Keaton stood and loomed over me, but I rolled my eyes and flicked his goose egg, and he hissed, slapping his hand over it. The dogwhuffedat us as if we were bad pups.
“Oh! Cops!” Ginny said excitedly, then ran outside before either of us could stop her. “Turn on the lights! Turn on the lights, mister!”
“Shit, my gun.” Panic slammed into me in a way I’d never quite experienced as I grabbed it from where I’d stuffed it under a pillow earlier. This was the shittiest start to a day on record. “Is there any place to hide this?”
One of his eyebrows raised, then the other, and he nodded.
11
KEATON
I snatched the gun from him and went directly over to the corner of the trailer, where one of the floor panels was loose. I wiggled the panel until it came out and shoved the gun into a box I’d attached to the trailer. Usually, I kept things in there that I never wanted Mom to find—like the checks I kept to pay the rent—but this was the perfect place to hide the gun. I had a lot of questions, like why the fuck did he have a gun in the same trailer where my sister lived, but I shoved them all down for later. The argument we were having wasn’t done and this weapon issue added another point that I’d fight with him about. I’d made it my mission to never have a gun around Ginny.
With a glare at him, I shoved open the door and raced out of the trailer toward Ginny, who’d crowded one of the cops against his patrol car while she demanded he use the lights and sirens. It’d be a disaster if they did. The last thing I wanted was to wake up people in the park to this—cops near their homes. The quicker I got the cops to leave, the better. Maybe no one would know they’d been here.
“The lights don’t work?” Ginny pouted up at one of the cops. They were different from the guys who were at the hospital, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
The dude in front of her had a shaved head like he’d just gotten out of the army or some shit and a mean scowl, and I didn’t want Ginny too close to him, so I stalked over and pulled her back gently. I pushed her behind me.
“What do you want?”
The other cop came around the car, his thumbs jammed into his utility belt. He walked as though he was in a cowboy movie. He was blond but wasn’t the dude from the hospital. There was an unpleasant look to him and his expression had my spine stiffening.
The first cop—I recognized him as an officer called Horner because he’d visited this park more than once—squared his shoulders. “You’re Keaton Burnett?”
He fucking knew my name.
“Yeah.” Every time Ginny tried to glance around my solid build, I pushed her back.
Zayn came out of the trailer and closed the door, which I was glad about because I didn’t want Bernadette out here. She’d never been a fan of cops, and if she felt like Ginny was threatened, she’d attack. Cops didn’t hesitate and they’d shoot her dead. It was hard enough trying to tell Ginny that Mom was gone; I didn’t want to see her sweet dog hurt, too.
Zayn stepped up to my side, helping me create a wall for Ginny, and even though I was mad as fuck at him and my head hurt, I gave him a small smile of thanks.
“Can we help you?” he asked.
The cowboy cop finally got around to his partner’s side and made a point of sizing us up, his blue eyes cold and judging. He was Horner’s partner, Gross, and I’d always thought it soundedabout right, too. He was fucking gross. He liked to think he was thesheriffaround these parts, but he was just another asshole.
Horner crossed his arms. “We’re here to check up on you. According to our coworkers, your mom died in a car accident with drugs in her system.”
I cringed as soon as he said it. I turned toward Ginny, but it was too late. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, tripping over something behind her. She fell onto her ass as her bottom lip started to wobble.
“Mommy?” Her big brown eyes watered, and my heart shattered right there. “Mommy’s gone to heaven?”
I fell to my knees in front of her, reality once again crushing me until all the hurt bled into me in one wave of pain. None of the grief compared to the awfulness in Ginny’s eyes—the sadness and betrayal. She was five, she didn’t understand fully, but she was also a lot smarter than me at times. She had to be. We lived in a bad part of town and she’d always had to act older than she was.
“Virginia.” My voice broke as I reached for her, and she launched herself at me, colliding with my chest and sobbing. I held her tight.
Behind me, I heard Zayn talking to the police, but I ignored them. The only thing that mattered right now was Ginny. My little girl.
Bernadette started barking, herwoofsso loud that they rattled the windows of the trailer. Then, the door clanged and trembled as she scratched at the wood angrily. She’d heard Ginny crying and now Bernadette wanted out to check on her. I didn’t blame the pit bull. At this rate, everyone would be awake soon and it didn’t look good for us. Not only was Bernadette going to piss them off, but the cops were here, too, and it was because of Mom.
Maybe Zayn was right. Maybe it was time to leave. Living with Zayn, though? I barely knew the guy. How could I trust him with Ginny?
I lifted Ginny and pressed her farther against my chest where she was already burrowing. When I turned toward the cops again, Zayn was in a heated discussion with them.
“If he knew anything more, he’d tell you.” Zayn kept his words polite and direct, but the darkness returned to his tone. Deep. Hungry for blood. I still couldn’t understand why I was picking up the vibe from him. “Now, you know the way out.”
Horner shuffled in closer to Zayn, eyes narrowed and arms still crossed, making his biceps look bigger. “You think we don’t know there’s drugs in this park? We have a right to investigate.”
