CHAPTER 143

“We really weren’t doing anything but talking,” Aggie said.

“What were you talking about?”

Her opening with Eric presented itself, so she took it. “Jace’s father. How he died.”

Eric glanced at Jace. “How?”

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Jace said.

“Do you have any other family?”

“Nope. No parents. No family.”

Jace wriggled to get up, but Aggie sprawled her body over his and rested her head on his shoulder. She lay there like a dead weight to keep him from avoiding this conversation.

“Did you go into foster care?” Eric asked.

“I was fifteen with a criminal record. No one wanted to open their home to a derelict. I stayed in a group home for almost three years.”

“Did you serve jail time?”

“Juvenile hall for a few months. For a couple of shoplifting charges—nothing too exciting.”

“The key to being a good shoplifter is not to get caught.”

“You shoplifted?”

“I was a holy terror as a kid,” Eric said.

Jace snorted and stopped trying to weasel out from beneath Aggie. “Nothing’s changed.”

Eri