Brick glanced around the disaster they created in the kitchen and blew out a breath. “Yeah. Fuck me. I might be awhile.”
“I can help.”
He shook his head. “Baby, go shower so you can bake brownies and we can head over there before dinner.”
The “we” part unfortunately distracted her from the endearment part. “We?”
“I’m going with you.”
“Why?”
“I’m not leaving you alone over there with him.”
“Because he wants to get down my pants?”
“How about because he probably killed his wife and may be plotting to kill his current girlfriend.”
She couldn’t argue that so she sighed instead. “Fine, you can go.”
“I didn’t need your permission, muffin,” he told her as he grabbed a roll of paper towels.
“Well, Seamus, you’re going to need more than paper towels. There’s a bucket and a mop in the laundry room. But if you’re going to tackle this while you’re naked, I might have to stick around.”
He grinned and slapped her bare, brownie batter covered ass. “I’ll still be naked when you come back down, because like I said, this is going to take a while.”
She grabbed a clean dish towel from the drawer and carefully made her way out of the mess to where she could wipe off the bottom of her feet. “The thought of you scrubbing a kitchen down while naked will have me taking the fastest shower of my life.”
He paused as he pulled a bunch of paper towels off the roll and narrowed his eyes on her. “Don’t ever fucking breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even Rissa.”
“I won’t say a word. I’ll just show her all the pictures I plan on taking.”
Londyn squealed and ran out of the kitchen as he began to chase her. She smothered her laugh as she heard him curse and crash to the floor.
Chapter Fifteen
She had covered the bruise from him elbowing her with makeup but unfortunately not enough to where Barb couldn’t figure out what she was trying to hide.
Which was evident when the woman leaned toward her and with a low voice asked, “Are you okay?”
As soon as she and Brick had arrived at Kramer’s, Barb had taken one look at her face and had pulled Londyn upstairs to her second-floor office. The excuse she made to the men was to show Londyn her collection of signed books she had received from the authors she edited for.
It was impressive.
After she read the hand-written inscription on the title page of one of those paperbacks, Londyn lifted her head and frowned. “Yes, why?”
“He seems really bossy. And controlling. You tried to hide that bruise with makeup, but I can see it.”
Her fingers went up to her cheek. Damn it. “Oh, this? I... uh... ran into the door. I’m pretty clumsy.” Telling Barb that Brick had night terrors from being a Navy SEAL sniper just might blow their cover.
Barb gave her a doubtful look. Holy shit. The woman thought Brick had backhanded her or something. “Seriously, Barb, it was just an accident. My middle name isn’t Grace for nothing.”
Barb ignored her lame attempt at a joke. “If you need help, all you have to do is ask.”
Londyn chewed on her bottom lip as she returned the paperback to the shelf and grabbed another one from an author whose name she recognized. She paged through it as she ran the current situation through her mind.
Should she play up the battered wife? Would that help them in any way?
Since she wasn’t sure, she figured she’d deny it for now and run it past Brick later.
She had one goal for this visit, besides the obvious one of checking on Barb’s well-being, and that was to see if Barb knew Kramer had two humongous life insurance policies on her. That would give them an idea if Kramer had Barb in his sights as his next target.
Londyn hoped to hell he didn’t. Barb truly seemed to be a sweetheart even if her boyfriend was a murdering, cheating, greedy douchebag.
And the woman was worried about her. Ha. If she only knew the truth.
During their short walk to Kramer’s with a whole tray of warm brownies, Brick had told her, “Ask her about her policies. If she has no idea how much hers is or thinks it’s a lot lower, that could mean he’s trying something. If she’s aware of the amount, it could be that she just gets headaches from living in Satan’s sweaty armpit.”
Londyn needed to get them off the subject of her being abused and onto the policies before heading back down to where the men were. Brick was relying on her stellar acting abilities.
“I appreciate your concern, Barb, I do. But I swear I’m just a klutz. I spilled brownie mix on the floor,” sort of, “and slipped in it,” sort of, “which caused me to face plant into the pantry door which I had left open.” Which was a lie. “It was all my fault.” Another lie. “Seamus was super sweet to clean up the mess I made on the floor.” She omitted the most important fact that he’d been naked while he’d done so.
Londyn had photo proof of Brick, still only wearing brownie batter, with a mop in hand and a bucket at his feet. He had mugged it up for the camera as she took a couple but then told her, in no uncertain terms, she’d die a slow, torturous death by being coated in honey and staked over a fire ant hill if she ever showed them to anybody. They were solely for her own “spank bank.”
That’s exactly what he said.
Since she didn’t think that would be a pleasant or peaceful death, she created a folder on her phone, named it “spank bank” and filled it with material for her use later. Once this assignment was over and it was once again only her and her battery-operated boyfriend, which she was now dubbing Brick Jr, she’d probably need them.
Though, her memories of all their sexy times might work just as well.
Concentrate on the task at hand, Gertie girl.
She put the second book back and shot Barb a smile. “If you ever need help with proofreading, I used to be the editor for my high school paper.” Like a million years ago.
