Oz pointed a finger directly in my face. “You promised.”
“I lied.”
“Sucks to be you then because they’re still your housemates.” Oz reached around me and opened the kitchen door. I didn’t make a move to step inside. “Do you remember your first night here? Do you want a repeat of that?” he asked me quietly. He was referring to the time he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and dumped me in my room before locking the door.
“What I remember is you snapping the heel off an amazing pair of shoes. I also remember we never fully discussed that.”
Oz smiled at me. He placed his hands on my shoulders, spun me around to face the doorway, dropped his hand to my lower back and all but shoved me through the door. “Ladies, I hope you’re all getting along.” The expressions on Pam’s, Petal’s and Lucy’s faces said they were not all getting along.
Anna was oblivious, eating a pot of ice cream and flicking through a magazine on the centre island. A brunette lady with birdlike features was standing on the opposite side of the kitchen. Her expression reminded me of a caged animal in dangerous surroundings trying to watch everything and everyone at the same time.
I turned to Oz. “Anna’s eating my ice cream.”
“I’m doing you a favour, hon,” Anna said, faux concern in her voice, and briefly looked up from her magazine and gestured to my hips with her spoon. “I thought we’d talked about this?”
“Bridget. I know you already know Anna but I’m not sure you actually managed to meet Katie,” Oz said, gesturing to the brunette.
“Katie? Crazy Katie?” I asked, my voice, hitching up.
“Bridget—” Oz started.
I pointed to the woman who was supposedly Katie. “She’s dead.”
“We’re all dead, hon,” Anna said in a tired voice without looking up from her magazine.
“No, like dead dead,” I stressed.
“Who told you that?” Oz asked, frowning between Katie and me.
I groaned. “Oh, that snake!”
“Leonard told you she was dead?” Oz asked.
I slapped the back of my hand into Oz’s chest in realisation. “Of course he did. That way Burt would think he’d tidied up all his loose ends but me.”
Oz clamped his mouth shut, the muscles along his jaw clenched. “Right.”
“And how is this happening? Who thought this would be a good idea? Housing an attempted murderer with her attempted murderee?” I asked, pointing to Katie.
“It was decided that it would help her to reacclimatise to life outside of the asylum more quickly if she returned to her previous home,” Oz said. There was no inflection on his words whatsoever. I couldn’t decide if that meant he felt guilty about her being locked up when she hadn’t killed anyone or that he wasn’t happy to have her back home.
“Decided by whom?” I was pretty sure it hadn’t been Oz.
Before Oz could explain someone knocked on the kitchen door. Oz hesitated in stepping away from me to answer it. I had no idea what he thought I was going to do.
“Come in,” he called over his shoulder without moving.
Tommy stepped inside. He glanced around the kitchen and whistled. “This looks like an old-fashioned Mexican standoff. I’m not surprised to find you in the middle of it,” he said to me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“You have six female wards?” Tommy asked Oz in a low voice, as though it wouldn’t antagonise us crazy females. Oz didn’t say anything. Smart man.
“What’s wrong with having six female wards?” I asked.
Tommy laughed. “I had three sisters. My dad was so tightly wrapped around their collective little finger he used to have back problems! And the fights?” Tommy whistled and shook his head again. He slapped Oz on the shoulder. “Best of luck to you.”
“You do realise how sexist that is?”
“It’s not sexist – it’s how I grew up.” Tommy jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen door. “Time to go.”
“Go where?” I asked.
“Work.”
I looked around the kitchen, desperately hoping he was talking to someone else. “Now? Me? With you?”
“Yep, to all of those questions.” Tommy offered me his hand. “Shall we?”
Dear Reader,
So, that’s it! You made it through the three book challenge and survived! You did survive, right? Good. Yes, I am going to ask you for a review—let’s just get this out of the way.
https://www.amazon.com/review/B06XDNNQTK
Now! For some exciting stuff! I don’t know if you have already or not, hopefully you have, but you gotta go join The Dead Beat (my newsletter). You can sign up on the link below.
http://www.JordainaSydneyRobinson.com
First, you’ll get a free novella called Just a Touch Dead, like, straightaway! And then, in the following weeks, you’ll get loads more good stuff.
I hope this isn’t the end for us—I do hope you decide to come and hang out with me and the other Dead Beaters. I would very much like that.
Until we meet again …
Jordaina :)
A Little More Dead Page 29