AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Opening the door, I was surprised to find the light on. Frowning, I took two steps into the room and froze when I saw the blanket Mav and I used to make a bed sometimes was lying on the floor. I kept it neatly folded up and hidden away, so I knew Uncle Spider or Aunt Willa hadn’t messed with it.
“Someone’s been in here,” I muttered to myself. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought that something was off in the storage room. The week before, when Lyric had come to pick up his package of ink, the box had been in a different location than I remembered placing it originally, and I thought there had been a smudge of what looked like blood on the box.
At the time, I’d just thought I’d moved it and hadn’t remembered because I was so scatterbrained from being pregnant. But now, finding the blanket on the floor, having obviously been slept on, I was sure someone had been in the storage room.
I made sure to lock up every night, so I knew unless the person doing it was some kind of magician with a lockpick, then that wasn’t how they were getting in. And other than a few misplaced things, along with the use of the blanket, nothing else had been off. There was no missing money, no missing supplies, and nothing had been vandalized.
My heart squeezed as I imagined someone breaking in just to keep warm and sleep. But as much as I felt sorry for whomever it was, I couldn’t let it continue. I wouldn’t risk anything happening to the shop just because I felt sad for a homeless person.
Muttering a curse, I walked around the shop, checking all the windows. It was in Maverick’s room that I found where the person had been getting in. His window was closed but unlocked. Upon closer inspection, I saw the smudge of fingerprints. They were small, telling me the person had slender fingers, making me think it was either a kid or possibly a woman. Definitely not a man, because all the men I’d ever met had wider fingers than those prints would match.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I walked outside. Starting at Maverick’s window, I looked
around for any footprints and found a few sets several feet away. It had rained the day before, so the dirt was still slightly damp, making the footprints stand out. Bending, I took a picture of them with my phone. By the size and shape of them, I would have guessed it was a woman in running shoes.
Straightening, I kept my gaze on the ground and tried to follow the prints. When they led me to the woods, my stomach dropped. The thought of the girl—which was what I pictured now that I’d seen the footprints—sleeping in the woods with nothing to keep her warm at night broke my heart.
I ran back into the shop and grabbed the blanket then pulled a few bottles of water from the small fridge we kept in the front. I had a supply of snacks under my desk, and I selected a few bags of chips. None of the drinks or food had been touched, which bothered me even more.
Was the girl hungry? Thirsty? What was she eating if she wasn’t eating my snacks, damn it?
Wrapping them in the blanket, I carried them out to the edge of the woods. I left everything out of sight of the shop so no one would ask questions, but where I hoped the girl would easily find it.
As I started back to the shop, I glanced over my shoulder one more time, hoping I might catch sight of someone. But I couldn’t even sense anyone. Shoulders dropping, I entered through the back door and finally got to work.
Thirteen
Maverick
On my way to work, I stopped by Aggie’s to grab some food, knowing River wouldn’t have stopped to get some for herself. I wasn’t happy she’d gone into the shop when she should have been resting, but it didn’t surprise me.
My girl wasn’t one to sit around doing nothing. She didn’t like to keep still, and she always wanted to earn her own way. It was why she’d started paying her own car insurance when she first got a vehicle, even though her mom was insistent that she didn’t need to worry about it.
Walking into the diner, I went straight to the counter where Aunt Quinn was taking care of to-go orders. Seeing me, she smiled and her eyes lit up. “Hey, sweetie. Kingston is working on your order right now.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, dropping my huge body onto one of the stools.
She grabbed a pot of coffee and a mug, pouring me a cup. “You look like you need this more than I do,” she said with a shake of her blond head. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’m good,” I assured her before swallowing half the contents of the mug in one gulp.
“Yo, man,” Kingston greeted as he walked out of the kitchen with a bag full of to-go boxes. “I put in a few extra onion rings for River. She looked like she needed a little more meat on her bones when I picked her up this morning.”
“Yeah, thanks for lending her your car,” I told him, handing over my card to his mom to pay for the food. “If her dad doesn’t bring hers back by tomorrow, I’m going to take her shopping for a new one. Maybe an SUV.” I would feel better if she were in something as big as a tank and just as sturdy. Her car was safe and pretty strong, but I needed her in something bigger.
He shrugged. “Take your time. I don’t need the cage anytime soon.” He tossed in some packets of ketchup, ranch dressing, and a few other condiments he knew River liked.
As big and as inked up as Kingston was, he didn’t look like he spent half his time behind a grill flipping burgers, but when he wasn’t working at his dad’s bar or on runs for the MC, the guy was a pretty badass cook. Aunt Quinn had been teaching him how to run Aggie’s since he was old enough to wipe down a table.
“Call and set up a time for your new tattoo,” I told him as I took the bag from him. “No charge.”
“Dude, you ain’t giving me free ink.” He put his elbows on the counter and leaned forward. “The girl might as well be my baby sister the way I love her.”
“I’m still not going to charge you for the new piece,” I argued.
He smirked. “You drive a hard bargain, my man. I mean, if you insist and all.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I scribbled my name across the slip Aunt Quinn handed over and then bent to kiss her cheek. As I turned to leave, it was to find Colt walking through the door.
