All of You (12 page)

“Catch up on my reading, hang around the house…you know, just relax,” Danny said. “While everyone else is stressing, I’m enjoying some R & R.”

Kat didn’t answer and Danny, desperate to change the subject, moved right along.

“Listen, Kat, about last night…I don’t remember much, but I saw the call to you on my phone log this afternoon.” Danny paused. “Did I say anything-”

She waved off his words. “No, no, no. Don’t worry about that. It was no big deal.”

“No, it was fucking inconsiderate and rude and-”

“Danny, it’s fine.
Really
.” Kat gave him a tiny smile. “People do stupid stuff when they’re drunk.

Danny settled back into the booth, arms crossing over his chest. “Oh, yeah? Now this I’d like to hear. Tell me a nice, juicy story, Kat.”

“Not me. Other dummies.” She gave him a half-smile. “Like you.”

Danny laughed. “Fair enough. I-”

“Officer?” A middle-aged, paunchy dude with a comb over came bustling over to the table. “Hi, I’m Bob Timmons, the General Manager. There’s a little boy out there who’s lost.”

Danny immediately slid out of the booth and headed for the door.

Bob Timmons trailed after him, saying, “The people out there were going to call the police, but I told them an officer was already in here.”

Danny lifted a hand in acknowledgement. “Yep. Thanks. Got it.”

He pushed open the restaurant door to find a kid, about four or five years old, sitting on one of the mall benches. He was shivering uncontrollably and sobbing, wearing holey tennis shoes and a jacket two sizes too big.

Danny approached him slowly, stopping to leave enough space so the kid didn’t feel threatened. He crouched down, placing his forearms on his knees. “Hey, there.”

The little boy turned to face him, eyes soaked with tears, snot running down from his nose, and face bright-red from the bitter temperature. His teeth were chattering so hard Danny could hear them banging against one another.

He smiled. “My name is Danny. What’s your name?”

The little boy started crying harder, calling out for his mommy.

Which turned Danny’s stomach,
hard
.

“If you tell me your name, I can help you find your mommy, okay?” The boy eyed his uniform, so Danny tried that angle. “I’m a police officer. Did your mommy or daddy ever tell you it’s okay to trust a police officer? That we will always help you and never hurt you?

After a brief pause, the little boy nodded. “
At…school…told….us…
” he hiccupped out.

“They told you that at school?” The little boy nodded. “Good. They were right.” Danny leaned in. “So do you think you could tell me your name? So I can you find your mommy?”

“
Ethan
,” he whispered.

“Ethan?” When the boy nodded, so did Danny. “Okay, good. Thank you, Ethan. Can you tell me your last name?”

“Patterson.”

“Ethan Patterson?” When the little boy nodded, Danny smiled wide. “That’s great, Ethan, thank you. Now can you tell me how old you are?”

He lifted up four fingers and Danny gave him a thumbs-up. “Very good. Now, do you think you can walk with me into the restaurant so we can feed you some pizza and get you warm?”

The little boy started sobbing again, calling out for his mommy.

Danny slowly stood up. “Okay, it’s okay, Ethan. You don’t have to move. But I have to make a quick call and then we’ll start looking for your mommy, okay?”

Danny backed up a few steps, pulling his two-way off his belt. He hit the button and said, “Dispatch, this is Nine. Not on duty yet, but I have a lost boy down here at Pineridge Mall. Caucasian male, four years old. Anybody report anything?”

“
Copy that, Nine. No missing kids have been reported at this time
.”

“Ten-four. Send an ambulance, please. No backup needed yet. I’ll let you know.”

“
Ten-four, Nine. Standing by
.”

“There you are!”

Danny turned to find a big dude with a dark beard and potbelly storming toward the kid.

“Your mom and I been looking all over for your ass!” the man yelled.

“Ethan!” A thin, scraggly-looking woman called out, jogging toward the boy.

