“Did you enjoy that?”Atticus asked Carson as he sat back in the passenger seat, adjusting himself before pulling the seatbelt across his body.
“Very much.”
“Good.Where are you?”
“Sittin’ in front of a client’s house.Last appointment of the day.I thought I’d see if you wanted to grab dinner tonight.”
“Sounds good,” Atticus agreed.“The three of us can meet at the house and then go out somewhere.”
Slade pretended that comment didn’t do weird things to his insides, like turn them all fuzzy and warm.As easy as it was to ride along on the wave of hatred he’d felt for Carson, he would give just about anything to go back to where they’d once been.
“Works for me,” Carson said.
“Me, too,” Slade said when Atticus pinned those intense green eyes on him.
“Good.But first, we’ve got a case to work.I’ll let you know if we’re gonna be late.”
“Lookin’ forward to tonight.Later, Slade.”
“Later,” he said before Atticus ended the call by tapping the navigation screen.
Atticus stared at him.“If you’re done playin’, we do have a case to work.”
Slade started the truck.“Anyone tell you you’re hot when you’re bossy?”
Atticus huffed a laugh.“Hot.Right.”
“You are.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things, but hot’s not one of ’em,” he said, popping a breath mint from the container Slade kept in the truck.
“Well, it’s true, so stop fishin’ for compliments.”
“I’m not fish—”
Slade cut him off by grabbing him and jerking him over for a kiss.He lingered for a bit longer simply because he could.
He had no idea whether this was going to work—the three of them together—but he was past the point of pretending he didn’t want to try.He only prayed Carson didn’t rip his heart out of his chest and stomp all over it again.That was a real possibility.
And while he might survive that, Slade knew for a fact he wouldn’t survive if Atticus did the same thing.
But he was willing to take the chance.If it meant moving forward.
“Damn,” Atticus muttered when he walked throughthe doors of Coyote Ridge High School.
His high school hadn’t looked anything like this.
Three sets of double doors allowed entry into a grand common area where kids could congregate.Or at least that was the impression he got as he watched several kids sitting on benches or the carpeted floor, talking, laughing.He did notice there was very little studying going on.Yeah, some had books open, but he figured that was to use as justification for being there.Others had earbuds in their ears.Several of them held bags of snack food, and he was pretty sure he smelled pizza, probably left over from lunch.
Along with kids scattered about, the common area also had a couple of map stands that looked like those you’d see at the mall.Directions, maybe, considering the size of this place.The entire space was surrounded by six feet of stained concrete that acted as a walkway toward the main offices.
“This way,” Slade said, following the walkway that ran parallel to the common area.
Atticus fell into step, keeping pace but leaving a bit of distance between them so he could continue to take it all in.
“That’s the gym.”
Atticus glanced to the right, checking out the closed double doors that Slade was pointing at.Next to the doors were inset cases that held a wealth of different trophies and other awards the school and its students had acquired over the years.
