Bucking Tradition, page 13
“Luna,” he chuckled. “You do know this is just shampoo, right?”
I growled and asked for his hand again.
He laid his hand out flat in front of me and I looked him in the eye. “Dime.”
“Dime?” he laughed.
I held the open bottle over his hand and squeezed gently. “Dime sized. That is all you need for your hair.” A dime-sized amount oozed onto his hand and then I snatched the bottle away. “Dime.”
He looked at the pitiful about of shampoo and shook his head. “There is no way in hell this is going to do anything to my hair.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Put it in your hair,” I insisted.
“There is nothing in my hand to put in my hair, Luna.”
I shook my head. There was more than enough in his hand. I only used a little bit more than a quarter size for my hair, and I had five times as much hair as he did. “Get your head wet again, and put the shampoo on your head, Ransom.”
“Luna, give me more and I will pay for a whole new bottle.”
I shook my head. “I’m not giving you any more, but you can buy me another bottle. You can give me forty-eight dollars.”
“Forty-eight dollars!” Ransom held the drop of shampoo up to his face. “Babe, I think you’ve been robbed. I can file a case when I get to work later.”
I rolled my eyes and reached up to put a hand on his head. I held my casted wrist behind me and pushed his head under the running water. “There.” I let go of his head and then grabbed his wrist. I moved his hand to his head and tried to run the shampoo into his hair.
“Stop, stop,” Ransom laughed. “I think I can manage washing my hair, Luna.”
I dropped his hand and stepped back. “Lather,” I ordered. I was going to prove to Ransom that he didn’t need a handful of shampoo to wash his two inches of hair.
“See,” I said a minute later when his hair was full of suds and the subtle aroma of pears and mangos flitted in the air.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ransom muttered. “That’s some witchcraft right there.” He ducked his head under the water and that was when I took the time to really appreciate the man in front of me.
His arms were sculpted from hours in the gym and his legs were lean and powerful. His upper arms were covered with tattoos with dark, bold ink. “Why the cross?” I asked.
Ransom ran his fingers through his hair and opened his eyes. “What?”
I nodded to his arm. “Why do you have a cross on your arm?”
“Because I believe in something bigger than us, Luna. If I didn’t have some kind of faith, I would be lost.”
Ransom had never been religious. At least, not with me.
“I’m not some bible thumper hitting their knees every Sunday, Luna. My faith is mine and I don’t push it on others.”
And that was so Ransom.
I was seeing things differently now.
I wasn’t just seeing what was on the surface and judging off of that like I had before.
“But how do you have faith after seeing all of the evil and bad things you do day after day?”
Ransom turned off the water and looked at me. “I don’t think we need to have this conversation in the shower.”
I reached behind me for a towel and handed it to him.
He quickly dried off his hair and body and then wrapped the towel around his waist. I tried to take a step backward, but Ransom caught me around the waist and hoisted me into his arms.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
Ransom stepped out of the tub with me in his arms and walked into the bedroom. He planted a knee on the bed and managed to twist as he fell back and landed on his butt with me in his arms.
“Well, this is cozy,” I laughed.
“Where were we?” he asked.
I laid my head on his chest and sighed. “I wondered how you manage to have faith when you see evil every day.”
Ransom sighed and sifted his fingers through my hair. “I’d be lying if I said none of this affects me, Luna.”
“It’s affecting me, Ransom, and I’m not seeing a tenth of the stuff you see,” I whispered. I was at the end of my rope and knew I wasn’t going to be able to handle much more. Especially since I just felt so helpless. I wanted to help, but there wasn’t anything I could do.
“You can’t focus on the bad, Luna. That’s the only thing I can tell you.” He sighed and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Focus on your family. Go and have fun with Greta.”
I tipped my head back to look at him.
He cleared his throat. “With someone else with you for the time being but maybe even after we find this asshole because I truly think that you and Greta need a chaperone when you two are together.”
I rolled my eyes and relaxed back into Ransom. “I can do those things, but I want to do something that is going to help. Something that is going to make this evil go away.”
We sat in silence, both trying to figure out a way to do that.
“I got nothing, babe,” Ransom laughed. His body shook beneath me. “I don’t even know what I’m doing right now. I’m chasing after some magazine hoping it’s going to give me some clue as to who this guy is, Luna.”
“I think it’s a good lead.”
“Me too, seeing as we found another one last night.”
I gasped and turned in his arms. “Shut up, you didn’t.”
Ransom smiled. “Right under her head.”
“This has to mean something, Ransom. I mean, the odds that this is just a coincidence are probably a million to one. What are you even doing here right now?” I demanded. “You need to get to work and start looking at those magazines.”
“Luna,” Ransom chuckled. “I will. I first needed to come home to recharge and try to get the images from last night to fade just a little bit.”
I reached up and cupped his cheek in my hand. “Do you feel recharged now?”
He nodded. “Yeah, especially since I got to spend the night with you in my arms.”
I smacked his cheek and smiled. “Then get your ass dressed and get to work.” I jumped out of bed and pulled my nightshirt over my head. “I’ll call Pie and see if he can stay with me today.”
