“Hey Stu,” I said.

“Got a problem,” he told me. “Roam and Sniff had an appointment with me yesterday and today, they missed them both.”

Hmm.

Not good.

Roam seemed all fired up to get an education so he could become a badass mother. Clearly he’d lost interest when he thought Vance was out of my life.

“I’ll take care of it,” I said to Stu and I went in search of the boys.

Not stupid, they knew I’d come after them and I caught them making their getaway. I cornered them outside in front of the building.

“You missed two tutor appointments,” I said to them.

“What of it?” Roam asked, all lip and attitude.

“You need to get caught up so we can enroll you in high school, get a foster home sorted, get your life sorted.”

“Life’s good,” Sniff put in, in an attempt to assure me they knew what they were doing.

My eyes sliced to him and the look in them made him clamp his mouth shut for once.

I looked back to Roam. “I thought you wanted to get your diploma.”

“Don’t matter now,” Roam said to me.

“I don’t think you understand, what happened with me and Crowe –” I started.

“I understand, Law, you know I f**kin’ do. Can’t trust no-fuckin’-body. You think they’re cool, got it goin’ on and you find out they’re just ass**les. Everyone’s a f**kin’ asshole.”

Hmm.

Really not good.

I got closer. “Roam –” I started again but to my shock (and it must be said, supreme annoyance), he put both hands to my shoulders and shoved me hard. I went back on a foot and then steadied.

“Fuck off, Law,” he clipped.

“Hang on a goddamned minute,” I snapped but I’d lost his attention. His already tense body froze and he was looking over my shoulder.

I looked too.

Vance was there not a foot behind me. How he’d materialized, I did not know. I hadn’t heard him or sensed him but I couldn’t worry about that at the moment. Vance’s face was hard and set, his eyes were scary and his mouth was tight. I’d never seen him look that angry, in fact the word angry didn’t begin to do it justice.

“What the f**k?” Vance’s eyes flashed on Roam.

“What are you doin’ here?” Sniff asked.

Vance didn’t take his gaze off Roam. “I said,” Vance went on, his deep voice quiet, pure silk but not in a good way, “what the f**k?”

Roam brought himself up to full height which was an inch taller than Crowe but he still looked like a boy. Crowe didn’t move from behind me and I could feel the white-hot vibes crackling between them.

Roam didn’t answer.

“Never,” Vance continued in his scary voice, “do you put your hands on a woman in anger.”

All of a sudden I was finding it difficult to breathe, realizing belatedly why Vance looked ready to commit murder. Roam swallowed, his eyes darted to me then went back to Vance but he kept his position, his guard up and his mouth shut.

“Okay boys –” I decided it was time to cut in.

Vance didn’t agree. “I see you do that again, I hear you did it, I’ll find you and knock some goddamned sense into you,” Vance warned and I knew it wasn’t a threat and I suspected so did Roam. “Now’s the time when you nod your head,” Vance went on.

Roam decided to play with fire. “Don’t see why it’s your f**kin’ business. You dumped her.”

Uh-oh.

“Roam, there’s been a –” I started again, and got interrupted again.

Roam continued talking. “Thought you were the shit. Thought you knew a good thing. Thought you knew everything. You don’t know nothin’. You threw away a piece like that?” Roam’s head jerked in my direction. “You’re an ass**le.”

Yikes.

“Roam,” Sniff said in a cautionary tone. Even Sniff knew Roam was carrying it too far.

“Okay, listen to me right now –” I put in only to be thwarted again.

“I have another rule,” Vance talked over me, his voice was still scary however now it was scary-scary and I knew he was just hanging on to his control, “you call Jules a piece again and you’ll be sucking your meals through a straw. I don’t care if you’re a kid.”

Roam looked from me to Vance and back again and opened his mouth to say something but luckily Vance got there before he dug his hole any deeper.

“Only reason I don’t put my hands on you right now is because you’re pissed on Jules’s behalf. We had a misunderstanding. I didn’t dump her. We’re together, nothing’s changed, except the fact that I was gonna find you and offer you some time. You want that time, see what I do, understand why you have to be smart, you learn some goddamned control.”

Roam’s face changed, confusion warring with hope.

My face probably changed too mainly because Vance just offered to take Roam under his wing. I was finding it hard not to turn to him and kiss every inch of his beautiful face.

“You’re still together?” Roam asked.

“Yeah,” Vance answered.

“Hey! Cool!” Sniff exclaimed.

“You didn’t dump her?” Roam went on.

Vance didn’t bother responding.

Roam looked at me. “Why didn’t you f**kin’ say anything?” he asked or more like accused and I knew he felt like a fool.

“Sorry, Roam. I didn’t know I needed to inform you of the intricacies of my love life. I’ll add your name to my girlfriend list and invite you to the next powwow,” I said it full of attitude, hopefully loving attitude, and went on. “And for f**k’s sake, stop saying f**k!”

The confusion faded from Roam’s eyes, leaving only the hope.

He turned them to Vance. “I’ll learn control,” he promised.

“I f**kin’ hope so,” Vance responded.

“It won’t happen again.”

Vance nodded.

The crackling, white-hot vibes disintegrated.

Crisis averted.

Thank God.

“Go make an appointment with the tutor,” I ordered.

“This mean I’ll get to be a pall bearer?” Sniff put in.

I looked to the heavens.

Jeez.

“Ring bearer, stupid. How many times do I hafta –” Roam started.

“Tutor! Now!” I snapped in my word-is-law voice.

Sniff grinned at me.