Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Rachel, Wednesday

Rachel luxuriated in the feel of Lauren's naked body spooned into hers as Lauren dozed on their bed, still catching up on some sleep after working two straight doubles. She felt cozy and content, like she did when she used to sleep over at Lauren's place when they were kids. She didn't even care that Lauren felt too tired to start anything right now; she promised she'd be up for it if she slept a few hours. They had all day, she could wait. Al, on the other hand, was practically thrumming with lust, so Rachel sent him downstairs to do something else while he waited. Maybe he'd bring them a late breakfast in bed; he'd done it before, in the early months of their marriage, but not so much lately, so busy were they with managing two kids.

She watched Lauren's sleeping face and was awed at how young she looked when she was relaxed and free of her daily concerns. Her lips parted slightly like a child's, her hair carelessly draped over her face. She combed it back over her ear, and Lauren's nose twitched and she nestled further into her. Rachel purred and ran a hand along Lauren's hip, feeling her soft skin, and fought the urge to slide her hand between Lauren's legs. She didn't want to wake Lauren up before she was ready, and molesting her while she was sleeping didn't seem like the right thing to do. 

A sound from downstairs interrupted her appreciation of Lauren's body. It sounded like an opening door. Then there were voices. A woman's, then Al's, then... was that Emma? She was supposed to be at Lauren's right now, with Naomi and Tosh, waiting for Tej to pick them up to go to the beach.

Rachel froze. She couldn't even let herself breathe. What was Emma doing here? Did she get sick and have to come home? Who drove her home? Was that Tej down there now?

Please don't come up here, she thought. If Tej saw the two of them in bed, and Al downstairs, wearing a robe and nothing else, she'd put two and two together and have a story to tell Sunny when she got home, and maybe word would even get to Joe.

A few more exchanges between Al, Emma, and (maybe) Tej, and then a door closed, and then silence. Rachel waited, as still as she could be, straining her ears. Nothing.

She stayed like that until Al returned to the bedroom a few minutes later, looking pale and wide-eyed. 

"What happened?" Rachel whisper-shouted at him.

"Emma forgot her prescription goggles," Al whispered back so as not to wake Lauren. "Tej brought her back to get them before they left for the beach. Emma had her key, and she just let herself in."

"Was Tej with her?"

"Yeah," Al said, looking pained.

"What did they say when they saw you?"

"Well, of course they wondered what I was doing there. I had to pretend I was sick and had to come home." He fake-coughed to illustrate his charade. "Poor Emma asked if she should stay home and look after me, but I assured her I'd be fine and that it wasn't her job to take care of me, and that she should go have fun at the beach. I almost had to push her back out the door."

Rachel felt her heart swell again for that sweet girl, and also felt a little wretched for deceiving her. "Do you think Tej believed you?"

"I don't know. I think she smelled something fishy, and she kept looking toward the door, as if she saw something outside."   

Rachel gasped. "Oh, shit," she whispered. "Lauren's car is parked on the street."

"Fuck," Al breathed. "No. You don't think she'd recognize it, do you?"

Rachel shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I'm sure she's seen it before, but whether she could tell it from another Nissan Versa, I can't be sure."

Al had one hand in his hair, the other on his hip, and was shifting from foot to foot like he had to pee. "What do we do? Wait for the axe to fall?"