Page 63 of Shattered

“Damn. And you didn’t get yourself arrested?”

“She was coming out of Planned Parenthood.”

“Oh fuck.” I tipped my head back to the ceiling. “She’s pregnant?”

“Not any more, I don’t think.” She shook her head. “She waltzed out of that building and straight into the arms of some rough-looking biker dude on a Harley.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Nothing.” She turned blazing eyes to me. “He willneverfind out. It’ll destroy him.”

“Agreed.”

14GOLDMINE

Unknown

I couldn’t believe my luck. Who would have thought visiting my sick aunt would turn into a goldmine? What were the odds of seeinghimhere with a woman, no less? I’d been following him around for weeks with nothing to show for all my hard work. Nada. It was like fate dropped this little morsel in my lap, and there was no way I was letting it pass me by. Yanking the phone out of my pocket, I pulled up our last conversation.

Me: Hey, bossman. I think I’ve found a solution to our recent pig infestation.

VM: I’m listening.

15RUN

Jade

This place was ginormous. We should’ve taken Riley up on his offer to escort us, but from the sound of things, they had some stuff to work out. My teenage brother didn’t need to be there for any sibling drama. We had enough of our own to last a lifetime. After riding the elevator to three different floors, I finally found the one with a sign posted for the cafeteria.

“You could get lost in a paper bag.”

“I’m perfectly capable of following directions, Jett.”

“Then maybe you should’ve asked for some.” He rubbed his stomach as it let out a loud rumble. “I’m a starving boy.”

“You eat like a garbage compactor. The four basic food groups don’t include chocolate and cheese curls.”

“I beg to differ,” he held up a finger. “Chocolate comes from cocoa beans, so technically it’s a grain. And cheese curls? Duh, dairy.”

“So by your definition, wine is a fruit because it’s made out of grapes?”

“Now you’re coming around to my way of thinking.”

I snorted.

We rounded another corner in what seemed to be our fiftieth hallway, when I saw what we were searching for. Jett was already five steps ahead of me and moving fast, his nose having picked up on the delicious smells wafting through the air. He was standing in a line marked for grilled items when I picked up a blue plastic tray and made my way toward the one labeled deli.

Not knowing what Riley or Willow might prefer, I snagged a variety of sandwiches, stacking them on one side of the tray while adding lidded bowls filled with pasta salad on the other. Thankfully, when it came time to pay, the nice lady behind the cash register packed our purchases into two large brown paper bags with handles, making it much easier to carry.

The return walk was a lot shorter than I anticipated. I was hoping for a little more time to gauge Jett’s reaction to what our parents had tried to accomplish.

“I wanted to ask you while it was just the two of us,” I began. “Where’s your head at with all the stuff that happened in court?”

“The good guys won, what’s there to think about?”

“I don’t think they’re done messing with us.”

“So? We’ve got Koen and the FBI on our side. Let ’em try.”

---