. . distraught. Like she was scared when she left him with me,” I chanced, hoping he could give me some insight on where to go from there.
He shrugged again. “She does that. Gets paranoid.” His eyes narrowed. “You’re the deaf dude, right? Your voice is all screwed up.”
Nice.
“Yup. That’s me.”
“She said you were cool.”
I didn’t want to tell him that she didn’t even know me.
I hugged Everett closer. “How did you find me?”
He gave a small smile. “Last time I talked with her, she was talking about you, mentioned what town you’re from. She’d said something about maybe trying to find you. I hadn’t heard from her in a few weeks so I went to her place to check on her. When she wasn’t there, thought I’d take a chance and see if she’d hooked back up with her baby daddy. I was worried about the kid, but it looks like he’s fine.”
Everett started fussing a bit, getting squirrelly in my hold. I shushed him, brought him to my chest, rubbed his back in attempt to calm him down. “And what about your sister?”
“She’ll come around.”
“And when she does?” Was sure it came out hard. Was sure he knew exactly what I was implying. What I was asking.
He pursed his lips and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You got the means to take care of him?”
Wasn’t so hard to figure out what he was implying, either.
Money was the language of the corrupt.
My arms tightened around Everett who was starting to cry, his head rocking back in his unrest, mouth twisted in a wail that I felt impale my skin. Something frantic bottled in my chest. This feeling coming over me that felt like an omen. Like I could taste something wicked and wrong riding in on the air.
“Yeah.”
“And you want him?”
I hugged Everett like his life depended on it. Had the horrible sense that maybe it did. “Yeah.”
He smirked. “I’m sure my sister could be handled then.”
Was he serious?
That’s what this was about? What Ashley wanted? It just . . . didn’t make sense. Not with the way she appeared that night.
He strode toward me, angling to the side as he passed, turning around and walking backward when I whirled around to watch him go. “I’ll be around.” He jutted his chin toward Everett. “Since he’s here, I figure this is where she’s gonna show.”
Then he spun around and kept walking casually down the street.
While I stood there feeling like I’d just got shoved off a bridge.
No foundation underneath.
And I had no fucking idea where I was supposed to land.
Nine
Frankie Leigh
“Jack will be here in fifteen minutes. You need to get your lazy butt out of bed.”
Groaning, I barely cracked open an eye from where I had been hiding under my pillow for the last three days.
So yeah. I’d been calling in sick. It wasn’t exactly a lie. It wasn’t called heartbreak for nothin’.
Carly leaned against my doorframe, sporting all kinds of judgment in her expression.
“No, thanks.” It was nothing but chipper sarcasm before I was rolling over and dragging the pillow over my head.
A disbelieving huff hit the room, her feet stomping on the floor as she stormed to the side of my bed.
“It wasn’t a suggestion.” She ripped the pillow out of my hold and tossed it to the end of the mattress.
“What the heck? That was so uncool. And here I thought you were supposed to be my best girlfriend. You are so fired,” I whined, flopping over onto my back with a pout.
“Up.”
“I already told you there is no chance in this whole wide world that I’m going. It’s not gonna happen. Forget it.”
Carly crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, it’s gonna happen if I have to drag you there myself.”
On a moan, I flung my forearm over my eyes. “Remind me to kick you out.”
“Please do. Turns out my roommate is prone to sudden bouts of self-pity and moping. It’s kind of gross. Almost as gross as her stinky ass that hasn’t seen a shower in three days. Seriously, Frankie, you’re gettin’ ripe. Josiah’s worried we’re goin’ to have to fumigate.”
My lips pursed. “You two are so mean.”
“And you’re pathetic. Now get up, Pig Pen, before I haul you out back and douse you with a hose.”
“Fine.” I tossed off the covers and sat up on the edge of my bed. Milo lifted his head from his dog-bed on the floor with one of his deep groans and a stretch, probably shocked