Page 27 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

“Hon, I’ve got a backhoe and about a thousand acres where no one will ever find a body.”Then lighter she said, “Hoping it never comes to needing it.”

Me too.

Plans clicked into place in my head, giving me a direction, even possibly hope.“I think it’s time for me to visit my cousin.”

ChapterTen

TIMOTHY

I drove awayfrom Sofia’s preschool after morning drop-off and didn’t slow until I hit the driveway five miles away.Deck’s place was a modest two-bedroom house in a newer development.

The back door was unlocked.It always was.

I let myself in without knocking.

The house was too quiet for a man who owed me answers.Why the hell wasn’t he up and getting off to the build site?

I walked straight to his bedroom and shoved the door open hard enough it cracked against the wall.

Deck jolted upright, eyes wild, hands already halfway up like he expected a fist.

Good instinct.

“Timothy.”His voice scraped dry.

I didn’t answer.Just stood there, arms loose at my sides, watching him.

He swallowed.Once.Twice.“I swear, we parted ways at the restaurant.I didn’t even shake her hand.Barely gave her an opening for a second date.”

I said nothing.

He dragged a hand down his face, already sweating.“Barely… I mean, I won’t.She’s got incredible curves and those lips would make any straight man think of…nothing.”He swallowed hard.“Thinking nothing.I met her at Finn’s Feed when I was grabbing a new Allen wrench set after I left mine at the site off Dixie Street.That’s it.That’s all it was.”His words tripped over each other.“I don’t know what you’ve got going with Gia, but?—”

My jaw shifted.Barely.Enough.

He saw it.

His voice dropped.“I swear, nothing happened.Nothingwillhappen.”

Silence stretched.Long enough to make him feel it.

Then I spoke, calm and flat.“Get out of bed.”

Deck blinked.“What?”

“I need you downtown at the strip mall build to oversee things.”I held his gaze.Didn’t raise my voice.Didn’t need to.“Now.”

He reached for his phone, squinting at the screen.“It’s eight fucking?—”

“Exactly.”I cut him off.I put the keys I got from him last night on his chest of drawers loud enough they made noise against the wood.“I need you to deal with it.”

“You said you’d do it.The contractor is a nightmare.They don’t want to give us space and are constantly questioning us.”

“I pay you enough to drag your ass out of bed before eight o’clock and deal with it.”I paused in the doorway, glancing back just once.“And Deck?”

He froze.

“If you thought therewassomething…” I let the rest hang there, unfinished.Didn’t need to say it.