Chapter 30 Blake
BLAKE
“Are they gone yet?” I asked without looking up.
“Who?”
That voice didn’t belong to Parker, but Wes. I hadn’t been expecting him to come into my room. Not when he’d barely spoken to me in three days. He was still pissed at all of us and refused to say much, other than grunt in response to something we said.
“Sorry, I thought you were Parker. Did you need something?”
He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets as he glanced away. “Just bored.”
“Did you get your room all set?”
He shrugged again.
Wow, this kid could win an award for the least likely to open his mouth and speak.
“What are you working on?”
Surprised that he was even showing interest, it took me a second to wrap my mind around the fact that if I told him, I might get him to talk. However, the subject matter probably wasn’t suitable for him.
“Um…a murder.”
“Planning one?” he sneered.
“Trying to solve one, actually.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he walked a little closer. Everything about this kid screamed unease. Even in his own clothes, loose jeans and a t-shirt, the kid looked like he wanted to burn it all down and become someone else. I didn’t know how to solve that or how to make it better.
“Whose murder?”
This was so not appropriate. However… “Are you sure you want to know about this? I mean, it’s not pretty.”
“Whatever,” he muttered, turning away from me and striding toward the door.
“A little girl,” I answered quickly, hoping to keep him from running away right when I got his attention. “Uh…it was a long time ago.”
He stalled, waiting to hear more.
“She disappeared right before a snowstorm, and no one knew she had been kidnapped for hours. They assumed she had wandered outside and got caught in the storm.”
“How old?” he asked, walking back over to me.
“Just turned seven.”
He picked up her picture and stared at her. “She looks so little.”
“Yeah,” I said, taking the picture from him.
“How did she die?”
“She was beaten and strangled. They found her body six months after she disappeared at the falls.”
“And they never found her killer?”
“Nope. It’s been twenty-five years.”
An emotion flickered across his face, but before I could dig any deeper, Parker walked into the room, sighing as he flopped down on the bed beside all my work.
“Everything okay?”
“You mean other than the fact that Knight turned our house into a bunker?”
“Is there still a killer robot?”
“Yes,” he sighed. “Thankfully, he put a few more safeguards on it.”
“So, it won’t blow up our house again?”
He craned his neck to look at me. “I didn’t say that.” Shoving to his elbows, he jerked his head at Wes. “What do you want for dinner?”
He shrugged, looking uncomfortable as hell to even be asked such a simple question.
“I could kill for some Chinese food,” I murmured, thinking of fried rice and wontons.
“I’ll phone the mayor in the morning and ask her to get on it,” Parker smirked. “Surely, someone around here can open a restaurant.”
“That won’t help me tonight.”
“Well, the closest town is forty minutes from here.”
I sat up, walking over to my closet.
“What are you doing?”
Grabbing a sweater, I tugged it over my head. “Getting ready. It’s cold outside.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You want to drive forty minutes for Chinese food?”
“Want? No, but if I send you, it’ll be cold when you get back.”
“Baby, we’re not driving forty minutes for Chinese.”
She shrugged. “Okay, I’ll drive. Wes, you want to come?”
He glanced between the two of us, looking uncertain about the whole thing.
“You’re not driving out there on your own.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dark, and the roads might be slick.”
“I have driven in the dark before,” I grinned, loving how easy it was to egg him on. “And believe it or not, I grew up around ice and snow.”
“Blake—”
I headed out of the room, walking right for the front door. I grabbed my coat out of the front hall closet and then sat on the bench to pull on my winter boots.
“We’re not doing this,” he snapped.
“Okay. You don’t have to. Wes, get your stuff on.”
“Uh—”
“No, I’m not letting you,” Parker argued.
Thrusting a hand on my hip, I smirked at him. “Let me?”
“You know what I mean,” he said, getting more flustered by the moment.
Grabbing the keys off the hook, I only made it a step toward the door before he snatched the keys from me.
“Blake, this is insane. No one drives forty minutes for Chinese food.”
“The baby wants it,” I pouted.
Rolling his eyes, I knew I had him when he sighed and grabbed his coat. “You’re going to use that against me for the rest of the pregnancy, aren’t you?”
“And so many times after, too.”
“The baby can’t want Chinese food at the age of one month.”
“No, but I can still have cravings,” I grinned. “And you wouldn’t deny me what I really want.”
Scowling at me, he pushed Wes toward the door. “Take note of this, Wes. One day, you’re going to meet a woman and the thought of getting married will run through your mind. Think very carefully about your answer. If you say yes, that woman will have you by the balls for the rest of your life.”
“You could always say no,” Wes muttered.
“Yeah, good luck with that. Tell me how that works out for you.”
I shut the door behind us, then took Parker’s outstretched hand.
“I’m not getting married, so it doesn’t matter.”
Parker burst out laughing, slapping Wes on the back. “Yeah, that’s what we all say, kid. And then one of us finds a woman who pushes us through a window, and everything changes.”
He looked at Parker like he was crazy. “I’m not sure I should be taking any advice from you.”
“Probably not. Just remember what I told you. It’ll come in handy one day.”
I tugged Parker closer to me, then waited for him to lean down and press his lips to mine. “Thanks, babe.”
“For what?”
“Chinese food.”
Huffing out a laugh, he smiled. “If I had known all it took was Chinese food to make you happy, I never would have done all that fighting with you.”
“If you hadn’t fought me, you never would have gotten to the Chinese food,” I countered.
“Touché.”