Barb’s smile started to slip. “Oh... Thanks. I’ll let you know.”
Londyn sighed and moved to the window. Even though it overlooked their backyard, she couldn’t see the guys. They were probably under the covered portion of the deck, drinking a beer in the shade and yucking it up.
“I just get so bored sometimes not having a job.” Londyn added a little whine to make her acting more award-worthy.
“Why don’t you get one?”
“Seamus...” She took a long dramatic pause. “He needs to be the provider, since he’s the man of the house. You know how that is, right? I’m sure Chris likes to provide for you.”
“He—”
“You know, like buy you nice things? Shoes, jewelry, purses when you’re a good girl?”
“I—”
“Seamus feels like it’s his job to take care of me financially since I take care of him in other ways.” Hint, hint.
It was a shame she was wasting all this acting ability on one person. She needed a bigger audience who could truly appreciate her skills.
“That’s sweet,” Barb choked out behind her.
“Isn’t it, though? I feel so loved. There can’t be a luckier woman than me. He’s even talking about upping our insurance policies from two hundred thousand to a million each. He wants to make sure I’ll be taken care of if anything happens to him.”
“If he wants to make sure you’re covered if, God forbid, anything happens to him, why would he need the same policy on you?”
Londyn took a deep breath, bugged out her eyes and spun to face Barb. “Good question. Do you think that’s excessive? What do you two have?”
Barb’s mouth opened and closed and after a few seconds said, “After we moved in together, we each got one for two hundred and fifty thousand.”
Londyn pursed her lips and made a show of considering her answer, though she really wanted to scream, “Bingo!” and sprint downstairs to tell Brick. Okay, maybe not sprint, because she’d probably tumble down t
he steps and break her neck, but it took everything she had to remain standing there with a woman who might be slated to be Kramer’s next victim.
Her heart beat furiously in her throat and her blood rushed in her ears. “That’s probably a reasonable amount. I’m not sure why he needs a whole million dollars if I die. I only want to be cremated and I can’t imagine that costs more than a couple hundred bucks, right?” She waggled her eyebrows and joked, “With that large payoff, I’d be worried about him trying to kill me and run off with some younger woman, you know?” She added a “just kidding but am I really?” laugh to make it sound more convincing.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t do that.”
“We’ve been together a long time. But when you think about it, just how long does it take to really get to know someone? I mean, sometimes Seamus does stuff and I wonder who the hell he is.” Again, she added a stilted laugh. “Like, do I really know who I’m married to?”
Barb’s expression turned concerned again. “What type of stuff?”
“Oh, you know, leaving the lights on and the toilet seat up. Things like that.”
Londyn got a look from Barb like the woman didn’t believe her.
Good. Leave her guessing. The abused spouse angle might work in their favor.
“Is Seamus always bossy with you?”
“When we were first married, he limited it to the bedroom. And, I have to admit, I loved it, so I didn’t discourage it. Then it moved out of the bedroom. But I’m used to it and he does take good care of me.” Barb’s face had turned pink when Londyn mentioned the bossy in the bedroom part. “Chris isn’t like that?”
“No, he’s always sweet, but protective, with me. He’s always asking me if I need anything and bringing me tea or soda. Sometimes he even brings me breakfast in bed.”
Hmm. And poisons that food and drink?
She wanted to ask Barb a million and one questions, but she also didn’t want her to get suspicious. Or think Londyn was a total loon.
“That’s really nice. Seamus helped me make the brownies after he cleaned up my mess today.”
Barb’s smile grew.
“He probably just wanted to make sure I didn’t make another mistake.”
That smile faltered. “What would’ve happened if you did?”
“I’m just glad I didn’t have to find out.” Londyn grimaced at that on purpose “accidental” slip. She grabbed Barb’s arm and tugged. “Come on, let’s go see what the men are up to. It’s getting late and Seamus likes his dinner on the table at six and I don’t have anything planned yet.”
Brick took a chug of beer and glanced at Kramer over the lip of the bottle.
The man had been skirting around the topic of Londyn’s bruise, but Brick could see he was chomping at the bit to ask about it.
“Best brownies I ever had,” Kramer finally said, eyeing Brick carefully. “But the chocolate chip cookies were just as good.”
There it was. An opening for Kramer to ask about the bruise.
“She can make them for me anytime.”
Brick cocked an eyebrow at Kramer. “For you?”
“For us,” he corrected quickly. “Was that a test, too?”
Brick took another long pull on his beer. “Everything’s a test, Chris.”
“Well, then she passed if she made brownies, right?”
“Maybe I didn’t want brownies today.”
The look on Kramer’s face was priceless. “Did you tell her what you wanted?”
“Again, Chris, what fun would that be?”
Kramer leaned forward, planted his elbows on the arms of his Adirondack chair and asked, “You hit her?”
“It’s discipline.” Brick tilted his head and made a show of studying Kramer before saying, “You going to call the cops?”
Kramer lifted his hands, palms out. “I’m not judging the way you run your household.”
Asshole. You just showed your hand.
“You know how it is. You can’t live with them; you can’t kill them.” Brick barked out a laugh, while watching the man’s expression carefully.
