Checkered Thief (A Laurel London Mystery Book 3) (3 page)

There was no happier feeling than seeing my guy high school best friend. We had grown up in the orphanage together and we were thick as thieves. We didn’t have any secrets from each other and we knew each other inside and out.

“Where are your glasses?” The air was smacked out of me when I looked into his brown eyes. He was getting cuter and cuter by the minute. His brown hair was even styled with a bit of hair gel. He had on a teal collared shirt that was neatly tucked into a pair of khaki shorts, making him way more stylish than his normal jeans and tee look. I grabbed his chin with my fingers. “And you shaved.” I grinned noting his normal five o’clock shadow was not there and it was well past five o’clock.

“Laurel,” he stepped to the side letting the little brunette bombshell next to him be seen. “This is Brittany. Brittany this is Laurel. You already know Gia, Adam, Alex, and Gia’s husband Carmine.” His beer bottle was snugged in his hand as he pointed to each member of the bowling team.

Adam, Alex, and Carmine stumbled over themselves to greet the five-foot-four bouncy package. Not only did her long hair cascade perfectly down, but her long eyelashes batted and she flashed a perfectly straight-toothed smile.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She curled both arms around Derek’s arm, clasping them together and squeezing her body to his bicep.

“Finally?” I questioned the length of that word. “As in how long?”

“A month ago, this handsome devil asked me out, so we are celebrating our month anniversary.” She curled up on her cute pink painted toes and gingerly gave him a kiss, leaving a faint pink stained lip tattoo on Derek’s chiseled jaw.

“A month?” My mouth fell. I was as confused as a cow on AstroTurf.

“Laurel, come help me with some more beer.” Gia grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the bar.

“A month!” I yelled over the rolling balls and crashing pins. “A month?”

Clearly Derek had taken me off guard. There wasn’t one day that we didn’t go without talking. Maybe we didn’t see each other every day, but we talked.

“You knew about this?” I tapped my finger on the bar and looked at Gia. She rolled her head completely opposite of my direction, avoiding my question. “Gia Chiconi Picerilli! Have you been hiding this from me?”

She faced me, lines creased on her forehead as her mouth spread across her face when she grimaced and gritted her teeth. “I was afraid of this reaction.” Her hand waved up and down my person. “I knew you would flip.”

“Flip? I am going to do more than flip!” I smacked my hand on the counter.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” Bud growled.

“Oh, don’t mind, Laurel.” Gia’s head gave a swift nod my way. “She just found out about Brittany.”

“Nice gal,” Bud confirmed and went back to the beer tap, filling up the lined-up frosty mugs.

“Am I the
last
to know?” I jerked back very offended by how my friends had covered this information up.

“We weren’t sure how you would take it since you are like Derek’s sister slash best friend slash first love.” Gia’s face scrunched as if her words caused her pain.

“Sister. Yes. Best friend? Obviously not. First love? Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “First love?” My head twisted.

“You and I both know that Derek Smitherman has had the hots for you since the last time you went skinny dipping.” Gia was right.

Derek and I were thick as thieves. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. We spent a lot of lazy summer days down on the river skinny-dipping until one day we stripped down and noticed we had different parts. After that, our relationship sort of changed. I could tell he was a little infatuated with me and he was a hunk that all the ladies went crazy over. I had never worried about them because I knew he wasn’t interested. But Derek and I had a big secret. No one but us knew it and if he was dating someone, he should’ve told me out of respect of the secret and respect for our relationship.

“But,” I swallowed. My insides ached with an unknown pain. “He’s my Derek. Derek and Laurel, not Derek and
Brittany
,” I groaned and stuck my forehead on the bar.

“What can I get ya?” Bud asked in a rush. He wiped the dirty rag on the bar in front of me, swiping my forehead. “Sorry.” He apologized when I lifted my head and glared at him.

“Four finger bourbon straight up.” My brow cocked. I dared him to question my drink.

“Laurel.” Gia’s mouth dropped. “You know you don’t handle a two finger pour, much less a four finger. Stick with beer.”

I wiggled four fingers in the air. “And keep ‘em coming.” I looked over at Brittany and Derek.

