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Kian tapped his fingers on the center console distractedly. “Charles Manson was someone’s dad too. Didn’t make him a good guy.”
“After what happened at Caleb’s party, I’m scared of us getting separated,” Vaughn said quietly.
That was a legitimate concern I could understand. I reached over from the passenger seat and squeezed his hand. “I kinda like when you’re stuck to me like glue. Once we get there, we go everywhere together.”
Kian let out a loud sigh, the leather seats creaking as he shifted around agitatedly. “Sorry, but I’m still stuck on ‘this guy could have killed your mother.’”
I threw my hands up. “He didn’t!”
“You don’t know that,” Kian argued. “Did you even ask him where he was in the weeks leading up to the murder? Was he here? Don’t you think it’s awfully convenient he just turns back up out of the blue now?”
Irritation prickled at me. They weren’t even giving the guy a chance. He hadn’t done anything other than try to be there for me. “He explained that, Kian. Jeez. Who knew you were so cynical? I thought you were all hippie love and everyone deserves a second chance?”
He frowned. “When did I ever say that?”
I huffed. “Fine. Maybe I just wanted you to.”
Kian’s mouth pulled into a line. “I don’t trust this guy at all. I get why you want to meet his kids. I probably would too. But as an impartial outside witness, this all feels dodgy as fuck.” He bit his lip, slowly letting it pop back out from beneath his teeth. “Which is why I did something you probably aren’t going to like.”
I twisted to narrow my eyes at him. “Talk more, Kian.”
“I put your gun in your bag.”
I leaned over and scooped up my purse from the floor and opened it. Sure enough, the little handgun I’d taken from my neighbor at the apartment house was nestled amongst my phone and wallet and a tiny mini vibrator.
I gaped at him. “Did you put the vibrator in there too?”
He grinned. “I thought you might need some stress relief on the drive home if this doesn’t go well.”
I shook my head at him in disbelief. “I’m not taking a loaded gun I don’t even know how to use into a house full of children. That’s dangerous.”
“You know what’s more dangerous? Going into a house unarmed when the owner is a suspect in a murder.”
I glared at him. “You’re a suspect in that same murder, you know?”
He flashed me a grin. “But I licked your pussy so good last night that we all know you wouldn’t shoot me.”
Vaughn cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t be so cocky. She has no shortage of men willing to go down on her, if you hadn’t noticed.”
I stifled a laugh, then pointed to the white fence that started up on a property line outside the window. I plastered myself to the glass, taking it all in. “There! That must be it. Wow. This place is so cute! I love it.”
It was like a story book farm. Lots of wide-open space, with animals grazing among patchy grass and trees. A whitewashed fence ran the full length of the property, but about halfway along, we found a gate with a sign that read Ridgemont Homestead. All welcome.
Vaughn stopped the car, and Kian jumped out to unlatch the gate. He looked all around—down the road both ways, up into the clear blue sky, and thoroughly inspected the gate for I had no idea what, before he unlatched it.
“What is he searching for?” I asked Vaughn.
“No idea, but he looks like a try-hard spy kid.”
I sniggered, but then Kian was pushing the gates open and we were driving through. Vaughn stopped again on the other side so Kian could get back in, and we trundled slowly down the driveway.
“There was a camera,” Kian announced. “A small one, right in the middle of the gate. They know we’re here.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Why are you making out like that’s some sort of big, ominous sign? Wouldn’t you want to know if someone was entering your property? We could be cattle rustlers.”
The look he gave me clearly said I was crazy. “Yeah, we’re gonna steal a whole lot of cattle with Vaughn’s dad’s Mercedes. They’re well known for having enough trunk space to rustle a cow.”
He had a point.