Evan scooted his chair over and turned so my knees were between his open thighs. He reached for my hands and held them in his lap. “Of course it is, sweetheart. If I had my way, you’d stay here every night from now on. I want you to consider this your home whether I’m here or not. There’s no pressure or anything, just know you’re welcome here always. Now that you have a key, you don’t even need to ask.”
I scrabbled over to his lap and straddled him so I could show my appreciation in kisses. We finally made our way over to the sofa in the main room before settling down again with me all up in his grill. I wanted to be as close to him as I could get, even if the conversation wasn’t going to be easy.
“I would love to stay here more often, but after last night… I can’t trust my mom to be there for Willow. I don’t know what her problem is lately, but…”
Evan’s hands tightened on my back, pulling me closer against him. “You know the guy who runs the Vape Snake is a known heroin dealer, right?”
My stomach dropped. I’d heard rumors the guy was shady as hell, but hearing it confirmed by someone who worked close to law enforcement was a completely different thing. “Shit. Well, maybe that explains why she quit.”
“What happened to her job at Valley Cross Cement? How’d she get hooked up at the vape shop?”
“She lost her job after Kade got arrested. When he finally had to start serving his time, she took his part-time position there,” I explained.
“Does she usually leave Willow home alone?”
I could see the concern in his face. “Well, no, but…”
“I hope you’re not calling me a butt?—”
“No, no. I’m sorry. It’s just… I mean, I want to say no. I want to say she never does. But that’s the second time she’s done it in the past two weeks.” Evan’s expression got stormier, so I hurried to reassure him. “I didn’t know. Willow told me this morning when I interrogated her about it.”
“Babe, I’m a mandatory reporter. That means I have to report child neglect within forty-eight hours. I obviously didn’t want to do anything without talking to you first, but I can’t just let it stand. She needs appropriate supervision.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “I know. But, Evan… if you report us to CPS…”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “It wouldn’t be you. It would be your mom. Stevie, I’m afraid she could have gotten into some bad shit if she was working with the people at that vape shop. Has she ever used?”
I shook my head. “No. Not that I’ve ever noticed. I swear, Evan. She doesn’t even really drink that much. She’s just depressed because of Kade going to jail.”
He pulled me against his chest and tucked my head under his chin. “Do you want me to talk to her? Or would that make things worse? Hell, maybe we should see if we can get her in to see a doctor. Maybe she needs that kind of help.”
Bless him for trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I knew the truth. My mom was making sketchy choices because she’d been completely gutted by Kade’s conviction. She’d gone from a tough and hardworking mom to a woman who’d given up on everything. She simply didn’t seem to give a shit anymore.
“I think maybe I should be the one to talk to her. But can you be there too? Just in case she doesn’t take me seriously?”
“Of course. Do you want to go tonight while Willow is gone?”
I felt my nerves kick up. “I don’t know if she’s there. She never came home last night, and she’s not returning my messages.”
“Then we’ll wait. As long as we know Willow is in good hands, it’s not a rush.”
He continued to stroke my hair and rub my back, dropping kisses onto my face here and there. After several minutes of comfortable silence, he brought up another dicey topic.
“What were you doing in Dallas?”
Fuck.
How the hell did I answer that without lying to him? If I told him I was dancing at a club, I’d seem like a negligent ass. If I told him I wasworkingat a club, he’d ask what kind of work. And if I told him I was a go-go dancer… well, I didn’t want to find out how he’d react. The man was clearly the jealous type.
“Working,” I said calmly. I could do nonchalant. I could nonchalant the shit out of this.
“Doing what?”
“Oh, uh… I don’t want to say.”
He set me forward on his lap so he could see my face. His was stormy as hell. I raced to explain. Kind of.
“It wasn’t anything illegal. I swear.”
