Zach
Zach jammed the crowbar beneath a piece of wood and leaned on it. Tearing apart Lauren’s house was oddly therapeutic, but that was a secret he’d be keeping until the day he died.
She made him breakfast. Breakfast! She got up early and cooked extra bacon and eggs.
This wasn’t going to work. No one on the outside had ever made him a meal. His parents had barely even given him formula bottles, and his mom had promptly exited the scene after that stage of his life.
Lauren woke up before him and cooked himbreakfast. He didn’t even work up the courage to eat it until almost ten o’clock. Even cold, it was the best thing he’d ever tasted in his life. She put cheese in the eggs, and the bacon was just crispy enough to crunch but not burnt enough to crumble in his mouth.
She couldn’t do that anymore. He couldn’t live inher rental house for free and also eat her food. She’d given him way too much already.
Zach slid the crowbar under another board and ripped it up. The pressure in his chest was growing, and every breath huffed out of his nose like a raging bull. He couldn’t get used to free meals and a free roof over his head. He’d never taken a handout from anyone.
Stealing, on the other hand, didn’t bother him as much. There wasn’t the expectation that whatever he took would ever be returned.
Now, he was mooching off of goodie-two-shoes Lauren like she was a money tree growing in his back yard. He didn’t even have a yard!
Lauren was the kind of person who would give and give and give until she gave every bit of herself, and he wasn’t going to be that leech in her life. He wouldn’t be the taker when he didn’t have anything to give back.
Which meant he had to work twice as hard for her. He’d do every single thing she needed done around here and then some. It was the only way to make sure the score was even.
“Lauren!”
Zach stilled with the crowbar half jammed between two boards. What was a man doing in Lauren’s house?
What was amandoing in Lauren’s house? If she had a boyfriend, that was something she should have disclosed on day one.
A boyfriend. The muscles in Zach’s neck tightened into chords. That was a little tidbit of mystery that had the potential to drive him mad.
Mad enough to do something stupid? Absolutely.
Gripping the jagged metal in one hand, he quietly rose to his feet and pressed his back against the wall beside the door. Freedom had been fun for all of twenty-seven hours. His parole officer was going to blow his top when he found out Zach was already contemplating murder on his second day as a free man.
“Lauren!”
Zach let out a breath and lowered the crowbar. Unfortunately, he knew that voice. “Officer” Dawson Keller had done enough talking to Zach before the trial. Mr. Good Cop thought everything was black and white, and ratting on friends was as easy as cutting Jell-O.
Zach might have made sure Lauren didn’t get hurt, but he wasn’t stupid enough to flip sides. Anything he told the cops would get him killed, and he wasn’t in the mood to die just yet.
“Dawson!” Another man yelled.
“Where’s Lauren?” Dawson asked.
Zach stepped out of the laundry room and propped his shoulder against the door frame. Reuniting with his past wasn’t going to be pretty no matter how long he put it off. “She’s at work.”
Dawson jerked around to face Zach. His eyes grewwide as he reached for the gun on the side of his belt. “Don’t move.”
Asa Scott stepped up behind Dawson. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, he didn’t have the strait-laced look of his buddy today. Zach hadn’t ever seen Asa without his uniform, and the street clothes actually made the guy look normal.
Asa rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “He’s supposed to be here. I wanted to tell you before you got here.”
Dawson, decked out in uniform, bulletproof vest, and full utility belt, kept a steady hand on his gun and his gaze locked on Zach. “In what world is he supposed to be in Lauren’s house?”
Asa patted Dawson’s shoulder as if signaling a trained dog to stand down. “It’s a long story. We can talk about it later.”
“Nope. I want to talk now,” Dawson said, keeping his stare on Zach.
This was fun. He should surprise the law more often by showing up in seemingly ordinary places and not breaking any rules. It would throw their tiny little pea brains into a whirlwind every time.
