Page 83 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

“You can talk to me about them, you know,” I tell him softly. “I mean, I know it’s a sore spot for you, but you’re so good with Dad, and I don’t want this relationship to be one-sided. I want you to be able to tell me when you’re worried or something’s upsetting you or hurting you.”

“I know,” he murmurs, his fingertips tracing lazy patterns on my back as he falls silent for several long moments. “Why couldn’t they just love me?” he whispers finally.

“I don’t know.” I stroke his hair. “I don’t know your family so I can’t tell how they might feel about you. Maybe they do love you, but they just don’t know how to show it.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter.” He lets out a slow breath, and it hurts my heart to see him like this. “They can’t accept me for who I am, so I suppose whether they love me or not is immaterial.”

“It’s not though.” I shake my head. “I wish I could fix it all for you. I wish I could magically make all your family not treat you like an arsehole.”

“And I wish I could magically make your dad better, so he could live a long and full and happy life with you.” He sighs. “But real life’s not like that, is it?”

“No,” I mutter, smoothing the lines across his forehead from his frown. “It’s not. But the beauty of life is that we get to make our own family.”

“What?” Those piercing blue eyes lock on me.

“We have Chan, Sam, and who knows, maybe one day, kids of our own.” I smile.

“Do you think about that?” he asks in surprise. “I mean, is that something you’d want?”

“I never really gave it much thought before.” I shrug. “Then again, I never thought I’d be in love. I’m not saying I definitely want to magic up an instant family, but who knows, maybe one day a little boy or girl? We could get them one of those cute little police cars to roll around in, and I could teach them how to play Operation.”

Danny chuckles and slides his hand around the back of my neck, drawing me down to him but pausing when I’m a fraction of an inch from his lips. “I like the sound of that.” He smiles and takes my mouth once again.

19

“Psst… Tris, wake up… Tris… oh, for fuck’s sake… TRIS!”

I jolt in shock and sit upright in bed, all groggy and wondering where I am and what the hell is going on.

Realising I’m still at the Premier Inn in Whitechapel, I turn my head to see Dusty standing at the foot of the bed with a face like thunder and a megaphone in one hand.

I groan and glance across at my phone, not that I can see the time since my glasses are sitting next to my phone.

“Dusty, I’m sure it’s too early for this. Whatever this is.” I drop back onto my pillow and close my eyes again.

“Chan never came home last night.”

My eyes snap open and I sit bolt up in bed. “What?”

I fumble for my glasses and shove them on my face, poking myself in the eye in the process. Blinking to regain my focus, I finally can make out Dusty’s expression and she isn’t just pissed, she’s worried—like, reallyworried. The only other time I’ve seen her like this is when she’s with Bruce, helplessly watching him get sicker.

“Okay, don’t panic.” I pick up my phone and scroll through to Chan’s number.

“Why are we panicking?” Danny mumbles, poking his head up from the rumpled bedding.

“Dusty’s here,” I tell him as I hold my phone to my ear and listen to Chan’s ring at the other end. “She says Chan didn’t come home last night.” Getting no answer, I hang up and try again.

“What?” Danny shifts and sits up, then winces and reaches for his leg. Without thinking, I reach out and rub his shoulder comfortingly through the pain even as my anxiety ratchets up another notch when I still get no answer on the phone.

“I knew this was an insane idea.” Dusty starts to pace.

I finally hang up the phone when it goes to voicemail for the third time and glance at Danny in concern. “She was supposed to go on a date with Death.”

Danny shakes his head. “That still sounds weird every time I hear it.”

I climb out of bed naked and check for clean underwear in the bag Sam gave us. I know Dusty is beyond upset because she doesn’t even comment on the very prominent love bite on my bum cheek. Danny thought it was hilarious when he pinned me to the bed and sucked the purple-red mark into my skin, and I’d giggled like an idiot. We certainly made up for lost time last night. We’d been all over each other all night, so consequently neither of us has had much sleep and one of us has a very sore arse. Spoiler alert, it’s not the sexy, naked Bradley Cooper look-alike in my bed.

Totally worth it though.