AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I fought myself from jumping, cringing when Sloane’s hand touched my shoulder. How crazy that earlier all I’d wanted to do was to hold her and just get a feel of her after being in this place. I thought she’d been my saving grace.
But as it turned out, the girl couldn’t be farther from my fucking salvation.
Chapter Two
Sloane
Dorian was tense for some reason.
It made me sad.
I mean, I got it really. He’d just been arrested, but as I watched him clamp up in the back seat of Callum’s car, I felt bad for him. It’d been a shit day. Hell, he’d had more shit than anyone should ever deal with. This morning should have been a victory for him. He’d gotten Principal Mayberry to confess to her place in his uncle’s murder.
It had been a victory in regards to that, but obviously things had gone sour. Mayberry wasn’t supposed to turn up dead, and Dorian had led on that was the opposite of what he wanted. He hated the woman, yeah, but he also wanted her to live with what she’d done.
No, things weren’t supposed to turn out like this.
Things were quiet in the car, so quiet. Dorian’s reaction at the precinct had been so unsettling. He was jumpy, and I wanted to help him.
He wouldn’t even look at me.
He was in his head, thick fingers flying through his blond locks, and as happy as I was Callum had been there to help us, I think his presence wasn’t helping in that moment. Callum was acquainted with me as my brother’s and my guardian, yes, but he was a virtual stranger to Dorian. He had helped Dorian, which was good, but I couldn’t be open with Dorian with him here.
And I wanted to be.
I just wanted to talk to him. Things had been so different when he just saw me at the precinct. He’d been relieved. I know he had. At least, it had felt that way.
“You sure you don’t want us to take you home, Dorian?” Callum stated, up front with his driver, Lucas. The black sedan was spacious, but not enough room for him to ride in the back as well. Hell, Dorian took up two seats on his own with his size. The large boy was like a sardine in the cabin. Callum’s eyes directed to the rearview mirror. “I’m sure you’d like to see your family right away after being where you were. Go home?”
Callum was referring to the fact that Dorian wanted to go back to the cabin and get his car. He’d been adamant about making his own way after that, and even I told him I’d take him back to the cabin later if he wanted to get his Audi. Ares, his friend, had been blowing up his phone before he’d gotten arrested and his parents had too. The news had just broken about Mayberry and her affair with Dorian’s uncle.
Dorian winced, like actually winced, in the back seat. He was so jumpy, and it hurt my heart. He wasn’t like that before at all, not before his arrest, even after everything that happened today. His lips parted. “I need to get my car.”
And that was it before he faced the window. Callum hadn’t tried to make small talk with him, but I had. Again, he hadn’t looked at me.
I wanted to try again, but not here. We needed to be alone. It might make him more comfortable.
The cabin wasn’t far, but far enough that we had to drive. Things were starting to get a bit more scenic, and after a few moments, I spotted Callum’s eyes again in the mirror.
“I don’t know if Sloane told you, but her father was an old friend of mine,” he said, clearly trying here with Dorian. Anyone in the car could see he was so tense right now. Callum smiled a little. “He used to work for me actually. Did I tell you that, Sloane?”
He hadn’t, my head shaking. This did raise Dorian’s head, though, his sight in that direction.
Callum nodded. “We go way back. He was a very good man. I was very sad to hear what happened to him.”
My father was a good man. Though troubled. He had struggled with mental health long before the end of his life.
“I was glad I was able to be there for the children,” Callum continued on with. “Sloane and her brother.”
Dorian raised his head again, his eyes narrowed. He exchanged a glance between Callum and me before facing the window again.
“Going to be in town long, Callum?” Dorian asked, surprising me. He continued to stare out of the window. “This is a pretty moderately sized town, but small, which means basically everyone knows everyone.” He glanced at him. “You’re not from here, right? I don’t believe I know your family.”
Callum’s head tilted up front. “I’m visiting town, yes.” He lifted a hand. “I came to visit the children.”
“Long visit?” Dorian continued. “Short?”
Dorian sounded short, again tense.