I grabbed a white tank top from my dresser and tugged it over my head. “And I promise I won’t have Greta come over. She’s one of my favorite people, but even I know we get a little crazy when we’re together,” I rambled. I stalked to my closet and whipped open the doors. “Do you know if it’s supposed to be cooler today?” I longed for sweatshirt weather, but I didn’t think the weather was quite there yet. I glanced at the bed where Ransom had been laying. “Hey, where’d you go?”
Ransom chuckled from the bathroom. “I’m in here, and I think it’s cooler. Grab a coat or something.”
I grabbed a black and red plaid flannel and shrugged it on. “Good idea. If I get too hot, I can always take it off.”
“And wear some shoes that are comfortable to walk in.”
I looked down at my bare feet. I wasn’t really someone who liked to wear shoes in the house, and why did it matter if they were comfortable to walk in? It wasn’t like I lived in a huge mansion like Wyndemere. “I think I’m just going to opt for socks today,” I laughed.
“Luna,” Ransom called.
I took two steps forward until I was standing in front of the door to the bathroom. “What?”
“You’re coming with me.”
I tipped my head to the side. “Um, I thought you said I couldn’t come to work with you. You need to focus, and you can’t focus when you’re worrying about me.”
“I said that?” he laughed.
“Uh, well, not in so many words, but yes.” I had sort of elaborated in my mind of why I couldn’t go to work with Ransom. I was a distraction, and he couldn’t solve murders when I was there. Or something like that.
“Remember I asked you to come and look through Tanya’s storage unit?”
A light bulb went off in my head. “You’re looking to see if she has a Popular Mechanics magazine.”
Ransom nodded. “Bingo, babe.” He looked down at the sink. “But first you need to put pants on, and I need to finish getting dressed. And brush my teeth and put deodorant on.”
I walked into the bathroom, bumped him out of the way, opened the cabinet under the sink, and grabbed a basket I had under there. “Here. New toothbrush and a stick of deodorant. I mean, the deodorant is close to two years old, but it’s never been opened.”
He grabbed the bag and peered inside. “Do I want to know why you have men’s deodorant and an extra toothbrush?”
I rolled my eyes and walked back to the closet. “I bought it for you before, and then I told you to leave so I just put it under my sink for a rainy day.”
“A rainy day?” Ransom laughed.
I had put it under my sink thinking that I could just use it for some other guy, but that other guy never happened. “Look, use it or not, but we need to get going if we are going to find that magazine today.” I shrugged on the flannel and grabbed a pair of faded blue jeans. “Time is a wasting, Detective.”
I glanced in the bathroom and saw Ransom pop the top off the deodorant and smear it under his arms.
“You know, this is another reason why you don’t need to come to work with me.” He dropped the deodorant back into the basket, grabbed the toothbrush that was still in the package, and ripped it open before he smeared a glob of toothpaste onto the bristles. “You’re gonna tell me what to do all day and I’m going to let you because in the end, you’re right.”
I smiled broadly. “I’m glad you’ve come to that conclusion on your own.”
Ransom glanced at me and winked. “I’ve known it all along, babe, it’s just fun sometimes to ruffle your feathers. Gotta keep you on your toes.” He shoved the toothbrush in his mouth and managed to look like the sexiest man on Earth.
So I did what any rational woman would do.
I fell head over heels in love with him right then and there.
Chapter Seventeen
Ransom
“DING DONG.”
I knew that voice.
That was a voice I did not want to hear right now.
“Greta!” Luna hollered.
I glared at Luna and clenched my lips. “I thought you told me you weren’t going to call Greta today.”
“Shh,” Luna hissed. “And I said I wouldn’t invite her over when I thought you were leaving me at home.”
“So, you thought you would invite her down to a hot and musty storage unit to hangout?” I snapped.
We were getting nowhere in this storage unit, and my patience was wearing thin. Bear had taken off not even an hour after he got here and just said he had something he needed to take care of, so that just left me and Luna to sift through Tanya’s belongings. Belongings that included more than a hundred ceramic cats.
Ceramic. Fucking. Cats.
“She texted me when I went to the bathroom before, and she was having a breakdown. One of the doctors at the vet is being an asshole to her. If I hadn’t told her to come here on her lunch break, I was afraid she was going to stab him with a scalpel or something.” Luna lifted a duffle bag from the floor and dropped it on the table we had setup in the middle of the storage room. “It was she either comes here, or you get a call to go to the vet clinic for a stabbing.”
“What hole are you in?” Greta yelled. “I brought subs, but if I can’t find you, I’ll just have to eat them all.”
“Seven thirty-three,” Luna called back. She wagged her finger in my face. “And you better be nice to her,” she whispered.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her into my arms. She tipped her head back and pressed her hand to my chest.
“I’m gonna kiss you, Luna,” I warned.
“Why?”
“Because even when you’re hurting or in the middle of something, you make time for the people you love.” I pressed my lips to hers, and she relaxed in my arms. She moaned softly, and I threaded fingers in her hair.
Kissing Luna was something I always wanted to do. I didn’t have to fight the urge anymore.
A slow clap echoed around us. “Oh, boy,” Greta called. “Do you want me to do a lap around the building and come back?”
