Twirled Bond (Holly Woods Files, #5) Read Online Free Page A

of a bitch when I was fourteen.” Even to my best friends, apparently.
    “Sweetheart, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re kind of a bitch at twenty-nine.”
    I’m not sure there’s a right way to take it. If there is, it’s quietly, but that’s never gonna happen.
    “Sleep with one fucking eye open, Drake Nash.” I hit him with a hard look.
    He half grins. “You know I love you.”
    “Yeah, but here’s the difference: Right now, you’re lucky I love you.”
    He’s still grinning, even as I’m glaring. Outwardly. I’m glaring outwardly. The longer I live with the man, the harder it is to stay annoyed at him.
    Unless the shoe closet is being discussed. Then I’m on a warpath.
    “You make me sick.” Trent leans against the doorframe and hugs a huge file to his chest.
    Ah, there’s nothing like your brother on the offensive to brighten a fine spring morning.
    I drop my head over the back of the chair and look at him upside down. “Hey, asshole.”
    “Hey.” He hits me on the back of my head while walking into Drake’s office.
    I squeak out a pained sound. That hurt.
    “Jason is stopping by,” he says to Drake, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
    Drake pinches the bridge of his nose. “What for?”
    “Apparently, Daniela Russo’s parents have been petitioning the FBI to open her file as a cold case. Since the case was never officially closed by us or them, Jason has been put on it to work with the two of us to see if we can dig up any new information.”
    Ah, yes. Holly Woods PD: where homicide is only a department if someone’s been murdered.
    The saddest thing is that this is the fourth time Drake and Trent—and Brody—have worked on cases with Jason that have nothing to do with homicide. I have a fifty-bucks bet that, if someone doesn’t die soon, they’re gonna go to the care home when one of the retirees dies just to have something to do.
    “No Brody this time?” Drake asks, taking the file from my brother.
    Trent’s lips twitch into a smirk. “Uh...I’m guessing you didn’t hear what happened.”
    “What happened?” I jerk my head around and stare at him. If he hurt my brother... Well, if this were an online chat, I’d be using the knife emoji to get my point across.
    “Nothing like that.” Trent leans against the wall separating Drake’s office from the next and looks between us. “Apparently, Bek and Jason went for a drink at the Inn last night because he’s in town, and Brody was there with a date. He wouldn’t tell me all the details, but by the sounds of it, it got a little ugly.”
    “In other words,” Drake says through a smile, “Brody kept glaring at them, Bek got uncomfortable, and Jason asked him what the fuck his problem is.”
    That sounds about right. And, if it is, it’s the third time it’s happened this year alone.
    It’s like living in the center of a romance novel with an angsty love triangle. It’s fucking exhausting.
    “That’s exactly what happened. I don’t know why Brody doesn’t just tell her how he feels,” Trent replies.
    “He’s probably worried she doesn’t feel the same.”
    I bite the inside of my cheek. Nope. I’m not getting involved. “He’s a guy,” I say, deflecting it away from feelings and stuff before I let slip that I’m ninety-nine percent sure Bek feels the same. “Guys aren’t exactly known for telling people how they feel.”
    Both Trent and Drake stare at me.
    “I told Alison I loved her first,” Trent says.
    “And I’m pretty sure that, when I told you I was in love with you, you attempted to run away,” Drake adds, raising an eyebrow.
    “Yes. Well.” I scratch the top of my cheek and look away for a moment. Shit. They’ve got me there. “Brodes isn’t like you two. Plus, Bek’s actually sorta dating Jason.”
    “Sorta dating? They’re not official yet?”
    I clap my hand over my eyes and hiss a breath out. Why did I have to say “sorta dating”?
    “I thought they were official,”