coffee table.
âBeen sippinâ something already, huh?â
He took a swig of beer, swished the suds around in his mouth, and finished with an âAh.â I suppressed a laugh. Laughton took another swig, then sat on the coffee table facing me, knee-distance away.
âLook, M. I donât think your accident was an accident,â he said abruptly, ignoring my question about drinking.
âWhat do you mean? Why would you say that?â
âTrust me on this.â
âNow I have a problem, Laughton. Youâve been dodging me, working on things by yourself, holding back informationâand that was all before my accident. Besides, the car came from Calvinâs side. If someone wanted to hurt me, they would have struck my side or head-on.â He did not respond. âMaybe someone was trying to kill Calvin,â I thought out loud.
âNothing is the way you think. Whatâs happening behind the scenes is stuff you donât know about, that you donât need to get involved in.â
âI donât need to know? Iâm your partner, for chrissakes. Youâre telling me the accident was not an accident at all, but that someone tried to kill me or Calvin or both of us, and I donât need to be involved?â
âI want you to watch your back until I figure this out.â He took another long swig of beer and set the bottle on the coffee table, then moved to the couch, next to me. âCalvinâs still in a coma. Go to Boston like you planned. I promise when you get back, things will be straight.â He raised his hand and moved a strand of hair from my face to behind my ear.
I couldnât believe a tingle surged through me.
â Hm, hm, hm . You are a beautiful woman.â
A moment of silence, Laughtonâs arms around me, his hand on my leg, old ass embers trying to burn my butt. My leg twitched. This was not happening. No way.
I broke his hold, cleared my throat, and said, âWhatâs happening in the Taylor case?â I regained my upright composure, grabbed the closest thing to me, his bottle of beer, and drank. The beer went down wrong and came up through my nose, choking me. Laughton bolted to the kitchen and returned with a towel. Repositioned and wiping spilled beer from my lap, I continued, âI mean, Cap confirmed Marcy Taylor was murdered. He also said Wadeâs execution pointed to a drug deal gone bad. Any leads there?â
âNot yet. The gun found at the scene didnât kill him.â
Travis and Kenyetta came in as Laughton finished his sentence. He jumped up and hunkered over to Travis like a sumo wrestler going for the kill. I braced myself as Kenyetta bounded over to me like a puppy excited to see her master. This time she gracefully swooped down on me and kissed my cheek. I had no idea why the child thought she had to kiss me every time she came in the house.
âWhatâs going on with you, young man?â Laughton said, jabbing Travis in his gut. Travis countered with an uppercut to Laughtonâs jaw.
âDoinâ good, Unc,â Travis said.
Unc, short for âuncle,â was what Travis had always called Laughton.
Laughton grabbed Travisâs head and pushed down to connect it with his uplifted knee.
âGettinâ ready to bounce, headinâ to the Big Apple for the weekend.â Travis grabbed Laughton around the knees and lifted him off the ground.
âDamn, boy.â Travis set him down and Laughton swatted his head. Laughter filled the room. âI guess youâre grown enough to make the Big Apple.â
Travis came to the couch and kissed me, cuing Kenyetta to make a move downstairs.
âBetter keep this lovely young lady close,â Laughton said, then crouched and made a move toward Kenyetta. She giggled and slid in behind Travis, who pulled her to his side and blocked Laughtonâs access.
âNot to worry, babe. I wonât let this dirty olâ man
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