Page 7 of Untouchable

I lean my head on his. “Do you know what your mommy’s name is, Levi?”

“Daddy calls her Katie.” I feel relief wash over me, as well as an abundance of hope that we’ll get this sweet boy back to his mom. Sharron talks into her Walkie Talkie, and a moment later, a voice cuts through the music playing on the loudspeaker in the mall.

“Katie, Levi is waiting for you at the carousel. Levi is waiting for you at the carousel on the bottom floor next to the food court.”

We stay with Levi and Sharron, showing him how to make straw paper crawl with a little bit of water, until we hear his name cried out in a broken sob.

“Levi!” The woman rushes over to him, her face tear-stained and red. “Oh my baby boy. Thank God you’re okay.” I watch her closely as she sits on the mall floor, clinging to him as he melts into her arms.

“Mommy!” His little arms wrap tightly around her neck, and even though tears sting my eyes, I smile knowing that this day could have ended a lot differently, and it didn’t.

“Thank you so much. Thank you for keeping him safe. I let go of his hand for one second to pay, and then he was just…” Her lip quivers as words fail her. Then she takes his face in both of her hands.

“Baby boy, you can’t leave Mommy like that, okay? One day, someone might try to take you and not bring you back to Mommy like these nice ladies did. I can’t keep you safe if you wander off or hide from me. Do you understand?” he shakes his head and jumps back into her arms. I feel it’s best left unsaid—to the mom at least—that someonedidtry to take him. The two of them go on their way, but not before we reassure Katie about ten times that keeping her little boy safe until she got to him was truly no trouble at all. Once they’re gone, I let Sharron know about the guy, and she assures me they’ll be watching the cameras back and have an eye out for him.

“You did a good thing, Kat.” Tabs squeezes my hand, and I wince, feeling the sting from where I punched that guy.

“Shit, that hurts.” I flex my fingers, seeing the bruise starting to form already.

“Let me see if I can go find you some ice or something. Be right back.” I sit down at the table, looking at my uneaten food, when I feel a presence behind me. Then a tattoo-covered hand appears next to my face, holding a balled-up bandana.

“You need to ice that.” I look up at Ace, whose bandana is still in place around his head, which tells me this one isn’t his, even though it’s an exact match for it. I take it from his hand and feel the dampness from the ice inside already beginning to melt.

“Um, thanks.”

He settles into Tabitha’s chair across from me, and all I can do is watch him. “You make it a habit of throwing punches atgrown men?” He grabs one of her fries and tosses it into his mouth.

“Only when it’s warranted.” I tip my chin, faking confidence since I’m completely disarmed by his being here. “Which it was.” He nods his head slowly but doesn’t say anything. “You agree, don’t you?” My eyes narrow, and his gaze meets mine.

“I do.” I feel some tension in my chest loosen when he agrees, though I find it irritating that I seem to care about his opinion when I’m still mad at him. It was completely warranted, whether Ace Hernández agrees with me or not. So why do I care what he thinks? I shift uncomfortably in my chair, looking anywhere but at him, as his eyes remain focused on me.

“Where are Bodine and Mikey?”

I meet his eyes again, and the corner of his lips pulls into a smirk. “Taking care of something.”

I immediately panic. “What does that mean?”

“They’re just finishing what you started, Little Reaper.” He shrugs, grabbing my drink and taking a sip before scrunching his nose.

“It’s diet,” I explain.

“It’s disgusting.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “It’smine.”

He pulls his phone from his pocket, glances at it, then slides it back into his pocket. “Gotta bounce.” I pull the makeshift ice pack from my hand and hold it out to him.

“Here—”

He holds a hand up to stop me. “Keep it.”

I put it back on my hand, and a smile pulls at the corner of my lips. “Thanks.”

He takes a step, then stops, backing up again until I can see his face. “I’m sorry, by the way.”

My eyebrows pull together. “For what?”

“That the first words I spoke to you after so long were accusatory ones.”

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