Something Sparked-nook (16 page)

Evan nodded, but he wasn’t deterred from the topic at hand. “Anyway, we were just sitting there, having a piece of apple pie, when the subject turned to you.”

“Me?” Jeannette said. “Still? You would think people would be tired of rehashing the gory details of the fire.”

Evan shook his head. “It’s not the fire that has their tongues wagging. It’s your current living situation.”

“Oh.”

Luc grinned at her carefree tone. He suspected that just a month ago, Jeannette would have been mortified to be the topic of such conversation. Nowadays, she didn’t appear to give a shit.

Progress.

Evan studied her face and Luc could see that her nonchalance had taken her cousin by surprise, too. Regardless, he continued with his story. “Jasper said he’d thought you had taken back up with Billy.”

“Why would he think that?” Diego asked.

“Because he’d seen Roy’s old truck sitting outside your house a couple of days before the fire.”

“
What?
” Jeannette’s face paled right before their eyes. Diego reached out and grasped her hand.

“You weren’t home at the time, but Jasper just figured Billy was waiting for you to get off from work. Then Violet called to say she was in labor and he headed to San Antonio. I didn’t question him about the fire because I knew he’d been out of town that night. I should have questioned him.”

Luc could hear the guilt in Evan’s voice, but Jeannette was clearly too preoccupied by the information he’d just dropped. “He saw
Billy
sitting outside my house?”

Evan shook his head. “I asked him that. He said it was definitely Roy’s truck, but he never saw Billy’s face. Just the back of his head. But he was pretty sure it was Billy just the same.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she muttered. Despite her words, Luc wasn’t so certain Jeannette was convinced of that.

Diego looked at Jeannette. “Was it a bad breakup? Did the two of you fight?”

The happiness that Luc had seen in her face only moments before had completely vanished and Jeannette’s walls reappeared. She was an expert at building those fucking things.

“No. He just moved away.”

Luc didn’t need to glance at Diego to know his friend didn’t believe that any more than he did. There was something in Jeannette’s tone that told him whatever it was she was hiding from them, it had to do with Billy.

“I went around to Roy’s house last night,” Evan said.

Jeannette looked genuinely dismayed. “What? Why?”

Evan’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean
why
? To question Billy. He’s a suspect now.”

Luc couldn’t look away from Jeannette as she assimilated that fact. He hated always feeling in the dark with her. He was head over heels in love with the woman. Couldn’t she see that?

“What did he say?” Jeannette’s voice, like her face, had gone blank. She was a master at hiding her emotions.

“He wasn’t there. Apparently his mother took a tumble down a couple of stairs and broke her foot. He’s been in Oklahoma with her for a couple weeks.”

“Roy tell you that?” Diego asked.

Evan shook his head. “No. Scott did. He stuck around to take care of Roy, while Billy went to care for their mom.”

“Poor Roy,” Jeannette muttered.

Evan shrugged. “Scott’s actually not such a bad guy when he’s sober, which he was last night. He was pretty helpful and obviously worried about his uncle. But damn if he isn’t one mean-ass drunk.”

“Did you take a look at Roy’s truck?” Luc asked.

“No,” Evan said. “Billy drove it to Oklahoma.”

Diego stood, suddenly angry. “So if there was any evidence in the thing, he’s had plenty of time to get rid of it.”

Luc agreed. “Timeline on this fits, Evan.”

“Yeah, I know.” Luc was relieved to see Evan was on the same page they were.

“Timeline?” Jeannette asked.

“The fires started after Billy came back to town. And there haven’t been any more since your house because he’s been in Oklahoma. Did you take a look at the guy’s criminal record?” Luc asked Evan.

Evan grimaced. “I’ve got a call into the state police. The ancient computer at the station finally gave up the fight to live a few days ago. Replacement doesn’t come in until the day after tomorrow.”

Luc never ceased to be amazed by the difference between big-city law enforcement and this small-town, Andy-Griffith style. He didn’t know how Evan managed to do such good work with such limited resources.

Diego walked over to the window, his fingers tapping out an angry rhythm against the glass. “You realize that ‘mom falling’ thing could be a lie and Billy skipped town.”

