that I knew of.
“ Dax !” She was right outside my bedroom door. It was the same
bedroom that I had slept in since I was a kid . The only time I hadn’t
was the one year I lived in the dorms at college and the couple of years I
lived in Pelican Bay.
“What, Mom? Is something wrong?” I knew I was
whining but I had drunk way too much beer yesterday. I really needed to start
finding other things to do than hanging out around that damn bar.
“Everything’s fine, but your parole officer is
here.”
“Oh shit! Sorry, Mom. I forgot!”
“It’s okay, just hurry please.” She used her sweet
voice, but I could tell she was annoyed. My parole officer had called two days before and said that she would be
by that morning. I told her that I would be sure to be there. I threw on some
jeans and a T-shirt, slipped my moccasins on my feet, pulled a beanie over my head
and headed out.
“Hi, I’m sorry.” I stopped dead in my tracks.
My parole officer was hot. She reminded me a lot of
Olivia with the petite build and the long dark hair that she wore in a straight
ponytail down her back. Her eyes weren’t dark like Olivia’s; that was the one major
difference. They were the most incredible shade of light blue. How the hell was
I supposed to take her seriously as a parole officer when she looked like that?
“Um…Miss Ortega, right? I’m sorry. I forgot to set
my alarm.”
Her sexy eyes were traveling all over me and it made
me shiver. She was the first woman other than Olivia who ever made me feel like
that without touching me.
“It’s fine,” she said, all businesslike.
She stood up when I came in the room and I said, “Please
sit down. Can I get you something to drink, coffee or something?”
“No thanks,” she replied.
“If you need me I’ll be out in the laundry room,” my
mother said.
Miss Ortega smiled at her. She was even prettier
when she smiled. It softened the hard set lines of her face.
When my mother was gone she opened the folder she
carried and said, “Who all lives here in the home?”
“Me, my mom and dad, that’s it .”
But she could move in any time.
“And your father is Joe Turner?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She gave me a weird look, kind of like she had a bad
taste in her mouth. I wasn’t sure if it was because I called her ma’am, because
my father was Joe Turner or both.
“Have you been looking for a job?”
“Well, I was actually thinking about going back to
school.”
And helping out in my dad’s biker bar, which was a
known hang out for most of the felons in the county. Oh and taking rides out to
warehouses that were probably hideouts for drugs and guns.
She raised an eyebrow and for a second I was worried
that she was reading my mind.
“You need to decide soon. Sitting around doing
nothing every day will get you into trouble quicker than anything .
But I guess you know that since you spent most of your time in the SHU.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. No weird look this time so the
other one was definitely about my dad.
“Are there any weapons in the house?”
“My dad has a gun safe, but they’re all legal and
registered.”
“To him?” Again, the look.
“Uh, I guess probably to my mom.” Shit! My dad had been
off parole for a long time, but I guess since he was convicted of a felony that
would mean he was not supposed to have guns. This was all new to me. I really
hated being forced to think like a convicted felon.
“I know your CCI went over all of this before your
release, but I’m going to touch on some of the things here that are pretty
common reasons why a parolee can be found in violation, okay? I don’t want you
saying later that I didn’t tell you something.”
Her beauty was quickly fading under the glare of her
talking about me going back to prison.
I swallowed and said, “Okay.”
“You understand that your residence and your
personal possessions can be searched at any time of day or night without reason
and without a