Hard Justice by April Hunt

Author:April Hunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2017-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

When most people pictured hell, they envisioned raging infernos and a leather-skinned devil with horns, maybe a few floating souls screaming in agony. To Charlie, it was the pungent odor of perfumed incense and the cold massage table that had seen umpteen naked people that day alone…and having a stranger touch her.

Ten minutes ago, she’d told the masochist masseur he’d better take his wandering hands and hide, and that’s exactly what he did. And the only regret Charlie had was not having threatened him sooner.

“I still can’t believe you nearly made Sven cry,” Tina complained—again, as they waited outside the spa for the valet to bring around the truck.

“He got too hands-y.” Charlie purposefully didn’t apologize.

“He’s trained in the art of relaxation. It’s his job to get hands-y,” Tina said snottily.

“I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t relaxation.”

“For the love of God, you could’ve tried not acting like a torture victim for at least one of our treatments! Don’t they have spas in that backwoods town of yours?”

“Sure. The bathroom in my one-bedroom apartment.”

“Your apartment?” Tina flicked her long hair over her shoulder. “Things aren’t going well with Mr. Tall, Tatted, and Terrifying? I mean, you’re marrying the guy and you’re still holding on to your own dumpy little place? Doesn’t exactly sound like happily ever after.”

“We like our own spaces. Nothing wrong with that,” Charlie grumbled.

“Yes, there is something wrong, little cousin. Marriage means making sacrifices to be with the other person, sometimes even if you have to do things that may be uncomfortable—like sharing a living space.”

“And you know this how, exactly?” Charlie snapped. After a whole day of being poked, prodded, and buffed to within an inch of her sanity, she still hadn’t gotten a chance to grill Tina about Sinful Delights. Her cousin’s interrogation talents, however, were starting to outshine Stone’s. “If you have something to say, Tina, get it all out in the open. You never wasted pleasantries on me before, so why start now?”

Tina whirled around way too fast for a woman in six-inch heels. “Why did you really come back? Because this whole I’m-getting-married-and-I-wanted-to-show-my-fiancé-my-hometown act sounds like freaking hooey.”

“What person above the age of eight says ‘hooey’?”

What person who can be found in a bloody sex club?

“I do! When I see of a load of it staring me right in the face!”

“It’s not hooey staring you in the face, Ti, it’s the truth,” Charlie lied easily. “And may I remind you, I wasn’t the one who sought out a little reunion? I kept my distance when Vince and I got to town for a reason. I sure as hell didn’t invite myself to brunch, or come up with this wonderful bonding excursion.”

“But you came,” Tina huffed.

“Like Arturo would’ve accepted anything else.”

Even though Tina saw Arturo with Daddy Vision, her cousin wasn’t stupid. No one went up against Arturo Franconi and came out unscathed.

When the valet showed up with the rental, Tina gave the pickup a disgusted eye-roll and dramatically climbed into the passenger seat.

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