Page 120 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Aiden sprinted toward April, yelling, “Donuts, donuts, donuts.”

April laughed and pulled one of the boxes out of the bag and handed it to Aiden. “I knew this place was your favorite, and I wanted you to have a nice breakfast before the big day. One box for you and one for me and your dad. You can… uh, you can share with your coach on the way if you want.”

I enjoyed seeing them together. April was so attentive to Aiden, and I could tell they loved each other. If I had to guess,the boy craved a female influence in his life. Where was his mother? I knew Kellan wasn’t married. Even though he and Kris had done all they could to stay away from me over the years, a small town was a small town. I’d never seen or heard of Kellan having a wife. One day, he just sort of happened to have a kid. The question nagged at me while I watched Aiden and April talk, but there was no way I could ask that. Not now anyway.

“Wait,” Aiden said. “Aunt April, why don’t you come to the camp?”

My eyes nearly popped out of my head, and my bear perked up. April smiled sweetly at Aiden and tried to keep from looking my way. “Aiden, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“There’s a whole dugout set aside for parents who want to sit and wait, if you want to go,” I said, raising my voice to be heard.

April shot a glare at me. It was supposed to be full of venom, but it didn’t actually end up that way. More of an irritated-mom look if I had to give it a name. I fought back a smile.

She was shaking her head, getting ready to decline again, when Aiden piped up, “Please? Dad can’t go because of work. I won’t have anyone there to watch me. Please.”

I could have given the kid a high-five if I didn’t think April would give me a swift kick to the balls for it. Her face had already crumpled into a look of dejected acceptance. Aiden obviously had April wrapped around his little finger.

“Fine, but I’m driving my own car,” April said.

“Eh,” I said, “Unfortunately, there’s limited parking. We’ll need to carpool if we want a spot.”

“Oh, for the love… fine. I’ll grab my stuff. Here, Kellan, it looks like you’re eating alone,” April said, shoving the other box of donuts into her brother’s hands.

“We’ll share,” I said.

April rolled her eyes.

As we loaded up, I glanced at her. “Do you need to let your manager know? The Larry guy? We’ll be heading out of town. He might want to know.”

April nodded. “Probably. I’ll make it quick.”

April put him on speaker phone as she loaded her purse into the car and got buckled in. “Hey, Larry.”

“Hello, little lady. What can I do for you?”

“I’m heading a couple of towns over to watch my nephew play baseball.”

“Uh, is that smart? I don’t mean to say you can’t handle yourself, but?—”

“Steffen James will be with me the whole time,” April cut in.

“Oh? Mr. James from the security firm?”

“Yes, Larry.” I could tell April was getting irritated.

“Okay, sounds good. I have the utmost faith in his company. You should be fine. Have fun.”

His change was almost comedic. Our firm was pretty well known, especially in the elite circles April and this Larry guy ran around in. For one, we were damn good at what we did. Second, we were all fairly scary-looking fuckers. Being shifters, we were pretty imposing. Tate, of course, was the biggest and baddest. But the rest of us all looked like we could walk into a biker club and throw down, and more than likely walk out unscathed. It sounded like Larry knew that.

April looked equally surprised. “Well… okay, I guess. Talk to you later, Larry.”

We hit the road. For the first ten minutes of the drive, all Aiden could do was talk about the camp. The kid was a nonstop ball of energy. He went on and on, which was kind of nice. Without a minute of silence, the awkwardness that loomed between us didn’t have a chance to rear its head.

April still seemed uncomfortable, so I reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before moving it away. I keptmy eyes on the road, but felt her watching me. Staring at me. She probably had a million things running through her mind right then. I wished I could hear even half of them. Hell, even one thing she was thinking would have been nice.

After a while, Aiden finally got tired of talking about the camp and pulled a tablet and headphones out of his duffel bag. In seconds, he was engrossed in whatever he was watching or playing.

Now that he couldn’t hear us, April sighed. “Were we that hyper as kids?”

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