Page 19 of All of Me

“Could it be a sealed juvie record?” Gray asked.

“They have to be separated by Georgia law,” Rawlings acknowledged. “But I’m pretty sure any background check for adoption or fostering would be given access.”

Danny heaved a breath. “And you can’t find out if someone has a sealed juvenile record without a court order. Normally,” Danny added and glanced at Rawlings.

“How is this relevant?” I asked, not wanting Danny to pursue this even if he could. Rawlings studied me and I let him. I didn’t give a shit. These people had been good to me.

“Agreed, for now,” Rawlings said. “The cops have interviewed Ryan Connaught with his lawyer present, but they have nothing. They haven’t made the connection to Jethro Dunne even if he’s a cousin of Lee Dodson, and I don’t think it will help anything to alert them.”

“No.” But maybe having a chat with Albert was something I could do? I wanted to know if anyone was interested in their land.

“You don’t think this guy would go after Miss Moira?” Shae asked. If I hadn’t been able to hear the worry in Shae’s voice, Sadie immediately getting up from where she was lying down next to Danny and crossing to sit at Shae’s feet would have told me how he felt.

Danny glanced over at me, then back to his laptop.

What did that mean?

It was obvious he was worried. I didn’t need a service dog to tell me that.

“Jay’s not on a contract on at the moment,” Rawlings said. “Let him put a couple of guys on securing the place for a few nights. He knows what happened with the fire, so he won’t question it.”

Shae’s face smoothed out, but now that Danny had drawn my attention to it, I noticed his nearest hand stayed on Sadie’s neck.

We went over the other few jobs Rawlings had, and I didn’t ask for any of them. I had other things on my mind. After an hour, we broke for sandwiches, and I liked that Shae and Seb seemed to get on so well. Shae needed friends.

“Feel like a proud papa yet?”

I glanced in annoyance at Gray for giving me shit, but when I saw his face, I paused. He was watching the same thing I was. Two young men casually chatting about music and petting their dogs absently. But more importantly, I knew Gray wasn’t poking at my sore spots. He was trying to lance his own.

“I’m older than you,” I said quietly.

“Seb gets tons of fan mail,” Gray said, ignoring my comment. “Quite a few about me. A lot asking why he’s letting an old man hold him back.”

I turned to him in surprise. “I didn’t know that.”

Gray raised an eyebrow. “Not like you’re around much.” Which was true. I didn’t really socialize with any of them. He pushed off the wall. “If I listened to any of them, it would rob me of the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Seb looked up then and his expression softened when his eyes lit on Gray. He certainly didn’t seem to be struggling with Gray holding him back from anything. In fact, the change in him from when I’d first seen Seb was nothing short of miraculous. He was confident, happy, but even more, he was content in his own skin. A big change from all the years when his father had manipulated him, and both emotionally and physically abused him.

Then I glanced at Shae—not that my attention was ever far from him—and thought about what I’d decided last night. I knew even if we did get into a relationship, it wouldn’t last because despite what Gray said, there was no way Shae wasn’t going to wake up one day and wonder what the hell he’d done.

I knew that, despite everything.

Shae glanced at the time on his phone and got up, telling Seb he had to go. They did that casual hand clasp I’d seen them do before, but then Seb reached out and they hugged each other. “Maybe you’d like to come and see the place?” I murmured to Gray.

“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed.

I caught Rawlings’ eye and indicated we had to go to the doc’s. He kept his goodbye casual for Shae, and in a few minutes we were heading for the entrance. “Thought we could have Gray and Seb ‘round, maybe for a barbeque. They can bring Bentley.”

Shae’s eyes lit and he followed me out into the small parking lot. I scanned my surroundings automatically and watched a truck idling, clearly looking for a space when there weren’t any.

“Maybe you ought to talk to Albert after what Danny said?” Shae said and glanced to his right to cross to my truck.

“I was thinking the same,” I acknowledged. “When you go see to the dogs, I can—”

But whatever thought I’d had vanished when I heard the sudden rev of an engine and a squeal of tires, and I was reaching out for Shae before I’d even given had a conscious thought to do so. He was in the open, too exposed, but before the spit of bullets even started, my feet were off the floor. I blinked and we were back in the lobby. Fuck, Shae had just picked me up.

“Stay here. Call Rawlings right now,” I barked and pulled my gun, going back out. The truck was squealing back to the entrance and just as I was aiming for the tires, another car pulled in. Too close.Fuck.

I jogged back inside just as Gray, Rawlings and Kane barreled down the steps to get to us. “The hell?” I yelled at Shae “What were you told?” I was furious. He’d picked me up for fuck's sake and ran. “You know—”

---