“I have some new Lego,” she said, eyes flicking to the doorway. “My foster mum got it for my birthday, wanna see?”
He smiled. “I’d love that.”
Helena squealed before running out the room, leaving the two of them alone. “Lego?” Lucas frowned. “I think she’s trying to distract you, Reed.”
Oliver shook his head. “Nah. For as long as I’ve known H, she’s loved Lego. She could build youliterallyanything. Kids like to distract their brains whilst they speak about horrible things.”
Lucas’ eyes softened. “You’ve worked with her for a long time.”
“I met Helena my first day on the job, back when I was in uniform. I arrested her step-dad for beating the shit out of her mum. Helena was just a toddler then—she didn’t really know what was going on, but I could see she was scared. It’s why I wanted to move to child protection.”
A small smile pinched the corners of Lucas’ lips. Not the teasing, playful smirk he’d seen until then, but a genuine smile. It was lovely, and it made Oliver’s heart ache a little.
Helena came barrelling back into the room like a bull in a china shop, a huge crate of building bricks in her arms. They both sat on the floor, sorting the bricks and sharing ideas.
“Hey, H. Can Lucas join us? HelovesLego and knows how to make a really cool sports car.” He shot the alpha a look that said,‘Right? Right?!’
“That’s right,” Lucas said, sliding onto the floor beside him. Their knees bumped, and Oliver gave the alpha a reassuring look as they sat cross-legged on the cream carpet.
To Lucas’ credit, he managed to build something resembling a vehicle. Oliver, on the other hand, had somehow made a contraption that could only be described as a demented bumble bee. Lucas huffed out an amused breath, so Oliver elbowed him in the ribs in reply.
“Look, I never claimed to be a expert?—”
“So, what do you wanna know about Addy?” Helena suddenly said.
Their heads jerked round to find Helena staring at them with an expectant expression. They discovered she met him whilst playing an video computer game. He sent her gifts in the post—a new phone, money, clothes—which he’d told her to keep a secret. He’d called her princess and said he’d take care of her. His first name was Adrian, but she preferred to call him Addy. They’d met up twice. He’d taken her to the cinema and bought her popcorn and alcohol. She’d met some of his friends and they gave her nice things, too.
They had no time to set up the recording equipment, so Lucas discretely made notes as she spoke.
“H, did Addy ever do anything that made you feel uncomfortable?” Oliver asked.
She seemed to think about it for a moment. “Nah. But he said he wanted me to make friends with kids my age. He took me to this house in Wicking. It was by the fishing pond. You know the place? There were some other kids there. I accidentally picked up one of their phones.”
Oliver knew the place. Knew the place very well as a matter of fact, as it was the same street where the Greer family resided. Low income households with even lower engagement from the local authority. Social services were notoriously bad in that particular part of town, with only one person working out of the little run-down office.
Glancing at Lucas, Oliver asked, “H, where’s the phone now?”
Helena sucked in a breath and broke apart the aeroplane she was working on. “In the loft. I chucked it up there because I didn’t want Shirley to think I’d nicked it. You can take it if you want. I don’t need it.”
They left Helena and Shirley chatting in the living room and made their way up the narrow staircase. The room was relatively small, but crammed to the brim with Lego, paper, pencils, workbooks. All the things Oliver knew she loved.
Sighing, he looked up at the loft hatch. It was an old house, and the ceiling was much higher than expected.
“We’ll have to find a ladder,” he said, setting down his backpack.
Lucas hummed and bent down to tap his calf. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Reed.”
Catching his meaning, Oliver’s face flushed. “You sure? I’m heavier than I look.”
“I doubt that,” Lucas replied. “On three.”
Oliver sighed, but placed his foot in the alpha’s hands, and on three he was heaved into the air. Bracing his hands on the loft hatch, he pushed it open. A layer of dust fell into his eyes and mouth, making him cough.
“Alright?” Lucas asked, holding Oliver’s foot against his torso.
“Yeah,” he replied, painfully aware of his arse cheek pressing against the alpha’s face, as he felt the heat of his breath through the fabric of his jeans. Warmth coiled in his gut, the same heat from the previous night radiating up his legs.Don’t you dare. Don’t you fucking dare. He cursed his body.
Scrambling for purchase, he hooked his fingers over the edge of the hatch and pulled himself into the darkness. Horrible disorientation distorted his vision for a few seconds, before he finally pulled out his phone to use the torch. Coughing again, he looked around the wide, dark space.
