The Divorcee Murder Club

Cincuenta Y Ocho ~ 58

“You know I care about Mindy,” I glare at Nadia. “I’d never lay a finger on her, let alone hurt her.” 

“Oh, please. Didn’t you cheat on her?” Nadia huffs, but Chloe comes to my rescue.

“They were friends with benefits, so technically, not cheating,” she says. “And why are you getting defensive with Miguel? Richie is the wife-beating asshole. Not him.”

“Because he broke Mindy’s heart!” Nadia barks, and Chloe fires back.

“Yeah, well, a broken heart is better than being laid up in the hospital because your ex-husband tried to kill you.” 

“We don’t know that,” Neil says.

“Wanna bet?” Chloe says.

Nadia throws her hands in the air with a grunt, “I don’t care about any of this shit. All I know is my best friend almost died. She coded while in surgery, and they almost couldn’t bring her back to life. So I don’t care if the cops are eyeing you, Miguel. Or if Richie did it. He’s dead. Good riddance. The only thing I care about is Mindy!”

“I get it,” I say. “Doesn’t mean I appreciate you painting a target on my back.”

“It’s not like I was gossiping,” Nadia says. “A detective asked me questions, and I answered, so how about you fuck right off, Miguel!”

Neil gasps, “Nadia.”

“Fuck you too!”

“What the hell did I do?”

“Oh, you know.” Nadia’s eyes flick to Chloe, then back to him. “But whatever. I’m going back upstairs.”

Turning on her heels, she walks away, holding out her middle finger. Real classy. I am also confused.

“What the hell just happened?” I turn to Neil, and he sighs deeply.

“Nadia and I used to mess around. So she’s jealous of Chloe.”

“Of me?” she laughs

“Yeah…” Neil laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s usually the three of us—Mindy, Nadia, and me. Sometimes people even think I’m their gay sidekick, but now you’ve come along, Chloe, which messes up our trio dynamic. Nadia is jealous. Plus, I think she still has feelings for me, and I don’t blame her. My dick is hard to forget.”

Chloe snorts and smacks his chest. “Seriously?” 

“I had to lighten the mood.” Neil shrugs. “But come on, I am pretty good in bed, right?” 

“Yes, amazing.” Chloe rolls her eyes with a laugh.

“I get the jealousy,” I say. “But why is Nadia spitting venom at me?” 

Neil places his hand on my shoulder and sighs. “The last twenty-four hours have been a lot. Mindy almost died, so Nadia has all of this emotional energy and took it out on you. Easy target.”

“Well, I hope it doesn’t bite me in the ass. I meant what I said. That detective came to my house and made accusations. My mom thinks she was fishing, but I got a bad feeling.” 

“For what it’s worth, I know you would never hurt Mindy,” Neil says.

Good. At least someone believes I could never.

∆∆∆

It’s been a few days since I visited Mindy in the hospital, and I’ve been able to get some sleep—feel a pinch normal. Thankfully, Chloe has kept me in the loop, and I learned that Mindy opened her eyes this morning. She’s still under heavy pain medication, so no one has dropped the bomb about her being paralyzed, and my heart already aches about how she’ll take the news. I can’t imagine waking up in a hospital and learning that my life will never be the same because I can’t walk.