Free Alpha Me Not by Jianne Carlo Page B

combing the park adjacent to the elementary school for the last couple of days.
    “No. Last I heard a neighbor had seen Petey walking home from school. Barb and Kieran must be devastated.” Charlene rubbed her arms.
    “You know the parents?” Susie gave up on the soup and pushed her tray to the side.
    “Barb and Kieran Flanagan. Our families have been friends for generations. Barb’s younger sister and I were on the cheerleading team. We’ll have to stop by on the way home.” Charlene twined her fingers with Grant’s. “They had a hard time having Petey. He’s everything to them.”
    Susie couldn’t even begin to imagine what the poor couple must be feeling. Just the notion of anything similar happening to her one-year-old niece, Jackie, was enough to make her stomach knot.
    “You know who they’re going to dredge up for this, don’t you?” Grant rocked back on his heels.
    “And with good reason. I can’t believe it. Talk of the devil. Look who just walked in.” Charlene tapped the binder on her thigh.
    What now? Susie scooted her chair around.
    “I never thought he’d dare show his face around here again.” Charlene glared at the two men who stood in the entrance of the cafeteria.
    Susie blinked. Why was Joe here? And who was he with?
    “That’s a validation if there ever was one. One I aim to concur with.”
    “What do you mean—a validation?” Susie twisted to face Grant.
    “Dean Sam O’Reilly coming to the cafeteria with Joe Huroq.”
    “Joe Huroq’s a pedophile and murderer, Grant. Don’t you dare go and speak to him.” The binder did a guitar strum on Charlene’s thigh.
    All the blood in Susie’s body iced.
    Pedophile.
    She shuddered.
    It had taken all her willpower, but she had deliberately refused to think about Joe, about last night or this morning or whenever it was, and his bald declaration about a job being hard to find with a criminal record.
    Coward.
    She should’ve jumped to her feet and defended him. “Wasn’t he acquitted?”
    “Unfortunately. Where there’s smoke…you know the old saying.” Charlene squinted at Joe. “There was enough evidence to put him behind bars for over a year. He’d still be there if Kieran and that lowlife, Tate Gunn, hadn’t interfered.”
    She’d made love to Joe.
    Given him her virginity.
    What kind of half-assed idiot was she anyway to listen to the vicious ramblings of Charlene Weber? Her people gut had always been reliable. Okay, okay except for Kenny Laroque. But she wasn’t wrong about Joe Huroq.
    Susie’s temper flared. She dug her nails into her palms until the sting registered. “I can’t believe you actually said that, Charlene. From what I heard, DNA evidence proved Joe Huroq was innocent. DNA doesn’t lie.”
    “Dean O’Reilly obviously believes him innocent.” Grant angled his head at the older man following Joe in the buffet line. “That’s quite an endorsement.”
    “Here’s another.” Susie crumpled her napkin and tossed it on the table. “He’s the neighbor I’m staying with.”
    “No.” Charlene rounded on her. “You can’t stay with him. I won’t let you.”
    Right then Joe glanced their way.
    His and Susie’s gaze locked for a second.
    He shifted his concentration to Grant and Charlene, then back to her, shook his head, and squared his shoulders.
    The gesture hit her like a bulldozer.
    Joe fully expected her to cut him.
    Damn the man.
    “I make my own decisions,” she drawled. “No one tells me what to do. And I’m not only staying with him—” She’d never been able to modulate her voice when angry, and her words resounded around the cafeteria, which was empty aside from them, the sparse staff behind the counter, Dean O’Reilly, and Joe.
    “Grant. Charlene.”
    How in hen’s feathers had Joe gotten in front of her so damned fast?
    “Susie.” Joe inclined his head in her direction.
    “Joe.” Grant stuck out his hand. “How’ve you been?”
    “Good. And you?”
    Sitting had her at