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“I’m not nice. I’m snarky and selfish. But I’m also not pretending.” Kit pocketed her badge. “I was a runaway when I was a little younger than you are now. The restaurant where I’m going will be filled with former runaways. Today, we’re a family because of our mom and dad. They fostered, then adopted us. We’re celebrating another adoption tonight. She’s your age. She’ll tell you true.” Kit drew a breath and told them the real reason she’d gotten involved. “Plus, I don’t want you guys on the street tonight. My sister was killed on these streets when she was fifteen. I’ll do a lot to keep even one more kid from dying on the street. I’ll even be nice.”
Sam’s green eyes had gone soft. Grateful. And full of respect, not pity.
Dammit.
The two girls shared a long glance, and then the shorter one nodded. Tall squared her shoulders. “I’m Jane and she’s…Janey.”
The shorter one rolled her eyes. “Janey? Really?”
Tall—Jane—elbowed her. “Hush.”
Kit’s lips twitched. “Come on. You can follow behind us. That way if you change your minds you can bolt, and we won’t be the wiser.”
“Right,” Jane muttered. “I bet you have eyes in the back of your head.”
Kit chuckled. “Maybe I do. Come on. It’s getting late and I promised my mom I’d be on time for once.” She set off walking, Sam falling into step beside her. “Rita’s having an adoption dinner. You want to come?”
“She asked me already. I declined.”
Kit glanced up at him, surprised. “Why? She really likes you.”
His smile was back to being sad. “Because I didn’t think you’d want me there.”
Kit sucked in a breath. “Ouch.”
Sam shrugged. “Was I right?”
“Probably,” she muttered. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s your family. You need to feel comfortable with them and I make you uncomfortable.”
“Why?” Jane asked from behind them. “Why does he make you uncomfortable, DeKit? Or should I say ‘Detective Kit’?”
“She’s smart,” Kit said to Sam, then looked over her shoulder. Jane and Janey were still following them, but their fear had returned full force. So Kit was honest, because if they didn’t trust her and Sam, they wouldn’t go to New Horizons. “Because he likes me and I told him no. He’s respected every boundary I’ve set.”
Jane’s gaze flicked from Kit to Sam, then back to Kit. “Then why did you tell him no if he’s such a nice guy?”
Sam cleared his throat. “She is smart, DeKit.”
Kit hesitated, because this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with anyone, much less with two teenagers she’d never met before. But the girls balanced on the balls of their feet, poised to run, so Kit bit the bullet. “Because I’m not nice,” she said, hating that her eyes burned. “I’m driven and selfish with my time. I work a lot. He needs someone nicer than me.”
“You’re scared,” Janey said meekly.
“She’s smart, too,” Sam muttered.
Cheeks burning, Kit stopped walking, turning to face the teens. Janey took an anxious step back and Jane, fists clenched, put herself between Janey and Kit.
So much like I was. The memory of her fear that night as she glared up at Harlan McKittrick, her fists clenched, came back to her in a rush. Harlan had been honest with her. That night and every single day of her life thereafter.
So she’d pay it forward to these girls. Anything to keep them off the street.
“You’re right,” Kit said quietly. “I am scared. Dr. Sam’s nice. Far nicer than me. He deserves not to be hurt, and I don’t want to hurt him.” She stiffened, done with the conversation. “Are you two coming to dinner or not?”
The two girls looked at each other again. “Yes,” the shorter girl all but whispered. “Because I think you are nice. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t worry about hurting him.”
Kit scowled. “Come on. We’re late.” She turned on her heel and started walking. If they followed her, so be it. She’d done her best.
“And me?” Sam asked as he kept pace with her. “Should I come, too?”
