Page 68 of Another Damned Storm

Wow. Was I that bad of a liar when I was her age?

“I call bullshit.”

She looked startled for a second before she pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh. “Okay, maybe he doesn’t, but I’ll be safe with you.”

No, she wouldn’t. Even before the whole being imbued with the power of a god thing, I was a magnet for all kinds of trouble.

I shook my head. “Not this time.”

“Seriously? I thought you were supposed to be the cool one.”

“She is,” Matt said flatly, coming up to stand beside me. “Much, much cooler than your boring old dad.”

Guilt twisted Angie’s young features. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Oh?” His brow inched up. “How did you mean it?”

She chewed on her bottom lip and shot me a pleading look.

“I think she just meant that she expected me to be more of a rule breaker,” I offered.

A playful smile took years off his face, giving me a glimpse of the teenager I’d known. “The way I remember it?—”

I held up a hand to cut him off. “I only broke rules that needed breaking.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “We’ll go with that.”

Sure, we might have hopped the fence at the local pool to go swimming at night since we couldn’t afford to go during the day, but it wasn’t like we were hurting anyone.

Angie looked between us. “She was headed outside to look for you. I just offered to show her the way.”

I reached up and scratched a non-existent itch on my neck. “Yep. She was trying to be helpful,” I lied.

“Uh huh,” Matt muttered.

“I take it everything is okay outside?” I asked.

He shrugged noncommittally. “It’s nothing my crew can’t handle. Plus, I had a feeling I might be needed in here.”

“You mean your spies told you Aunt Never was wandering around unchaperoned,” Angie fired back, crossing her arms over her chest.

I was a little surprised when he didn’t argue with her.

“I am an outsider,” I pointed out. It made sense that he would have people looking out for others who might not belong, but the realization still stung.

“You’re my aunt. That makes you family,” Angie countered.

Family, yes. And still something of an unknown quantity.

Matt looked like he was thinking the same thing by the way he was studying me. “I didn’t see you come through the gate.”

Which meant he’d been waiting for me to come back. “There’s some things we need to discuss, if you have time.”

A few minutes later, we were back up in his apartment, just the two of us. He’d given Angie free run to do whatever she wanted, within reason, as long as she stayed in the building and out of the apartment.

“You want something to drink?” He opened the ancient refrigerator in the kitchenette. I was pretty sure the thing was older than the two of us combined.

“I’m good with water. Unless you’ve got a cold beer in there,” I added, mostly as a joke. With the state of the city, I definitely wasn’t expecting him to pull out two glass bottles and set them on the counter.