Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

2. Two

Two

Spike

“ I told Charlotte about Kendall,” Phoenix said once we’d hit the road, on the way to verbally spar with one of the most cantankerous women I’d ever dealt with in my whole career.

I jerked my head hard at him, my eyes widening. “You did? What did she say?”

“Not much,” he sadly admitted. “You kind of walked in right in the middle of it.”

“She knows about the baby?”

Phoenix kept his sight on the road, but he nodded. “I told her everything, including all the shit that happened with Crow.”

He paused for a moment, chewing aggressively on his bottom lip.

“She asked if I was still in love with Kendall.”

“Are you?”

I didn’t believe for one second that Phoenix still carried any speckle of love inside his heart for that slimy bitch, not after what she did to him. But I wanted to ask simply because I was curious and well… I just needed to make sure he was fully over her.

“Fuck no,” he spat, offering me an outrageous glare. “I told you I gave up on her a long time ago.”

“I was just asking. No need to bite my head off over it. But hey, man, for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. ”

“I love Charlotte. I couldn’t keep it from her, especially now that Kendall’s back and working at the lab. Charlotte deserves an honest man and to have an honest, faithful relationship, and I swear on my life that is exactly what she’ll have.”

I smiled at that, knowing he meant it. “You’re a good man, Phoenix. Charlotte and I are lucky to have you in our life.”

“And I’m lucky to have you two as well. But I… I’m scared, Spike. If we lose her—”

“ We won’t ,” I growled fiercely. “We’ll teach her to shoot. We’ll ensure she understands that when she uses that weapon, she shoots to fucking kill. No exceptions.”

Phoenix made a face, one that had me raising my brows at him.

“What?” I questioned. “What is it?”

“She isn’t capable—”

“We’re all capable of killing. You of all people should know that.”

He ground his teeth, but instead of speaking, he just cranked up the volume on the stereo and began furiously singing along to Hell to Pay by Five Finger Death Punch, his way of saying he was done talking about it.

That was fine. We didn’t have to talk about it anymore but in the end, Phoenix knew I was right. When it came to survival, sometimes you didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was kill or be killed.

And I fucking prayed it wouldn’t turn out that way for Charlotte.

When we arrived at the DA’s office, Phoenix was the first out the car and the first to walk inside Harley’s office. I closed the door behind me and turned to find her sitting behind her desk in a black dress-suit and a blue button-down. Her dark hair was wrapped in an oddly perfect bun, and her dark eyes flashed as she surveyed us closely, steepling her fingers.

Great. This couldn’t have been good.

“Please, take a seat.”

Phoenix and I complied and plopped down in the chairs in front of us .

“So,” she spoke again. “I went through Karl’s phone records, every ounce of data on his ankle monitor, bank statements, the GPS in his patrol car, etcetera, etcetera. From what I’ve gathered, Karl appears to be telling the truth. According to his phone records, Karl hasn’t spoken to Mrs. Strickland for well over a month, and the data on his ankle monitor shows he was at home the night she was attacked.”

Phoenix and I shared a look, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit relieved with the news. Despite how much I’d grown to despise Karl and wished Phoenix would let me throw his ass off a cliff, as a cop, I knew right from wrong. It fucking sucked, but I just couldn’t stand by and let an innocent man go to prison, even if he was a lying, cheating sack of shit.

And it also didn’t help that he was my girlfriend’s ex-husband.

“However,” Harley continued, ensuring to keep eye contact as she gaped between us. “Given the bull mask and Delilah’s mask were found in his apartment, my boss wants me to move forward with pressing charges for both rapes. The lab found hair follicles on both masks and the DNA came back early this morning. They belong to both Karl and Delilah Fields.”

“What?” Phoenix asked, blinking at her in troublesome disbelief. “How can you charge him with both rapes? Karl didn’t rape Delilah, and you just said it yourself that—”

“I know what I said, Detective Rhodes, but given what the evidence says, what do you suppose I do? I can agree that it looks like Karl is being framed, but at the same time, we all know how misleading evidence can be. As it stands, the evidence points to two perps, Karl, and an unknown male. Now, this can go one out of two ways. Either Karl really is innocent, or he acted as an accomplice. If you two truly believe he’s being framed, then I’m going to need more proof than phone and GPS records. I need you to bring in the second perp.”

My mouth opened, just to quickly snap shut once I’d realized the horrible mistake I was about to make. I’d almost slipped and told her about what Karl revealed to Charlotte. About the death threats he and his mistress had been receiving. Charlotte had asked us to keep it quiet until she could do some more digging and discover whether Karl’s outcry was credible. Once Charlotte was done visiting Karl, I’d imagine that was the next step on her to-do list.

“Did you want to say something, Detective Hutch?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’m good.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find the guy, Harley,” said Phoenix. “How much time do we have?”

“Not much,” she answered honestly. “My boss wants me to take this to trial, but out of respect for Charlotte, I’m going to try and offer Karl a plea deal. I don’t want to put her through that embarrassment but if Karl refuses the deal, then I won’t have a choice. I can try to buy you boys some time—a week, possibly two—but that’s the best I can do.”

“Thank you, Harley.” Phoenix rose to his feet and extended his hand. Harley got up and graciously returned the gesture by shaking his hand. “We appreciate it.”