Page 163 of Shattered Souls
She merely shrugs, not lifting her head, and now Iknowsomething is wrong. In the months Aurora has been living with us, she hasneverturned down ice cream.
“Sweetheart, won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” I try again. I asked her this already when I picked her up, but she just shook her head. Which is the same response I get this time.
My hands tighten around the steering wheel, and I have half a mind to drive straight back to the daycare and demand answers from Ms. Everly. I knew she couldn’t be trusted to takecare of our little girl. We shouldn’t have left her alone there with those snot-nosed little shits.
What if someone is bullying her? Did one of those little twerps make fun of her?
You can’t beat up little children, I fruitlessly remind myself as I miraculously keep the car heading homeward and don’t do a U-turn in the middle of the street.
“It’s supposed to be a secret, but we have a surprise for you and your Mom later,” I tell her, knowing Grayson is going to blow a gasket that I’ve said anything. I’ll endure his wrath if it means I can get a smile from her. Except, not even a secret surprise can get her to perk up.Damn, it really must be bad.
Instead of pushing her to talk, we drive the remainder of the way home in silence. She’s unbuckling her car seat as soon as I’ve parked, and the second I open her door, she’s jumping down, her little backpack in her hand as she races into the house.
The TV is already on, the vibrant colors of cartoons assaulting my vision when I walk into the house. I stop long enough to find her sitting on the floor in front of the television. She’s too close, but I don’t bother to reprimand her as I stalk past the living room and into the kitchen, where Grayson is sitting at the table, his laptop open in front of him.
We have just finished our final exams, and none of us have any more assignments due. This means Logan, Gray, and I are officially done with college, so whatever work Gray is doing must be for his company.
Logan is heading off to development camp for the Timberwolves in a few weeks before starting training camp in the fall. Thankfully, the camp is in Springview, so he can travel and still be here every night.
I turned down Dax’s offer to join the underground fighting circuit. I still enjoy the occasional fight at The Depot, but I don’tneedthe outlet like I once did, and I’m not interested in doing itprofessionally. Especially since it would mean a lot of time away from Riley and Aurora. From my family.
I’m still working on the children’s book I’ve been toying with. I’ve even elicited Aurora’s help with the story, running adventure ideas past her and showing her some of my sketches. I’m not sure if anything will come of it. If I’ll even submit it to a publisher or publish it myself once I’m done. For now, I’m simply enjoying a project that’s just for me and Aurora.
Riley has her last exam today and should be home in a couple of hours. I’m so proud of her. She’s worked her ass off to improve the grades that had slipped at the beginning of the year, and she’s once again at the top of her class. I have no doubt that she will pass these exams with flying colors and move on to her Sophomore year in the fall.
And we have a celebratory surprise for her tonight.
However, that won’t happen if we can’t determine why Aurora is in a bad mood.
“I need you to remind me we can’t hurt children,” I grouse to Gray.
“Why do we hate children?” he asks, looking up from his laptop.
“Because some little shit has upset Aurora, and she won’t tell me what they’ve done.”
In the blink of an eye, Gray is on his feet, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor. “What the fuck did they do?”
Yeah, he’s going to be absolutely no help in talking me down.
“I just told you, she won’t tell me.”
He looks downright murderous as he glowers at me from across the kitchen.
Before he can stalk into the living room and demand answers from her, we hear a key in the front door, and Logan walks in.We hear his low murmur as he talks to Aurora before the heavy tread of his feet before he appears in the kitchen.
“What the fuck is wrong with Aurora?” he demands.
“We don’t know. She was like that when I picked her up,” I tell him.
“And she won’t tell you what’s wrong?”
I shake my head, and he huffs, rubbing his hand along his chin as he thinks.
“Maybe we should cancel tonight?” I suggest.
“No,” they both argue. “We’ve been planning this for months,” Logan grouses. “Today’s Ry’s last exam. We’re officially done with college. We have two weeks before camp begins and life gets hectic. I’m not waiting another day.”
Fired up, he stalks toward the fridge and begins lifting shit out before reaching up to a cupboard for glasses.
