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I chuckle. “You have to remember he’s close to delusional at that point. He probably genuinely thought the fucker disrespected him.”
Kamden shakes his head. There’s still a little smile there.
Exactly what I wanted.
“So what happened to the goat?”
“Nothing. Garcia dragged John away while Vasquez—another one of us—fed the goat the rest of the meal.”
Kamden gasps. “Oh, Dad must have been so mad.”
“Oh, he was. He didn’t speak to Vasquez for almost two hours.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“Your father was extremely dramatic.”
“No, he wasn’t!”
“He absolutely was.”
“You kidnapped me,” he blurts out, the abrupt statement making me pause. Kamden’s smile disappears, and I brace for another turn, only for him to add, “So I… uh… I don’t know if I can trust your judgment about people’s personalities.”
A short laugh escapes me, because that is not how I expected that to go. “Fair.”
His cheeks bloom pink again, and though I force myself not to look, I catch the curve of his smile. Cute. God, so fucking cute. I swallow.
Nope.
John’s kid.
The boy John used to carry photographs of in waterproof bags because he was so worried he’d lose them.
That boy—not something for me to want.
Kamden goes quiet again.
For a moment, I wonder if I should leave him alone now that I’ve managed to improve his mood, but before I can stand, he asks, “Do you have a lot of stories like that?” His voice is shy, careful, like he’s nervous he’s asking for too much. It kills me.
“About John?”
He nods.
“Hundreds,” I say.
His fingers stroke slowly down his rabbit’s ear. “Oh…”
I wait, but he doesn’t say anything else. Still, one thing I learned a long time ago is that people will tell you what they actually want if you leave enough silence around them.
Kamden lasts approximately fifteen seconds.
“Could…” He stops. Tries again. “Could you tell me another one?”
Something clenches in my chest. I draw a breath and offer the gentlest smile I can muster. “Yeah, sweetheart. What kind?”
His gaze flickers downward at the pet name, cheeks taking on the faintest wash of color again. “What kind…?” Kamden seems surprised to be given a choice. “Um… I don’t know.”
“Embarrassing?” I suggest, earning a tiny, tentative smile.
