Page 56 of Overstaying His Welcome

With all five of us up there, it felt smaller than ever before. Orion knocked on the door since he was the least scary of us all.

A frail voice shouted, “Coming. Just a second.”

I recognized it instantly. Chelsea Lind was a saint among the human race. Even when I ran from her care, I knew it had nothing to do with her or her amazing husband Brock.

When the door opened, her jaw dropped. “Oh! Oh, my. How can I help you gentlemen?”

“Hi, Mrs. Lind. We’re here to speak with you about some children you fostered a while back. We’re trying to track down some information for a case. I’m here with my associates. My name is Orion. This is Arick, and that’s Chance. And this is —”

“Bruno?” Her voice rose with her shock.

The group parted, letting me shuffle through. “Hi, Mrs. Lind.”

She waved her hand in front of her face as tears began to fall. “Oh, none of that. You come in this house right now, sweetie. I can’t believe it! Look how big you are. You haven’t changed much since you were little. Still got a face to break hearts with.”

My guys chuckled as the screen door unlocked. She pressed it forward, then took my hand and dragged me inside. Her strength was impressive given her age.

Not that I’d judge someone by their age alone. A lot of factors went into these things.

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts as we walked through the formal dining room into the living area. It still held the notes of design from when I was a kid, though a few key differences were in place. A flatscreen sat where the old tv was, and theirrecord collection was much bigger. There was also a wall full of smiling faces and family portraits.

The guys spread out around the space, observing what they could as Chelsea directed me to a chair. “Just give me a second. I need to go wake Brock up from his nap. He’ll be happy to see you too. Oh, this is just… it’s wonderful really.”

She left us in the space, uncaring that most of us were strangers. Hell, I was one, too, despite the short year I spent with them. This was what I meant by being kind.

Chelsea and Brock Lind would assume I had good intentions until I proved otherwise.

“There are a lot of kids on this wall,” Orion noted.

Arick nodded as he trailed down the opposite end of the wall. “There is, but we’re only looking for a certain time period.”

Chance dropped onto the couch beside me. “How are you feeling so far?”

“I’m good,” I replied. “Why? Are you ok?”

He snorted, his fingers wrapped around mine as he placed my hand between his. “I’m doing as well as can be expected; however, I wasn’t the one beaten recently. Are you sore? Do you need any painkillers? We can probably give you a dose.”

“Baby, I really am ok. I promise to take something later if it gets worse.”

His frown was adorable. I wanted to kiss him to ease his frustration, but since we were supposed to be behaving, I didn’t want to get distracted. Besides, Memphis and the team were listening in. I’m sure they were already planning to give me shit about mine and Chance’s whispered words later.

The comms only went one way for this part of the plan since I needed to focus on the questions to ask the Linds. If there was something Memphis needed in particular, he would reach out to Orion or Arick to have them ask instead.

I appreciate the thoughtfulness considering my head felt like a big bowl of soup. The pain meds were definitely going to be a needed later. For now, I had to work while ignoring the throbbing behind my eyes.

“I’ve got him right here,” Mrs. Lind said as she wheeled in her husband. I stared in shock as the man who’d once been larger than life grinned at me with a perfect set of teeth. They were clearly dentures, considering I doubted his body was this weak and his mouth remained intact.

Pushing down those thoughts, I smiled at him. “Hey, Mr. Lind.”

“Bruno! Our boy! Call me Brock.”

“And call me Chelsea, please. No more of the Mr. and Mrs. business.”

I winced at the name. It still held horrible memories for me, yet it felt wrong to correct them. Thankfully, I had a supportive partner who understood my plight.

Chance cleared his throat. “He goes by Tank now. That old name holds some bad connotation for him, if you get my meaning.”

He made it sound as if they were all sharing a secret somehow. And I saw the way the couple’s eyes went wide as the recollection of why that might be came back to them.

---