Kevin studied him for a moment. “Would you punch Regis for saying it about my mom?”
Shane chuckled. “Naw, I’d never hit a kid no matter what he said. Now, if a grownup said anything about your mom, it might be a different story.”
Shit. That probably went too far. I’m outta my league, I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m screwing this up.
“Look, what I’m trying to say is, ignore His Royal Highness Regis. Who cares what he or his mom think? They’re both wrong about your whole family. And I promise, no one’s after your mom.”
“But that’s just it, Shane. That’s why I’m scared. Someoneisafter my mom.”
“No—”
“Yes!” Kevin yelled. “She said so herself!”
FIVE
Shane pulledthe SUV over and killed the engine. He needed to talk to Kevin face to face without any distractions.
“I thought you had my attention before, but you’ve sure got it now, kid. Your mom told you someone’s after her?”
“No, she didn’t tell me. I was eavesdropping.” He looked sheepish. “I told you everybody my age did it.”
Shane grinned. “Yeah, you did. I’m not judging you, Kevin. What did you overhear?” Shane asked. “Who was your mom talking to?”
“She was talking to Grandpapa and Gramma and Aunt Hannah. It was the same night the bad guys shot at Riversong. We were all staying at Grandpapa and Gramma’s house. It’s big and has rooms for everybody. They thought I was asleep upstairs, but I couldn’t sleep. I started going downstairs for a snack and I heard Gramma yelling. Gramma never yells. So, I stopped on the stairs and listened.”
“What was your Gramma yelling about?”
“She was saying, ‘Nope, you’re not running. We’re not losing you a second time, April. This is not happening again.’ Then Grandpapa said, ‘Little girl, you are not leaving. You are not taking our grandson. You will stay here and we will face thistogether. We don’t even know for sure yet who did this.’ Then Mom said, ‘If he’s after me, you’re not safe as long as I’m here. I’ll do anything to keep everyone safe, even if it means Kevin and I have to disappear.’”
By now, Kevin was fighting back tears, but he kept going. “I didn’t want to go anywhere. So, I ran upstairs and hid under my bed. That was like a whole year ago and I was just a dumb little kid back then. I didn’t think they’d find me.”
Shane smiled softly. “There’s not a dumb thing about you, Kevin.”
Kevin gave him a small smile. “I fell asleep under there, and Mom found me right away the next morning. She thought I was scared of the bad guys, and I didn’t want to tell her the truth because I wasn’t supposed to be out of bed eavesdropping, and I didn’t want to get in trouble. We all stayed at Gramma and Grandpapa’s house for a few days, and then one morning, Mom hugged me and cried and told me that the bad guys weren’t after us. I was just glad that we weren’t leaving. So, I stopped worrying and pretty much forgot about it until Regis said all that.” Kevin paused. “I do that a lot. I forget things.” He looked at Shane sheepishly. “I get in trouble with my teachers all the time for it.”
“Kid, everybody forgets things. Some days, if my head wasn’t attached to my neck, I’d leave it behind on my pillow.”
That made Kevin laugh. “I don’t believe that. You’re really cool, Shane. You taught Peetie all sorts of tricks and he loves you. And people trust you to protect them.” He sat up straight and squared his shoulders. “That’s why I want to hire you.”
Shane jerked his head back in surprise. “Hire me? For what?”
“To be Mom’s bodyguard. Even though Regis is stupid and a jerk, I think maybe he’s right. Someone might come after my mom, or she wouldn’t have said all those things.”
Dammit. The kid had a point.Ifhe was correct about what he’d overheard. Kevin had already been scared, and he could have misunderstood what April said.
But the truth was, Shane didn’t know much about April’s life after high school. He’d told Kevin that she wasn’t a criminal…but he had no proof one way or the other. Except that heknewher.
Didn’t he?
“So, how much do you charge?” Kevin asked. “I got fifty dollars for my birthday. But I was kind of hoping that you would only charge forty, because there’s this video game on Steam for ten bucks and it looks really cool and I wanna get it.”
Shane grinned. “Well, Kevin, it costs a little more than forty bucks to hire a bodyguard.”
Kevin went from looking hopeful to devastated.
“Hey now, don’t be upset. I’m not saying no. Watchdog does take on casespro bono. Do you know what that means?”
“No.”
