3 Men and a Body by Stephanie Bond Read Free Book Online Page B

the guy had dumped his sister
    shortly after their parents had left town. But he
    remembered how Carlotta had cried herself to sleep
    holding Peter’s picture, how the man’s absence seemed to
    affect her more than the absence of their parents.
    Probably because, like Wesley, she had expected their
    parents to return any day. Peter, on the other hand, had
    apparently made it clear he wasn’t coming back.
    Carlotta had been devastated, and Wesley knew she
    blamed their folks for Peter breaking the engagement.
    She’d said he hadn’t wanted his family name intertwined
    with theirs, tainted from their father’s behavior. As Wesley
    had grown older, though, he’d blamed himself for Peter
    leaving. It seemed obvious that the man hadn’t wanted to
    be saddled with a kid.
    But since Peter’s wife had died, he’d certainly been trying
    to make up for his past behavior, coming around and
    acting protective of Carlotta. When Wesley started to feel
    bad about taking advantage of Peter’s guilt, he told
    himself that he was doing the man a favor, giving him a
    chance to get back into the Wrens’ good graces. Peter had
    agreed not to tel Carlotta about the incident at The
    Carver’s warehouse—or the money that had changed
    hands—and for that, Wesley was grateful.
    He must have been one hel of a mess judging from the
    expression on Peter’s face when he’d picked Wesley up at
    the prescribed badass corner after Mouse had counted the
    cash with his thick fingers. Ashford hadn’t said, but he was
    probably glad he’d driven his luxury SUV instead of his
    Porsche to shuttle Wesley and his bike home. Stil , it was
    going to be hard to get bloodstains out of leather
    upholstery.
    To his credit, the man had asked only if Wesley wanted to
    go to the hospital, holding his tongue about what had
    transpired until after Wesley had showered and eaten a
    pizza that Peter had ordered. Then, while he cleaned the
    wound on Wesley’s arm and wrapped it with a bandage,
    he’d extracted the story one wel -placed question at a
    time.
    The guy should’ve been a lawyer, Wesley thought wryly.
    He wheeled into the parking lot of the building that
    housed the probation office to which he’d been assigned
    after his arrest for breaking into the courthouse computer.
    Once a week he checked in with E. Jones, his surprisingly
    hot probation officer, who cut him zero slack. His pulse
    picked up just at the thought of seeing E. In those dark
    moments when it looked as if he might not get out of that
    dingy, windowless room alive, he’d imagined E.’s smile and
    the way her red hair fel over her shoulders. She was way
    out of his league, but he could dream.
    He locked up his bike and slung his backpack over his
    shoulder with his good arm. His cel phone rang. Both the
    movement of retrieving it and the name on the display
    made him wince—Liz Fischer. He connected the cal . “This
    is Wes.”
    “Wes,” she crooned. “It’s Liz.”
    “Yeah, what’s up?”
    “I was just calling to see if you were okay. After your
    phone call yesterday, I was worried.”
    Right. “I’m fine.”
    “I hope you understand why I couldn’t get involved, Wes.”
    “I do.”
    “Good. But I’d like to make it up to you.”
    His eyebrows shot up. “What did you have in mind?”
    “Come over tonight.”
    His cock twitched. There was no denying the woman was a
    looker, and great in the sack. But he wasn’t sure he could
    trust her.
    Of course, she had no reason to trust him, either. He had
    ransacked her files on his father’s case in her guesthouse,
    the place where she stored her archives, as well as
    “entertained.”
    “Maybe,” he said. “I’l let you know.”
    “Don’t take too long,” she said, then hung up.
    He put away the phone and walked into the building,
    thinking he could do worse for evening entertainment. But
    he’d been planning to cook a nice dinner for Carlotta,
    considering she’d been so worried about him, and that