five years, what have you got?” Damien looked away. “I thought so. Now let someone else take a look at it. I need fresh eyes as well.”
“Why?”
“Because his psycho sister-in-law escaped from the loony bin a year ago and she’s finally been spotted.” At his shocked look, Audrey went on with more vehemence. “Yup, she’s the one who plugged your cousin twice in the back and we are all afraid she’ll come back and finish the job.”
Damien rubbed his face frustratedly with his free hand. He was exhausted, but there was no way he was going to get any sleep now. Taking a deep breath and loudly exhaling, he looked at the two of them and said, “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
****
Damien emptied his second cup of coffee after an hour of being regaled with a crazy ass story. He would have thought it fiction if not for the hurt and angry expressions on Dale’s face that occasionally slipped his cool ‘all business’ mask. She had really done a number on him if he was this scared. To slice open her own sister to steal her baby… what the fuck?
Wanting to lighten the mood he held his hand out to Dale over his office desk.
His brows furrowed together, Dale looked between his face and his hand, “What?”
He wiggled his fingers. “The kids’ pictures. I know you’re dying to brag.”
Dale laughed sitting up to pull his wallet from his back jeans pocket. He opened it and handed it to Damien. “That’s Stacey-Ann and Dale Jr. His godmother calls him Jamey and the rest of us call him Third. Drives her nuts!”
He smiled back at the large sweet smiles beaming up at him. “Gorgeous kids; must take after their mother,” he teased, which only made Dale laugh harder. “Why Jamey?”
“James, after his grandfather on Ellie’s side. Her parents are both dead so we named the kids after them.”
“Stacey,” Damien nodded. “Aunt Ann must be going bananas over them, especially the girl. She always wished you were a girl.”
Dale glared at him, “And when are you going to make Aunt Alice a grandma?”
Damien’s smile shrunk. He hadn’t really thought about anything much except finding Victoria Secret. He flipped over a flap to see the other pictures and his entire body went cold. He turned the wallet around and held the picture out to Dale. “Who is this?” he hissed.
Dale sat up straight in his seat and stared hard at Damien. “Dude, what’s up? You look like you’re about to blow.”
Damien couldn’t have said it better himself. He was about to blow like a fucking atomic bomb. “Who is this?” he yelled.
“My wife, Ellie, now tell me what’s wrong with you!” Dale yelled back.
If he hadn’t been sitting, he would have been on the floor on his ass by now. She married his cousin? This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t be possible. “I want to see her, I need to see her!”
Dale’s eyes widened. “Calm down man. You’re getting hysterical.”
Damien dropped the wallet and combed his fingers through his long messy hair. Hell, he was losing his mind!
****
As he drove, Dale kept stealing side glances at his cousin. Damien fidgeted in his seat like he had ants in his pants and when he wasn’t doing that his knee bounced incessantly, his fingers drumming in the same fast tempo on the armrest. His jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes darting around. Add that to his long curly brown hair, the bush on his face and his clothes that looked like they hadn’t seen water in weeks, he looked like a bum high on drugs and nothing like his cousin.
Hero Damien Chan, the genius ladies man that Dale knew, was always particular about his looks. He was always clean shaven or kept a light buzz around his mouth—something he had on good authority from numerous ladies that it made him look even more the heartbreaker when he smiled. His hair was always trimmed short, a closer shave on the sides of his head than the top. His clothes were always neat, straight