoing it.”
I laughed then, thinking about how little I wasn’t overdoing it.
When I was at work today, Beckham did all the heavy lifting.
When I was at home, Sin barely let me raise a finger.
It was honestly quite exhausting despite my adamancy that I would be able to do it just fine.
“I’ll take care of him and mys
elf,” I promised.
She gave me a wink and took her keys out of her purse. “He asked me to lock the door behind myself. Think you can do that for me?”
I gave her a thumbs up and walked to the door. Only when we’d said our goodbyes did I lock it up tight.
My eyes caught on a wheelchair on the patio area by the wing joint, and I turned away to go look for my man.
I found him in his office with a bottle of beer in his hand as he spoke with someone on the phone.
From what I could tell, he really had a tough day.
His hair was a mess, his eyes were tired, and he looked pissed as hell.
“…no, but when I send you business, I fully fucking expect you to treat that business with dignity. That woman is trying to get out of the worst marriage I’ve ever heard of. She needed someone nice and understanding. Not an asshole who refused to help her when she’s at her worst,” Sin growled.
When I breached the doorway, his eyes came to me, and he looked pissed as hell for a short moment before he realized who it was that was breaching his inner sanctum.
“I don’t know what you have against me,” Sin said. “I pulled a fuckin’ grenade off of your body and saved your fuckin’ life. The least you could do is not be a complete dick to me when you don’t know my side of the goddamn story.”
I had a feeling that this was going to deteriorate. Fast.
“Fuck you,” Sin growled. “Fuck every last one of you. See if I ever help your stupid dumb fucking ass again.”
Oh, boy.
“No, because that woman is going to be my wife. She’s having my kid. Tell me you wouldn’t have saved her,” Sin continued.
I breached the doorway and started heading in Sin’s direction.
He wasn’t getting anywhere with whomever he was talking to.
Which was why when I reached the desk, instead of moving into Sin like I wanted to, I used my index finger to hit the button on his phone that would hang up on whomever he was talking to.
Sin threw the phone across the desk and scrubbed his face with his hands.
“Son of a bitch,” he growled. “I have a case that’s hot as fuck right now, but then I get a call like that from a woman that was so fucking scared, and I just lose it.”
I pushed him back from his desk, and then moved forward until my body was draped across his as best as I could manage.
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