Zane kissed me goodbye the next morning before going home and getting ready for work. I heard him talking to Chet, who’d probably just come in, before he left.

Since it was a Sunday, I slept in a bit, getting out of bed at nine. Over the next couple hours, I did several loads of laundry, baked a cake and ate some tomato soup for lunch. At one thirty, there was a knock on the door. Looking out the peephole, I saw it was Zane.

“Did Chet say if Rusty called?” he asked when I opened the door.

“Chet’s still asleep. And why would Rusty call?” I asked, curious as to why his interest in my ex-roommate had piqued again.

“Just wondering if he did. Call me if you need me.” He kissed me and was gone.

He showed up again at three forty-five and yet again at six fifteen, always getting the same results from me: Chet was still asleep and I had no idea if Rusty had contacted him. The last time he’d shown up was at eight when he announced he was staying the night even though I told him Chet had left.

He seemed so distracted that I was back to thinking I hardly knew him.

There was one good thing I’d thought of, though. In my first serious relationship in high school, the guy had tried making me change and I’d gotten out of it in a hurry. At least Zane hadn’t tried to make me change.

 Talk about grasping at straws.

~*~*~*~*~

Izzy called the next day to tell me about her New Year’s Eve. She said one of the linebackers and his girlfriend had gotten into a huge fight when they were all outside watching the fireworks on the bi-level dock and that the girlfriend had pushed the guy into the lake.

“I’ve never heard so many curse words in my life!” she informed. “It was crazy!”

“Wasn’t the water freezing?” I asked.

“Yes! I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy got pneumonia. It was terrible, JB. I swear, I’ve never heard the word monkey used in so many obscene ways.”

I laughed. “But it did make for an interesting night, though, right?”

“More than. How’d things go with you?”

I told her about meeting Zane’s brothers and Honor and how much fun I’d had.

“Good! So you feel that you and Zane are getting closer now?” At my hesitation, she asked, “What?”

“He’s just so closed off. And he’s so interested in Rusty. It’s weird.”

“He’s investigating him, right?”

“Not officially, I don’t think.”

“Maybe he’s just worried about you being at the apartment alone thinking Rusty might show up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. He does come by a lot.”

“See? I think he’s just worried. And maybe he knows you feel more comfortable being at your apartment instead of at his place alone, so that’s why he doesn’t pack you up and make you stay with him,” she said.

“I guess.”

~*~*~*~*~

I worked Tuesday through Friday at various hours. Saturday night Zane and I went to see a movie and afterward stayed at his place. He didn’t seem as distracted that whole week, and I started to relax more since every time we were together, I grew to know at least something new about him. Sunday, he had a rare day off, so we lazed around his place, ordering Chinese for lunch then watched TV the rest of the day between lovemaking sessions.

And it was awesome.

~*~*~*~*~

I was working Monday when I got a text from Izzy.

Text Message—Mon, Jan 9, 2:34 p.m.

Iz: Got the thing. It’s set. Be there at ten. Talk then

Me: Why’re you talking like Tonto?

Iz: Manicure can’t type

Me: See you tonight, weirdo

~*~*~*~*~

After work, I sat on the couch painting my nails and catching up on Stranger Things when Chet called.

“Hey, Rusty’s gonna come by, okay? We’re cool and he’ll be cool. He just forgot something in his room, he said.”

I frowned. “What’d he forget?”

“That night when someone tried getting in? That was him. He was trying to pick up what he forgot.”

“Chet, what’d he forget?”

“He said it’s some gun his dad gave him before he died. It’s like a family heirloom or something. Really old and it doesn’t even shoot anymore. He promised he’d be in and out and wouldn’t be rude to you.”

“Uh huh. You owe me for this.”

Rusty knocked around seven. The glare he gave me as he walked toward his room made me let out a psh sound.

“What was that?” he stopped and asked.

“I haven’t done anything to you, so I don’t know why you’ve been a colossal dick to me lately,” I answered as I sat back down on the couch.

Walking back, he leaned down putting a hand against the back of the couch and getting right in my face. “I’m not the one dating a fucking cop!” As if that explained his sudden assholishness. He stood and glowered down at me.

“What does that even mean?”

“I told you not to go out with him!”

“And I’m supposed to do what you say because?”

He scowled at me for a moment before heading to his room. I heard him kick the box with the present I’d given him in it that I’d set just inside his door, and I wanted to yell, “You’re welcome!” His bedroom door slammed, then twenty minutes later, he came out carrying a plastic pistol case which didn’t look old to me at all, and with not a word, he left.

~*~*~*~*~

At eight I was cutting up an onion for the chili I had on the stove when there was another knock, and I was beginning to wonder when my apartment had turned into Grand Central Station.

Zane was in the peephole when I, uh, peeped into it.

“Hey,” I said when I opened the door, tiptoeing up and giving him a quick kiss. “How’d your day go?”

“Not bad,” he replied coming inside. He started telling me about a cold case that one of his partners solved and I had to interrupt him.

