“You back in town?” Freddie sucked on a toothpick.
“Just got in.”
“Out of trouble?”
“Out of jail.”
His expression pinched. Freddie was a good friend of Matthias Davis. I hadn’t seen Josie’s granddad yet, but, judging by his reception, Matt wouldn’t welcome me with open arms either. Not that he did before, but at least he’d understood that I loved Josie and wanted to take care of her.
“I know cars,” I said. “Willing to work whatever hours you got.”
Freddie eyed the sign in the window. He set his jaw. “Spot’s filled.”
The calendar behind him was scrawled with more cars and appointments than he could handle. The phone rang twice while I stared him down.
“Doesn’t look filled.”
“The Kennen’s boy is helping on weekends.”
A man could only take so much bullshit before breakfast. “Donny or Nate?”
“Nate. Donny’s off in Ironfield, running his poor parents ragged.” Freddie snorted. “Thought he was one of your…acquaintances.”
A polite word for gang. “Haven’t been in Ironfield for a long time. Wouldn’t know.”
“Thought Donny was involved with Chelsea. Last I saw them at least.”
“Not for a while.”
Freddie’s eyebrow arched. “A couple weeks back.”
Motherfucking liar. My sister didn’t have much in the way of dignity, but I scraped what remained of mine to give to her. She owed nothing to any man anymore—not debts, not her body. If he wanted to insult me, he should have insulted me. My sister was no one’s punching bag.
I stared, hard. “No job?”
Freddie shrank away. “Nothing here.”
“Fine.”
I slammed the door on the way out. The sign fell from the window. Fuck it. Had a feeling a lot of Help Wanted signs would get stuffed in the trash when I came around.
Had my day not already turned to shit, I would have been surprised to find the black Escalade waiting for me on the corner, blinkers on. I considered ignoring the ride…
But my job prospects were thin enough.
His driver opened the back door for me.
Nolan Rhys greeted me with a devil’s grin. I offered him a martyr’s silence. Blood could boil and bones break, but nothing would tempt me to jeopardize my vengeance. Nolan was the true criminal—a man who bought my muscle and shuffled his dirty work onto others. Money bought power and a form of innocence. I lost mine long ago. The least I could do was get a couple grand for my trouble.
My past was ruined and lost, but I had a future to plan.
A future with Josie.
If she’d have me.
Nolan gestured to his driver. “Go. Maddox and I need to talk.”
The driver obeyed, adjusting his suit and tie before parading his charge throughout Saint Christie. The mayor had bulked up since I saw him last. Nothing like me, but he filled his suits with more than just money now. Apparently, he had someone new to impress.
“Has your debt to society been paid?” Nolan smirked.
His politician charm transformed into sheer condescension. I still remembered him from high school. His scrawny ass would have landed in the dumpsters had his father not pay-rolled half the town.
Nolan tried again. “Do you think you’ve been rehabilitated, Maddox, or did the system fail your family again?”
I didn’t answer. The SUV lurched onto the road and took a right off the main drag, surveying the more affluent parts of town. These were streets where I didn’t belong. Chief Craig had a habit of sending out his officers when I crossed the intersection.
Hell, if the chief knew I was in town, cruising by his house, he’d toss my ass in jail cell for any bullshit excuse he could falsify.
I waited for the moment I’d meet with him again. I’m sure the chief and I had a lot to discuss.
And a lot of blood to draw.
At least when I banded with men in the city, people knew we were no good. Here, I couldn’t shed any reputation. I didn’t belong in their town—not because of my crimes, but because of the family that shat me into the world and the addictions that eventually killed them.
Nolan stared ahead, his voice flat. “I thought I told you to stay away from her.”
“Fuck you.”
“One request, Maddox. That was all.”
I gritted my teeth. The asshole had no authority to corral Josie. I wasn’t about to honor anything that kept me from her.
“So you didn’t learn any obedience in prison?” Nolan asked.
