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I thought about that and then shrugged.
“Let’s see what they have to say happened,” I suggested. “Then I’ll let you know if I can run afterward or not.”
He grinned, and once again, I was struck by how handsome he was.
The scars didn’t detract from his overall attraction.
They would’ve turned anyone normal off.
But, I found that the scars only added to his appeal to me.
I was quickly beginning to realize that I was fighting a losing battle in my attraction to the man.
“Let’s go.” He paused, his eyes finally taking in the house behind me and not me. “Nice place.”
I shrugged at his unanswered question.
Why did I live in a family neighborhood? Why did I have a three-bedroom house all to myself?
“When I’d moved into this house, it was always with the plan for Luca to move into it with me,” I found myself saying.
Riel’s eyes flicked to me, then away just as quickly.
“Makes sense now,” he murmured. “Did he help you pick it out?”
I shook my head. “No. His sister, Cora, helped me. We found this place and I fell in love with it. She and my dad helped me co-sign.”
I had a feeling that would’ve been his next question—how I could afford a three-bedroom house in this particular neighborhood.
Everyone always asked.
It was one of the more influential ones in Kilgore, and definitely one that people sought out when they were looking for a safe, family-friendly neighborhood.
“Parents are nice like that, I guess.” He paused. “At least your dad and Luca’s are. I haven’t spoken to my supposed parents since I got back.”
I hated that for him.
Even more, I hated that they didn’t care that he’d made it out alive while Gabe and Ember would’ve been ecstatic and over the moon just to get one more day with their son.
It sucked when selfish people were given children they weren’t appreciative of.
“Let’s go,” he suggested, changing the subject.
I allowed the subject change, sensing that he didn’t want to talk about it.
I wouldn’t, either.
Not if I had parents like his that couldn’t care less if he was alive or not.
I mean, what kinds of parents didn’t check on their children?
He was missing for a year and a half!
Upon hearing that he was alive, I would’ve been on the first plane to Germany.
Following that, I would’ve been at his side the moment that he got home. I also wouldn’t have wasted the last few months that he’d been home. I’d be trying to help him remember me.
Hell, he had more memories of Gabe and Ember now than he did of his own parents!
When I stepped off the curb behind him, he grabbed my hand and tugged me backward and to the left.
That was when I saw the police officers barreling around the corner of the fire truck.
“Sorry,” one officer rumbled. “Oh, hey, Riel.”
I smiled, loving that they were now calling him by his nickname and not his first name.
“Officer Taggart,” he said. “Could you tell me what’s going on?”
“Some high school kid got himself shot today,” Officer Taggart answered. “He’s going to be all right, but we think it’s related to the shooting that happened a few weeks ago.”
Riel’s eyes met mine as he widened them at me.
I widened mine right back.
“Yao here?” Riel asked. “And what’s the kid’s name that lives here?”
Officer Taggart pointed to a fuming Yao who was in the corner of the yard.
“I’m not sure of the name,” he admitted. “I just got there, I can ask…”
Riel shook him off. “I’ll go talk to Yao.”
And that was exactly what we did next.
We arrived next to Yao just as he barked some orders at a young officer.
The officer skittered away just as Riel and I arrived.
“Riel, Frankie,” Yao said, his eyes going to my hand that was still firmly placed in Riel’s.
I was absently rubbing my hands over Riel’s scars, and that was when I realized what, exactly, I was doing.
But when I tried to pull away, Riel tightened his grip.
“What happened?” Riel asked, refusing to let me go.
Yao sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
“Teenage turf war or something,” he muttered darkly. “I talked to this kid a couple of days ago and he told me he had no fuckin’ clue what was going on with that Cromwell fucker. I actually believed him. Let him off because he had an airtight alibi…”
“Fuck,” Riel cursed. “This is the same kid that you had in the station the other day?”
Yao frowned, and I suddenly had a sinking sensation fill my stomach.
“Melly,” I said aloud.
Yao tilted his head in confusion. “What?”
I swallowed hard, and Riel started to curse.
“I was filling her in yesterday on the investigation,” Riel said, sounding like he was berating himself. “There was a nurse that came in to use the restroom during my explanation. I figured since it was all public knowledge that it was okay to tell her. Hell, they’d even had it in the five o’clock news. I just assumed that Cromwell would already know… but the timing is circumspect. Melly, the woman he’s seeing, was the nurse to overhear. At least, I assume she overheard. Because that was last night, and suddenly this happens? The timing is too good for it not to be related.”
