She shook her head. “I don’t get that, Deke.”
Deke tried to explain it. “First, Decker, and my guess is the cops he called in, do not think Bianca killed Caswell. The hit appears professional.”
Her eyes got huge again and her voice got loud when she shouted, “What?”
“Deck’s speculating a lot but he’s also still lookin’ into things. He’s coming back tomorrow and he’ll let us know what he finds out. But in the meantime, it seems your girl cleaned herself up and seems to be gettin’ on okay.”
“Except some hitman killed someone in her apartment,” Jussy stated.
“Yeah, except that,” Deke grunted.
“Was she there?”
“They don’t know but folks saw her go in, another guy go in too, that guy was a put-together, good-lookin’ black man. She knew him. They seemed tight. No one saw either of them leave or Caswell go in. Decker found Caswell early this morning. Bianca and the other guy were gone.”
“So what does all this mean? She had someone kill Caswell for her?” she asked.
“It means we don’t know what it means until Decker finds out so we should just get on with what we’re doin’ and wait until we got solid information. Not make guesses and get tweaked about shit we don’t know we should tweak about.”
She moved and did it to pull her phone out of the fringed bag hanging from a strap that crossed her body over one of the few pieces of clothing she owned he really fucking liked.
It was like the dress she’d worn when he first saw her again, walking into Bubba’s.
This one was long, down to her ankles, sleeves that went down to her mid-forearms that were flowy, the dress brown with a pattern of little cream flowers on it. The waist was belted under her tits with a narrow belt made of Native American beading.
That was all okay.
The part Deke liked a fuckuva lot was that the front was cut all the way down to that belt. The rest of her was covered, except her wrists, and that slash, exposing chest and the inside swells of her gorgeous tits that were not restrained with a bra.
Total gypsy princess.
With all that hair down, tangled and messy from sleep and sex, in that dress, she looked fucking amazing.
So amazing, he got caught in taking it in and almost didn’t catch the fact she was making a call.
But he caught it and saw who she was calling on the screen.
He pulled her phone out of her hand and disengaged it.
Her head snapped back.
“What are you doing?” she rapped out.
“You aren’t calling your girl,” he told her.
She got close, up on her toes, and hissed, “Deke, the dude that strangled me was killed by an assassin in my best friend’s pad.” She rocked back. “Of course I’m gonna call her.”
“Baby, the asshat that strangled you was killed in your best friend’s apartment and you are not gonna make a call a few hours after a crime was committed that it’s possible that best friend witnessed.”
“The cops have got to know that this Caswell—”
“They know. Decker told them. That doesn’t mean you’re phoning Bianca,” he returned. “Let Decker see if he can find out what’s happening with her and—”
“She’s my best friend, Deke, and I’m worried about her,” she snapped.
“She’s your best friend, gypsy,” he said gently. “And it might be she’s consorting with hitmen, it appears she’s bein’ kept and there is a lot of conjecture surrounding what went down in her apartment after what went down with you. Decker says this smacks of payback. What was bein’ paid back was what happened to you. You were the one assaulted and you are a woman of means. Do not call your girl. You don’t need ties to her at all except the ones you already got. Are you following me?”
She glared at him and took her time doing it.
Then she jerked her eyes angrily away and looked down the sidewalk, taking her time with that too.
Finally, her shoulders slumped, her head dropped, she muttered, “Fuck,” and fell, the top of her head hitting his chest.
His hand still at the back of her neck squeezed.
Jussy.
She was following him.
“I need coffee,” she told his chest.
Deke found her hand, gave her back her phone, dug out his keys and gave her those too. “Go get in my truck. Call Thurston with this news, set his mind at ease. I’ll get you what you need.”
She slid her head around until her cheek was pressed to his chest, whispering, “You always do.”
Damn, that felt good.
She pressed close a second then pulled away.
Deke let her go.
Jussy looked up at him. “I need a double shot in whatever Shambles makes me,” she announced. “I never tell him what I want. I let him rock my world. Though this time, he’s gonna do it with a double shot.”
“Gotcha,” he replied.
“And a double dose of whatever he puts in a white bag.”
Deke grinned at his gypsy. “Got that too.”
She looked up into his eyes, hers melting warm. “Thanks, honey.”
“Be back in a sec, Justice.”
She nodded, turned and moved back up the sidewalk where Deke’s truck was parked outside the convenience store.
He watched until she was safe inside his truck.
Only then did he turn and walk down to La-La Land to get his girl her coffee.
* * * * *
Jussy scored her nails down his stomach while he was shooting up inside her and that made his hips jerk, his cock throb, and he shot more like she’d cupped his balls and squeezed.