As soon as the boy saw his mom, he jumped up and ran into her arms.

“Did I or did I not tell you to keep your ass in our sight at all times?” the bearded dude yelled at the kid.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Danny said, approaching, head shaking. “None of that.” He eyed both adults. “You’re his parents, I assume?”

The guy gestured to the boy. “This is my dumbass step-kid. Ran away from us in the movie theater…” The guy shot the kid a dirty look. “After we told him not to wander.” The guy sneered. “Not that he listens worth a shit.
Ever
.”

Danny met the mom’s wide, wild eyes. “Take him into the restaurant. We need to get him warmed up. Tell them to feed him something, too. I’ll be back in there in a few minutes.”

The woman nodded and hustled off with the kid.

Probably damn glad to get away from the giant jackass Danny was about to straighten out.

Danny gestured for the guy to approach. “Can you step over here with me for a second, please, sir?”

The guy hesitated, Danny rested his hand on his Glock, and the guy moved his ass. He stopped about six feet shy of Danny.

“Closer, please,” Danny said, waving him in.

The guy reluctantly stepped forward until Danny lifted his hand for him to stop.

Danny eyed him, sick to his stomach thinking about that little boy living with this monster. And this guy
was
a monster, no doubt about it. Danny had lived with enough of them to spot one a hundred miles away.

He knew exactly what that kid’s life was like, day in and day out, because, once upon a long time ago, he’d been a boy crying for his mommy. And he’d spent a very long time battling a lot of monsters that – no matter how hard he fought – had always seem to win.

There were days when they
still
won.

“What is your name?” Danny asked the dickbag.

The guy’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

Danny’s brows shot up.

The guy sighed. “Tom Watts.”

“Okay, Tom Watts, I want you to listen to me carefully…” Danny leaned in and lowered his voice. “I know you. And I know what you do. I know you hit that kid. I know you scream at that kid. And I know you don’t give a rat’s ass about that kid. Or any of the other kids. Or their mother.” Danny reared back to meet the guy’s narrowed eyes. “I know you’re a user and an abuser. And that you probably have a rap sheet a mile long, with more than a few domestic abuse charges.” Danny paused. “Now, I don’t have anything to arrest you for tonight, but I want you to know I am going to run your name, file a report, and send the info to Child and Family Services. And I have a really good feeling they aren’t going to like what they find at your house, Tom Watts…” Danny stared him down. “Are they?”

When the guy just stood there staring like the fucking asswipe he was, Danny scoffed and said, “Give me your license or any other identification you have.”

The guy pulled it out and handed it to Danny.

Danny pointed to the park bench. “Sit down. Don’t move or say a word to anyone until I get back. Do you understand me?”

Tom Watts opened his mouth to argue, Danny stepped closer, and Tom Watts dropped his ass onto the park bench.

“I
said
, do you understand me?”

Tom Watts nodded, Danny quirked a brow, and the douchebag mumbled, “I understand.”

Danny shot him one last disgusted glance before turning to walk back to the restaurant…

Only to find Kat and Carlo standing outside of California Pizza Kitchen, watching everything. Carlo looked star-struck, Kat looked shocked, and Danny realized he was way too raw to deal with either reaction.

So he forced the widest smile he could manage. “Nice to see you both. Drive safely.”

Without another word, he entered the restaurant and didn’t look back.

Carlo met Kat’s
eyes and grinned. “And
that
,
zia
, is why I want to become a police officer.”

Kat returned his smile and even managed to formulate some responses to Carlo’s excited comments as they walked to the car. But the majority of her brain was still back at the front of the restaurant, watching Danny and feeling a whole lotta things she couldn’t easily process or decide how to react to.

That was assuming she
could
decide, because it sure seemed like when it came to him, her processes had minds of their own.

Kat hadn’t been the least bit surprised by Danny’s behavior toward the little boy. She hadn’t been able to hear everything, but Kat knew by his body language and the boy’s response, that Danny had been nothing short of incredibly patient and compassionate.

