He grinned. “I hear my brother’s loaded.”
I chuckled out a laugh. “I am.”
He sobered. “I gotta get my life figured out outside of this. It’ll take me two weeks to do. If your friend can swing a new identity in that time…”
“Then you’re more than welcome,” Black said. “How do you feel about a sheriff’s deputy job?”
Van grimaced. “No offense but…no. I’m tired of taking orders from people. Y’all got an auto mechanic’s shop here?”
“We do,” Black said. “A buddy, Courtland, owns it. I’m sure he’d appreciate some help.”
He nodded. “I’ll look into everything when I get back. I’ll leave tomorrow morning. Will my being gone affect the situation with Brooke and Nadine any?”
Black shook his head. “They don’t even know you’re here.”
“Then let me get my shit straightened out. Y’all figure out how to nail them to the wall.”
Thirty
Sometimes I have to turn off the news and put on a serial killer documentary so I can relax.
—Sage to Gentry
Sage
Ten days later
Dean giggled as he threw a ball for Neo and Neo nudged it back across the yard to him.
His muzzle was still in place, but only when Dean was near.
In the ten days that Van had been gone, Dean had flourished. He spoke to Van on the phone every single day, talking to his father for an hour about everything that had happened that day.
He’d officially come out of his shell.
Dean and Gentry had a great relationship, too.
One that seemed to fit perfectly.
Uncle and nephew.
“Can we take the muzzle off, please?” Dean begged.
“Uh-uh,” I said distractedly as I frowned down at my phone.
Gentry opened the door and said, “Sage?”
I looked back at him. “Yeah?”
“Come here.”
I did, my phone still glued to my hand. “Did you see this?”
He pointed to the wall where his TV was mounted.
My mouth fell open as I stared at the screen.
I read the subtitles despite the woman speaking out loud.
