Page 96 of To the Chase

A lump rudely lodged itself in my throat. “I bet he loves it. I think I’m going to need some Tally art to go with my Lacey art.”

Talon lifted his head from where he was sprawled across Benjamin, who was happily chewing a toy.

“I have plenty, but it’s not girly like Lacey’s,” he declared.

“That’s okay. I’ll take whatever you want to give me. My walls could use a little color.”

Scarlet sidled up to us, her phone clutched in her hand. “Um, Bea?”

I turned to face her. “What’s up?”

“Remember when I asked about the hair tutorial? I know last night got kind of crazy, but I was hoping—”

“Yep.” I nodded. “I’m free tonight. Come over after dinner, all right?”

Her eyes lit up, and she looked more like her little sister than ever. Then she schooled her expression, opting for cool and above it all.

“Oh yeah. That sounds good,” she said, casual as could be.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

My relationship with these three—plus Tony—was completely independent of Tore. He’d thrown a wrench in things, but I wasn’t going to allow my mixed-up feelings for him to change me or how I moved through life.

I wanted to hang up Lacey and Talon’s art. I wanted to teach Scarlet how to do victory rolls. Not because of him.

Because ofthem.

Because I liked them.

It had nothing to do with their uncle.

Scarlet was at my house, mid-tutorial, when the package arrived. I didn’t open it until she’d gone home, and once I saw what was inside, I was glad I’d waited.

She would’ve thought I’d grown three heads if she’d seen me get teary over a frame just the right size for Lacey’s drawing.

There was no message with the delivery, but I wasn’t stupid. At least, not in this case. I knew exactly who’d sent it.

Me:Hey, Ant. Can you tell me if it’s illegal to use children as spies?

Anthony:Hello, Bea. I need more context before I can answer you.

Me:Let’s say a man sends children over to the house of the woman he likes in order to extract information. Would that be illegal?

Anthony:That sounds like a gray area. Are you certain the man sent them, or do you think they could like the woman just as much as he does, and it’s impossible to keep them away from her?

Me:I’ve considered that.

Anthony:If that’s the case, is it possible the children like to talk about the woman all the time and the man just listens?

Me:They do enjoy talking.

Anthony:Then no laws have been broken, in my opinion.

Me:Oh, I’m certainsomelaws have been broken, but not by the children.

Anthony:Are you concerned about the possible gray area some of the man’s actions have fallen into?

I laughed out loud. Possible gray area? Oh, Tore was funny. He knew damn well he’d crossed out of the gray a long time ago, just as I knew I wasn’t concerned about those particular actions. If I were, I would have immediately deleted the app from my phone, but here I was, using it with full knowledge of who was on the other side.