Brittany had a big grin on her face, flinging her head side to side before she snuggled up to Derek’s neck, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He looked down at her. Their eyes clung to each other. She looked at him with dreamy eyes, sending a vomit feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Look at her,” I griped. “Her pants are so tight, I can see her religion.”

“Are you kidding me?” Gia shook her head and grabbed the bucket of beers Bud stuck in front of her. “You are dating Jax.”

I shrugged.

I was dating Jax and he was staying with me while he looked for a place, but Derek was still my best guy friend and he had kept something from me. The first something he had ever kept from me. And for a month!

Bud slid the glass in front of me. I grabbed it, lifted it to my lips, and flung my head back, letting the smooth bourbon slide down my throat.

“Give me another one.” I slammed the glass on the counter, making Gia stomp off in a huff.

After another refill, I made my way back over to the group just in time to watch Brittany bowl.

“Yay,” I whispered, mocking Brittany when she jumped around in the air after her turn to bowl.

“What’s wrong with you?” Alex asked, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

“She knocked down one pin. One.” I help up one finger. “And everyone cheers for her?” I scoffed.

“Your turn!” Brittany came over with my ball in her hands. “I hear you are the cranker.”

It was bad enough she had my best friend’s attention, but she was using my ball. She even had on my extra Here For The Beer bowling shirt.

“Yeah. I’m the best.” A little water fountain of spit shot out of my mouth and onto her face. She didn’t miss a beat. She just brushed it away. “Oops.” A hiccup escaped when I giggled and then grabbed my ball from her.

The bourbon was getting to me and I did everything I could to keep it together as I took the ball from her and moseyed up to the lane. I held the ball up to my face and peered over the top. My head teetered forward and backward. I tried to keep it steady and focus on the one pin, but it swayed side to side.

I giggled, bringing my arm back and swinging it forward. I stumbled to the right and tried to focus on the ball I had flung.

“Whereditog?” My words blurred when I realized the ball was no longer attached to my fingers.

“OHMYGOD!” The scream behind me pierced my ears.

With one eye closed, so to better focus, I twirled around. Brittany was bouncing around on her left foot and cradling her right foot in her hand. My bowling ball rested on the floor next to her.

“Shit,” I giggled, realizing I had flung the ball backward into my team instead of down the lane.

A collective gasp came from the other side of the lane where the Holy Rollers stood tongue-tied watching me.

“What?” My raucous laughter filled the suddenly quiet bowling alley.

“What the hell, Laurel?” Derek’s eyes zeroed in on me in disgust. He rushed to Brittany, picked her up in his arms and carried her to the seat.

“What?” I gushed. I tried; I really did try to not smile, but the more I tried, the bigger my lips turned up. “It’s the al-ci-hol,” I said through a hiccup.

Gia ran over and grabbed my hand, dragging me to the bathroom. She flung me in the door as soon as she opened it. I tumbled in, catching myself on the wall.

“You are nuts. Do you know that?” Gia poked me with her finger.

“Ooouch! That hurts. Those are like daggers.” I grabbed her fingers and pointed to the long nails. “Do you think you could stab
Brittany
in her pretty little eyes with those?”

“You are going to go out there and apologize to her. Do you understand?” Gia was all up in my face.

“I didn’t mean to. I was bowling my turn.” My head tipped right as my right shoulder shrugged.

“You are going to go out there and apologize. Do you understand?”

“Didn’t you just tell me that?” I asked and smiled. “Brittany, precious Brittany. I couldn’t have planned something like that.” I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to pee my pants.

Gia even let out a giggle.

“See.” I stuck my finger in her face. “You thought it was funny.”

“No, it’s not. Your ball flew through the air and landed square on her foot.” Gia face was softening a little bit. “And the issue is that you didn’t apologize. You laughed.”

I broke out into a fit of giggles. This was definitely not like me. If I ever hurt someone, I would have immediately rushed over and helped them.

“It’s the booze.” I jabbed my face and sucked in a quick breath. “Oh no.” The room started to spin, a belch traveled up my esophagus, and I opened my mouth to let it out, only all the booze came out with it.

“Oh my, God.” Gia jumped back, out of the way of my puke. “Get in the stall!”

