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Letting Shayna know she could sit wherever she wanted.

She laid her drink on the end of the table, snagged a chair from another table, turned it around, then straddled it—her long legs impressively made longer by spiked stiletto heels.Her soft-gray pantsuit didn’t fool me for a moment.Nothing about her was ever soft.

Which was why I respected her so much.

“All right, fuckwit.Tell me everything from the beginning.”She eyed me before settling her gaze on Andreas.“And don’t leave anything out.”

Oh man, it’s going to be a long evening.

Chapter13

Phillip

“You really don’t haveto do this.”I ran my hand through my hair—partly out of frustration and partly out of nervousness.

Colin offered me a measured smile.“That traffic we hit coming into LA made us late.”

“Right.”

“So I had to go straight to the hospital.”

Which I knew.I’d chickened out and hung out in a local coffee shop rather than come to Gardena by transit.“But…” I eyed the house as we stood before it.

Just a plain three-bedroom bungalow tucked away on a quiet street.

So innocuous.

With so, so, so many bad memories.

“I…”

Colin gently laid a hand on my shoulder.

Given I was on the verge of a panic attack, the touch grounded me.Wasn’t unwelcome.No, in fact I was so damn grateful.I’d told him about a lot of what had gone on in this house.Some things neither Dr.Martin nor Jeremy knew.Anthony did.He had to when he offered to help me.My psychiatrist in LA said I needed to get out—and she hadn’t been wrong.That Gaynor Beach had provided sanctuary was more than I was capable of understanding at the moment.But I could be appreciative.

“You’ll lose your stuff if we don’t move it today, Phillip.So let’s do this.You say there isn’t much?—”

“There isn’t?—”

“So it’ll all fit in the back.If not, I’ll give James or Danny a call, and they’ll run up and we’ll fill their SUV.”

James the generous landlord and Danny was the brother-in-law who sounded just as sweet.Another nice guy.

“Or we can store your extra stuff in my sister-in-law’s place.Gracie’s got a bit of space and is always willing to help out.Even if she’s irked I didn’t bring her favorite niece for a visit.”

Favorite niece being Widget the dog.

Colin and James were also in the process of becoming foster parents.From what I’d seen, I was certain any kid would be lucky to have them as foster dads.God knew, Colin was taking a paternal role with me today.

And right now, I might’ve been twenty-four, but inside I felt like that scared six-year-old kid making soup from a can for his sick mother.“Thank you.”

“No problem.”He squeezed my shoulder.“We’ll take it one step at a time.”

“Yeah, okay.”I pulled out my keyring that still held the key to the house.I advanced up the uneven walkway until we got to the front porch.“I…”

“Do you want me to do this?”Colin held out his hand.

Slowly, I shook my head.“Just…I didn’t leave here in a good way, you know?”