Hands fisting, Theo whirled to face Hugh.
“Just saying,” Hugh continued in his calm voice. “He’s lost Don. It’ll be hard for him to trust that you won’t leave him, too.”
Although Hugh pretended to be talking about Viggy, Theo knew the words were directed toward him, were about him. The well-meant but heavy-handed platitude made Theo want to punch Hugh in the throat. Theo should be used to that urge, though, since he’d been feeling it pretty much constantly—about everyone with whom he came into contact—for almost two months. Closing his eyes, Theo took in an audible breath through his nose, grasping for calm. It wasn’t in him anymore, though. There was no serenity, no peace. All he had to offer was guilt and rage and grief and barely leashed violence. He took a second breath, determined to fake it.
“I know.” That sounded almost calm, although the way Hugh’s mouth tucked in at one corner showed that his friend knew Theo was faking it. Giving up on convincing Hugh that he wasn’t a raging mess, Theo turned back to the dog.
“Viggy.” There wasn’t even a twitch of an ear. “Here.”
“Calling him isn’t working. You need to go get him, or he’ll just keep ignoring your commands.”
Although Hugh’s tone was even and not judgmental at all, a surge of anger flashed through Theo. He knew too well how Viggy felt, the bone-deep sadness that made it impossible for anything else to matter. If he went and forced Viggy out of his corner, it wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t bring Don back. It wouldn’t make Viggy accept that Theo was his partner.
“No,” he snapped. It sounded harsh to his own ears, so Theo tried again, attempting to moderate his tone for the second time in as many minutes. “Thanks for the advice, but there’s no point.”
“The point is that you have to figure out a way to get through to him or you’ll never be partners.”
Partners. His insides flinched. Partners died, leaving Theo and Viggy behind to try to scrape together what remained of their battered souls. Partnerships were overrated. It’d be better—safer—to continue to walk a solitary path. He glanced at the huddled dog, the very picture of misery. Viggy had already figured that out. Why was Theo even trying to bond with the dog? He could never replace Don, especially now that Theo was a hollowed-out, useless shell.
Unable to say anything or even look at Hugh, Theo turned and stalked out of the kennel. Alone.
Chapter 4
Five Days Earlier
As the School Resource Officer led Jules to the office, she shivered. Although she tried to blame it on the cranked air-conditioning, she knew the cold air wasn’t the reason. This was it. These were her last few seconds to change her mind, to not go down the road of crime. Even as she thought it, though, she knew there was no turning back. Sam, Tio, Ty, and Dez needed to get out of that house.
With the SRO’s attention fixed on the hall in front of him, Jules forcefully rubbed her eyes, trying to generate some redness. Her acting skills were minimal, and tears-on-command were way beyond her abilities. There was a reason she’d been stage manager rather than the female lead in her high school’s production of Bye-Bye, Birdie.
“Thank you,” she told the SRO as she stepped through the office door he held open for her. He gave her a nod acknowledging her thanks and then left. Mrs. Juarez was behind the high counter, just as she’d been for the three years Jules had attended Lincoln High School and probably twenty years before that.
“Hi, Mrs. Juarez.”
Recognition lit the older woman’s face. “Juliet Young! How good to see you again.”
“You too.” Despite the circumstances, Jules felt a flicker of nostalgia. “How are you?”
Mrs. Juarez rolled her eyes. “It’s the usual zoo here. There are always those few troublemakers, but I suppose they make life interesting. Not that you would know anything about being a problem child, since you were always an angel. What brings you in here?”
It wasn’t hard to put a quaver in her voice. “My dad…isn’t doing well. Courtney is with him, so I told her I’d pick up the kids and bring them to the hospital.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Juarez hurried around to the front of the counter and enveloped her in a hug, sending a wave of guilt crashing over Jules. “You poor things.”
“Thank you.” She forced a smile, feeling like the worst scum in the universe. The thought that Mrs. Juarez might be blamed for releasing the kids to her occurred to Jules, and she forced the fresh surge of guilt from her mind. “Could you get the boys out of class?”
After a final squeeze, Mrs. Juarez released her and bustled behind the counter to sit in front of her computer screen. “Of course. Let’s see…Sebastian is in Mr. Hendrick’s class first period, Horatio is with Ms. Garnett and…sorry, dear, what’s your other brother’s name?”