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Or, more importantly, I didn’t want to give her the name of the man that owned the land. There was a reason that her best friend wasn’t telling her. I didn’t know why Wyett hadn’t disclosed that Six’s father shared the land with Wyett, but I wouldn’t be opening that box of worms. It wasn’t my place.
“Interesting,” she said. “Because that means that I’ve trespassed on your land a lot. It’s not that I mean to, but I thought that Wyett said something about there being fences that separated the property. That means that there isn’t one.”
“There’s one small section that there isn’t,” I agreed. “It’s, from what I understand, about a quarter of a mile from where you walked out.”
“Why isn’t there a fence there?” Six wondered.
I shrugged. “There just hasn’t been one there since I bought the land. I’ll remedy that this weekend, though.”
Six’s lips twitched. “That would probably be for your benefit.”
It would indeed.
“Can I get you something to eat?” I asked.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are my options ketchup and cooking wine?”
My lips twitched. “No. I was going to place a to-go order through the restaurant in town.”
“Crockett’s Corner store?” she asked. “I just had them for lunch, but if you give me about an hour, I could probably go for another burger.”
I looked over at Bruno, who nodded. “He’ll get it for us.”
Six’s eyes went to Bruno, and they narrowed.
Turning back to me, she said, “Do you have a shower I could use?”
I eyed her up and down. “I do.”
“Thanks,” she dismissed Bruno. “If you tell me where to go, I’ll find my own way.”
Someone was pissed. Like, way pissed.
“The only stocked bedroom besides mine is up on the second floor. Last door on your left,” I said softly.
Away from windows, prying eyes, and us.
Which worked for me because I had a few things that I wanted to talk to Bruno and Laric about.
Not that Laric was anywhere in sight.
But he would be once he was done with the tasks I’d asked of him before I’d left.
For now, I’d have a long conversation with Bruno on what was going on.
Because I felt like I was missing something.
“Fine,” she said. “But the real question is, is your shower better than the one you want to give me? Because I don’t want to be given a second-rate shower. I want my kidnapping experience to be rated five stars.”
I blinked.
“His shower is better,” Bruno said. “But there’s only masculine stuff in there. If you want girly shit…”
“Silence, you fool,” she hissed, pointing her finger at him in agitation.
“Did you just quote Fairly Odd Parents to me?” he asked, his voice sounding higher.
She flipped him off. “I might have. But just sayin’, you are a fool.”
And with that she turned on her heels and walked away, not to look back again.
I waited until I heard her talking on the second-story level before I turned to Bruno.
“Want to tell me what the hell is up with that?” I asked. “You didn’t just drop her for no reason.”
Bruno grimaced.
“Her father felt it best that I stop talking to her,” he said. “He felt like she would do better at school if I wasn’t here to constantly want her to come home. So when she called, I didn’t answer. And I was a dumb, impressionable kid. Poor as fuck. He offered me a lot of money to stay away.”
“Her father paid off a fuckin’ kid?” I asked.
“He did.” Bruno shrugged. “Kind of disappoints me how I acted now. I should have done better, but hell, I was young. Not many kids act smartly at that age. And it was a thousand bucks. That was huge for me. Lasted me for a long time. Almost until I could get a real job.”
“That explains why you stayed away from her when you were younger. Why did you continue to?” I pushed.
Bruno’s eyes went hard. “Because I became who you made me. And I didn’t want her involved in that shit.”
That was true.
I’d somewhat adopted Bruno when he was a shithead little eighteen-year-old and tried to steal my car. I say try, because he’d obviously done his research. He was very good. He just wasn’t me.
So, I’d caught him red-handed, roughed him up, and given him a couple of options. Learn some skills, hone them, and then put them to work, or let him rot in jail. He’d chosen me.
I’d sent him to the Army, which had then pissed him off.
He’d thought that I was going to personally teach him those skills, but there were just some things that you couldn’t learn without time spent on the skill. And what better way to get experience than learning it with a few friends along the way?
Except Bruno was different. Though he had friends he made along the way, he’d always been somewhat guarded.