I barely made it in time for the next go around. I heard the door of the bathroom open and close between my heaves, and then it opened again with the click of more than Gia’s feet.

“Honey?” Sheila asked. “Are you okay?”

I heaved again. “Does it sound like I’m okay?” I knew my words came out so ungrateful and awful. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sick. I think it was the casino buffet I had with Trixie.”

“No honey, it’s the little brunette bombshell in Derek’s arms.”

“Here.” The lights clicked on and Trixie’s voice rang in my ear like a big gong. “Hair of the dog.”

She shoved something under my nose. I tried to open my eyes, but the light seared my retinas. My head beat like a satanic drum.

I opened my mouth to speak, but it felt like I had a mouth full of sand and some sort of tacky film was on my teeth. Even my intestines were churning with something putrid.

“Take it. Drink it.” Trixie took my hand, opened it, and stuck something cold in it. “It’s a Bloody Mary. It will help you. You have a visitor.”

“Who?” The word was barely recognizable coming out of my mouth.

“Brittany. The girl you almost took out last night.” Trixie’s feet shuffled toward the door and stopped.

“Shit.” I jumped up, spilling a little of the drink. Suddenly I was as scared as a cat in a dog pound. “Tell her I can’t see her right now.”

“Nope. From what I heard, you were meaner than a room full of rattlesnakes to that girl and you are going to make this up to Derek. Got it?” Trixie didn’t bother to wait for an answer. She shut the door behind her. Thankfully it was quiet.

“What are you looking at?” I asked Henrietta, my stray cat. Her grey body was curled up at the end of my feet. She stared at me. “You only remind me of Derek.”

Not amused. She got up, put her paws in front of her and stretched out with a big yawn to accompany it. One night while Derek, Gia, and I were being typical teenagers drinking beer down on the banks of the river, we found Henrietta. I snuck her into the orphanage, even though Trixie had a no pet rule. I thought I was being sneaky, but never figured Henrietta would meow all night long. Trixie let me keep her after I begged, but Henrietta was my responsibility. She has been my loyal companion since.

There was no way I was going to escape seeing Brittany. I would quickly apologize for my behavior and end this just like everyone wanted me to. Play by the rules, only I wasn’t meant to do that. Coloring inside the lines was not my thing.

I dragged myself out of the bed, realizing I still had on the same clothes from last night. There was something written on my arm in black marker, but it was smeared and unreadable. Jax’s side of the bed didn’t look like it had been touched. I schlepped into the bathroom and his towel was not hanging on his hook on the wall like it always was.

“Crap,” I muttered, realizing Jax didn’t come here last night. I sat there for a minute, trying to drink some of the Bloody Mary and gather my wits about me.

I could only imagine what he had heard about my behavior. Walnut Grove was small and everyone at the bowling alley got a good look at me. I tried to remember what happened after I threw up, but it was all black to me. I didn’t remember how I got home.

Going to see Jax would be the next stop after I got Brittany out of here. But I wasn’t going to see her without a quick shower. I peeled off my clothes and got a good whiff of the stink from drinking too much bourbon and then wearing it. I slid open the shower doors and turned the water on full blast. I even got in and stood under the cold water, letting it bring goose bumps all over my body until the water warmed to hot. I adjusted the knobs, making the water just the right temperature.

I washed away all the stink and the black marker off my arm, brushed my teeth, and quickly dressed in a little blue sundress and a pair of flats. The dress was perfect because it didn’t fit snug to my body and my stomach wasn’t going to be able to take anything touching it today.

My face was tan from the great summer weather we were having, so minimal makeup was needed for my olive complexion. My grey eyes stared back at me from the mirror as I brushed my wet hair out. I was mad at myself for acting so stupid.

I glided my lip gloss over my lips and decided to let my hair air dry before I made it downstairs and into the kitchen where the smell of fresh coffee made my head feel a little better.

“Where is she?” I asked Trixie who was sitting at the table watching the SyFy channel on the small TV on the kitchen counter. I grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and filled it to the brim with coffee.

“She’s outside on the porch with a cup of coffee.” Trixie didn’t move from watching the TV. She wasn’t about to give me a pass on my behavior.