Page 6

Chapter

Six

LOGAN

I sat in stunned silence as the woman of my dreams walked away from me. Even as she left the restaurant, I had to admire her. She was fucking beautiful with the class and poise of a queen. I turned to look toward the restroom, wondering what the fuck had just happened. We were having a great time. Even though I could see she had been nervous when we’d first sat down, she was easy to talk to. I couldn’t help but want to know more about her, to find out what made her happy or sad, to find out her favorite things so I could shower her with them daily. We had a connection, one I felt growing by the minute as we enjoyed our time together. But something had changed when she walked out of the restroom.

It took less than a second to figure out why when I saw Marlene strolling out of the back. If the blonde disaster was here, then my ex-wife wasn’t far. It didn’t take being a detective to figure out that Marlene had everything to do with Bridgette’s sudden desire to get as far away from me as possible.

I stood up while grabbing my wallet from my back pocket. I didn’t take my eyes off my ex’s best friend as I tossed enough money on the table to cover our meal, plus a generous tip. I stuffed the wallet back into my pocket and stalked over to the woman who’d been a thorn in my side since the moment I began dating Kristy.

The woman had never liked me and was always in Kristy’s ear about how I wasn’t good enough for her. When I became a detective and more of my time was spent at work, hunting down killers, trying to help ease the minds of the family members who’d lost loved ones, Marlene had been suggesting to Kristy that I was out fucking everything with a skirt. I’d never so much as considered cheating on my wife; I just wasn’t made that way. My wife should have known that I was committed to her. Instead, she’d allowed that snake to poison our marriage, and she herself decided it was okay to fall onto another dick. Her excuse had been that I was never there for her. That she had needs I didn’t fulfill.

As soon as I suspected there was something wrong in our marriage, I stopped fucking her and instead started watching closely, keeping track of what she was doing. For some stupid fucking reason, Kristy thought that cheating on a man whose actual job was detective work was smart. I spent several months waiting, gathering evidence so when it was time to serve her papers, there wasn’t a judge in town who would grant her more than she had walked into the marriage with. Unfortunately for her, that meant she’d leave with only the clothes in her closet and her grandmother’s crystal. Because I didn’t want anything that belonged to her, including her BMW, and the payment that went along with it, I walked out of a three year marriage with my clothes, my gun collection, the leather couch, and the television. Letting her take all the remaining things we’d bought together to make a home was little price to pay to get shot of the cheating liar.

My only regret was letting her keep the dog we’d picked out together. She’d cried and wailed that I wanted to take her baby away from her, even though I was the one who’d done all the training and taken her for walks before and after work. I hated letting Samantha go, but there’d been so much pressure from our families and friends telling me I was being overly harsh for taking everything away from a remorseful Kristy. As if she weren’t still seeing her lover and was practically living with him.

It was possible I still harbored a small bit of resentment six months after the divorce. It wasn’t that I missed her; any love I once had for Kristy shriveled up and died as soon as I saw her in the arms of another man. No, my resentment had more to do with being made a fool of. I wasn’t the kind of man who accepted being made a cuck. I expected as much loyalty and devotion as I put into the marriage. So, yeah, I was a bit bitter. I hadn’t spoken to Kristy since the day I walked out of the courtroom, breathing easier and feeling lighter than I had in months.

“Marlene,” I all but growled her name, making her stop in her tracks and staring up at me with wide eyes before she quickly masked her trepidation with her usual haughtiness. “What the fuck did you say to her?”

“Say to who, Detective Dick? Your little floozy? Is she the one you’ve been cheating on your wife with all this time? I always knew you were a dog, and now you’re finally showing the rest of the world.”

I grit my teeth. “That woman is innocent and doesn’t deserve your special brand of venom. She is helping me with a case, nothing more. I am tempted to arrest you for obstruction of justice, even if the charge gets thrown out. It might do you some good to sit your meddling ass in a jail cell.”

Marlene lifted her chin while her eyes flashed with hatred. I never knew what I had done to piss her off so thoroughly from the moment we’d met. There were times I wondered if she was jealous that I took Kristy away from her. The more Kristy and I spent together, the more resentful Marlene seemed to be towards me.

“I’ll let everyone know that their precious dick -tective is a low down dirty cheater who never loved his wife.”

I shook my head, honestly surprised that she’d only spread that exact story to their inner circle so far. There was no getting through to the woman; I would get more out of beating my head against a wall. “I mean it, Marlene. Stay away from Bridgette.”