Kramer lifted his beer in the air. “Isn’t that the damn truth.” His brown eyes hit Brick’s.
“So, you discipline them instead.”
“Does she like it?”
Brick forced a chuckle. When really, he wanted to beat the smirk right off Kramer’s face. “We had that discussion the other night, Chris. Why do you keep asking?”
Kramer sat back in his chair and blew out a breath before lifting his half-kicked beer to his lips. “I like the idea of keeping a woman in her place. I doubt Barb would like it, though. Not like Gertie.”
Brick lifted a shoulder in a casual half-shrug. “Find a woman who would.”
“Yeah,” Kramer said softly. “I might have to do that.”
Now there was a hand Brick needed to play. “Nothing like having all that power in your hands, Chris. It’s a feeling like no other. She loves to be choked when I’m fucking her, and I’ve come close to not stopping. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to take someone’s life like that. Like a god. You choose whether that person lives or dies. It’s a heady feeling knowing she only breathes because I allow her to.”
Kramer’s eyes burned with excitement. “What stops you from taking it to that next step?”
“Prison, my friend.”
Kramer said nothing as Brick put his beer down. His stomach was turning sour at this conversation. It was one thing to kill to save your own life or others, or because the target deserved it, it was another to kill someone you professed to love.
“Plus, I’d miss her. No matter what she does wrong, I still love her. And the sex is...” He focused his gaze on the pool and let his words drift off before shaking his head. “Hottest fucking sex of my life. That’s why I married her.”
“And she can bake.”
Brick forced out a chuckle. “Yeah, she can bake.”
The sliding glass door opened and the women joined them.
“Honey, we should head home if you want me to have dinner ready at six.”
“If?” Brick asked, climbing to his feet, eyes narrowed.
Kramer also stood, his gaze sliding right past Barb and getting caught on Londyn. And her cleavage. Before raising his eyes to check out her bruise again. “Shame you have to run off.”
“We just wanted to drop off the brownies and I wanted to make sure Barb was okay. But we really need to get back now,” Londyn insisted.
Brick extended his hand and Londyn stared at it for a second, then put hers in his. He pulled her into his side. “What’s on the menu?”
“I... I don’t know,” she finished off in a shaky whisper.
“You don’t know?” he asked sharply.
“That’s why we need to get back. Or, if you prefer, you can stay and continue your visit with Chris and I can head back, honey.”
He slid his hand over Londyn’s ass and squeezed. “No, I’ll go with you, muffin.”
They said their goodbyes and Brick didn’t drop her hand once they hit the sidewalk. Because of that, he could tell she was jumping out of her skin.
He had to walk faster to keep up with her.
As soon as they were on the other side of the front door, she practically squealed, “She thinks you’re abusing me.” Like that should be something to celebrate. “She asked if I need help.”
“Crazy that she’s more worried about you than her man trying to get down your pants.”
Londyn ignored that. “Can we use this?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully. He asked if I hit you.”
“And you denied it?”
“No, I didn’t deny it. I played it up.”
“That means you do think we can use this angle.”
“It can’t hurt unless Barb calls the fucking cops on me. That’ll fuck everything up.” He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Let me think on how we can use this.”
“Maybe I can ask Kramer for help.”
> Say what? “No. The help he wants to give you will not help me find any evidence. If anything, he'll get handsy with you and then I’ll have to kill him.”
She moved into him and fisted his shirt. “Really?”
He dropped his head and stared into her wide blue eyes. “Yeah, really. You don’t touch another man’s wife.”
“I’m not your wife,” she reminded him in a whisper.
“Right.” Right. He needed to remember that. But she was still in his bed. Same shit.
“Anyway, Barb thinking you beat my ass wasn’t what got me excited.”
“I thought you liked when I spanked you.”
She grinned up at him. “Spank, not beat. There’s a difference.”
No shit. “Okay, then what got you excited?”
“I managed to ask her about the policies.”
Brick’s ears perked. “Without her getting suspicious?”
“Yes! I swear I should be an actress.”
“Will you just tell me what she said?”
“She believes their policies are for only two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“They were when Kramer opened them, then he bumped hers up as soon as they moved to Florida.” He dipped his head and slid his lips over hers briefly. “Good job.”
“Do you think that means he’ll kill her for that settlement?”
“It could. There’s no reason to have the amount of coverage he has on her. None. They have no kids and she’s not the main breadwinner in the household. It’s just not a common amount. Why the insurance company granted it, I’ll never fucking know.”
“Maybe he knows someone who works for that insurance company?”
“And the person gets a cut?” Brick asked her. “Damn, that could be. Someone could fudge the paperwork... I don’t know. I don’t know enough about insurance to know if that’s even possible.”
“Okay, that aside, it is possible Kramer is giving Barb something to cause her headaches. He could be poisoning her.”
“Makes sense if he wants to kill her.” He sighed. “I need more time in their house. Especially in his office. He’s got a safe in addition to the locked cabinet. I don’t have any safe cracking skills.”
Guts & Glory: Brick (In the Shadows Security Book 6) Page 17
