Free DeadlySuspicious.epub by Amarinda Jones Page A

minute she needed it whether she asked or not. Equality was important but bullying was wrong.
    “Seems like you got no man or manners.”
    “Neither do you, face ache,” Denby replied coolly.
    “Tough little thing ain’t ya?”
    She put her hands on hers hips. “I could kick your ass.”
    “Wanna try?” The third man stepped right in front of her. He was enormous in height and girth.
    So much so Denby had to lean back to look him in the eye.
    “Oh yeah. And, by the way you smell like a three day old corpse, Stinky.”
    Sirius knew it was time to step in. He had a feeling ‘Stinky’ was about to pound her into the ground. “Do we have a problem here gentlemen?” He used the term very loosely.
    They all turned their head at once towards him. That wasn’t unusual. Bullies never acted singularly. “She yours?”
    “ She belongs to herself,” Sirius told them coming to a stop beside Denby. He almost felt the relief from her body wash over his.
    “So she’s free to take?” Stinky growled at him.
    Denby was correct. He was putrid. “She will indeed kick your ass if you try.”

    “You scared of her?”
    He looked from Denby to the men and back again. He saw the approval in her eyes. That made him feel good and he hadn’t felt that emotion for a long time. “Terrified.”
    Denby smiled at Sirius then at the men. “Excuse me.” They all stepped aside, grumbling, but still allowing her to pass.
    Sirius was leaning on the side of the building waiting for her to return from the restroom, as were the men. “Ready?” he asked as she approached him.
    Stinky stepped forward. “We think you both need to be taught a lesson.”
    Sirius reached into his back waistband and pulled out a handgun. “Touch her and you'll die.”
    Denby smiled widely at the three men. “Run along, boys.”
    “Bitch,” Stinky spat out.
    “He’s pussy-whipped,” muttered the one with the beer gut, shuffling away from the Sirius and the gun.
    Sirius watched them go. A gun was not something he would normally have. But these were not normal times and Denby wasn’t a normal woman. “You always get in trouble like that?”
    She shrugged. “Pretty much. Where’d you get the gun?”
    “It came with the car. Call it a two for one deal.” He had found it in the glove box. “Figured I might need it.”
    Denby nodded. “Good call.” They were quiet as they walked back to the car.
    “What?” Sirius could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
    “Do you still love her?”
    “Penny?”
    Denby arched one brow and looked less than impressed. “Is that her name?”
    “Yes.” Did it matter to Denby? Sirius hoped it did because it would mean all feeling for him wasn’t gone.
    “Do you love her?”
    “I only love one person.”
    “And she’s named after a coin apparently,” Denby muttered as she got into the car.
    Sirius smiled and said nothing. Oh yeah, Denby Dumaresq still loves me.

Chapter Eight
    “Is she still with Sirius Tate?” Joseph Armstrong, known to those who followed his cause as Jacobson, looked at one of his grey suited minions. He liked that they all looked the same. As individuals they meant nothing to him. As a collective mass who obeyed his every demand?
    Priceless. That the bastard son of Jacob Armstrong and his teenage whore of a mother had risen to such mighty heights? Justice.
    “Yes,” the man answered, his eyes, watchful with a trace of fear in them as he spoke to his leader. “Tate’s a deserter to the cause.”
    Simpleton . As much as it would suit his own purposes, nothing was ever black or white. Shades of gray were always present, disrupting plans. “Is he?” Jacobson decided to play with the man’s mind for a while. Placing doubt in the minds of the ardent, true believers was enjoyable to him. As a young boy he liked pulling the wings off flies. His followers were akin to that.
    The man looked confused. “What are you saying?”
    Whatever the hell I like . “Not everyone wears a gray suit