Page 28 of Always Mine

“I’ve had waking ones.”

“You okay now?”

“I’d like some water.”

Will helped him sit up straighter against the pillows then handed him the glass next to the bed.

He took a few gulps. “I’m okay now. What’s going on?”

“Detective Donovan wants a pow-wow.”

She stepped forward. “Maybe this isn’t the best time. I’ve had some PTSD myself.”

“No, tell him what you told me.”

More gently than he expected, she said, “Annie can’t visit here anymore.”

Annie sighed heavily. “I know. I talked with Will about this and I’m not coming back.”

“See, like I told you,” Will said, sounding childish. “She won’t come back anymore. Not till the perp is caught or we decide this was an unrelated incident.”

“That’s all I want.”

Annie grabbed her purse and sweater, kissed Diego on the cheek and said, “Good night.” She cupped his cheek. “I hope the flashbacks don’t come back.”

“Me, too. We’ll talk on the phone.”

“Maybe.” She turned. “I’m ready, Will.”

“Then we’ll get out of here.”

Katie walked ahead of them to the back door, and he noticed how nicely her clothes fit. Before he could stop himself, he wondered how she’d look out of them.

* * *

Denzi stood in the shadows, watching the lady cop go inside. Was this her break? Throwing the brick worked to get Rodriguez home alone. She didn’t expect the pigs to stick around. If she went inside, could she take on two of them at once?

A quick streak of pain gutted her. She was alone in this. She’d lost her homies, lost Marco, to them.

Nope, she wasn’t gonna take the chance tonight. She’d wait. Observe. Everybody made mistakes and these fuckers would too.

She slinked away into the darkness.

Chapter 5

Her phone rang, waking her. Annie fished around for it, then glanced at the clock. Three a.m. Her first thought was that something happened to Diego. She checked the ID. This wasn’t his number. She clicked on.

“Annie, Adam Phillips here.” Her principal. “You’re needed over at Pathways right away. The kids are staging some kind of rebellion, and they’re insisting they see their teachers.”

This had never happened before, and she’d been there four years. Leaping up, she said, “Be right there,” and jumped into clothes. Drove the short distance to the school and parked. When she got out of the car, a clatter of metal on metal filled the cold air. She zipped up her hoodie.

Another car pulled in and Seth got out. “Hi.”

“Hi.” They headed across the parking lot and saw the kids lined up at the fence. The banging pots on the bars got louder. Halogen lamps flooded the space. Adam stood behind them along with two security guards.

As they approached the fence, Annie saw the other teachers had arrived.

Adam yelled into a megaphone, “Find your home student. Talk to him.” Every teacher had been assigned as a partner to one of the boys.

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