Angel of Redemption by J. A. Little

that happen? ” I ask, closing the door behind me.
    “ Not that often. ”
    “ How often? ” In mere minutes, my agitation has grown and I can ’ t hide it.
    “ I … It depends. I ’ m not sure what sets him off, ” she admits.
    “ Are you the only one who can calm him
down? ”
    “ Sometimes, yes. ”
    “ Okay. For future reference, that ’ s something the placement needs to
know ahead of time. ”
    She
scoffs. “ Okay, well, first of all, I tried to
tell you the night I brought them here, but you interrupted me multiple times, ” she snaps. “ Second of all, it ’ s in the paperwork. If you ’ d
bothered to read it, you would have seen a detailed report. ”
    I
narrow my eyes. She ’ s right about the interrupting. Emily
accuses me of that all the time when I ’ m
agitated. But she ’ s wrong about the report. There was
nothing in the paperwork about Matty having an anxiety disorder.
    “ Where? ” I growl.
    “ It ’ s in the mental health write-up. ”
    “ There was no mental health write-up. ”
    “ Yes, there was, ” she insists. I walk over to my filing cabinet and open it,
flipping through the files until I reach Matty ’ s. I throw it on the desk.
    “ Show me. ”
    Kayla
doesn ’ t
hesitate. She opens the file and searches through the papers. When she gets to
the end, she goes through it again, backward. Her face is the picture of
confusion.
    “ I don ’ t … I know I put it in here. ” Her eyes suddenly darken. “ Logan.
Fuck! When the hell did he get to it? ” She looks up at me and grimaces. “ Excuse my language. ”
    I let out an unexpected laugh. Is she really
worried about swearing with me? Do I look like the kind of guy who gives a shit
about language? I shake my head and smirk a little.
    Kayla’s still trying to figure out what happened. “He
must have taken it out. I don’t know when he could have done it, though.”
    I
sigh. “ We ’ ve
had some of the best con artists around come through this place. If they really
want something, they ’ ll figure out a way. Aiden ’ s had things taken straight out of his
hand before and not realized it. ”
    “ I ’ m so sorry, Dean, ” Kayla apologizes, running her hand through her hair. “ I should have gone over all of that with you before I left. ”
    “ Yeah, well, it was late, and I was
kind of an asshole. ”
    Kayla
smiles softly. “ Yes, you were. ”
    I
let myself smile back at her. “ Why don ’ t
you brief me now? ”
    Half
an hour later, I have Matty ’ s entire mental health history and a guarantee that Kayla
will bring me a hard copy when she comes back for Logan ’ s Independent Living session tomorrow.
I find myself kinda looking forward to seeing her again, even though I know her
focus will be on other things.
    “ I need to go have a word with Logan, ” she sighs.
    “ Don ’ t be too hard on him. He obviously
didn ’ t
think about what would happen when Matty had an issue. I have a feeling this
might be the tamest thing he does while he ’ s here. ”
    “ Logan very rarely thinks of the
consequences of his actions. ”
    “ Most of them don ’ t. Did you at their age? ” Yes, I ’ m fishing. I want to know if she was a Miss Goody Two-shoes
or if she maybe had a wild streak.
    “ Good point, ” she chuckles, looking away. She pushes her hair back, and I
can see the pink tint to her cheeks. So she did have a wild streak. I
wonder if she still does. I notice she doesn ’ t ask me the same question. I have no
idea if it ’ s
because it ’ s
obvious or if she ’ s already found out, but I ’ m not going to offer the information.
    She
stands up, and I imitate the movement. Without thinking, I push up my sleeves.
It ’ s
a motion I ’ ve
done a million times before. It isn ’ t until I hear her quick intake of breath that I realize
what I ’ ve
done. Her mouth is open slightly, her eyes scanning over me. I move to cover
them again, but her hand on my forearm stops me.
    “ Wait. ”
    “