Page 21 of Love Takes Home

Evening—I made it about one foot into school before I got my first look. Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I? Some of them were smiles and friendly waves, others were shooting daggers at me. The latter, of course, were people who were never my friends to begin with—not even work friends. They were jealous that Iwas with a man like Keith. What would they think if they knew? That I was protecting them from the likes of him by taking the brunt of all of his issues? Is staying silent the best move? I don’t know, but it’s what I’ve done. It’s what I’ll continue to do until I can’t anymore, I guess. He wasn’t there today, but the whispers I heard from my own group are that he’s planning on calling a meeting while our principal is out so he can pretend like he’s in charge. Woo.

I’ve been avoiding leaving the house completely the last few weeks. Joker got worried and started coming to sit with me in the backyard after Mom and Dad go to bed. I thought he might kiss me last night, but we got busted. Dad opened the back door and told him it was probably time to leave before Mom woke up. It was totally my fault. I was laughing at something and got too loud. When I came in, Dad gave me a hug and told me it was nice to see my smile again. That’s it. Didn’t give me shit or anything. Thank goodness he woke up and not Mom. I have to move out.

Chapter 8

Joker

“Morning, sunshine,” I sayinto the phone.

“Morning, asshole,” Nate replies.

“Aren’t you a big ball of sunshine this morning?”

“Fuck off. I got news.”

“News?”

“We have a name for the mystery woman.”

“Mystery woman?”

“Are you just going to fucking repeat everything I say, or are you going to shut up and listen?”

“Shutting up.” I can’t help my smile. Fucking with him is so easy. “Good news or bad?”

“Haven’t decided yet. Her name is Kara Smith. Mean anything to you?”

“Nope, can’t say that it does.”

“There’s probably a reason for that. As far as we can tell, she didn’t exist before two years ago.”

“How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know. You’re the fucking genius. Figure it out and tell me.”

“Well, it’s not a real name for starters. That would be my first guess.”

“Uh-huh. Give me more.”

“I’d say it means she has something to hide.”

“Right, but what?” This is where Nate and I work so well together. He knows I have to think it through and he prompts me with the questions to get me there.

“So, this name just happens to appear about the same time we started trailing the idiot asshole. Like she knows we were trailing her too. Which means we aren’t as good as we think we are, or there’s someone on the inside who’s feeding her information.”

“Which way you leaning?”

“I’m leaning toward Ranger wasn’t as careful as he thought he was before we picked up the trail and he got made. And once he was made, even after we took over, the belief is that someone was still following. But does she think we are following her or him?”

“And does that change her behavior and choices?”

“Right. If she wasn’t worried about anything, she wouldn’t have created this alias. So, that’s even more evidence that she has something to hide.”

“Thoughts?”

“Maybe we need to turn our focus on her instead of him? Because I have to be honest, man, I’m tired of following him.”

“Of course you are. Now that you aren’t worried about what he’s doing to your girl.”

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