Read Online Death Blow by Ashley Harma - Free Book Online Page B

tearing his eyes away from the necklace and back up to her
eyes. “You get a raise? Ol’ Carter in there make you a partner or something?”
He took a step back to look at her, take in her new appearance, her new mood.
Something enormous had shifted around Lila, he could tell.
    Lila’s face sank as she realized that she now had to tell
the Sheriff she didn’t work at the Dirty Pint anymore. At the same moment, she
realized she couldn’t tell him about Club Malevolence either. She wanted to,
but she sensed that it wasn’t allowed, that she shouldn’t tell the Sheriff
about the club, or at the very least about her new job there. She was going to
have to lie to him.
    “Well, actually, no,” she admitted, stalling. “I just quit.”
    The Sheriff grabbed his heart in a mock attack. “Quit?! My
god, you quit the Dirty Pint?! Say it ain’t so, Lila!” He was definitely
surprised, but he didn’t want to show it. It was important to him that Lila
trust him, and he knew he had to treat things the right way for that to happen.
    “Afraid it’s true, Sheriff,” Lila lamented. “I’ve got a new
job as Sheriff of Belle Chasse.” She flashed a big grin as she joked with him.
    He gave her a why-I-oughta shake of his hand. “Carter must
not be too happy about that,” he said, peering tentatively at the doors. “What
you quittin’ for?” he asked, staring at Lila curiously.
    “Oh, you know, been a long time,” she deflected.
    “And we both know what a shithole that place is,” the
Sheriff winked at her from behind his aviators.
    Lila laughed. “True.” She couldn’t even bring herself to
move the conversation forward, like a normal conversation would go. She was
sure the Sheriff could sense her hesitancy, could pick up on her unwillingness
to share. But she was also sure he’d press her.
    “What’re you gonna do for money, then?” he asked finally,
after a long silence.
    “Well, I’ll find something. I’ve got a kind of temporary
job, doing a couple things for a woman in town.” She made up the lie as she
went along. She didn’t want to entirely make it up, but she needed to come up
with something passable.
    “Doin’ a couple things for a woman? What does that mean?” he
pressed.
    “You know, running errands, stuff like that. She’s pretty
wealthy,” Lila joked, “so there’s not much she can do by herself.” She
wanted out of there so badly, hated lying to the Sheriff.
    “Oh, I see, I see.” He shifted back on his heels a bit, and
she could tell he was trying to make sense of all this, gauging whether he
should continue to ask questions or leave it alone. “What woman is this?” he
asked neutrally.
    “Um, her name’s Cassandra,” Lila admitted.
    The Sheriff’s face froze in a smile. “Cassandra what?”
    “Cassandra Moran. You know her?” Lila tried to play it cool.
The smile didn’t leave the Sheriff’s face, but Lila felt a coldness sweep
between the two of them.
    “Oh, yep, yep, I know Mrs. Moran,” he said, resting both
hands on his belt. He was the one avoiding Lila’s gaze now, staring at his
shoes, the sidewalk, anything.  “She’s a nice lady, for sure. And tons of
money, I know that.” He was saying what Lila wanted him to say, but the way he
was saying it brought up those feelings of unease again.
    “My only problem is,” Lila tried to regain the upper hand
here, “how am I going to see my Sheriff?” She tried to sound as warm and
natural as possible. And she meant it. The Sheriff had been the only thing
worth being at the Dirty Pint for, as long as Lila had worked there. “Am I
going to have to get arrested every time I want to see you and catch up?”
    The Sheriff laughed, wonderful and deep. “You got my number,
girlie. You know you can call me whenever you want, even if that’s just to get
a beer and shoot the shit.” He took a step forward and put a hand on her
shoulder, taking off his sunglasses with the other hand. He looked intently
into Lila’s