I didn't like where this was going. Cousin or not, she should've known the guy was up to no good. Working hard to keep my cool, I said, "Oh yeah?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It was like he thought I was just trying to check on the house or something."
No shit. "Yeah, because you should've."
Her mouth tightened. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Hey, I'm just saying."
"Well, don't." She sighed. "I mean…you don't need to, okay? I know I should've checked. In fact, that's why I was at the house when you caught me in the shower. I was checking on my so-called investment."
I gave her a look. "And how'd that go?"
"You know how it went," she said. "Terrible."
I wouldn't have called it terrible. But yeah, it hadn't gone terrific – unless I counted the sight of Arden with no clothes on. That hadn't been so terrible.
In my mind, I could still see her bare silhouette. She'd looked good. Too good. Through the shower's frosted glass, I hadn't seen much, but what I had seen had been more than enough to get me thinking.
I was still thinking.
But now, the thought of Arden naked was a distraction I didn't need. Already, my body was responding, which only served to piss me off. As I shifted my stance, I told her, "Hey, I was there. Remember?"
"I know you were there," she said. "But you just asked how it went. What, you didn't want an answer?"
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying?"
I was still putting the pieces together. "I'm saying, tell me something I don't know."
"Like what?" she asked.
"Like what happened before I got there."
"Nothing happened," she said. "Jason's supposed to be living there, right? But when I show up, the house is empty, and Jason's nowhere in sight, which makes no sense whatsoever, because I called him beforehand to let him know I was coming. He even promised to meet me." Her shoulders slumped. "But he never showed."
What an asshole.
On that same night, I hadn't shown up until well past midnight, which meant that Arden had been alone in a vacant house for longer than was safe.
When I considered what might've happened to her, I felt my jaw clench. "And then?"
"And then I start texting him. And calling him. And emailing him, too."
Her story jived with what I'd seen on her phone – lots of messages going out and none coming back in.
The way it looked, she'd been had.
I wasn't sure what pissed me off more – that she'd fallen for an obvious scam, or that I'd ended up with swindled property. As far as the house itself, although I hadn't handled the transaction personally, I'd paid a fair price – hell, more than fair, considering its sorry condition.
And now, like a dumb-ass, I was angry on Arden's behalf.
I wanted to find that cousin of hers and beat the money out of him. It wasn't about the cash. Hell, if I wanted, I could give Arden that on my own.
It was the principle.
The guy had cheated his own cousin. And then there was Arden's mom. She sounded like a real piece of work – not as bad as mine, but bad enough.
"So about your cousin," I said, "did he ever get back to you?"
"Yeah, once." Arden rolled her eyes. "After I leave him like a hundred messages. We talked for barely ten minutes. And the whole time, he's acting all funny, like he's scared or something – which of course, he should be, considering that I'll be wanting my money back."
"You mean for the payments."
"Right. And the taxes." She blew out a long, trembling breath. "And the so-called repairs, including some that he supposedly made just last month."
What the fuck?
I shook my head. "So let me get this straight. You kept on writing him checks?"
"Well, yeah," she said. "I didn't want to lose the house – or see it fall apart. The way Jason talked, it was in terrible shape, a lot worse than I ever realized."
No kidding. Another few months, and the house would've been beyond repair. Forget the plumbing and the electricity. It was the roof that was the real issue. Once you have water pouring into any structure, it's only a matter of time before everything goes to pot.
My blood was boiling now as I considered all the ways she'd been cheated.
I told Arden, "But he didn't fix a damn thing."
"Well…we don't know that for sure." She bit her lip. "I mean, he might've made some repairs."
"Trust me. He didn't. And you should've checked."
She frowned. "Yeah. I know. And you don't need to keep telling me that, alright?"
I'd say it a dozen more times if that's what it took. "You sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure. And besides, what if I couldn’t check?"
It was no excuse. I had dozens of properties all over the country, and I kept a close eye on all of them. I replied, "Then you should've had someone else do it."
"Oh yeah?" she scoffed. "Like who?"
"Hell if I know."
"Exactly!" she said. "And hell if I knew either. And let's say I did know someone who was willing to do it, and who knew at least a little something about construction, what was I supposed to do? Have them show up on Jason's doorstep and demand to see the repairs?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because he's my cousin. Don’t you think that would've been kind of rude?"
"Compared to what?" I said. "Taking your money and doing fuck-all with it?"
Now she looked ready to cry, and I felt like a prick for pushing the issue. But this was Arden Weathers. And her story was filled with holes.
She wasn't stupid. So why all the dumb decisions?
What the hell was this? Some sort of ploy to get my house into her name?
I mean, yeah, I was angry on
