Page 82 of Hot for the Jerk

“I’m glad you and Raina are no longer enemies,” Gabrielle said.“It makes things easier.”She snorted.“Though, it might make things tougher when we win Bonn Remmen’s land.”

I grinned widely, my hand on the doorknob.“We’ll see about that.Have a good night, Gabrielle.”

Raina and Marco were in the living room, and the television was on.Some wildlife documentary on with David Attenborough narrating.Each of them cradled a bowl of sorbet as the blue flickering light of the television flashed on their faces in the dark.

“Clint’s gonna bring me some stuff,” I said, taking the chair adjacent to the couch.“He’s also going to put out an island-wide BOLO for Soloman.”

Raina glanced at me, and that’s when I saw the big bruise on her face.I was unable to stop myself from reacting.But I steeled myself quickly, grabbed my phone out of my pocket, and shot off another text to Clint, asking him to grab the bruise balm from my nightstand.

“I called the cops,” Raina said, scooping more sorbet from her bowl and putting it in her mouth.“Officer Bruce said she’ll be here in about ten minutes.”

“Good.”

“There’s a bowl of rainbow sorbet for you in the freezer if you’d like.”She glanced toward the kitchen before snuggling in deeper toward Marco whose eyes were glued to the screen.

I went to the kitchen and grabbed my sorbet, rejoining them in the living room, but sitting in the chair, rather than on the couch with them.Just because Marco seemed to be less averse to me than he was before, didn’t mean I wanted to push my luck with the kid.Also, something seriously traumatic just happened to him and his mom.This was a time for the two of them to reconnect and feel safe together.I was fine just sitting in the shadows like a bodyguard.

None of us said anything, we just ate our frozen treat and watchedBlue Planet.It was convenient and hilarious, not to mention, sent me jumping nearly clean out of my skin when at the same time the shark leaped out of the water to grab the seal, there was a knock at the door.

Marco snorted a laugh and shook his head.“Jagger’s jumpy, Mom.”

Smirking at the kid, I rolled my eyes and set my empty bowl down on the table before rising out of my seat to answer the door.It was Officer Myla Bruce and Clint.

I welcomed them both inside, but decided that Clint and I would give Myla and Raina some space.So we took Marco outside with us.

“You like living on a vineyard?”I asked him, all of us bundled up in jackets, our hands stuffed into our pockets as Raina’s son lead us down a row of grapevines.Come summer, these bunches of sticks would be lush and green and teeming with little grape clusters.

Marco nodded.“Yeah.It’s fun.My cousins and I play hide-and-seek.”

“That must take hours.This place is huge,” Clint commented, staring up at the patches of stars blinking at us through the clouds.

“We have rules about how far we can hide.Especially after Austin and I hid from Mom and Aunt Naomi for hours when we were little and they couldn’t find us.”

Clint and I both snorted.We’d definitely pulled that crap on our parents as kids.Drove them mental.

“How old were you when you did that?”I asked.

“I was four, Austin was six.Now we can’t go past that post.”He pointed to a telephone pole in the center of the field we were in.It had a light on top, but it wasn’t currently on.“And we’re not allowed to go near the Riesling grapes, since they’re delicate.Same for the merlot.We have to stick to the Moscato and pinot noir.”His arms pointed in various directions when he spoke of the different grapes.Because of course he knew where each variety was located.He was definitely a bright kid.

“Where did you and Austin hide?”Clint asked.

Marco chuckled.“In the Riesling grapes.”He spun around to face us, continuing to walk, just backward.“But we found a snake—just a little garter snake—and were playing with him.We kept trying to feed him grasshoppers.Didn’texactlyhear everyone calling our names.”

“Riiiiight.”I laughed, glancing behind me at the house and out-buildings looming in the background.“So, how are you feeling about everything that happened tonight?”

Marco shrugged.“I mean, I’ve always been curious about my dad’s side of the family.Mom won’t talk about them.So it was kind of cool to see my uncle.But I know he’s not a good person.And the fact that he hit my mom makes me really angry at him.”

“Yeah, you should never hit a woman.You should never hit anybody, but definitely not a woman.That’s a sign of a weak man,” Clint said.

“I guess I’m just confused about why he came here now and not years before,” Marco added.“He did mention something about a funeral and Elias dying.”

I nodded.“Your uncle Soloman had a son named Elias, and he just died.”

“How?”Marco asked.

Pursing my lips together so the kid knew I wasn’t a totally insensitive jackass, and had respect for the dead and all that shit, I threw in a half-hearted shrug too.“I don’t know.But I guess Elias was the last man on the Aaronson side of the family.So now your uncle Soloman wants you to join the family.”Marco didn’t need to know that I was glad Elias was dead, along with Josiah, and wished Soloman would follow them six feet under too.

The kid wrinkled his nose in confusion.“I have a family.Right here.Doesn’t he have daughters?Aren’ttheyhis family?”

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