Page 43 of Sheltered By Love

Chapter Eight

Zane

I’m up before the sun is. And in need of more than a cold shower and a cup of coffee.

I’m still thinking about her. How she felt. How she responded to me.

How much I wanted to kiss her in the hallway of my parent’s house.

I still don’t know who she is. And as much as I want to give in, I can’t go down that road again.

Better than a cold shower, Levi is sitting in the kitchen, yawning and ready to tell me what I already know.

Aside from bumping into Felicity in those damn shorty PJs again, nothing eventful happened.

“No one I didn’t know came in or out of the neighborhood. Jax had to go home but he doesn’t have anything either.”

He looks like he has something else to say. Sure enough, he slumps in his chair. “I saw Garrett. He looks like crap. The Chief says he’s trying to find room in the budget to hire another two reserves and someone with investigation skills,” he says.

I release a sigh. “And you think that should be me?”

He shrugs. “You were on your way to being a Marine Corps CID. Now you’re back home, it’s not that much of a stretch to train as a cop.”

“That’s his deal. Not mine. I’m fine helping him out from time to time, but I’m happy fishing for now.”

“We have enough fishermen, we don’t have enough cops,” he grumbles.

I don’t answer that. Not much point when he’s right.

Until the next budget, the chief and Garrett are carrying the load of six people and it’ll get worse when the tourism season starts again.

It’s not that I don’t have the skills, or that I don’t want to help, it’s that after seeing what was left of Mom and Dad, I don’t think I have the stomach to do what Garrett does every day.

It’s one thing investigating a string of burglaries, it’s another thing having to scrape family off the road the way he did.

I take another swallow of coffee as Levi looks around the kitchen we’ve spent so much time in.

Born four years after I was, with Garrett already the designated sensible one, Levi got away with all kinds of stuff I would have gotten a swift clip around the ear for.

But occasionally, like now, he speaks some sense.

“I’ll have a word to Garrett about filling in until they can find replacements.”

Levi’s shoulders relax half an inch and despite looking tired, he seems pleased I’m not fighting him on this.

I’ll never really know what seeing Mom and Dad like that did to them both, or how much Garrett spared Levi from that day.

But I do know that I’m not going to let it happen again.

Rather than stew on our shared grief, I repeat what Felicity told me over dinner.

Levi slaps his knee and laughs so hard his eyes start to water. “Isn’t Pearl chair of some women’s committee?”

I nod. “The one Mom refused to join, and Pearl called her an anti-feminist for.”

He shakes his head. “That’s right. Never seen Mom that pissed before. Wow. That’s wicked pissah. You gotta tell Garrett. She’s gotta be on the prowl if she’s going out of town for hookups.”

His words bite as I think about Felicity. If she’d been seeing anyone we’d have known by now. Is that why she reacted like that when I touched her? She’s lonely?

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