Page 26 of Declan's Dove

“I bet he only does it to impress Laylah.”

“Yeah, probably. But she’s not interested in boys,” Ethan states firmly. I give him a look that says I’m calling bullshit. “No. No, man. She’s not allowed to like boys yet. I have a kid on the way. I can’t be going to jail for killing some hormonal teenage boy who thinks with his dick.”

“You realize that the only two words in that sentence that separate our brothers from the boys you’re talking about are teenage boy, right?”

Ethan blows out a long breath. “Then you see why I would push the ‘no boys til you’re thirty’ rule so hard.” I laugh but nod my agreement while I finish up ordering our dinner on my phone.

“You think Skyler knows something about what’s going on?” I ask Ethan, changing the subject.

He’s rubbing the scruff on his chin. “She may know something, but I don’t think it has anything to do with what’s going on today. I know they were close even before Sky came back to town. Carter called her Auntie Sky in the gym the first time I caught her working out with Kieran, so there’s definitely some history there. I figured they knew each other from Mountain Heights, since Violet seemed pretty comfortable around Cash too.”

I grunt, not liking that Ethan’s right. When Cash came into town with Skyler, he had a way of putting Violet at ease and making her smile. I didn’t like it. Especially since she would shy away from me. She slowly started coming around when she saw me interacting with Carter. When we gave him his hoodie and a cell phone with all the guys’ numbers programmed in, she melted a little more. The boy calls or texts me at least twice a day and I check to see if he’s done his homework and helping his mama around the house.

I probably should’ve taken things more seriously when he told me she was acting weird. Crying herself to sleep at night. Checking every room when she gets home before she would let Carter go any further than the front door.

I assumed she was working through her fear after being stabbed, but just to be safe, I asked Wyatt to look into it and had him check the building’s security cameras. Everything seemed to be on the up and up. Since Carter hasn’t said anything else about it, I let it go.

Wrong move, asshole.

“See what you can find out from Sky tonight, would ya? I’m going to see if I can get the kid to open up to me a little about his non-secrets and the good people doing bad shit, too.”

Ethan heads out just as our pizza arrives. Carter comes strolling down the hall wearing Batman pajamas. I smile to myself at the little man. Sometimes I forget he’s only ten. The kid takes his role as man of the house seriously, and sometimes seems too mature to be ten.

“You got two pizzas? But there’s only two of us,” he says, confused.

“Well, a little birdie told me you can eat almost a whole medium pizza by yourself, and I know I can. So rather than both of us going to bed unsatisfied, I got two. You good with having your own pie?”

“Hell yeah.”

I chuckle at his enthusiasm. I’m going to get a verbal beat down from his mama for his language.

“Take the boxes to the coffee table in the living room, would ya? I’ll get us some napkins and drinks. You want a soda or water? I don’t have juice or anything, but I might have some milk,” I offer.

“Mama doesn’t like me to have soda before bed on a school night. She says it’s too much sugar or something.”

“Well, she’s not here, and I don’t have much in the way of options, kid.”

His smile is wide, and his eyes are full of excitement. “Soda please.”

I chuckle to myself and grab two sodas from the fridge, then take a seat on the couch next to him. He’s already got the tv remote in his hand, passing it over to me.

“So, what do we want to watch? Sports? Cartoons? A movie?”

“You watch cartoons?” he asks skeptically.

“No. But I’m not opposed to it if it’s superheroes or something cool.” It really doesn’t matter to me what we watch, but if cartoons will get him to relax, it might give me the opening I need to start this conversation.

“Do you have Netflix?”

“Yeah. Here, kid.” I hand him the remote. “Pick something out.” I open the lid to my box, grab a piece, and take a bite. He searches out some Batman cartoon and starts it from the beginning.

“I’ve seen it already, but you should watch it from the beginning so you can understand what’s going on,” Carter says, setting the remote on the table before opening his box and biting into his own piece of pepperoni pizza.

We watch his show for a few minutes, enjoying our meal. Carter fills me in on what’s happening and which characters to pay close attention to. He’s so engrossed in the storyline, now feels like the perfect time to ask him questions about his mother.

“You said your mama told you I might pick you up today after school. Did she tell you where she was going? Or how long she might be?”

Carter sits back with his piece of pizza in his hand, half watching me, half watching the tv. “No, sir. She just told me you might get me and to be good. Listen to what you say. The usual mom speech she gives when she drops me off with someone.”

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