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And, let me tell you something, I wasn’t raised to be stupid.
So I took his new positioning in stride, pulling the beach towel that was the only thing between us out, and then laying it over us so that we were both mostly covered.
His big hand moved so that it was resting on my lower belly, just above the indecently low bikini that Six had loaned me.
“As far as I can tell, there’s not much going on.” Zach shrugged. “She came over yesterday and asked me to help her put the trash into the trash can. Sweet little thing. But I didn’t see any bruises. She was in shorts and a t-shirt, so none visible, anyway.”
“I saw her this morning,” I said. “She was with her mom, though. They were both getting into their car so the mom could take her to school. They were talking about going out for dinner tonight, and the mom said that she couldn’t do it because she didn’t have time off of work. And she’d have to fend for herself until she could get home.”
“She’s six, right?” Blaise entered into the conversation. “That’s a little too young to be fending for herself, right?”
“The law states that if your child has the mental capacity to stay home, then they can stay home by themselves. At least in Texas,” Lynn murmured before taking a bite of the pizza crusts that Six kept leaving on his plate.
“Hmm,” I said. “Well, I see her every day when the mom has to work. They come into the store and the mom purchases a coffee to go and a breakfast sandwich for Zakelina. I can start pumping them for information if you think it’ll help?”
Sin actually looked kind of relieved. “Thanks. I should’ve just taken this case and I would have the information by now. But now she won’t even talk to me.”
Zach then went on to explain the specifics of the case as far as he knew, and what they suspected.
“That’s awful,” I admitted. “I may have been neglected and all, but at least they didn’t hit me.”
“I can’t even imagine,” Beckham said. “Your father and the way he treats you? That’s not something that I’ll ever be able to comprehend. My father would move heaven and earth to make sure that I was happy. Even when I was a little asshole teenager, he didn’t totally and completely write me off. If anyone deserves their dads to dislike them a little bit, it is us at the age of thirteen when our hormones are all out of whack.”
I snorted. “There was one time that my father and stepmother refused to buy me tampons. I hadn’t done something that day for them. I’d forgotten. I don’t even remember what it was now. But I do remember the fact that I had no way to take care of that particular problem. Nor did I have any money to go get my own. I had to steal some from the neighbor’s house across the street. She had a box in her car.”
“I hate your dad,” Blaise said, having spent the last thirty minutes being given the super-quick version of why we were all there, what had happened to me today as well as in the past, and had come to the conclusion that I should disown my family.
And yes, even my brother and sisters.
I wouldn’t give up on them, though.
Not now, and not ever.
Even when it hurt when they continuously went back to my father after his treating me like shit.
One day, it wouldn’t hurt so bad, or be so fresh.
But that day definitely wasn’t today.
“I’ll get a better look tomorrow with the little girl.” Zach went back to our earlier conversation, I was sure because if he went with Blaise’s line of conversation, he’d get mad as fuck all over again. And he’d finally calmed down. “I have to leave for my parents’ house the day after tomorrow. But when I get back, I’ll start a bit of surveillance.”
Sin jerked his chin up in thanks, and I shifted in my seat, causing Zach’s hand to inch impossibly lower.
“I do speak another language!” Six yelled from a few chairs down, catching everyone’s attention.
Lynn looked at her skeptically. “Which one is that?”
“Shit.” She winked at him. “I talk English and shit.”
Lynn burst out laughing at that announcement, reaching for the crust that she was holding out to him with a grin on her face.
“I’ll be damned,” Trick murmured lightly. “You’re right. You are fluent in talking shit, too.”
Six pulled up her fist and Trick fist-bumped her.
CHAPTER 15
People sit around on their phones, but when I pull out a book, I’m the one that’s anti-social.
-Zach to Crockett
ZACH
Despite the long fucking day, I was wired.
That was usually how it went when I had something on my mind.
