Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 126580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“Mr. Bartram, why are you within walking distance of that elementary school just a block away?”
“Oh, hey, Officer Hartman.”
Our day had officially started.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
TRACE
I was in the back of my SUV, parked a block from my uncle’s place, since that meeting he’d wanted the other day was happening now. I wasn’t able to push it off anymore, but I was here and it was nighttime and I’d not heard from Jess all day. She’d called last night but hung up.
That’s when the back door opened and a body slid inside, real quick-like and stealthy.
I started to reach for my own gun when her face turned my way, and I expelled a ragged breath.
“Jess.”
Jess was in all black. I was assuming for camouflage since it was dark. She’d gotten the jump on the guys, and my privacy divider was still in place.
“Mr. West?” That was Demetri. He was the driver tonight.
Pajn was out of the car, and as he opened her door from the outside, I was pressing the intercom button.
Jess had her gun out. It wasn’t pointed at Pajn, but it was out.
She was feeling on edge, vulnerable.
I spoke into the intercom. “It’s fine.” I let go of the intercom button, giving a nod to Pajn, who eased back and returned to the front seat.
Jess shot me a dark look before reaching and pulling her door shut.
“We’re beyond that.” I looked down at her gun, which was still drawn. “Also, I know guns. Your safety is on.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she holstered her weapon.
“Why’d you call last night?”
Her jaw tightened.
I tensed, waiting . . .
A sigh from her. “Why does it matter?”
I made sure my tone was soft. “It matters to me. You matter to me.”
I didn’t know why she sought me out. I’m sure there was a reason, but she didn’t look ready to confess to it. Instead, I was going my route.
“Why’d you call, Jess?”
Her head lowered, but she didn’t turn to me. She remained facing the door. “It’s family, right? That’s our code for ‘shitty situations.’”
She was giving me something.
I wanted more. I needed more.
I asked, “What happened?”
“Just . . . my mom being her usual bitch self. She called.”
Right. Some of my tension shifted to sympathy. A slice of pain went through me. “When you looked me up, did the file have what happened with my own mother?”
She half turned my way, stopped, thought about it, and her head turned the rest of the way.
I felt better, seeing her eyes on me. I felt even better seeing there was no condemnation there. Just curiosity. “She killed herself. I was in California at the time, but my sister was here. She was a freshman in high school, and it messed her up.”
“Why’d she do it?”
“She didn’t leave a note, but my guess—my dad fucked up enough, and she’d just had it? He’s a piece of work, if your report didn’t have that either.”
“It did about your dad, not about your mom. Or your sister.”
“Remmi. She won’t talk about those days. No one will, so I don’t really know myself what happened. I knew my mom was torn down by my father. Every year, every month, every day. She was a shell of herself by the end, and not in a good way. She was bitter, angry. I got my fair share of phone calls taking her anger out on me. I can’t imagine what Remmi went through.”
“Are you sharing that thinking I’ll feel even more of a connection to you?”
“I’m saying that I have some awareness of how shitty it is to get woken up to a phone call from a mother abusing her child. That’s all.”
She didn’t reply, only staring hard at me until I felt a shift in the air.
A wall split open for me.
“My mom’s mistake was choosing my dad, but if she hadn’t, then my brother wouldn’t have been born and . . . I can’t fault her for that. What happens after is whatever happens after.”
“She had you too.”
Her head lifted again, her jaw firmed. She reached for the door handle. “Yeah, well. Maybe that was her other mistake.” She opened the door and was gone, not bothering to shut the door.
I got out, looking up and down both sidewalks, but she was truly gone. A ghost.
“Your uncle just called. He wants to know where we are.” Demetri had gotten out behind me, going to shut her door.
I nodded, resignation taking place in me. “Tell him we’re coming now.”
I got back inside, readying for this meeting, but I did not miss what just happened. Something that had changed the game.
Jess had come to me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
JESS
Kelly was off.
The moving had started this week. Most of her stuff was gone. Her clothes went on Tuesday. Her kitchen items, her photos went on Wednesday. Her bed and couch went yesterday. She didn’t have much else at the place. But considering they were doing the move, I thought she’d talk more with me than she had. She’d been quiet all week. It had me wondering if Justin had said something about seeing me with Trace. Either way, I was working at Katya and keeping my eye on him in the section next to me.