Page 43 of Rough Fantasy

“Yeah, and yours is completely brunette now. I don’t know why you would have changed it before.”

She laughed and he watched as Micah turned his head slightly, his expression softening a bit.

“So, you boys here for a vacation?” she asked.

He would usually take offense at being called a boy, but he had a feeling Dee Ross didn’t mean anything by it.

“Yeah.”

Then, her and Maura started talking.

“Are you here because of Peterson?” Micah asked.

Zee nodded. “In a way. I don’t think we have anything to worry about, really. We turned everything over to the FBI, they took it from there. We aren’t even mentioned in any of the papers. They conducted their own investigation. Conner just thought it best if we were removed from the situation at least during the beginning of the trial. Plus, he was worried about other things,” he said looking over at Maura.

Micah followed his line of vision and nodded in understanding. “What flavor did you say you wanted, babe?”

“Chocolate. But I can get it.”

“No, you sit. You remember what the doc said about staying off your feet as much as possible. Maura?”

“Vanilla, waffle cone.”

He signaled with his head and they followed him.

“She’s not looking very good.”

It wasn’t an accusation, but it still felt that way. He bit back the retort, but apparently Ross picked up on his feelings.

“And don’t be getting upset with me. It’s just an observation. Since everything that went down with Conner, I know that she has been on edge. Dee said she sensed it in her voice when they would talk. She’s been a little worried about Maura. Running the office by herself is hard.”

“I’m there and I hate to have to keep pointing this out, but I’m partners with Conner,” Zee said. Rory sensed he was mildly irritated.

Ross sighed as he stepped in line. “I get that, but you know that girl. She’s so focused on not letting Conner down. The fact that she’s changing hair color is a sure sign.”

Rory frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”

Ross eyed him. “Dee has said in the past that Maura changes her hair color when she is upset.”

Zee nodded. “I picked up on it, but at least she didn’t go dark. When Conner and Jillian were in that mess, she died it black. That wasn’t pretty.”

He glanced back at the table and smiled when he watched her throw her head back and laugh.

“Does Conner know?” Ross asked.

He had to pull his attention away from Maura to concentrate on Ross. He found the Dom watching him without an expression on his face.

“What?”

“No, he doesn’t know,” Zee said. “And we would rather not have to deal with that.”

Ross crossed his arms and stared them down. Rory had dealt with more bastards than he wanted to remember, but at the moment, most of them paled in comparison to Micah Ross.

“There is one thing I want both of you to understand. I love my wife.”

“Nice to know,” Rory said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

“My wife has a soft spot in her heart for Maura. I do too.”