“Hang on, I have to check on the chili.” Assuming he’d followed me, I went into the kitchen where I added the onion and quickly chopped up a green bell pepper, adding it also, saying, “Okay, so he found out that it was the wife who—” I turned but Zane was gone.

I checked my bedroom but he wasn’t there. He hadn’t left because I’d have heard the front door, I thought. As I walked out of my room, I saw him coming out of Rusty’s room.

“What’re you doing?” I questioned.

“Just looking around.”

“Isn’t that illegal? I mean, don’t you need a warrant or something?”

He chuckled. “I was just looking around.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s going on?”

“What’re you making again?” he deflected, as he grabbed my hand and headed back to the living room with me in tow.

“Chili. Want some?” I asked, dropping his hand and going back to the kitchen.

I prepared our bowls, he got out the grated cheese and crackers, and as we sat at the bar eating, I asked again why he was in Rusty’s room.

“I’m trusting you not to say anything, okay?” he asked. At my nod, he continued. “I think Rusty’s involved with some bad people. Theo Antonius? He’s Greek mafia.”

“Greek mafia? Is there such thing?”

He nodded. “Yes, but mafia’s become a catch-all term for any crime organization. And I’ve been watching Theo—”

I frowned. “But when you were talking to Chet the other day, you acted like you didn’t know who this Theo guy was.”

“I know. I wanted to see what Chet knew, if he was—”

“Oh, my God. Do you think Chet’s working with them too?”

“I don’t think so. All I can say is I’m keeping an eye on things. If I can nail Antonius and his gang, it’ll bring down a huge RICO charge on them big time.”

“So you have been investigating Rusty this whole time.”

He shrugged looking as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“And you’re in the habit of lying,” I stated a little snottily.

He narrowed his eyes. “When did I lie?”

“To Chet! When you acted like you didn’t know this Theo guy.”

“Babe.”

“Babe what?”

He chuckled. “I have to do my job and sometimes it involves lying by omission.”

“So on our first date when I was telling you about my roommates, you already knew I lived with them?”

He blew out a breath, his face hard and the jaw tic was back. “Yeah.”

“What else aren’t you telling me?” I was pretty angry about all this. I mean, I’d watched cop shows and stuff, so I knew they couldn’t say a lot to people, but actually knowing someone who was doing that very thing and to someone I’d been living with was weird. Was this where I was getting the feeling Zane was closed off? Maybe. But I didn’t think that was all of it. My intuition had me sensing something different. Something more personal.

He ate the last spoonful of his chili and wiped his mouth on his napkin. “There’s nothing else, babe. Promise.” He gave me his lopsided grin making my heart skip a friggin’ beat at how handsome he was. “Why don’t we go see a movie?”

I stood and took my bowl to the sink to rinse and load in the dishwasher. “When?”

He followed me. “Tonight.”

“I can’t tonight. Izzy and I are doing something.” I took his bowl from him and rinsed it, feeling his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head.

“Can I ask what you two are doing?”

“Can I lie by omission?” I looked up at him, eyebrow raised.

“Can I fuck it out of you?” His eyes burned gold.

When he lunged for me, I squealed and ran out of the kitchen toward my bedroom hollering, “You have to catch me first!”

He caught me.

And I loved every second of it.

~*~*~*~*~

“Why don’t you pack a bag and when you and Izzy are finished, you come stay with me? I’d feel better if you weren’t here in case Rusty comes back,” Zane proposed.

He’d just made me come two times and we were now lying in bed catching our breath.

In a climax daze, I muttered, “He already came back.” I kissed his shoulder.

He suddenly pulled back looking down at me. “Come again?”

“I’d love to. Why don’t you make me,” I said with a snicker.

“Rusty was here?” he snapped.

I frowned. “Yeah.”

“When?”

“Maybe an hour before you got here? I didn’t really check the time.”

He jumped up and quickly pulled his pants on then left my room. What the heck? I got up and yanked a t-shirt down over my head then went to see what was wrong. Light was coming from Rusty’s old room again, and I walked down the hallway to see what the matter was.

Zane was in the closet feeling around on the walls and looking up over the shelf. He knelt down and moved a hand along the baseboard then stopped, pulling part of it off. He moved his head down to look into the hole he’d revealed before sitting back on his heels.

“Fuck!” he yelled making me jump.

“What?”

He stood and grabbed me by my upper arms getting in my face and saying angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me he came by?”

“I-I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Of course it fucking matters! Why do you think I’ve come by or stayed here all these times?” He released my arms then stormed out of the room, shouting, “Goddamn it!”

Confused, I followed him to my bedroom, watching as he hastily pulled on his shirt then sat on my bed to put on his shoes and socks.

“What were you looking for in his closet?”

While he bent to tie his boot, he glowered up at me. “A gun that can implicate him in a crime that happened several years ago.”

“Oh. I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

He didn’t say a word, just stood, grabbed his suit jacket, walked into the living room, seized his coat off the back of the couch and left, slamming the door behind him.

I jumped again at how loud it was then going to the window, watched as he backed out of his parking space then peeled out of the lot.

Damn.