“You thought I would?”
“I hoped you’d gain some respect for authority.”
“You’re not my authority.”
Nolan disagreed. “Look, I arranged for your parole. Made a couple calls, pulled a few strings. Not to sound conceited, but I expected a bit of gratitude from a convicted arsonist, especially for saving you from another ten years in a six by six cement block.”
“Six by eight.”
“A veritable mansion.”
“You’ll be measuring for curtains soon enough.” I let my warning rumble. “They kept the cell next to mine empty for you.”
“Unlike you, I make the laws, I don’t break them.”
“No. I’m just the one who got paid the price.” I gritted my teeth. “But you knew I was innocent.”
“I knew you were a gang member. Priors on your record from your teenage years. You associated with known criminals, drug dealers, and whores.”
My teeth would crack if I clenched my jaw any harder. Pain didn’t make me any more patient or tolerant, but neither did defending my sister from the judgment of the world.
“What the hell do you want, Nolan?”
“I have work for you.”
“Not interested.”
“Oh?” He pocketed his phone. “And how did the interview with Freddie Baulder go?”
“Think I can’t find my own work?”
“In this town?” Nolan gestured beyond the SUV as we toured his kingdom. “What jobs do you think are available to you?”
“I don’t know, Mayor Rhys. Have an unemployment problem here?”
“Only with convicted felons.” He paused. “You honestly believe you’ll find a living here?”
“I might.”
“Doing what? Electrical work?” He laughed. “Matthias Davis took you as an apprentice—a favor to Josie. After you burned down his granddaughter’s store, I doubt many of my citizens will be eager to invite you into their homes to update their basements.”
“I didn’t burn it down.”
“It was an electrical fire.” He laughed, watching as I seethed. “Who else would it have been?”
I stared the asshole down. Nolan was the only man in town who didn’t avoid my gaze. That would end soon enough.
The car turned another corner, passing the town’s only grocery store. People swarmed the aisles inside like they lined up for communion , all gathered around their chosen priest—Luann McMannis. Gossip spread easier than salvation. Soon enough, everyone in town would know I asked Freddie for the job.
The news had yet to cascade down the street, past the florist, insurance company, bank, and city hall. I gave it an hour before people would hear and the word would get to Josie.
Then what would she think?
“I have work for you,” Nolan said. “You need money.”
“I told you to fuck off.”
“You need money. I need a man to do a few jobs.” He shrugged. “We worked together before.”
“Shit’s changed.”
“It hasn’t. You were always going to end up in jail, breaking her heart.”
“What the fuck do you know about her heart?” The words burned. “If I catch you harassing Josie—”
Nolan interrupted me, wielding some sanctified tone. “I told you to stay away from her. It was part of your agreement when I freed you from prison.”
“You really think I’m a man of my word?”
“For her, you are.”
The SUV parked in front of the vacant lot. I still saw the flames, the fire, the flashing lights. They’d shoved me in the cruiser before I knew if Josie had been seriously hurt in the fire. I didn’t know what happened until the next day when a cop left an old newspaper close enough to my jail cell. She was alive. Matt nearly died.
Everyone blamed me.
She didn’t come to see me at the hearing. Didn’t go to the trial. Never came to visit in prison.
Nolan rapped his fingers against the window, teasing me with the sight of the vacant lot. “I need you to do a job. I’ll pay you well.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll pay you double if you never see her again.”
“It’ll take more than a couple thousand dollars to keep me away from her.”
“Ten.”
“Don’t put a price on a girl like her.”
Nolan snorted. “And you would know about woman and their prices? How much was your sister worth to you? To her johns?”
I’d break his neck. Instead, I stared at the empty lot, the lost opportunities, the reason Josie wasn’t mine.
“You won’t keep me from her,” I said.
“She deserves better. You’re no good for her.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But she makes me want to be better.”
“Why ruin her future?” Nolan straightened his tie. “I could give her more.”