Page 32 of S.O.S. Perk

He finally understood where Sloane’s barriers and insecurities stemmed from. She’d had bad examples of what parents were supposed to be, had subsequently trusted the wrong man to love, and now—even though she didn’t despise the opposite sex—she was suspicious of every male who came within her sphere, along with their motives.

Could he use that information to give Sloane what she needed?

Yes.Perk was certain of that.

Ifshe’d give him a chance.

CHAPTER TEN

Sloane spent the next day wrapping up an easy case while also worrying—approximately every other minute—that she’d overshared with Perk.

Damn her and her big mouth.

Would he be scared off now? Would he figure she was a lost cause? Maybe it’d be for the best if Perk walked away. Before Sloane got even more vested in exploring the anomaly of feelings that roiled around inside her. That way, she could ignore what she was afraid might be happening—at least in her own head—and go back to her life as it was before; boring and predictable.

Sloane looked at the clock again.

Perk had promised to call her a little earlier tonight, after his day at school and after he’d gone over any findings with his FBI parents. But he’d laughingly promised it would be before he did his hated homework.

As fine as that was, Sloane couldn’t help but think it would be more judicious to meet, rather than continue to dance around via the phone. Perk might be able to give her adequate lip service, remotely, as to why he wasn’t turned off by her borderline misandristic personality traits, but he’d have a hard time continuing to pull the wool over her eyes in person.

Decision made, Sloane tidied her desk, wrapping things up for the day, contemplating heading home, when her phone rang.

Her heart leapt. It was Perk.

“Well, hello,” she answered chipperly. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you for a few more hours, yet.”

“Which is why I’m calling,” Perk replied, with a modicum of disappointment in his voice.

Great.It was just as she had feared. Perk had thought about things all day, too, and was about to shoot her down.

Sloane girded for the hit.

“I’m so sorry, but I won’t have time to chat more than this tonight,” he began. “I’ve been invited to hang out with those boys from school I mentioned.”

After all the personal shit they’d revealed to each other last night, Perk had recounted his day; how a pair named Higgins and Thorpe had challenged and baited him, and how he’d tentatively won them over.

Wait.He was meeting…?

Sloane gave herself a mental slap.

Where was her brain? Ofcoursehe was. Noteverythingto do with Perk was about her. There was an important case to solve.Shit.She’d never had trouble focusing on a job before. It was time she got her head out of her ass.

“That’s great, Perk,” she managed to praise. “It sounds like you’ve already made some inroads.”

“I have.” He chuckled. “But get this. In order to gain their confidence, I had to smoke cigarettes with them in the boys’ room today while we took turns being look-out. I’ll admit I came home and used almost an entire bottle of mouth wash to get rid of the taste, but the nastiness was worth it. Or almost. The pair had just begun filling me in about various intrigues in school these days—not mentioning the money heists or the missing girl yet—but just as I thought I was making headway toward what I really wanted to know, we got busted by a custodian. Now I have detention every afternoon next week,” he groaned.

Sloane, however, laughed; buoyed up. “That’s an excellent place to dig for information, Perk. The kids who get detention are the ones who like to think they’re above the rules. And if they’re not directly involved in snatching Kaelyn, they may be at least ballsy enough to talk about what they may have overheard.”

“True,” Perk agreed. “And you’ve described the exact vibe I got from Higgins today. He wasn’t hedging his words or worried someone might hear him when he started opening up. Clearly, he’s been top bully for so long, he feels like he’s above being targeted if he opens his mouth.”

“This is great, Perk. So, where are you headed tonight?”

“Higgins basement. Apparently, he has a ‘sweet setup’ there where his parents don’t bother him.”

“Will you wear a wire?” Sloane asked.

“Already rigged up,” Perk confirmed. “Agent Smalley might not talk much, but he’s on the ball and has everything under control.”

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