Page 147 of Wild Like Us

The line clicks. “What’s up, boss?” I hearwhassup. Not only is his South Philly accent thicker than Banks’, but he sounds in a rush right now.

“Hey, Donnelly. We need to talk about what happened quickly. Are you still at the Hale house?” I look more at Sulli than Team Apex since Banks has eyes on them.

She whispers, “But you’re alright, squirt?”

Donnelly says hurried, “No, I’m off-duty. Already told Thatcher. I left the gated neighborhood about fifteen minutes ago. Is this about Price? I dunno what his beef is, boss, but he looked at me like I committed murder.”

“What happened?”

“I was on-duty, you know. Just protecting Xander at the Hale house.” No other client really requests bodyguards to go on-duty in the gated neighborhood, except Xander. I listen as Donnelly continues, “And he’d been outside near the pool talking to Ben.”Talkingsounds liketawking.“They were arguing because Xander wants to enroll in Dalton Academy after Christmas break, and Ben thinks it’s a bad idea.”

Shock stiffens my joints.

Xander has always been homeschooled.

“He told Ben he feels confident about it. Ben is just worried about him. He thinks he’d get peer-pressured. But they got heated since Xander wants to at least try and Ben isn’t letting him do that,” Donnelly pants like he’s jogging.

Now I’m worried abouthim.“What are you doing, Donnelly?”

“Trying to beat the PPA.” He grunts in a sprint. “I only had enough quarters for seven minutes, and I parked four blocks away to go grab a hoagie.”

The PPA is Pennsylvania Parking Authority.

He rushes to say more. “And then Ben brought up what happened with Kinney at school. When he said that something like that could happen to Xander—Xander got upset.”

I’m surprised he knows about the Kinney Hale incident at school. It happened months ago. But as the head of security, her parents gave me all the details. I even learned that Kinney told the Rainbow Brigade first.

Don’t know how Ben or Xander found out, but I’m guessing Kinney told more people. It’s mostly likely that Donnelly was in the room when she confided in Xander. Because clearly Donnelly’s not asking mewhathappened to Kinney.

He continues, “Once Ben and Xander got closer to each other, Xander gave me alook.”

“What kind of look?” I ask.

Banks glances at me, interested in my call because of Xander. And if we weren’t trying to keep hidden from Team Apex, I would let him listen.

“Likeback me up,” Donnelly pants. “And I know we’re supposed to stay out of family stuff, but you shoulda seen him, man. And all I did was step between them. Ben wobbled backwards. I didn’t touch him, I promise. He’s six-five and looked unbalanced, and I felt bad the moment he fell in. I startled Bambi, but Ididn’ttouch him. I tried to help him out of the pool, but Price came in and acted like I was some…” He trails off. “I didn’t touch him.”

I’m irate. That Price would make Donnelly feel like a fucking axe murderer. “Hey, I believe you. You’re not in trouble. Just log in your account of the event, send it to Thatcher. We’ll have a security meeting when SFO is all back together.”

“Sure thing.” He inhales a sudden sharp breath. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“You get a ticket?”

“Yeah. Parking restrictions ended only three minutes ago.” The car beeps over the line. “Got a hundred-dollar hoagie in my hand.” He’s referring to the cost of the fine.

“Kitsuwon Securities will pay for the ticket,” I tell him, even though my company will be in a deficit the more I throw cash around. Hiring Michael Moretti wasn’t cheap.

“Nah, I’m off-duty. I got it.”

“You’re driving a security vehicle.” I watch as Sulli starts saying goodbye to her sister.

“Farrow let me borrow his Audi while he’s gone. That’s what I’m in now.”

He should pay the fine then. But I’m uneasy about it.

I’ve noticed that Donnelly has been tattooing more while he’s off-duty. He’s even brought some of his tattoo clients to the apartment. And I’m not positive what he’s blowing his money on.

Right now, he sounds like he has enough to cover the fine, so I don’t argue with him.