Page 4 of Into the Shadows

“You’re a mouthy fucking thing, aren’t you?” I sit down on the blanket with a huff.

“You okay, old man?” Lottie’s eyes sparkle with mirth.

I roll my eyes. “I’m only twenty-eight. I’m notthatold.” But fuck, I feel it sometimes.

“You’re only ten years older, then. I thought it would be more.”

I internally sigh in relief. At least she’s legal. Not that anything is going to happen. Because it isn’t. I haven’t even thought about it.

Sure, keep telling yourself that.

An image of Lottie staring up at me while I put my helmet on her comes to mind. I had the strangest urge to kiss her.

“So, why are you in Sonoma?” Lottie pulls a large lunch box from her backpack and unzips it. She places glasscontainers between us filled with deli meat, cheese, crackers, and some Oreos.

“You know they make these things called Lunchables. They come prepackaged with all this stuff. Then you don’t have to do dishes.”

Lottie scrunches her nose. “I know I sound like a snob when I say this, but I don’t like the fake cheese in those, and who knows what’s in the little meat circles. I’d much rather do the dishes than eat questionable food.”

I shrug. “If you can afford the good stuff, then why not?” We couldn’t even afford the Lunchables, let alone fancy meat and cheese.

“Feel free to have some. I was going to share with Gia anyway.”

I take her offering, eating a couple of crackers.

“You never answered my question,” Lottie says.

“I was hoping you’d move on.”

“Not exactly in my nature. I want to be an investigative journalist.”

“Didn’t see that coming.”

Lottie grins. “My dad is the police chief. It’s in my blood.”

“Welp, gotta go.” I pretend to stand as Lottie laughs, yanking on my arm to sit back down. The fucking thing tingles when she lets go. That’s weird.

“Jerk.” She tries to mean mug me, but her adorable face can’t quite get there. She looks down at her hands, fiddling with a cracker but never doing anything with it. The sudden vulnerability surrounding her puts me on edge. “Everyone’s always been afraid of my dad. Guys didn’t want to date me because they were scared of him, while the girls didn’t invite me to parties because they thought I would snitch. I’m lucky I had Gia and her twin sister, Ginny. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a single friend.”

Her confession spears me right in the heart. I didn’t havefriends growing up but for very different reasons. “Hey.” I cuff her on the chin so she’ll look up at me. “If they couldn’t see past their stupidity, it was their loss.”

“I know. And I’m not complaining. I have an amazing family and cousins my age who are my best friends…”

“You’re still allowed to be sad, even if you have a good life.”

“Tell me about you. Please.” The earnestness in her eyes gives me pause. No one has ever asked about my life and genuinely wanted to know the answer. Most people use it as small talk or a means to get what they want from me. Good or bad.

“Uh… Well, I’m a Marine.”

“Called it.” Lottie fist pumps.

I roll my eyes but can’t help the smile that ticks up the side of my mouth. She’s fucking adorable. “I don’t have much in the way of family. My mom died a few years back, and my grandad just passed a few months ago.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry…” She cringes. “You know, I just realized I don’t even know your name.”

A laugh bursts out of my chest. “What would your daddy say if he knew you got onto the back of my bike without even knowing my first name?”

She bites her lip and giggles. “He’d probably kill me.”

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