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The younger detective looked down at his notepad. “Vandalism, arson, and attempted murder or, depending on what happens to his mother, murder.”
Shit.
“I’d like some time alone to speak to my client.”
The detectives shuffled out, and I sat across from Spencer.
Once the door was closed and the light to the camera in the corner turned off, I said, “What the hell happened? Why did you call me? Why isn’t Dominick here? And this last question is the most important. Did you sayanythingto the police?”
26
Dominick
It wasfive in the morning, and I was getting ready to leave for work soon when there was a knock at my front door.
It was still dark outside, and I didn’t know a single soul who would be at my doorstep this early in the morning.
I grabbed the bat I kept in the closet just as a precaution and opened the door.
“Please tell me you have coffee,” a tired-looking Vivian said as she pushed me out of the way on her way to my kitchen.
Stunned, I stood there with the front door halfway open and my jaw on the floor. The sound of a cupboard door slamming jolted me out of my stupor, and I shut the door, put down the bat, and headed to the kitchen.
Vivian lowered an empty glass from her mouth and gestured it toward me. “Sorry, I needed water first.”
“Vivian, what the hell are you doing here?”
When I’d told her I wanted her to lose my number, I’d meant it. But only until the phone buzzed and I found myself hoping it was her. At least for a week or so. I’d come to the conclusion a while ago that she wasn’t going to contact me again.
Unfazed by the lack of a greeting, she opened another cupboard door and took out a coffee mug. She poured herself a cup and slowly turned around to face me.
Even with her flat hair, puffy eyes, and wrinkled clothes, I wanted her just as much as I had the last time I saw her.
And then it hit me.
“I need to sit down.” But instead of sitting, I fell back against the wall.
It wasn’t until after I’d left Vivian’s apartment the night I confronted her that I realized I hadn’t used a condom. I had told myself it was one time and everything was going to be fine.
But now, she was here to tell me she was pregnant.
“Oh fuck. I’m not ready to be a father.” I met her eyes. “But whatever you need from me, it’s yours.”
“What?” Vivian’s brow furrowed in confusion. “No. I got my period; plus, I’m on the pill. Thanks for checking, by the way.”
I gulped in a breath of air.Fuck. That was close. And I felt like an asshole because she had a point.
“I’m not here because of a kid.” She paused and tilted her head back and forth. “Well, not that kid anyway. I’m here about your brother.”
“My brother? Whatever for?”
Vivian came over to me and put her hand on my arm. “Dominick, I think you should sit down for this.”
* * *
“So, my mother is in the hospital, my brother is in juvie, Marjorie’s trailer is toast, and my brother is the one accused of setting it on fire,” I said, pacing back and forth in my kitchen.
Vivian nodded. “Yes.”
