“Ssshhh.” He had no fucking idea what that meant, but he knew enough to understand she was losing her grandmother all over again, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing he could do about it except hold her and utter fucking useless words of comfort while she shattered in his arms, one heart-wrenching sob at a time.
He kissed her forehead and rocked her from side to side, “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”
“Sh-she was the only one who w-wanted me.”
****
Avery wasn’t sure how long they sat there amidst the debris and heartache, his chest constricting with every broken sob wrenched from Jo’s slight body. At some point, the room had grown darker, and she’d gone quiet except for an occasional hiccup and the tremor that followed. His shirt was soaked through. The metal she clung to dug into his shoulder, and he was pretty sure a piece of glass was stabbing his ass.
A loud rap on the door they’d left open startled her. “Police. We’re coming in.”
“We’re in the kitchen,” he yelled up and over the counter, then lowered his voice as he looked down at her, “Jo, the police are here.”
“Yeah,” she breathed then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“We need to get up.”
“Yeah.” She lifted her head, looking anywhere but at him, her eyelids puffy, her nose red. With a swipe of her sweater’s sleeve, she smeared the black tracks on her cheeks across herface and crawled off his lap, still clinging to her salvage like buried treasure.
Stiffly climbing to his feet, he indicated one of the wrought-iron chairs. The glass table top was gone, fodder. “Sit here, but don’t touch anything. There’s glass everywhere.”
The crunch of boots grew louder. A flashlight flickered over his face, blinding him temporarily, then lowered. As his eyes adjusted, he made out the silhouette of two officers, one built like a mountain, the other short and wiry.
“Is there anyone else here?” came from shorter of the two.
“It’s just us.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
“No.”
The overhead lights came on, and the burly officer jutted his chin toward the hall. “I’ll check it out.”
The other one nodded, then holstered his flashlight. “Which one of you lives here?”
Jo sighed. “Me.”
“I’m Officer Benning. That’s Officer Sanchez. What’s your name?”
“Jo Hayes.”
He turned to Avery. “And you are?”
“Avery Preston.” He pulled a business card from his wallet and handed it to the officer.
“And what’s your relationship?”
“I’m her boyfriend.” Avery didn’t know why he said it, but thank fuck, she didn’t argue.
“We took a B&E call a few weeks ago at this address. Where’s the other girl who lives here?”
“She moved out.”
Benning grunted, as if to say, “Smart girl.”
“All clear,” Sanchez said, returning to the living room. He started taking pictures with his phone.
Avery watched both cops for some sign of what they were thinking, but they weren’t giving anything away, which forced him to ask the obvious question. “Do you think they’re related?”
