“Exactly! We’re on the same page here, Mom. I can get out here.”
“Oh, no you don’t.”
“So close,” Auri said, collapsing dramatically against the door.
“Now that you think you’re old enough to have boys in your room—”
“One boy, Mom. One.”
“—I think we need to have the talk.”
“We had the talk, Mom. We’ve actually had the talk several times throughout my life and it never gets any less uncomfortable.”
“This one is different.” The kid had a boy in her room. She had to know there’d be consequences.
Judging by her daughter’s expression, panic was starting to take over. “You say that every time!”
“Since we’re on the subject of you getting pregnant—”
“What?” Auri screeched. “We weren’t on any subject.”
“—I’ve realized I’ve been putting off this conversation long enough.”
Auri paled. “You really haven’t.”
“I feel now is the right time.”
“It really isn’t.”
“We need to discuss the devil’s doorbell.”
Auri paused and tilted her head to the side. “The devil’s what?”
“You know. The button of bliss. The pushpin of pleasure.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Satan’s socket.”
“I’m going to need so much therapy.”
“Lucifer’s little darling.”
“Have you been reading those pamphlets again?”
“Now, for future reference, you can ring the devil’s doorbell any time you want to, sweetheart.”
“I could run away and join the circus.”
“You, and only you.”
“Or go into witness protection.”
“Cruz De los Santos is not allowed to ring that bell.”
She put her hands over her ears. “Mom, I can’t hear this.”
“Your button of bliss is off-limits to him and any boy until you’re thirty-five.”
Auri dropped her hands and glared at her. “There should be a test to find out how unstable your parents are.”
“Hey. I’m totally stable.”
“So is nitroglycerin until you shake it.”
Someone honked behind her, so she turned on her emergency lights.
Auri’s head fell into her hand. The final nail in the coffin.
“And for the record,” Sun said, planting an angelic smile on her little kumquat, “the next time you have a boy in your room, I’m going to put bars on the windows. Got it?”
“Got it.” She glanced out the window, her demeanor changing like the gentle shift of a breeze. “Is he okay, Mom?”
“I don’t know. That wine did a number on both of us.”
“Levi,” she said.
Ah. Sun rubbed her daughter’s shoulder. “He’s fine. He’s Levi.”
“Cross your cold and bitter heart?”
“Cross my cold and bitter heart.”
Auri leaned over and hugged her, taking Sun by surprise considering the doorbell thing. Then she hurried out without another word.
It would have ended there, except in her haste, she forgot her backpack.
Sun grabbed it and hurried after her.
“Sweetheart,” she called, weaving through cliques of kids, following the auburn glow of her daughter’s carrot top. “Aurora,” she said a little louder.
Auri stopped and looked back at last. Sun caught up to her just inside the building and was surprised to see a wetness between her thick lashes.
“Oh, baby,” she said, pulling her into a hug. “It’s Levi. He’ll be okay. He always is, right?”
She nodded.
Sun looked over Auri’s head at a couple of girls pointing at them and snickering. She recognized one of them as the girl who’d orchestrated a news program when Auri had first started school in Del Sol. They’d found out about Sun’s abduction, about Auri’s questionable parentage, and blasted it to the entire school before IT could shut it down.
It left Auri devastated, and Sun had wanted nothing more than to arrest them for obstruction of justice, since her case was ongoing. But certain people of influence wouldn’t allow it. The families involved cried freedom of the press. Sun cried bullshit, but apparently money talks even in Del Sol.
Sun also knew the girl had made it her personal mission in life to make Auri’s life a living hell. If not for Cruz and Sybil, Auri would be miserable at Del Sol High.
She was about to quote their favorite motto—What would Lisbeth Salander do?—when she rethought it. Somehow cutting a bitch seemed a bit harsh in this situation.
Until the girl looked straight at Sun, an adult in a sheriff’s uniform, and unleashed a cheeky sneer.
Sun’s irritation skyrocketed. “Did that girl just sneer at me?”
Auri looked over her shoulder. “That’s Lynelle. She sneers at everyone.”
Sun drew in a deep breath. She couldn’t do anything that might get them both arrested. Thus, in lieu of doing jail time, she asked her daughter, “What would Hermione Granger do?”
Wearing a Cheshire grin, Auri turned toward Lynelle, lowered her head, and said softly, “She would leviosa a bitch.”
“Damn straight she would.”
They fist-bumped, but Auri’s gaze didn’t waver. She stared until Lynelle’s sneer faltered and the girl turned away.
“See?” Auri said. “She’s only as good as the sheep that follow her.”
Sun hugged her again. “She’s vindictive, though. Be careful with that one.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’m off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
11
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As soon as Sun got back to her cruiser, she grabbed her phone, clicked on messages, and scrolled until she found Levi. This was no longer just about the case or even about his health. If he wasn’t worried about the aftereffects of his being run down by a truck, she wasn’t, either. But Auri was a different story.
She texted as fast as her fingers would let her. Listen asshat, you can either text me back or call me. I don’t care which, but if I don’t hear from you within the hour, I swear to God I’m calling in the dogs and hunting your ass to the ends of the Earth. Auri is devastated and worried and heartbroken and you suck for doing that to her.
She almost felt better as she headed toward the station. Her phone rang, sending her pulse through the roof. She looked at the caller ID. It wasn’t Levi.
“Hey, Quincy,” she said into the phone.
“Hey, boss. What are you doing?”
She pulled onto Main. “Praying my child’s sass helps her become the CEO of a large company someday and not a shot caller in prison.”
“Word. So, Randy escaped.”
“Seriously?” She slapped a palm against the steering wheel. “Damn it. That’s all we need. Put out a BOLO, coordinate roadblocks for both I-25 on-ramps, and call in everyone. Everyone. Who’s Randy again?”