I didn’t try to hide my smile. “Don’t call him that,” I said sternly.
Jasper grinned at me.
Our amusement did not last long.
Kevin banged the back door open. “Charlie,” he said. “I found something.”
5
Jasper leapt to his feet, the chair making a godawful screech on the hardwood floor before it toppled over and landed with a clatter. “I knew it!” he shouted.
“Shit,” I said. “I don’t believe this. I don’t fucking believe it.”
Kevin, dust-streaked arms wrapped around the medium-sized cardboard box he was holding to his chest, looked from Jasper to me and back again. “What?”
Jasper whipped his phone out, quivering with excitement. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got this. Everyone stay calm.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “I’m calling Liam.”
Kevin stood there looking bewildered.
If the ‘something’ he’d found had been corpse related, he wouldn’t be standing there at all. He’d be running out of the house at full speed, and so would I, because he’d have grabbed me as he passed and dragged me after him.
Then he’d have come back for Phil.
“Jasper,” I said. “Hang up.”
Jasper flapped a hand at me. “He’ll pick up any minute, don’t worry. He’s not working today—hah. He will be! But he’s not working today. It’s his weekend off. He’s probably napping.”Jasper bounced a little on his toes. “This is exciting. I’m scared. But also excited. I’ve never been in on it right from the start like this.”
“What’s he on about?” Kevin asked me.
“Nothing important.” I crossed the kitchen and attempted to take Jasper’s phone off him. “Give me that.”
He spun away from me. “No. Stop it.”
“Jasper,” I said. “Give it to me.” After a short scuffle, I won.
“Jasper?” came from the phone. “Hello?” It was Liam.
“Misdial,” I said, and hung up.
I held onto the phone, ignoring it when it rang.
Jasper and I got into another scuffle. Kevin dropped his cardboard box on the table and waded in. He took the phone off me.
Now Jasper and Kevin were in a scuffle.
I watched them as the phone continued to ring and they continued to grapple with each other.
In a fight, Jasper should win. No contest. They were both disgustingly fit, but only Jasper had martial arts training.
The problem was, while Jasper might have the training to win a fight, he was an absolute sweetheart. He didn’t have a ruthless bone in his body. He didn’t have the killer instinct.
Kevin, however…
“Kevin, be careful with him,” I said from where I’d hopped up to perch on the countertop. It kept me out of the way as they wrestled and grunted around my kitchen, knocking into the table and sending another chair to the floor, and it also gave me a great view of the action.
Kevin stuffed the phone into his back pocket and Jasper immediately went for his arse, making Kevin bellow.
Phil snorted awake in the corner, took a moment to work out what was going on—playtime!—and heaved up to his paws. He gambolled slowly over to join in.