Page 115 of Single Teddy
Anger rolled in my stomach, and it only exploded when I looked back at Niko and watched him take a manila envelope out of his bag and give it to the man.
Did…did this monster of a man use his sons to do his dirty work? Surely Slade would have picked up chatter on that, right?
I didn’t care.
I dropped my bag and my bike and marched right to Valentin and Niko.
“Mr. Crawford,” Niko said as soon as he saw me and the man he’d been talking to snatched the envelope and dashed out of there, with his back turned to me.
“Boys, what are you doing? Why are you talking to strangers and picking through trash?” I turned to Valentin and beckoned him closer, then kneeled to look at them properly.
“Oh. It’s…it’s okay. We were?—”
“It’s not okay, Niko. Where is your dad? What did you give that man?”
Niko shrugged.
“Dad said to wait here and give it to him.”
I almost blurted out an inappropriate expletive. Or a few, but I bit my tongue and my anger and breathed through it.
It wasn’t the kids’ fault. There was no point exploding at them when they were the victims in all of this.
“Are you hungry? Why were you picking at the trash?” Valentin looked at the ground and shrugged.
That was it. I’d had it.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I told them and offered both of them my hands.
“Wh-where?” Niko asked.
“First, to get some food in you. Then to get you out of this mess.”
And that was exactly what I did. I walked with them to the nearest café, opposite Books and Claws, and bought both kids a grilled cheese sandwich and a drink, then marched with them right into the police station.
I’d wasted enough time trying to pussy-foot around their dad and Teddy’s teammates, no matter how well-intentioned theywere. The kids needed to stay as far away from Barnes’s house as possible, and I wasn’t going to rest until they were safely away from him and his bad influence.
Dakota Mitchell, the captain’s son, was the one to take us into his office and take my statement. His warm, concerned smile and kind approach with the kids put my racing heart at ease.
“Any idea where the dad is?” he asked. I shook my head, and then he turned to the kids.
“At home, probably,” Niko said.
“So who dropped you off in town?” I asked.
“Daddy’s friend,” Valentin said.
I bit my lip.
“Do you…? Do you think I can speak to you alone?” I asked Dakota, but as soon as I tried to walk out of the room, the kids started shouting and crying.
Fuck. I’d managed to scare them in all of this. And they were already terrified from everything their father was putting them through.
“We’ll just stand over here,” I told them and stood under the doorway. “See, I’ll leave the door open so you can see me.”
Dakota smiled at them and stood next to me.
His gray eyes would have made me melt a few weeks ago, before I’d met Teddy. Before I’d become Teddy’s, but now… Now it was nothing. I mean, not nothing. I was still human and Dakota was still a hot guy, what with his dirty-blond hair, bulging muscles, and the hint of tattoos peaking through his uniform, but I didn’t feel hot or bothered while talking to him.
