With nothing to do but wait and see what happened, my brothers came on full force. Chip grilled me about what I’d been doing while Jimmy and Gaines interrogated Hendrix more than they already had. I could hear the questions they were asking from the next room and I was horrified that I hadn’t ever thought to ask him any of them.
I’d been too caught up in everything and then too caught up in the chemistry between us to actually ask him stuff about his family, besides the stuff with his brother, or about exes or… I didn’t know. Hell, I didn’t even know what we were doing. Just being two adults who slept with each other and then went our own way? I didn’t even know if I was that kind of adult. I’d been so caught up in not getting killed by Ricky that I hadn’t thought about what was happening with Hendrix. Which made sense, but with Ricky soon to be out of the picture…
I groaned as I thought about everything. Chip was still talking at me, but I just wanted to scream. I was no good at relationship stuff. Growing up with my brothers, they had basically forbidden me from dating. I didn’t have my first relationship until college and it was laughable. The guy I’d dated still went home most weekends to be with his mom.
What did Hendrix want? Did he like me outside of the way our bodies worked together?
“Chip! Shut up!” I sat up and glared at him. “I can barely hear myself think with you yammering on!”
“You’re not supposed to be thinking when I’m talking! You’re supposed to be listening!”
“If I only ever thought while you were quiet, I’d never think! You’re the loudest, most annoying person I’ve ever known!”
“That’s rich, coming from you! You’re yelling right now!”
“You’re yelling right now!”
Hendrix appeared in the doorway, obviously trying to smother a laugh. “Everything okay in here?”
Chip stood up from his seat and pointed at him. “Are you banging my baby sister?!”
I stood up and pointed at Chip. “How dare you just ask someone that! That’s none of your business!”
“It is my business! Someone’s got to keep your head on straight!”
I launched myself at Chip and it was like we were children again. He’d always had an advantage when we wrestled because he was huge and so much older than me, but I made him work for the win. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tightened my grip until he grunted and tossed me to the bed.
“Body slam!” Chip had a few issues in life, one of them being that he watched too much entertainment wrestling. He threw himself into the air and landed across my much smaller body like a train car. Then he rolled off of me, flipped me on my stomach and proceeded to hog tie my feet and hands together by simply holding them together. No matter how hard I fought, I was just flopping around, giving a show to Jimmy and Gaines, who’d no doubt come in to see what the fuss was about.
“Count it down, boys!”
I stopped fighting and gave up while they counted to three, declaring Chip the winner and me the loser. As soon as Chip let me go, though, I threw me elbow back and caught him in the stomach. Then I shoved him sideways off the bed.
“And yes, he is banging your baby sister! It’s fantastic, too, not that it’s any of your business!” The room quieted and I realized what I’d just shouted. “Shit.”
Chip climbed to his knees, holding his stomach. “You weren’t spanked enough as a child, clearly.”
At the word spanked, I looked back at Hendrix and he was giving me a look. My face went bright red and I hoped the bed would just open up and drop me somewhere different.
“What the hell was that look?!” Chip stood up and only wheezed slightly. “Why did you make a face when I said ‘spanked’?! What the hell, Darby?”
Thank God, Hendrix’s phone rang and he slipped it from his pocket. “Hello?... Not going to happen. … Because I said so. … Because it isn’t safe. … Fine.”
I moved to stand next to him and sighed happily when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me. I didn’t dare look back at my brothers to see what they thought of it.
Hendrix slammed his phone shut and glared at it. “They caught Ricky. He’s refusing to talk unless you’re there, though.”
My brothers all started shouting right away but I waved them off. “I don’t love the idea, but I’ll do it. If it gets him off the streets, I’ll do what I have to.”
“I don’t like it, Darby.”
“I know. I have to do it, though. Can you take me?”
He looked over my head at my brothers and then swore. “Of course.”
My brothers argued and I yelled back at them, while Hendrix pushed me from the room and out to his truck. He let my brothers cram in the backseat and drove in silence while they bickered with me. I tried to ignore them because I was so anxious about what was going to happen, but it was hard. It was like having three full-grown, bossy children in the backseat.
At the police station, we were quickly ushered into the back. Harding stopped us beside his desk and shook my hand. He looked happier than I’d ever seen him. “Good work, Connors. You did it. Even if he doesn’t talk, there’s enough evidence to lock him away for a very long time. I loved the article, too. Thanks for making me sound like such a badass.”
I patted his shoulder and smiled. “You are a badass, Harding.”
“You already got an article out?” Hendrix looked at me with pride in his eyes.
“I send stuff to an editor I know. He read it and put it online immediately. Ricky is done.”
Even Chip clapped me on the back after that. I couldn’t help but be proud, the same way I was after every case. I wanted to help people and I couldn’t help but hope that my stories about lowlife criminals like Ricky made a difference.
