Page 54 of One Lucky Hero (Men in Uniform 1)

“Is he picking on you?” He better not be punishing her little brother because he was upset with her.

“No, he’s just annoying. All fake caring and wanting to help bullshit.”

Relief rushed through her. “Maybe it’s not fake. Maybe he really does care about what’s going on with you.”

“Yeah, right, he just wants me to like him so you’ll go out with him.”

Violet’s face burned. “He does not want to go out with me, Case. I think his concern is genuine.” Gathering her nerve, she added, “You know, he came to see me about you.”

Casey picked up the plastic fork and took a big bite, talking around the cake in his mouth. “Yeah? Did he tell you how swell I’m doing?”

“Actually, he told me that he suspected you’ve been hurt by someone.”

Casey froze midchew and then swallowed slowly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that he came to the house last night. He asked if I knew who might be hurting you, and I told him I had no idea.” Reaching across, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Is it true? Did someone . . . hurt you?”

“What, like rape me? Come on.”

But despite his derisive tone, Violet noticed the slight tremor in his voice as he stabbed his cake.

“Casey, it’s important that you know it’s not your fault—”

“Thanks, Dr. Phil.”

“—but you need to tell me who it is.”

“Why? Even if something had happened, why the hell would I tell you?” he asked.

“Because I’m your sister and I love you.”

“But what good could you do? Track him down and shoot him? Would that make it all go away? Did chasing Dad away help us? Really?”

The sting of his words was sharper than any slap. She wanted to yell and rail at him that she’d done it to keep him safe, but she held her temper in a vice grip. “I think not being around a meth head or worrying about him doing something to us when he’s out of his mind is a very good thing.”

“But we’re still constantly paranoid, always worried that CPS is going to come in and take us away. I mean, is this how you imagined your life, Violet? Taking care of us and working your ass off until you’re thirty and then waking up to realize you have nothing?”

He’s just trying to hurt you. He’s on the defensive and trying to turn the focus off of him.

But his words were like a thousand tiny needles pressing into her skin at once. She was afraid that her dream was just that and that eventually she’d end up wasting all this time and money on an education that didn’t help her get a better-paying job. She’d heard horror stories about people getting out of college and getting a job that started just above minimum wage, with mountains of student loan debt. She wouldn’t have the debt, but at the restaurant she averaged about seventeen dollars an hour on a slow night with tips. There was no way they’d ever get out of Del Paso Heights on that.

“We’re talking about you, not me. And the reason you should tell me is so we can go to the police and tell them what happened.”

“Nothing happened, okay? He tried, I got away, just . . . Just drop it, okay?”

Violet swallowed back her happiness that Casey hadn’t been molested. “But what about the next kid, Case? What if he’s not so lucky?”

“Shut up,” Casey whispered, his voice cracking. “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Why does this have to be put on me, huh?” Casey stood up screaming, and Violet backed away from the table as he grabbed at his hair. “Why don’t you just leave it be instead of always being such a nosy bi—”

“Hey!” Dean’s bark from the doorway startled them both, but his dark gaze was focused on Casey. “What’s going on in here?”

Casey glared mutinously.

“Answer me now, Casey!”

Still, her brother said nothing.

“Sergeant Best!” Dean hollered.