Page 141 of Ly to Me

“Carver. Been a hot minute since I’ve had to make a house call here.” He slipped a hand into his pocket as he leaned against one of the porch posts.

I crossed my arms over my bare chest. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“You know, just business.” He spit into my flowers that were now noticeably void of cigarette butts. Come to think about it, I hadn’t seen her smoke in awhile. Not cigs, anyhow. Not since I told her not so subtly she was quitting at the bar.

So fucking obedient.

“You okay there?” He pointed at my wife’s handiwork on the center of my chest.

“New kind of tattoo.”

“Ah.” He shook his head. “Young folks these days, I swear.”

I smirked. “What business is it this time? The facility or the bar?”

“Nah.” Another wad of heinous spit. My fist clenched beneath my bicep. “Got a call from Jamie.”

“The same man who assaulted my wife this mornin’?”

His gaze shot to Lyra over in the ring. She waved sweetly back at him and I watched as his cheeks warmed.

Always such a stunner, that woman.

“I didn’t hear a lick about that.” He reached into his back pocket, procuring a scrawled-on notepad. “She wanna make a statement?”

“Let’s hear Jamie’s first.”

“Right. Right.” He cleared his throat, taming the redness of his cheeks. “Claims wrongful termination and battery.”

“Can’t terminate him as he’s not an employee. He’s a co-owner who is signing over his rights in two more weeks. Buying him out,” I clarified. “Besides, that’s something more along the lines of needin’ a lawyer, ain’t it?”

“Tried tellin’ the boy that, but he seems to think he has to report it first.”

“Course he does. Does he have evidence for the battery?”

“Showed me his nose.” He tapped the pencil to his nose. “That right hook of yours is a bit of a signature.”

“Don’t recall.” I shrugged. “I think he fell in the kitchen when he was stealing my blender the other day.”

He scribbled something on his notepad. “He stole property from inside your house? Is he still renting?”

“Nope. Moved out when Lyra, my wife, moved in.”

“That the only thing he took?”

I rubbed my knuckles over my stubbled jaw. “My wife and I are still investigating. She was pretty shaken up over it. The attack this morning, too.”

“Can I get her statement?”

“She’s still worked up about it,” I said firmly.

He bobbed his head. “She tell you what happened?”

I flipped the toothpick back and forth with my tongue. “Said he lured her to his truck and slammed her into it.”

“Any witnesses?” More scribbling as I told him about the store, relaying the information Lyra shared, with pieces missing, of course. “You have those cameras up around your property still?”

I grinned, pointing up at one facing out from my porch. “Sure do.”