“Logan?” The sound of the soft voice behind me had me clenching my fists in frustration. I should have just left instead of confronting Marlene. I knew Kristy had to be lingering somewhere nearby.

I slowly turned around and took in the delicate features of my ex-wife. There was no denying how beautiful she was. From the moment I saw her, I had been drawn in. She was brought up to be a southern belle: soft spoken, poised, classy. She was the type of woman who wore pearls to the grocery store, never a hair out of place in public. It took me too long to realize that it was all an act.

“We have nothing to say to each other.” I turned back to look at Marlene, wanting her to see the seriousness written on my expression. “If I find out that you looked up Bridgette and approached her for any reason, I will have her file charges of harassment against you. Stay away from her.”

Marlene crossed her arms and jutted out her hip. “You hear that, Kristy? He doesn’t want me to approach his little whore.”

There was no getting through to the woman. “And we are done here. Remember what I said, Marlene.”

As I tried to walk away, Kristy reached out and grabbed onto my arm. “Wait! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you, Logan. I?—”

“I know you have. I’ve been ignoring your calls and texts. If I wanted to hear what you have to say, I would have responded. So, unless you want to talk about Sam?” At her slow shake of the head, I nodded once. Ignoring the hurt that flashed in her eyes and the big fat tear that started to roll down one cheek, I pulled my arm away and walked to the door, not bothering to look back, not even when Marlene called me an asshole.

My jaw was aching from how hard I was grinding my molars by the time I climbed into the cab of my truck. I sat there for a long minute, letting the engine idle as I debated on heading straight to Bridgette’s shop, but I ended up changing my mind before I’d fully settled on the idea. Instead, I went home to my apartment with a slight detour. My place wasn’t far from the shop, but I would have driven past regardless, just to ensure Bridgette got home safely. As I paused at the curb in front of the red door, I could see gently glowing lights inside the shop, but looking up, there were lights on upstairs and a figure moving beyond the closed curtains. After letting out a relieved breath that Bridgette was home safe, I continued on my way.

As soon as I walked into my apartment, I tossed the keys on the kitchen counter and walked to the refrigerator. I pulled out a bottle of beer, and after pulling the top off and tossing it into the recycling can, I stood leaning against the sink and took a long pull from the bottle. I was still fuming inside after what had happened at the restaurant. Even though nearly all our conversation had centered on the case, we’d been having a pleasant evening until Marlene decided to interfere.

I sighed and looked around the small apartment. After the divorce, I was thankful that we hadn’t bought a house together yet. We had been planning on it and even searching, but Kristy hadn’t found the one she wanted. Then, after finding out about her infidelity, I kept putting off the search, knowing that there was no way I’d be able to stay with her after what she’d done. I glanced around the small and drab living space and wondered what kind of house Bridgette might be interested in.

Was I jumping the gun and believing in a future that was unlikely? I didn’t think so. There was something there, something that I hadn’t experienced when I met Kristy. When we’d first started dating, I thought she was beautiful and enjoyed her company, but I had never had the same gut feeling that I had been experiencing since walking into Bridgette’s shop. Since hearing her voice, before I even saw her, I had felt like I was hit with a sledgehammer to the sternum. My mother had taught me to believe in the Fates and to listen when they spoke to you. Well, I was listening.

Bridgette may have run from the situation, but I didn’t blame her for that. I still had no idea what exactly had been said to her, though I could easily guess. For her, leaving made sense. Standing there now, draining the last of my beer, I decided that I wasn’t going to let her put distance between us. I would give her the night, but I wasn’t going to let misunderstandings sit and fester.

I had already spent six years on a woman who was a mistake. I could admit that it was a shitty thing to say, but it was my reality. Kristy and I were never meant to be together. What we had wasn’t love. It had been lust at the beginning and companionship in the middle. After being cheated on, all I felt was bitterness. I wished her well, but I wanted nothing to do with her in my life any more.

I walked to my couch, swiping up the stack of case files I’d brought home with me from the station. After settling in, I picked up the remote and turned on the television, stopping on a movie I’d seen a dozen times before. Looking through the folders, I pulled the one from the other night to the top, wanting to go over the crime scene again, hoping to use some of the information Bridgette told me about ceremonies and rituals. I needed to get justice for the victim. I just needed to find a motive, a murder weapon, and a killer.