“Not everyone. Just Sheldon and my kid. And you forget… I didn’t come back. You brought me here, and now you’ll bear the consequences. You all will.”

I stood and left without another word or a backward glance.

* * * * *

“Hey, boss.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Well, stop being so bossy if you don’t want to be the boss.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and prayed for patience. Sometimes I felt like Di was a pain in the ass on purpose.

“Did you do what I asked, Diana ?” I used her full name, knowing how much she hated it though she never said why. I never cared enough to ask.

“Yes, I did, boss man, so when should I expect you?”

“However long it takes to find her.”

“I can’t believe you have a kid.”

Yeah, me either.

“It serves you right that it’s a girl, though.”

“And you say that because?”

“Because the players always get a little girl. You’ll be beating the boys away with a bat when she’s older.” She shouted over the phone as if she had just found a pot of gold.

“Will you fucking stop yelling?” I was two seconds away from hanging up on her.

“I’m sorry, baby doll.”

“Don’t call me baby doll.”

“Why not? It fits you because you’re pretty.”

“I’m… what?” I meant it to sound more menacing. Instead, it came out as a shriek.

“I bet the poor, insecure little boy inside you is grateful for my compliment even if the douche isn’t.”

“Why do you refer to me as two different people? And I’m not insecure.”

“Oh, but you are.” She fell silent for a moment before blurting out, “Is that why you’re such a slut?”

I hung up on her.

It took everything not to make the phone a permanent part of my old bedroom wall. Instead, I clutched the phone tight, willing my anger away. I thought I would be used to her by now but had to admit that Di knew where to hit when she wanted to. She always claimed to be a good people reader, but I’d always believed it to be complete bullshit. She just never knew when to shut up.

I wasn’t the least bit insecure.

Why would I be?

I’d never had a problem catching the attention of a woman before. They would always flock to me and I would accept them because…

My ringing cell phone snapped me out of my wandering thoughts, and when I checked the caller ID, I debated not answering, but I knew I couldn’t do that to her again.

A week ago, Di had completely freaked out when she realized I had disappeared, either assuming I was dead or I had ditched her, but once she found out Keiran was behind it, the jokes haven’t stopped rolling in since—

“Does he have you chained in the basement?”

“Would I be on this call if I were?”

“It’s possible. He’s got a soft spot for you, you know.”

“No, he doesn’t. He tolerates me.”

“Well, he hasn’t cut off your hand for touching his girl yet, so I guess toleration will work” She snickered.

I knew I shouldn’t have told her about that, but one thing I realized over the years was that Di was easy to talk to. It’s too bad Sheldon never liked her. Maybe that was why I kept Di so close all these years. We could have parted ways a long time ago but never did. It was my own little pound of flesh.

“What?” I barked into the phone.

“I’m sorry, okay? I know how you feel about being a slut.”

“Di…”

“I meant being called a slut.”

My only response was almost unintelligible, but it was all she would get. Neither of us had ever been good at apologies, and if I were, the last four years would have gone a lot different.

“Just keep everything in place and stay out of trouble.” With that, I hung up and jammed my phone in my jeans pocket.

I headed back downstairs where I had left Quentin and Jesse. Jesse had been up all night digging for simple information that someone had gone through a lot of trouble to bury and keep buried.

“I found an address,” Jesse hollered as if I weren’t just three feet away. The table littered with Red Bulls might have had something to do with his high energy. “Camden is pretty big for a town. It’s bigger than this place, but I found the place. It looks like it sits on its own land. There is no one around for miles.”

“How the hell do you know all this? We’ve never even been to this place.” Quentin asked a little harsher than necessary. The vibe between the two of them was too strange for two people who had only met once, but like everything else, I kept my head low. I wasn’t planning to stick around.