Page 75 of The Heat of Us

Remy’s eyes blazed. “Ask him if I can go help him get what he needs.”

“Aleks. I’m sending Remy to you. He’ll get you back inside long enough to get what’s important.”

“Hold on a minute, you don’t have to—”

Remy grabbed the phone from me. “Mate, trust me when I say putting a shitty dad in his place is exactly what I want to be doing right now.” He pressed the phone back into my hands. “Tell him to send me a pin of his location. I’m on the way.”

I passed on the message while Remy shrugged his jacket back on before hanging up.

“You want me to bring him here?” Remy asked, picking up his keys.

My heart was thumping so loudly in my ears. “Yes,” I whispered.

He lifted my chin and kissed me lightly. “Ok. I will.”

“Be careful,” I called after him as he opened my door. “Don’t get hurt.”

“Worried about me?”

I crossed my arms. “Well, yeah.”

“That’s sweet, kitten.”

“No on ‘kitten’,” I said automatically.

His crooked smile made my belly swoop. “That’s fine. But I’m not going to stop until we’ve found something that works.”

I was afraid of that.

26

REMY

I found Aleks sitting sullenly on the nature strip of a run-down suburb, picking out clumps of grass in annoyed handfuls and scattering them in the wind. There was a small cut on his forehead and a thin trail of blood running down his face. The collar of his t-shirt was torn slightly and the skin beneath reddened, like he’d been grabbed forcefully.

Clearly he’d been a little less forthcoming on how badly the altercation had gone.

“Hey mate,” I said, sitting down next to him. “Remy.” I extended my hand. I wasn’t sure if he was going to take it but he did after a beat.

“Aleks.” He released me quickly. “Do you actually want to be here?” he asked me curtly.

I joined him in maiming the innocent lawn. “I do,” I said truthfully.

“Why?”

Because Hazel asked me to.

Because my dad is an asshole too.

And weirdly…because I feel like I should.

“It’s complicated.”

Aleks turned back to his bald patch of grass. “Great.”

I looked at the houses around me. “Which one is yours?”

Aleks pointed at one further down. “Not mine anymore,” he muttered.

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