Page 10 of Blast from the Past

“Getting your ass kicked last night?” I smirk. “I suppose you should get used to it. I mean, Shane is going to beat the ever-loving shit out of you in the ring.”

Shane chuckles as he wraps an arm around me, pulling me into his side. Zane reddens at my words and clenches his fists.

“We’ll see,” Zane says and nods before walking away.

We watch him leave until he turns the corner before we get back into the truck.

“Thanks,” Shane says with a grin.

“For what?”

“Just being you.”

Chapter Six

Shane Blake

“Stay here,” I say once we get back to her house.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to make sure no one is waiting for us,” I say, knowing it’ll probably freak her out. But she needs to know the truth.

Inside, I check all the rooms on both floors until I am sure we will be the only people in the house. I remember what happened with Charlotte at Karmen’s house and I sure as shit will not put Mercy through that.

Thinking of Charlotte has my stomach clenching. I need to tell Mercy about that shit show, sooner rather than later. Living in Severn, I’m surprised she hasn’t heard about it already. Making my way back outside, I am shocked to find Mercy exactly where I left her. She rarely listens to anyone, much less me.

“What now?” she asks, staring up at me after I help her out of the truck.

“We need to figure out who could have a reason to send you something like that,” I say calmly while leading her inside.

Once we are inside the house I make sure the front door is locked before heading to the kitchen where I can hear her. Mercy is rummaging through cupboards and slamming the doors shut when she doesn’t find what she is looking for. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for booze!”

“Try the freezer,” I say. Seconds later, she is pulling a bottle of ice-cold vodka from the icy depths before finding a glass and pouring a generous helping.

After finishing off two glasses, she fixes her gaze on me. “Want some?”

“No, thanks. One of us needs to stay sober.”

She glares at me, and I can see her holding back some kind of smart-mouthed retort before she nods. “Where do we start?”

“Well, we need to work on a list of suspects. People who would want to hurt you,” I reply with a raised eyebrow.

“I can’t think of a single person I know that would be capable of doing something like that,” she says dejectedly.

She sighs before taking a seat at the little green Formica table that has been in the breakfast nook for as long as I can remember. Resting her head on her hands she breathes deeply. I remove all the bags that have been sitting there and put them on the floor, placing the pizza there instead.

“I get it,” I say, taking a seat beside her. “We never want to think we know people who are capable of this but somewhere, someone is.”

“Where do we start?”

****

Mercy West

Shane spends hours with me in the kitchen working on a list of suspects, asking questions I don’t necessarily want to answer. It’s embarrassing to admit I haven’t had a date in over a year. And when he asks about casual hookups, I blush beet red even though there have been none of those either.

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