Evan sank down on the couch with a long sigh. “I know, but I don’t have enough evidence to justify putting out an APB on him.”

“So we just have to sit here and hope that he comes back?” Luc asked hotly.

Evan nodded, defeat rife on his face. “Yeah.”

The conversation died. Luc glanced over at Jeannette, who’d gone quiet. His heart ached at the desolation in her eyes. Luc longed for some way to put the happiness he’d just seen back on her face.

Tyson was the first to break the silence. “I think you guys are missing the point. You’ve spent two weeks looking for a lead and coming up empty. Today, you’ve got a place to start, something to dig your teeth into. Wait for the police report, Evan. Maybe there will be something in there that will help. Not all hope is lost, you know.”

Luc appreciated Tyson’s pep talk. Luc had always considered himself a glass-half-full guy, but he’d let his frustration get the better of him. Time to—like Tyson said—start focusing on the positive.

Jeannette was here with them and even though things were still touch-and-go, Luc felt like it was more touch than go. It gave him hope.

“You’re right, Tyson,” Luc said, when none of the others in the room reacted. “We’re going to catch the asshole. We’re the good guys, the Avengers. They always win in the end.”

Luc was delighted when his joke put a grin back on Jeannette’s face. “The Avengers, huh? Think pretty highly of yourself, don’t you?”

Tyson laughed. “If we’re the Avengers, I get to be Tony Stark. Iron Man is damn cool.”

Evan rolled his eyes. “In what world are you Iron Man? If anybody is Iron Man, it’s me. Tell him, Jeannette.”

Jeannette laughed. “Don’t look at me. I’m the only girl in the room, which means I’m stuck with Black Widow.”

Luc watched the three cousins continue to fight over which superheroes they wanted to be for a few minutes.

“God,” Jeannette said at last. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. I seem to recall the two of you waging similar battles when we were kids. Back then it was a fight over who got to be Han Solo and who was stuck with Luke Skywalker.”

Luc tried to imagine what it would have been like to grow up in the Sparks family. He’d been the only child of a workaholic mother. He’d been a latchkey kid from the time he was eight, which he was pretty sure had been illegal. How cool would it have been to have a whole gang of siblings and cousins to play with?

“Come on, Ty,” Evan said at last. “I want to get back to the office to see if the state police have returned my call.”

Tyson moved toward the front door with his cousin. “I’ll see you guys soon.” Then he gave Jeannette a quick wink and the two of them left.

As soon as the door closed, Diego turned to Jeannette. “What happened between you and Billy?”

Luc closed his eyes and sighed. His best friend had a bad habit of going for the jugular. While the rest of them had managed to shake off their concerns for a moment, Diego clearly had not.

Jeannette bit her lower lip. “I told you.” The answer was succinct and drowning in stubbornness.

Before Diego made things even worse, Luc decided to call a time-out. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work soon, Jeannette?”

Jeannette glanced at the clock and gasped. “Shit. Yeah. I was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago.” She dashed down the hallway to dress. She hadn’t been out of their line of sight more than two seconds before Diego turned on him.

“What the fuck was that?”

Luc raised his hand. “You’re going to have to give her some time to take in everything we just found out.”

“You know as well as I do she’s hiding something from us. Hell, from everybody.”

Luc ran his hand through his hair, and then rubbed a palm over his stubbly face. “Yeah. I do. And I also know she’s not ready to talk about it. You’re gonna have to let her come to us on her own, D. You can’t bully her into telling you a damn thing. You keep pushing her on this and you’re going to push her away.”

“So I’m just supposed to pretend that nothing’s wrong?”

Luc nodded. “For now. I think that’s exactly what we have to do.”

Diego started to say something more, but Jeannette reappeared, dressed in her Sparks BBQ t-shirt and a tight pair of jeans that triggered a slew of dirty fantasies in Luc’s mind.

She could tell they’d been fighting. “Listen,” she started, “I know we still have a lot of things to talk about, but—”

Luc cut her off. “Not now, Jeannette. You’re late for work. We’ve got lots of time to figure this all out. Weeks, months, years.”

She grinned. “Years?”

There wasn’t a drop of fear in her voice. It made Luc feel like a million bucks.