“Well, he’s waiting for you…”
I nodded to Harding and following a uniformed officer to the back interrogation rooms. My brothers trailed behind us and Hendrix was right behind me, so no one had time to stop the dangerous-looking guy from bumping into me. Hendrix grabbed him right away and shoved him behind us, though. Just not before I felt the man drop something into my pocket.
I wrapped my fingers around whatever it was and realized it was a phone. I looked up at Hendrix and felt torn. I knew I should tell him what happened but I didn’t want him to take it away from me. I had a feeling I was going to need it.
Before I could decide, I was ushered into a room with a cold metal table and four metal chairs surrounding it. Ricky was sitting across from me, his suit replaced with a burnt orange jumpsuit. The look on his face was more scowl than anything.
When Hendrix tried to come in, Ricky rattled his chained arms and shook his head. “I talk to Miss Connors alone.”
I turned to Hendrix and put my hand on his arm. “You’ll be right outside if anything happens. I’m fine.”
I could tell he wanted to argue, but he held up his hands and backed away casting a dark glare at the officer in the corner of the room. “Anything happens to her and I’ll break your fucking legs right off at the hips.”
I sat down across from Ricky, my heart pounding away in my chest, and took a deep breath. “You wanted to talk to me?”
He leaned forward and smiled. “You think you won, don’t you?”
“It wasn’t a game, asshole.” I let the fury take over and block out how scared I felt. “I just wanted you away from all those girls. You’re a monster.”
“Girls? What girls? Those are sluts and whores, animals willing to spread their legs and sell themselves for a buck.”
“Even if that was true, they’d still be better than you. You’re just a coward, a little man with a complex. I noticed that you never walked into your battles alone. I’m surprised you’re here by yourself now.”
He practically shook from the anger. “Funny you should mention me being alone. I will admit, I’ve had some help this time around. A friend of yours, actually.”
“Save it. I already know that the man who was stalking me was giving you information. How does that feel? You had a cheat and you still ended up here. You’re not as smart as you think.”
“I’m smarter. I may be here, but your friend is on the outside. He’s waiting for you. I’ll spend a few days in jail, knowing that when I get out of here, your rotting corpse will already be in the ground.”
Chills went down my back but I refused to show him my fear. “I published an article earlier. ‘The Monster Behind the Guy Next Door.’ All about how gentle and social businessman Ricky Meyers is nothing more than a rapist and a pimp who takes little girls from their bedrooms at night to put them on the streets. You really don’t understand what you’re in for, do you?”
His face went blood red and he jerked at his chains. “You little bitch! I’m going to find you when I get out of here and I’m going to tear you to pieces!”
I stood up and moved to the door. “You’re not getting out. I hope you have fun in prison.”
“Laster is going to make you pay. He’s going to show you what a piece of meat you are. You’ll suffer long before you die, you bitch!”
I froze with my hand on the door. “What?”
Ricky laughed, more the laugh of a crazy man than a man who found anything about his situation amusing. “Oh, yeah. He’s going to peel you like an onion. Layer by layer, you’ll be exposed until he gets to bones.”
“What do you mean Laster?”
“Is that what I said? Oopsie. Forget I said anything.”
I slammed my hands on the table and leaned into him. I sensed the cop step forward, but held up my hand to him. “Tell me what you meant.”
“Enjoy getting your throat slit.”
I pushed away from the table and rushed out of the small room, feeling too confined and confused. There was no way Laster was the guy stalking me. Laster had been hurt himself. I looked at Hendrix, who’d clearly been listening, and saw the rage on his face, clear as day.
Before I could say anything, the phone in my pocket beeped. Hendrix’s eyes narrowed and he edged closer to me. “What was that?”
I sighed, knowing that I’d messed up by not saying something right away, but I’d panicked. “That guy that bumped into me slipped a phone into my pocket.”
I was slightly afraid his head was going to explode. A vein in his forehead pulsed and when he grabbed my arm and tugged me back to Harding’s desk, there was less intimacy and more anger.
“Give it to me.”
I handed him the phone and widened my eyes when I realized it was my phone. “Hey, I thought you got rid of that.”
“I did.” He looked down at Harding and spoke in growls and grunts, basically. “Ricky is pointing the finger at Laster. Some asshole in your precinct just slipped this into Darby’s pocket. He’s long gone. Don’t bother asking.”
I watched as he opened the message I’d received and sighed. “It’s from Jennifer. She just wanted to know if you could hang out today.”
I took the phone and looked at it, a chill running down my back. It wasn’t from Jennifer. I knew the last four numbers of Jennifer’s phone number because it was her password for her computer at work and I’d used it more than once. Someone had saved the number with her name.
I had options. I could tell Hendrix and have him and my brothers take over. Or I could do it myself.