Quinn’s silent a moment. “I honestly don’t know. Is he with you?”
“For now, yeah.”
“Let me make some phone calls and find out for you.”
“I appreciate it.”
He doesn’t hang up like I expect him to. Instead, he quietly asks, “Is this the direction you want to go, Grady? It’s a lot of responsibility.”
“He needs someone to give a shit.”
“Alright. Leave it with me; I’ll call you back.”
“Thanks.”
Hades is in the pool when I go out, chasing after one of his floating balls. Lake and Riley are sitting sideways on two of the pool loungers, talking quietly.
“Come inside; we need to talk,” I tell them gruffly. There’s no avoiding the reason he’s here. Whatever Quinn finds out, it involves all of us.
Riley sighs and stands. “Then you’re taking me back?” His voice is resigned, like he already knew what was going to happen.
“Let’s just talk first. Go inside.”
Lake encourages Hades to get out of the water and throws a towel over him, drying him as best he can. He watches Riley, his back tense, head inside.
“Quinn is looking into what we can do,” I tell him before he can ask. “Then we have to decide. What do you want to do, Lake?” Whatever choice we make now, it’s going to follow us. We can leave him to the system, hope that when it spits him out, he’ll be able to make his way and make better choices.
Lake stands and then ushers Hades away from the pool, closing the gate behind us so he can’t get back in. “I want to help him. I don’t know what that means.”
Yeah. Gathering him close helps, and I inhale the sweet smell of his hair, kissing the top of his head. He snuggles in closer, making a contented sound.
Riley is waiting in the living room, elbows on his knees, his back bent forward and extremely stiff, like he’s waiting for the hammer to fall.
Lake drops onto the couch beside him, giving him a wide grin. “Do you like popcorn?”
“We’re not having popcorn. Tell us why you were stealing.”
Riley scowls, red spreading across the top of his cheekbones. Looking away, he clenches his hands against his knees.
“I stole once,” Lake pipes up, looking way too pleased over the revelation.
“When?” If he says it happened in the last week, I honestly won’t be all that surprised. I doubt he’d even do it on purpose, just pick something shiny up to look at and then walk out with it. I’m equally sure he would have returned and paid for it as soon as he realised.
“For full disclaimer, I should tell you that I was four. Make sure you add that in the court papers.”
With a heavy sigh, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Let me guess: a piece of candy.”
“Excuse you, I am way more interesting than that. I begged my mum with cute, adorable, four-year-old eyes, and she got me a whole packet of snakes. No, I stole a marble.”
As if that revelation somehow makes it more interesting.
“Wait, justonemarble?” Riley asks, brows drawn together like he’s confused. That makes two of us. “Don’t they come in packs?”
“Those wire bags are really easy to rip holes in, just saying.”
What a menace.
“Do you still have it?” Riley leans forward curiously. I honestly can’t tell if he’s genuinely interested or just hoping that a subject change would mean that everything will be forgotten. If I let Lake continue, it’s entirely possible. He has a way of derailing all my thought processes, even when sex isn’t involved.
