Page 16 of Search for the Truth
Instead, she let the smile be the end of it.
It wasn’t until she was sitting the car with Price later that she realized she was still wearing the sheriff’s shirt.
Chapter Four
The sunset was nice. Liam watched it from his apartment’s balcony with a beer in one hand and his phone in the other.
A call he was waiting for hadn’t come. He figured it wouldn’t.
Still, he had waited.
It wasn’t until the sun had completely gone that he put the phone down on the balcony’s table.
A few minutes later, a rock hit the chair arm next to it. Liam set down his beer as another small rock came over the balcony railing at him.
“You know, throwing rocks at the sheriff isn’t the smartest move,” he called out.
Laughter came back.
“Is your door unlocked?” the voice from the ground asked.
“No.”
A groan sounded.
Liam stood.
“You have thirty seconds,” he called out again.
The sound of footsteps running to the outdoor stairwell echoed behind him as Liam made his way back into the apartment. He didn’t slow his steps even a little. Yet when he unlocked the front door, a second later it was opening. Theo Chasten was out of breath but grinning.
“I’m—I’m getting faster,” he panted. “I even skipped like six steps coming—coming up here.”
Liam backtracked to the kitchen. He pointed to the refrigerator as he set his aim to the balcony again.
“There’s leftovers in the fridge, superstar.”
He didn’t have to say any more than that. Which was a relief. Liam had come to Seven Roads after a divorce had left him tapped out on being any kind of social. He’d wanted quiet; he’d wanted peace.
Then he’d run into a teenaged boy sitting in the stairwell of their apartment complex while a storm raged on a few feet outside. Theo had been quiet then, but a strong quiet. It wasn’t fear or worry that kept his mouth shut tight. It was his choice. His armor. Getting him to admit he was locked out of his apartment and unable to get a hold of his mother had been a chore. If it hadn’t been for the tornado sirens going off, Liam doubted he could have convinced the teen to seek shelter in his apartment until his mom came home.
But those sirens went off and Theo had begrudgingly taken Liam up on the offer.
It was the first time Theo had been given help without asking for it but not the last. Now, almost two years later, Liam had become a mentor of sorts to the boy. He helped him with school, made sure he ate well, and answered any life questions that came his way. Liam had even taught the boy how to drive. Though, no one had been happy during that ordeal.
Liam had been deployed in combat zones before. Teaching an anxious teen to drive had tested his nerves almost as much.
In the end, it all led to Theo finally not fighting the offer of food anymore. It saved them both more time and Liam more sanity.
“Also grab you a water, fast guy,” he added. “Because I can almost bet you haven’t had a drop all day. Just that energy drink crap or sodas.”
Theo laughed from the kitchen.
“You sure do know me really well, Sheriff.” He cleared his throat. When he spoke again, his accent had more syrup in it. “Much obliged.”
The night air was cool but not cold enough that the balcony door could stay open without messing with the air conditioner. Without saying it, though, Theo slid the glass door closed when he came out. It was little things like that that made Liam realize how much his relationship with the sixteen-year-old had changed since they had met.
First there had been yelling.
