A Vonnie Vines Mystery

Chapter 10

I called him Fresh Prince once, but he didn't get the joke. Kids these days. They didn't watch the classics.

"I have until the tenth," I said, turning the knob and pushing open my door, wanting to escape inside.

"You drive that fancy car," she responded.

The basement smelled like someone dropped a bottle of cheap laundry detergent on the floor. I crinkled my nose not only at her accusation but at the smell.

"I told you, a friend bought it for me." Some people received hush money. I took my payment in an expensive, flashy vehicle.

Mrs. Mets snorted once and flipped a shirt on the table. I took it as my cue and squeezed my body into the basement apartment, closing and lock the door behind me. Close call.

I flipped around, putting my back against the door and sucking in a breath of air.

"You having issues paying rent?" His deep voice floated against my skin like honey. I didn't realize how much I missed hearing it until last night.

Until what Broadrick said registered along with his presence. Then it was just annoying.

Also holy f**k. Broadrick MacGregor. In my apartment. Alone. He sat on my old green couch with his left leg resting on his right knee. Damn, that pose made him look super hot, even in the dim lighting of my crappy basement windows. Egress windows were great for getting out in a fire, not so much for lighting.

What was he doing in my place? And how did he get in?

He stood, and I watched him from my place against the door, unsure if I took a step forward what would happen. I'd either hit him or beg him to let me get a whiff of his cologne and suck on his neck.

For old times' sake.

No! Get it together, Vonnie.

This man dumped me. There would be no neck sniffing. As sad as it was, it couldn't happen.

Never again.

Definitely not.

Right. Okay, then.

Sure in my resolve-at least ninety-nine percent... er eighty-seven point five percent sure-I pushed off from the door and met him at the kitchen counter where he'd begun pulling white take away containers from a plastic bag.

The smell of veggies and noodles out scented the heavy detergent aroma from the basement and I sucked in the deliciousness deeply, pretending it was his neck. Chinese food was almost as good. Especially Chen's. The local favorite even if you had to drive to another town to get it.

How did he know?

"And where did the car come from?" he asked another question, even though I hadn't answered the first.

I didn't want to answer any of his questions, but we'd dated long enough for me to learn a few things about Broadrick. He didn't give up.

"As I'm sure you heard, a friend bought it for me."

He paused mid container distribution, and I pretended like him holding my noodles hostage wasn't the biggest crime to happen in the last year. A murderer was on the loose. "That's a generous friend."

I smiled up at Broadrick, making sure I showed a lot of teeth. "Not everyone would call him generous."

"Stop playing, Vonnie."

I grabbed the white container from him, knowing he wouldn't like my answer. "The local mob boss."

"Ha-ha," Broadrick deadpanned. "Sure."

Except it wasn't a lie. If he didn't want to believe it, that was on him.

"How did you get into my place? And where did the food come from?"

His gaze flitted to the one window in my living room. "Came in through the window and the food came from the Chinese place."

"Yeah, but how did you know?" I asked, struggling to open the container's top and ripping the thick paper.

Broadrick snorted, took the container from me, finished opening it properly and then handed it back. "You used to talk about the place all the time. I googled it. Not a big deal."

Not a big deal?

"You remembered the Chinese place I liked?" I asked, staring up at him.

"Yeah," he answered, but his smile was too large. Too stretched. "Remember the last time we ate Chinese?"

I willed my cheeks to not turn red, but those traitorous bitches were at least a shade of pink. Back then, I'd ditched my Friday classes to meet him in Portland for the weekend. I brought a bite of the heavenly noodles to my mouth and chewed, lost in recollections.

Until I remembered where those memories ended. My smile fell, morphing into a frown. "Yeah, I do. The next week, you dumped me." Through email!

Broadrick sighed and passed me a container of white rice. I refused to take it. You didn't spoil Chinese food, this delicious with white rice. It was just a filler.

"Vonnie, I told you. I made a mistake, but I'm here to fix it."

I shoved another bite of noodles into my face, wanting to eat as much as possible before I tossed him out and lost my appetite. "There's nothing to fix. You and I are over."

It took me weeks to even admit the truth, but weirdly saying it then came easily.

"How long are you staying in Pelican Bay?" I asked, cramming another bite of food in.

He took his first bite and hesitated, answering before shoving the piece of chicken in his mouth. It was so spicy it tickled my nose from the other side of the counter. "Forever."

"Ha-ha." It was my turn to fake laugh. "When's the next mission?"

"I told you. I left the military."

My stomach now rolling, I placed the container on the counter and dropped my fork in. "You didn't leave the military. You wanted to be career military." Broadrick's plans had always been to retire out after twenty years and then go into private security or something else. There weren't a ton of jobs where you could put your former SEAL skills to use in modern day America.

"Things change." Broadrick took another bite, looking nonchalant and as if he hadn't just tipped the Earth with his announcement.

"Like what?"

"Things."

Ugh. That's how it always went. He'd do something nice and then mess it up by being... him. "Where are you staying?"

I crossed my fingers under the counter that he said somewhere far away. Like Australia.

Instead, he lifted a shoulder. "No place yet."

"Well, you can't stay here," I answered way too quickly, considering he hadn't asked to stay in my place. I cringed as he glanced at me.

Broadrick being in my space was a big no. Big, big, big no. He took up too much of it. Sucked the air right out of a room. Plus, my furnishings were all second-hand stuff I'd picked up at either yard sales or the auction house with the girls. He didn't belong mixed in with my cheap stuff. He was too tall, too rough, too much.

I couldn't let Broadrick back into my life just to have him break my heart again, and if he was around too much, that's exactly what would happen. I'd always been weak with him, but I couldn't allow it any longer. When we were dating, I waited by the phone for his calls, telling my friends how wonderful he was, and generally being all puppy dogs sick in love.

Not until after we broke up did I realize how much the man had encompassed my life. And that's when we were doing a long-distance thing. Long distance as in me in Pelican Bay and him in... everywhere else.

He needed to be far away. Somewhere I couldn't see or smell him. That's why as soon as he popped his last piece of chicken in his mouth, I led him right to the door and practically pushed him out of it with a hasty thank you for the food said only after I closed the thick piece of wood between us.

I fell asleep that night with dreams of Broadrick in my head and one hell of an almost orgasm before my phone woke me up, but I fell asleep alone. That was the important part. I won.

Did he feel bad about the breakup? Or he wanted to apologize? Whatever brought him to Pelican Bay, he wouldn't stick around for long. I just had to wait him out, and once he left again, I could get back to living life the way I had for the last six months.

Alone.

**

I rubbed sleep out of my eyes and a dream of Broadrick's head between my legs from my mind as I rolled over and unplugged the ringing phone. It was always hard to tell what time of the day it was in my dark apartment, but the sun hadn't risen high from the stark darkness behind the shades.

"Hello?" I answered the unknown number.

"Is this Vonnie Vines? The local investigator?"

I sat up straighter in my bed, wrapping the covers around my shoulders to protect against the cold. "Yes."

"You're the only one who will help me. Brent is missing."

I closed my eyes and tossed an arm in the air, giving a little fist bump to no one but myself. "Text me your address and I'll be right there."