An Inner Darkness Book 5 Bay City paranormal

father when he was annoyed and trying not to show it. “I’m suspended.” Janine gave him a stern look. “I know. And believe me, we are going to talk about that. You’ll just have to stay at work with me today. I’m sure you have schoolwork you could be doing.”
    Adrian scowled, but didn’t answer.

    Yawning, Sean rubbed his eyes. “Mom, can we go get pancakes?” Janine glanced at her watch. “I’m sorry, honey, we don’t have time.” www.samhainpublishing.com 73

    Ally Blue

    “But I’m hungry.” Sean shuffled over and grabbed his mother’s jacket in both small hands. He gazed up at her with his best pleading expression. “We could eat here. I bet Dad would make pancakes.”

    Shaking her head, Janine rubbed the bridge of her nose. “We’ll go through the drive-through at McDonald’s, okay? You can get pancakes there. Now get your book bag and let’s go, I have a lot to do this morning.”

    Bo ran gentle fingers through Sean’s tousled hair. “Come on, son. Let’s get your stuff together, huh?”
    While Sean whined and Janine fussed at him, Sam wandered over and laid a hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “The key is to control your emotions,” Sam murmured, for Adrian’s ears only. “If you feel yourself getting angry or frustrated and losing control, just close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Concentrate on something calm and happy.” Adrian glanced up at him, dark eyes wide and fearful. “What if that doesn’t work?”
    “Leave the room if you need to. Go outside, throw a ball around, run in circles, whatever it takes to feel calm again.” Sam gave him an encouraging smile. “We’ll talk more when y’all come over for your weekend, but for now this should help.” Adrian nodded and shrugged off Sam’s hand just as Janine glanced over. Her eyes narrowed. “Adrian, say goodbye to your dad and let’s go.” Sam watched as Sean and Adrian hugged Bo goodbye and shouldered their backpacks. Sean ran to collect a hug from Sam too, then the boys followed their mother out the door.
    As soon as they’d gone, Sam went to Bo and pulled him close. Bo’s body practically vibrated with rage. “They’ll be all right.” Sam kissed Bo’s ear, hoping like hell he wasn’t lying.

    “They’d better be, or I’ll kill Janine with my bare hands.” Pulling out of Sam’s arms, Bo started pacing the floor in long, fast strides. “God, I’m so fucking angry right now.
    Why couldn’t she at least take them somewhere else?”
“I don’t know.”
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An Inner Darkness
“I hate that I can’t do anything.” Bo gave his braid a vicious yank. “What if something happens to Sean and Adrian, Sam? What if—”
    “Bo. Stop.” Crossing to Bo, Sam grabbed his shoulders and kissed the worried crease between his eyes. “Let’s just stay calm, and try to think of how we can help Adrian without getting arrested or having your weekends taken away, okay?” Sighing, Bo leaned against Sam’s chest. “Yes. Okay. So what do you suggest?”
    “Well for starters, while you were getting their stuff together and Janine was talking to Sean, I talked to Adrian for a second. I told him he needed to keep control of his temper, and gave him a couple of pointers for doing that.”
    “Did he listen?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Good.” Bo’s arms went around Sam’s neck. “We’ll just have to hope that helps.”
    “I think it will.” Tilting his head, Sam brushed a light kiss across Bo’s lips. “The next time the boys are here for the weekend, I’m going to start teaching Adrian how to control his abilities. We’ll have to keep it secret from Janine, but I honestly don’t know what else to do. He has to learn, or he’ll be putting himself and everyone else in danger as long as he’s in that house.”
    Bo stared at him, dark eyes blazing. Just as Sam was about to ask Bo if he was all right, he dove forward and took Sam’s mouth in a rough, hungry kiss.
    The sudden switch from angry, worried parent to equally angry, demanding lover paralyzed Sam for a moment. He recovered quickly, however, snaking an arm around Bo’s waist and cupping the back of Bo’s head in the opposite hand. Usually, confrontations like the one they’d just had with Janine sent Bo into a brooding silence.
    Every now and then, though, his wrath found its outlet in sex. Apparently this was one of those times.
That was fine with Sam. He liked being able to help Bo work through his frustration,