Page 68 of One Step Sideways

“Well,” I said, yawning again and humming happily as Kane moved even closer. “Personalbodyguards would need to move in permanently so they can be there every night in case I’m ever attacked by masked intruders.”

“Mmm,” Kane mumbled encouragingly and nuzzled my cheek.

“I love you.”

Kane’s eyes shot open.

“I was going to tease for another couple of minutes, but I’m frightened of falling asleep before I tell you.” I yawned again. “Is that—”

Warm lips on mine cut off my question before he drew back. “I don’t think you’re getting a good deal on this bodyguard.” His eyes darkened. “I think you need to have stricter interviewing techniques, except unfortunately all the other applicants have met with an accident.”

“Oh no.” I pressed my lips together to stop the laugh because I had a feeling it would hurt. He nodded.

“Yep, sorry. Of course, that means you’ll have no choice but to accept the only remaining candidate.”

“I will? And what qualifications does this last candidate have?” I asked softly, struggling to keep my eyes open.

“He loves you,” Kane whispered. “With every broken bit of his soul.”

“Okay. Think that means you’ve got the job.” Kane might have said something else, but I was too warm, too tired, and way too happy to listen.

Kane

I left Danny under Liz and Buck’s watchful guard, ostensibly to go grab a shower and some clothes for both of us because the doctor, knowing Danny’s history, knew as soon as he was awake properly his anxiety would increase, and he would be better off at home. Rawlings had offered one of the apartments forDanny’s mom and dad, but they’d already booked into a hotel and were happy there.

I intended on going back to the apartment to shower. I’d used the tiny one in Danny’s room last night, but I wanted to smell of Danny’s soap again.

But first I had somewhere to go, and this visit was on me. I had no intention of letting Danny go with me.

An hour later, I stood looking at my childhood home. Eerily quiet. No barking dogs. The grass, what little wasn’t choked with weeds or covered in trash, was wild and overgrown. The outside cages were empty, one door completely missing, another broken and hanging drunkenly from one hinge. There was an old truck in the yard with two busted tires that didn’t look like it had been driven in years. Trash bags spilled open with what looked like beer bottles, and I saw one smashed bottle of Jack.Only one?

I picked my way through to the back door and hesitated, my hand on the knob. I didn’t have to do this. Would it eat at me if I didn’t? I had everything I wanted waiting for me back there. Love. A home.Danny.

The small smile that graced my face as I thought about him didn’t belong in this space, like it didn’t belong at all. I didn’t remember ever smiling in this house of horrors. I turned the knob, and it was locked, so I stopped pretending I only had human strength as I’d always insisted, and it came off in my hand.

The smell hit me first, and it took me a moment before I could step inside.

“Who is it?” came the rasping voice, a ghastly shadow of the one that had filled my every nightmare for years, and I stepped into the kitchen and stared in disgust.

Trash lay everywhere. Roaches skittered over broken plates and moldy food. And right in the middle on a chair that I was surprised still had four legs was the man responsible for every scar on my body except one.

“Still alive then,” I said casually, taking in his wasted body, the urine and fuck knew what else that stained his clothes, and his shaky hand as he tried and failed to reach the mostly empty bottle of Southern Comfort. “Times must be bad. You hate that shit. What’s up? Don’t have thecash for Jack?”

His cracked lips sneered, showing a row of chipped and yellow teeth, the same shade as his eyes. I gazed at the red vein-like areas on his pale face, the swollen belly, the shaking hands, the greasy, matted hair and swollen bare feet.

I saw the confusion in his eyes and then the slow dawning on his face as he realized who I was. Then the anger. “Get the fuck out of my house. I’ll call the cops, tell ‘em you escaped. You’ll be back inside in an hour, and I hope you rot in there.” He wheezed and spittle flew out of his mouth, adding to the mess on his shirt.

I wasn’t sure now why I’d come, but I didn’t need to stay. “No need. I’m free. Free of the state and definitely free of you.”

The scowl on his face darkened and as he reached for the bottle, his hands shook so much that even as he managed to touch it this time it tipped and rolled off the table, sloshing the remainder on the floor. He spat and swore some more, but I wasn’t interested, and I turned and walked out. Taking in gulps of fresh air when I got back to the truck, I fished into my pocket for the key Rawlings had given me yesterday, making some noises about the image of the company and how I couldn’t be seen driving around in a Barbie car. Even if it wasn’t pink.

I didn’t bother looking back at the house as I drove away.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Kane

I shut the apartment door on Detective Almeda and Agent Mackin, who had arrived to update us on Lachlan Jones’s arrest and interrogation. Lachlan Jones was the correctional officer I’d identified with the tattoo who had been with Shae. After explaining what I’d seen of the tattoo to Danny, he’d brought up an image of the Marine Corps’ tattoos, especially the one with the anchor and the letters USMC. There were three possible matches, but only one with a scar through the letter U. This C.O. worked both sides and apparently he’d been paid a lot of money, along with O’Connell, to turn off the security and let the rioters through. Unfortunately, most of the rioters didn’t know that. And when everything had gone wrong and Saunders had died, O’Connell’s protection had disappeared along with it

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