Page 66 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

He nodded. “Yeah. Braylen Kissel. Uh, sir.”

Cole grinned and stepped back, allowing the kid inside. “I always liked your dad. Good family.”

The boy grinned, relief washing over his face. “Thanks. I’ll tell him you said that.”

Braylen introduced himself to me. He appeared to be closer to seventeen. Maybe a junior or senior in high school. Older than Ashton, but only by a couple years.

“Can we go?” Ashton asked.

I shot Cole a surreptitious glance, and he nodded his approval of the kid who’d come to take my son away.

“Sure. See you in a few hours,” I said.

Ashton hugged me and headed outside with Braylen. I watched him get into the Jeep and spoke over my shoulder to Cole.

“He’s a good kid?”

“Yeah. His dad was older than us, but he was always a straight arrow. Honor roll, played in the marching band, Boy Scout, all that stuff. Ashton should be fine with him.”

“All right.” I blew out a breath. “Let’s go get me a car.”

An hour later, Cole and I stood in the Harbor Mills New and Used Dealership, staring at the two vehicles I’d zeroed in on.

“I really like this one,” I said, nodding toward the small hybrid hatchback. “It’ll be good on gas mileage, and it’s plenty big enough for me and Ashton.”

Cole sighed and made anI don’t know about thisface. “It’s front-wheel drive, though. I think it would be better to get the truck. It’s got four-wheel drive, for the snow.”

“We live in Georgia,” I pointed out, exasperated.

“I know, but that’s the problem,” Cole said. “We don’t get a lot of snow, but when we do, it’s a disaster. The local municipal workers don’t have the supplies or equipment to clear it quickly. I like this one best.”

The truck looked like a damned tank. I’d need a stepstool to get into the thing. That was not going to work. It was even bigger than Cole’s truck, and I already struggled to get into that. No way.

After fifteen more minutes of walking around, we both agreed on a mid-sized SUV. It was a hybrid, and smaller like I wanted, but it came with all-wheel drive. Not the massive, torque-heavy four-wheel drive Cole would have liked, but it would be more than enough for the one or two inches of snow we got a year.

One benefit of Cole coming along was that the shifter salesmen at the dealership had been too intimidated to rush us or push for a sale. They’d hung back, letting us go through the lot until we found what we wanted. After a quick test drive, we dealt with the paperwork. While I was signing the last document and the salesman was preparing the temporary tag, Cole’s phone rang.

“It’s Farrah,” he said, looking at the screen. “Let me take this.” He put the phone to his ear as I slid the paperwork back acrossthe desk. “Hello.” The attentive smile on his lips slid away. “Farrah, calm down. Say that again. What’s wrong?”

A few more seconds went by as he listened, and my blood ran cold at the murderous look on his face. Whatever she was saying had pissed him off. Very rarely had I ever seen rage like that on his face.

“Farrah, just hang on. I’ll be there soon. Calm down. I’ll be right there.”

He shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Cole waved at the salesman. “Is the SUV ready to go?”

The man gaped at him. “Uh, we sent a tech to fill up the tank at the gas station next door. He should be back in five?—”

“No time,” Cole said. “We’ll be back to pick it up later. Avery, we need to go. Now.”

I hurried after him. “What’s going on?”

“Farrah found blood on her back porch. A lot of it. And a trail leading to the woods behind her house.”

Blood? From what? From where? The only thing that sprang to mind was that it had to be some sort of accident. Someone had been hurt or something. But then, Farrah would have known if someone was at her house. The only other option was a message.

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