With Caution

guilty, but damn it, he hated hurting her. “Mom, I’m sorry.”
    “No, you don’t need to be sorry. Listen. I have something you need. Maybe you can come by the house sometime next week? You can come inside the next time you come get Sterling, okay?”
    “Okay, Mom, I’ll come in next time.” Remi kissed her cheek, feeling more like an ass. She obviously missed him and he avoided her whenever possible because she made him uncomfortable.
    She kissed him back. “I love you, Remington. I know you don’t believe it, but I do.”
    Remi opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. How could he deny it?
    Patting his cheek, she smiled and turned toward Jake, dabbing away a tear. “It was nice to meet you, Jake.”
    “Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Lassiter.” Jake hugged her and watched her walk off.
    “Okay, that was weird.” Staring at her back, Remi tried to shake off the odd feeling.
    It was like she was trying to warn him, or was she giving him her blessing to go against Dirk’s wishes? He didn’t know, but something felt wrong. Normally, she would have pleaded with him to behave and not give Dirk any reason to be angry with him. “Sorry you had to see that, Jake.”
    Jake touched his arm, rubbing it briefly before stepping away. “If you want to talk, you know where I’m at. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
    150
    www.samhainpublishing.com

    With Caution
    “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow as soon as I get off work.” Remi shook his head. Why did his mom always affect him that way? He was torn between being pissed at her and pitying her. Why didn’t he have a happy, healthy, loving damn family?
    Halfway across the store, he looked over his shoulder. Jake was staring after him.
    Smiling, Jake waved and mouthed the word, “Tomorrow.”
    Remi nodded and grinned back. He did have a happy, loving family, just not the one he was born with.

    * * *

    Jake leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Matt was playing solitaire on his computer and from the sound of it Rhys was next door getting ready to leave. Almost five o’clock. Jake wasn’t in any hurry, he still had two hours until Remi got off work.
    There were ups and downs to Remi being a fireman. Remi had a lot of time off, but the days he did work he worked twenty-four-hour shifts. That sucked. And tonight as soon as Remi got to Jake’s house they had to turn around and leave to go to Gadget’s for dinner. He wouldn’t get Remi alone until probably ten or eleven o’clock.
    “I got an appointment with Caspari the day after tomorrow.”
    Opening his eyes, Jake spotted Rhys leaning against his doorframe. “Couldn’t you get one sooner?”
    “He’s out of town until tomorrow evening.”
    “You believe that? Or you think he’s still avoiding you?”
    “He’s in Kansas City, I checked it out. He didn’t seem too keen on talking to me about the case, but I reminded him of a favor he owes me.”
    Jake could imagine how the conversation had gone. He grinned. Caspari didn’t stand a chance, poor fucker. “Good, I’m anxious to get something going. I met Remi’s mom yesterday.”
    “Yeah?” Scratching his chin, Rhys glanced behind him at Matt, then shut the door and took a seat in front of Jake’s desk.
    “Yeah. It was fucked up, man. Really fucked up. Remi seemed resentful of her.”

    www.samhainpublishing.com 151
    J.L. Langley
    “Can you blame him?”
    Jake thought about it for a moment. He supposed he could understand it, it just wasn’t what he’d expected. Remi was the protective type. He bent over backward to keep Sterling safe. Hell, he had fussed over their pack the night of the challenge. Jake shrugged. “Guess I was surprised. He’s normally pretty understanding, good at empathizing with people. He’s got a big heart.”
    “Yeah, he does. But he also doesn’t seem the type to stick his neck out for someone over and over when they won’t help themselves.”
    That was true. Funny, but now Jake could see Remi protected and cared for people because he wanted to, not because he felt like he had to. He’d sat in Rhys’ office yesterday upset because he couldn’t remember more. Because he wanted to help, he wanted Dirk gone. Remi hated what his father had done, he hated his father, but Remi hadn’t let it ruin his life. He’d done what he had to cope and he didn’t feel sorry for himself and he hadn’t let it destroy who he was. More to the point, he’d raised a well-adjusted kid despite his parents, a kid who