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I snarled silently as my feet nearly slipped out from under me, then turned and glared at the two women that were currently laughing their asses off at my expense.

“Not funny, ladies,” I called out.

Attie waved and Aspen blew a kiss.

I caught it, like only a man in love would do, and started back down the driveway.

Movement from the yard to the side of mine had me glancing in that direction.

The kid from next door, Ellison, stood in his front yard and stared at me, hate filling his eyes.

I nodded at him, but didn’t receive a nod back.

And when his eyes flicked from me to the two pieces of my heart still standing at front door, his eyes turned…odd.

Then he smiled, making a chill race down my spine.

“Morning,” he murmured calmly.

I nodded at him, then kept walking.

I got in my truck, and breathed a sigh of relief when the girls went inside.

Ellison, though, didn’t.

He stayed where he was, looking at where they had been standing not moments before.

And I made a decision.

Pulling out my phone I sent Aspen a quick text.

Drew: Watch the kid across the street. He’s giving me the creeps.

Then I sent another to Raphael, a man that I wouldn’t have thought I’d find a friendship with due to the fact that he’d been holding a gun on me only two days before.

Drew: Kid’s giving me bad vibes. Will you please keep an eye on him for me?

Raphael: 10-4.

***

Twenty minutes before my shift started at the fire station, I found myself standing in the chief of police’s office. I nodded hello to both Luke and Downy.

“Pretty snazzy quarters you got here,” I said, taking a look around at Luke’s new office.

Luke rolled his eyes.

“Fucking ostentatious, isn’t it?” He asked. “My wife was responsible for this. She thought since I was the new chief, that I needed to have an office that was warm and inviting. Her and my kids spent the damn day here a couple of weeks ago making sure it was ‘just perfect’.”

My grin fell from my face as I sighed.

“I got a problem.”

He nodded. “Didn’t think you’d be here if you didn’t,” he said. “Hit me with your best shot.”

So I did, telling him about Aspen.

“I remember hearing all that when she got arrested for police brutality,” he spat. “Knew then, just as I know now, that this is a big clusterfuck. What else happened?”