Page 159 of Chasing Shelter

“You know what I mean,” Rainer ground out. “You see in people’s heads.”

Anson gave him a long look. “That’s one way of putting it. And I’ll do you a solid and perform a parlor trick for free.”

“Ooooh, goody,” Fallon cheered. “I love when he does this.”

Rainer bared his teeth at my sister like some sort of animal, but Kye stepped in front of her, blocking Rainer’s line of sight. “You don’tlookat her. You don’t even breathe her air.”

It was Rainer’s turn to snicker. “Strike a nerve, delinquent?”

“You were abandoned by your father,” Anson cut in. “Likely between the ages of five and seven. Your mother was neglectful at best. My guess is she had a revolving door of men in and out of her life. They didn’t treat you well. It’s why you have a problem with authority, even now. But what you don’t like people to know is that all you yearned for was their approval.”

It was as if Rainer had been struck by a bolt of lightning. His body jerked, and then his spine went ramrod straight. “You don’t know a damn thing you’re talking about.”

But the way his face went white told me that Anson had hit the nail on the head.

Rainer spat on the ground the same way my father liked to do. “Keep your freaky family away from me.” And with that, he took off.

I turned, following him with my eyes until Rainer was as far from us as he could get while staying on the fairgrounds.

“Did you see how he went all pale?” Fallon all but cheered.

Kye swiveled around to glare at her. “You do not shit-talk a man like that, Fal. He’s dangerous and could hurt you just for shits and giggles.”

She frowned back at Kye. “We’re in public.”

“That doesn’t mean a damn thing. I need you to be smarter than that.” Kye stalked away without another word.

Rhodes reached out for Fallon’s arm. “Are you okay?”

Fal shook her off. “I need to go after him.”

Hell.A reaction like that meant Kye’s demons were working overtime.

Anson wrapped an arm around Rho’s shoulders. “She’s who he needs right now. They’ll work it out.”

I knew they would, but I was still worried about my brother, and it was time for us to have one hell of a heart-to-heart.

Luca raced toward our group, Cope following behind at a more sedate pace. “Keels is up there now,” Luca yelled. “Get a video!”

I tried to shake off the encounter with Rainer and Kye’s reaction and grinned at Luca. “You didn’t fall out?”

Luca grinned widely. “Nope. I even put my hands up like this!” He shot his hands into the air.

Cope squeezed his shoulder. “A certified bad?—”

“If you finish that statement, I’m grounding you,” Sutton cut in.

“Dude,” Luca muttered. “Don’t get grounded.”

We all laughed, and I slid my phone out of my pocket as the roller coaster pulled out of the station and started up the steady incline.Hell.Maybe I would upchuck just watching.

“Someone get the barf bag,” Rhodes called.

I flipped her off.

“That was uncalled for. And from our sheriff, no less,” she said with mock affront.

I recorded every painful dip and roll. The only thing that kept me from tossing my cookies was the fact that I caught Keely’s and Ellie’s shouts on the air every so often. When the coaster parked back at the station, I breathed a sigh of relief and put my phone back into my pocket.

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