Luna pressed her forehead against mine and laughed. “If you do that, you better make it twenty laps.”
“And then make sure you knock really loud,” I added.
“We’ll pick this up later,” Luna whispered. She pressed a quick kiss to my lips and pulled out of my arms.
I wiped my lips with the back of my hand and sat down in one of the chairs Tanya had in the storage space.
“You know, when you told me to come out here, I didn’t think it was so you could throw your PDA with hot cop in my face.” Greta walked to the table and set down the bag with subs in it. “If I would have been five minutes later, you two would have been on this table, not out to lunch.”
“Always good to see you, Greta,” I mumbled.
Greta winked. “I don’t think you really mean that.”
“Oh, you got subs from Jake’s.” Luna grabbed the bag and opened it. “I hope you got me the Italian with extra giardiniera.” She pulled three subs out of the bag and laid them on the table.
“That’s what we all got. If you order something else from Jake’s, you’re a psychopath.” Greta grabbed a sub and handed it to me. “Maybe that is how you can find this guy. Stake out the sub shop and anyone who doesn’t order the Italian has to be the killer.”
I grabbed the sub and shook my head. “Or I’ll just keep going with the lead we have.”
Greta grabbed a chair from the side of the room and pulled it up to the table. “You’re not sitting?” Greta asked Luna.
Luna clumsily unwrapped her sub with her casted hand and took a huge bite. She dropped it back on the paper and used her other hand that had a glove on to unzip the duffel bag. “No time,” she mumbled around the mouthful of sub.
Greta shrugged and unwrapped her sub. “I guess you’re right, though I’ve been on my feet all morning helping Dr. Douchebag and your girl needs a damn break.”
“What’s the deal with Dr. Douchebag?” I asked.
“If I tell you he’s the serial killer, will you arrest him right now? Like, get in your car and straight up throw him in jail?” Greta popped a loose pepper into her mouth. “Because I will.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I’m not too sure I would believe you.”
Greta sighed. “It was worth a shot.”
Luna shook her head. “Another one.” She pulled out a ceramic cat and set it on the table. “I had no idea Tanya was so into cats.”
Greta reached out and poked the ceramic cat in the nose. “Creepy AF. Please don’t tell me she actually had these on display.”
I chuckled. “I’m pretty sure she did.”
Greta laughed out loud. “Fucking classic.”
“Only you would think these cats are creepy but also funny.” Luna pulled another cat out of the bag. “Maybe you might want to start a creepy cat statue collection so when you pass away, your kids will have to fight over who has to take them.”
“I’m writing that down.” Greta reached into the bag. “That is totally something I would do.”
Luna ate her sandwich in between pulling papers and cats out of the duffle bag.
“I know there has to be a joke somewhere here, but I’m just astonished by the fact that there were seventeen cats in there.” Greta shook her head. “You guys give me shit about being a little on the crazy side, but there are people who are way more whacked than I am.”
“Yeah, like Paige,” Luna whispered.
Greta jumped up and pointed at Luna. “How could I forget about the Mary Moo Moos?” she exclaimed. “They are all over her damn house!”
Luna laughed and turned the duffle bag upside down to shake out the last pieces. “Because they are all over her house, but it’s done tastefully.” She flipped the bag back over and tossed it on the floor.
“Did you check the side pocket?” I asked.
“Mary Moo Moo and tastefully do not belong in the same sentence,” Greta laughed.
Luna grabbed the bag again. “No.” She unzipped the side pocket and her jaw dropped. “No,” she whispered.
“Another cat?” Greta guessed.
I smirked and stood so I could see better. “What is it, babe?”
Luna reached into the bag and pulled out a Popular Mechanics magazine.
Greta shot up from her chair.
We found it. This was four copies of Popular Mechanics we had found at the crime scenes.
“What I do?” Luna whispered. She looked like her hand was about to be blown off.
Greta busted out laughing, and I shook my head. I grabbed a rubber glove and put it on. “I’ll take it, babe.”
“Aren’t you going to look through it?” Greta asked. “Maybe there is a clue or something in it.”
I was sure that there was, but sitting in a dingy storage unit was not where I was going to look for it, and it also needed to be brushed for any fingerprints. If we were lucky, the killer would have left his fingerprints on at least one of the four magazines. “Finish up lunch, ladies.” I grabbed an evidence bag and dropped the magazine inside. “We might have just blown this investigation wide open.”
Chapter Eighteen
Luna
“AND SHE’S HERE ON HER own freewill?”
I rolled my eyes and reached over the bar to grab a glass. “I can hear you talking about me, fucker. And you have said the same thing for the last four days.”
Frost chuckled. “There is the Luna we all know.”
Indiana patted my hand. “And love. He forgot to say we love you.” Indiana glared at Frost. “You would think you guys would be nice to each other since you’re cousins.”
I reached for the bottle of whiskey and poured two fingers worth in my glass. “The love is there behind the sarcasm and bad jokes,” I scoffed.
“Can you feel the love,” Pie sang.
Hero walked into the common room and sat down next to me. “You talk to Ransom lately?”
