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“He’s our boy now?” Trance teased

“Yes,” I whispered “From now on, he’s our boy”

And that was thatChapter 5How to keep brownies fresh: eat the

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Oakley

I awoke partially due to the voices beside my bed, and partially due to the pain that I was in

Okay, mostly I woke because of the pain I was in

It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before

I could hardly draw in a breath without a shock of it shooting down my belly

Trying to focus on so—else, I started to focus on the sound of voices

“They transferred him to a different department,” I heard someone say “The officer that is his superior is a real dick I heard hiency room They wrote him up for failure to approve vacation time And since he’s in his probationary period, they didn’t have to have a reason to write him up Honestly, I’m surprised at this point that they kept hiuess, he’s going to be gone soon That supervisor of his is a real piece of work”

I wasn’t sure how I knew that they were talking about Pace, but I kneithout a doubt that they were In my heart, I knew

“That’s a bunch of fuckin’ bullshit,” I croaked, openingabout that”

That hen my father and Ford practically pushed et to me

I laughed softly, and nearly cried out in pain when the shock of agony tore through me

“You’re on a pain puh my brother and dad “Both of you back up”

Ford did, butto my face as he bent down and said, “Hey, baby”

I s to hide how much pain I was in

I didn’t want to make him feel worse than he already did

Sadly, he’d been the one to expose otten it, and co inkidney function

It sucked

It sucked bad

But he was not the cause of it

Whatever button my mother had pressed shot some sort ofto the pain at my back

“Daddy,” I said, turning my head “Fix it”

My father’s eyes went hard

“Oh, I’ to,” he said “Don’t you worry about that, baby”

“Call hirinned “I want hiotta witness it”