Bastian's Storm (Surviving Raine 2)

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“What do you think?” I asked. I didn’t know why I was so nervous.

Raine flipped through the online pictures one at a time. I could practically hear her checking off little boxes in her head as she went through the details of the listing.

“What school district?” she asked.

I pointed to the screen where it was listed, and Raine nodded.

“That was my top choice for Alex.”

“I know.”

“What about public transportation?” she asked.

“There really isn’t any,” I said. “It’s a small community—you can practically walk anywhere you want to go. The elementary school is just four blocks away. I figured I could walk Alex to and from school, and when he gets older, there’s the school bus for the middle school and high school.”

Raine nodded again and turned her eyes to me.

“But it’s nowhere near a beach.”

I swallowed.

“Yeah,” I said, “I know.”

“That is your number one item,” she reminded me.

“No,” I said softly, “it’s not. You and Alex are number one.”

Raine looked at me, set the laptop down on the coffee table next to Alex’s drawing, and reached over to hug me.

“I love you,” she whispered into my ear.

The choice was made. At least for now, we knew our direction.

“Did you hear?” John Paul said as he sat down. Before he could explain any further, the server asked him for his drink order.

“Hear what?” I asked after the server jotted down his request on her notepad and walked away.

“About Franks.” John Paul shoved a handful of my chips into his mouth.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“He’s dead,” he said as bits of tortilla chips crumbled into his beard. He wiped them away and swallowed. “Somebody put a hit out on him, and he was taken out last night. Single bullet to the head.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

I looked down at the iced tea in my hand and tried to keep my expression blank. If there was anyone I could have confided in, it probably would have been John Paul, but I wasn’t going to risk it. He would never say anything to the organization about me, but that wouldn’t stop him from ratting out Evan, and I wasn’t about to risk anyone finding out he was still alive.

I owed that guy. Big time.

“There’s more,” John Paul said. His eyes darkened as he leaned closer to me.

“What?” I asked.

“Hey there!” John Paul sat back quickly as Raine burst around the corner of the booth and slid in beside me. “Sorry I’m late. My professor wanted to chat after class, and I missed the early bus.”