Page 31 of Fragile Sanctuary

“Took off looking like he was about to have the shits or sucked on a lemon,” Silas shot back.

Shep inclined his head to the side. “Walk with me. I need to run something by Rho.”

The last thing I wanted was to walk any closer to Rhodes. To her brightness, her color. It only made me realize just how gray my world had become.

Still, I followed Shep just out of earshot of the guys. He dipped his head and lowered his voice. “I need to be worried?”

I mulled the question over. There were so many threads to it. I didn’t want to tug on any of them. But I owed Shep. Everything, really. “How long did they date?”

“About a month. Not serious. A date or two a week.”

I gnawed on that. So, a max of eight dates. Chances were, they’d slept together. That could be a trigger for someone with control issues or obsessive tendencies. I knew for sure Davis was the former, but hoped he wasn’t the latter. “How long ago did Rhodes end things?”

Shep scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “It was just before Lolli’s birthday, so about three and a half weeks.”

That pinged my radar. Davis still coming around almost a month after the breakup of a relationship that hadn’t gotten all that serious? Not a good sign.

“Probably a good idea to keep an eye out,” I said carefully. “Butshe’s got a lot of people around her right now. He’s going to know there’s the potential of him making a fool of himself with an audience like he did today. A guy like him? He’s not going to like that much.”

Shep grunted. “He’s all about image. I think that’s half of why he’s still after Rho. She ended things, not him.”

That thought eased a little of the tension thrumming through me. Ego was a much better option than obsession. Ego wounds could heal. Obsession, not so much. And sometimes, you didn’t know what you were dealing with until it was too late.

10

RHODES

Easingonto the stool behind the register, I laid the egg sandwich on the counter. Dog looked up at me with pleading eyes. I’d had him for a week, and he still didn’t have a name. Nothing quite seemed to fit, and he deserved the right one.

I’d been working on his training, though. I’d found one of those clickers Anson had mentioned at our local feed and pet store. Looking up the training methodology, I’d found loads of stuff. And even better, it worked.

Every now and then, I caught Anson watching our training sessions from afar. But he never came over. Never said a word to me. And if I ventured over into crew territory, he conveniently disappeared.

Seemed he’d been honest when he said he did dogs but not people.

I leaned down to scratch Dog’s head. He had quite the setup at Bloom. A dog bed behind the counter with a bowl of water, a handful of toys, and a cozy blanket. I was damn lucky I had a boss who let me bring my fosters to work.

Unwrapping the sandwich, I took a huge bite of the flaky biscuit, egg, and sharp cheddar and nearly moaned. Thank the food gods for our onsite café. I’d started earlier today because we’d received a delivery of new shrubs just as we closed last night.

My phone dinged, and I glanced down at the screen. Our sibling group chat had another new name.The 7 Deadly Sibs.

I snorted as I picked up the device.

Cope

Who sent the basket of peaches to the practice arena?

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

Me

Want me to send you Nora’s cobbler recipe?

Fallon

I’ve got a jam recipe you could use.

Cope

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