Mac sighs. “I know someone who might be able to help. Works for CPS and owes me a favor.”
“How the fuck does someone from CPS owe you a favor?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, if it helps, Kruger and I have done the training, background checks, and everything else we needed to do to become foster parents. We just haven’t done the home visit yet. Hard to do that part when we clearly have a teen boy living there already.”
Mac nods. “That’s good. That will help.”
“Guess you saw the writing on the wall,” G adds, pulling out his cell phone. “I’ll get the girls in to make sure everything is covered for a visit. Heck, they can call Lola if they need to. Wasn’t that long ago they had CPS in to assess the place for Millie moving in. You won’t need to hide Theo’s stuff either. We can just say, after all this, you rushed out to get the room sorted so he had a safe place to go, just in case.”
“Good, because whether they let us take him home or not, like fuck will I let him back here with Josh. I’d rather hide him out with Hannibal. They’d soon give up looking. Shitty as it sounds, kids like Theo fall through the cracks more often than not.”
“I want him with us,” Delphi says softly.
I kiss her forehead, my eyes on Mac. “Then we’d better hope your CPS contact pulls through for us, or it looks like we’ll be moving in with Hannibal, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
DELPHI
I sitbeside Theo as he sleeps, my mind going over Kruger’s words about us moving in with Hannibal. I knew he cared about me, but I’m not exactly low maintenance. If he wanted easy, he could have clicked his fingers and had a couple of girls lined up to bounce on his dick. But caring about someone and loving them are not the same.
I have all those letters he wrote. I’ve read them so many times I can quote parts of them. I could feel the love he poured into each one, but it felt like it was for the younger version of me, who no longer existed.
Sure, he’s told me he loves me since then. But tonight, when he told me on the phone as he rushed back to us, was the first time I really believed it. And now, with his promise that we’d move to be with Theo, I didn’t just hear his declaration of love. I felt it.
I’m just not sure I trust it. Every time something good happens in my life, fate takes a big old shit on me. I’ve come so close to having everything and then having it torn away in thecruelest of ways to ever take things for granted. But that also makes me a little paranoid.
I rub my hands over my tired eyes. As if sitting beside a battered Theo isn’t enough proof that fate is a fickle fucking bitch.
I look up when there is a knock on the door. It opens a little before a head peers in. I blink, looking at the unfamiliar face. She’s pretty, in a geeky sort of way that works for her. A pair of black-framed glasses covers a set of large green eyes that give her an almost doll-like appearance, especially teamed with that alabaster skin and a dusting of freckles. Her hair is a deep auburn color, and a riot of springy, untamable curls that make me think of that Disney princess who turns her family into bears.
“Hey, are you Delphi Anders?”
“That’s me.”
She smiles, pushing her glasses up her nose before nudging the door open. “I’m Greer Sanders. I’m with CPS.”
She walks closer, with her hand out, as I take her in. She’s shorter than me, maybe around five-five, but she has curves for days. She has the kind of body that would make a Playboy bunny weep. But I can already see she either has no clue how to dress to flatter her shape, or she deliberately wears boxy clothes to hide it. Perhaps a little of both.
Right now, she’s wearing a chocolate-brown skirt that’s neither fitted nor flared. It hits just below the knee, showing off clunky black loafers. The jacket is the same shade of brown as the skirt and looks two sizes too big, making her shoulders look out of proportion. The sleeves cover her hands and the buttons are done up to the top, showing a hint of a white blouse beneath it.
Where the heck did Mac run into Greer? She doesn’t look like the kind of girl he’d find down at the strip club.
I stand up and take the hand she offers me. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too. Wish it was under better circumstances.” She glances over at Theo, her face flashing with anger for a moment before she masks it. “You mind if I sit?”
“No, please do.”
She grabs one of the empty chairs and drags it closer to me. “Mac told me a little about what’s going on.”
I nod, not sure exactly what Mac told her. Shit like this would have been useful to know. I’m gonna strangle the fucker when I see him.
“What did he say?” I hedge, not wanting to give too much away.
She looks at me and I can tell in one glance that she can sniff through bullshit like a dog. I won’t do any of us any favors if I treat her like she’s dumb.