“Years,” Diego replied, obviously as pleased as he was. Diego walked over to Jeannette, cupped her face and kissed her. “Sorry,” he mumbled against her lips.

“Me too,” she whispered.

Diego’s hands dropped to her upper arms. “What’s this?”

Luc watched him lift the sleeve of her shirt to reveal the Band-Aid.

“SpongeBob?” Luc asked with a chuckle.

At the same time Diego said, “Did you hurt yourself?”

Jeannette flushed. Luc was addicted to her innocent blushes. Sometimes the devil in him had him saying naughty things just to provoke that pretty color.

“Tyson gave me a shot.” Her answer was vague at best.

“What kind of shot?” Diego asked.

She looked down, clearly embarrassed. “Birth control.”

Luc’s cock went from limp noodle to steel rod in two-point-seven seconds. “Oh, hell yeah.”

She laughed. “You guys are incorrigible. And I’m really late for work.” She offered them both a quick kiss on the cheek before darting out the door.

It wasn’t until they heard her start the old car her Uncle Ronnie had loaned her, since hers had burned in the fire, that they realized they let her go without them.

“Shit. We usually drive her,” Luc muttered.

Diego nodded. “I know. But it’s not all that easy to walk with a boner the size of the Washington Monument in your pants.”

Luc grimaced. “I feel your pain, brother. I
really
feel it.”

Jeannette ran a comb through her hair as she padded down the hallway to the bedroom she currently shared with Diego and Luc. It was funny how little time it had taken for this house to feel like her home. Diego had cleared out half of the closet and most of the drawers, making sure she had plenty of room for all her new things. Luc and Diego had emptied an entire shelf in the bathroom closet and bought a shower caddy to hold her shampoo and body wash. They’d made room on the desk for her new laptop and given her free rein to reorganize the whole kitchen to her liking.

And Penny had the run of the place. Sometimes Jeannette felt as if her cat had deserted her in favor of the guys. The shameless hussy was always rubbing against their legs, begging for treats, and it wasn’t unusual for Jeannette to find Penny purring on either Luc’s or Diego’s lap as they watched hockey on TV.

She’d only gotten home from the restaurant an hour earlier. The place had been ridiculously busy after a tour bus had come through, so they’d been packed with tourists
and
regulars. Luc had taken one look at her tired face and run her a hot bath as Diego poured her a glass of wine.

A girl could get used to that kind of pampering.

Upon entering the bedroom, she found both guys in bed, her spot in the middle just waiting for her. Diego was reading a book, while Luc was playing some game on his phone. Both nighttime rituals were pretty standard.

“Feel better?” Luc asked.

“Yeah. Just tired. It was a long day.” She’d anticipated Diego immediately bringing up the subject she had managed to dodge, so she was surprised when he simply pulled back the covers and patted the mattress.

“We kept your spot warm.”

She grinned as she took off her robe and placed her glasses on the nightstand. Then, before she could talk herself out of it, she stripped off her pajamas as well. Her actions weren’t lost on either man.

Last night was the first time they’d seen each other completely naked. The door had been opened and Jeannette couldn’t see any reason to close it again. She wanted to lay next to them with nothing between them.

No clothing. No secrets.

Both men were watching as she crawled onto the bed. No one bothered to pull up the quilt. Instead, they kept their view of her body unconcealed.

Luc and Diego wasted no time in shifting closer. Luc gave her a soft kiss that soon turned into a scorcher. His hand drifted along her waist, caressing her sensitive skin.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Diego watching them. He’d propped himself up on his side, ensuring he saw everything.

Every now and then, the slightest trace of unease crept in, but Jeannette pushed it down. She wanted this. She had to find a way.

When Luc’s hand brushed her pussy, she gasped and forced herself to hold still. She felt both men studying her reactions. She worked overtime to keep her face impassive.

Luc continued to kiss her, to stroke her body. There were very few places he didn’t touch as Diego simply observed.

Then, Diego reached for her. As she twisted to face her other lover, Luc snuggled closer to her back, his hand wrapping around her to grip her breast as he kissed the nape of her neck.

She sucked in a calming breath as she tried to accept his closeness, hoping Luc couldn’t feel her tensing up.

Diego was still looking at her, but she had her poker face firmly in place.