But Aiden was right. Riding it today would not be fun.
“Don’t you have to be at the hospital?” I asked.
Aiden handed me the other half of his bagel. “I set myown hours. Eat that, though. You shouldn’t let that ibuprofen sit on an empty stomach.”
I followed him out the front door, taking a bite of cream-slathered bagel. It wasn’t my go-to breakfast, but it wasn’t half bad.
Aiden drove me to the plain government building that housed parole officers, along with some other depressing departments like social work and city code enforcement.
“I’m not sure how long this will take,” I said. “Winslow will have more than a few words to say about all this.”
“I’d be surprised if he didn’t.” Aiden waggled his phone. “It’s cool. I owe my friend Haley a callback, anyway.”
“Okay, thanks for doing this. I know you have better things to do.”
“No, I don’t.”
The statement was simple, but the implication wasn’t. Aiden took his work seriously. His first concern when we hooked up was that it might distract him from his goals. Putting me first today was no small thing.
I squeezed his hand. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
I checked in at the front desk, then headed down the hall toward Winslow’s office.
As I neared, his door opened, and he stepped out with Ghost. Huh. I thought he’d just gone to his last appointment a few days ago.
They stood together, quietly speaking, which wasn’t odd for Ghost, but for Winslow, it was noteworthy. The man must have been in high school theater because heprojectedlike he was speaking to an audience, voice booming loudly with every word.
Not now, though.
He placed a hand on Ghost’s shoulder, squeezing. I wasn’t sure I’d seen anyone else brave enough to touch Ghost.
“Hey, guys,” I called. “I didn’t know there was a party today.”
Ghost stepped back, and Winslow’s hand dropped away. “I was just leaving.”
“Ah, bummer.” I came to a stop next to him. “We could have peed into cups together.”
He cast me an amused look, lips twitching, then did a double take. “Your face.”
“Ah, yeah.” I raised a hand to my bruised jaw, rubbing gently. “Got in a scuffle. It’s nothing.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” Winslow said, sounding unimpressed. “Get in my office, Will. It looks like today is going to be a shitfest.”
With a sigh, I slunk into the office, knowing Winslow was going to let me have it.
Maybe I really should have tried to cancel like Aiden suggested. No doubt Winslow would have just tracked me down and grilled me about what happened.
I carefully lowered myself into a seat. “What’s up, my man? Everything good?”
Winslow sat down behind his metal desk, giving me the hairy eyeball. “You tell me.”
“Nothing to tell.”
His nostrils flared, and he was gearing himself up to blow.
I raised my hands. “Okay, I know how it looks. I got jumped by some guys. But it wasn’t my doing.”
“Who’s doing was it, then?”