What Kat hadn’t been prepared for were her visceral reactions to the dots she’d connected about Danny’s own life as she’d watched the drama unfold.

Each time the little boy had cried out for his mother, Danny’s expression had subtly shifted. Someone who didn’t know him wouldn’t have detected the emotion behind it, but Kat could. And had.

And Danny’s hardened expression and scarily flat tone when dealing with the asshole stepfather had spoken volumes about where Danny had been and the (probably) horrific things he’d been subjected to.

As Carlo texted on the way home, Kat tried hard to process the weird, unsettling afternoon. Unfortunately, she was no closer to understanding any of it when she pulled into Gigi’s driveway ten minutes later.

Kat said “good-bye” to Carlo, waved at Gigi from the car (totally ignoring her gestures to come inside), and backed out of the driveway.

As she drove home on autopilot, Kat rehashed recent events yet again…

The vulnerability on his face as he’d walked into Pops’ yesterday.

Danny’s compassionate reaction to Kat needing his help.

That crazy phone call last night.

Danny eating alone.

The kind, patient way he’d interacted with Carlo.

His dismissal of Little Blonde Firecracker.

Those ridiculously adorable toys he’d bought, not to mention that bracelet.

The way he’d handled that situation outside.

The pain in Danny’s eyes as he’d walked by them afterwards.

Hands gripping the wheel so tightly they ached, Kat loosened them a little and exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

She’d spent a year and a half believing she had Danny pegged. She thought she’d been onto his game and had quickly and thoroughly dismissed him in every way. Kat had fought, tooth-and-nail, an undeniable physical attraction – dismissing it as inconsequential because there was no way in
hell
she’d ever allow more than a illogical, pheromonal reaction to him.

Because Danny was a shallow, womanizing pig. And a self-centered, arrogant ass.

Or at least that’s what Kat had always thought. But now?

Well, now Kat had no choice but to do something she very rarely had to do – something she hated with a white-hot passion:

Admit maybe –
just maybe
 – she might have been wrong about something.

Someone.

*

Nathan eyed Danny
texting. When Danny turned the phone to obscure it, Nathan’s brows lifted.

“That raunchy, huh?” Nathan scoffed, throwing his forearm up on the cruiser driver’s window ledge and staring straight ahead. “Just don’t think you’re gonna take off on me mid-shift to hook up. I said it was okay that one time, when you just
had
to screw that flight attendant during her layover, but…”

Danny tuned him out and continued composing his text:
Hey, sorry about earlier…was in police business mode.

A few seconds later, Kat responded:
I understand. Did everything work out okay with the little boy?”

Danny texted:
As well as it could have.

He paused, not sure how far to take this before adding:
I was sorry our time got cut short. I was really enjoying talking to you.

He hit send before he could pussy out. When she didn’t respond right away, Danny quickly regretted putting himself out there.

Fucking dumbass.

His phone dinged.

Kat:
Me, too.
But, if you tell anybody that, I will deny it. ;)

Danny grinned.

Nathan shot him a hard look. “Don’t do that, okay? It’s one thing to sext right in front of me, but a whole different scenario to start making noises and grinning.” He shifted in his seat. “Fucking grossing me out over here, Mac.”

“I’m not sexting, so chill out.” Danny glanced over, brows low. “And how in the hell do
you
know what sexting is, anyway?”

No response. So Danny stared hard at his stoic profile, enjoying – not for the first or last time – ruffling Nathan’s feathers.

Nathan whipped around to face him. “
What?
”

“Stella’s got you sexting, huh?” Danny grinned and then laughed when Nathan flushed.

“I’m not a fucking moron. I watch the news. I see those articles on….” Nathan grunted. “You know, whatever the hell websites have news articles.” He shrugged. “Everyone’s always talking about stupid shit these kids are doing…I must have picked it up there.”