Second Chance SEAL(61)

“Came looking for you,” he said. “I heard you were leaving town.”

I frowned. I didn’t know how he could have known that, considering I hadn’t told anyone. Frankly, I didn’t really have any friends in Knoxville, which was a big reason why I was trying to get away. I missed my hometown in Dade County, yearned to see my family’s farm again.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, trying to play it off.

“Good,” Guff grunted. “Because you still owe my boss a lot of money.” I felt his hand squeeze hard on my shoulder.

“Get off me,” I said. Guff and the two goons standing with him only laughed.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “In fact, I think you’re going to come with me.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you’re a fucking liar, Hartley. You think we didn’t see that bag in the back of your car?”

My heart started hammering in my chest, and I knew I was in a really bad situation. These men may have been greasy-looking rednecks, but they were dangerous, very dangerous.

I owed money to the Dixie Mafia, and they were coming to collect. At least, my family owed them money. Back when the housing market collapsed and the economy went to hell, my father took a loan from the Dixie Mafia out of desperation. Now, years later, they wanted that money back.

I’d come to Knoxville to try to work something out with them. I worked my ass off day and night, giving them every cent I made, but it wasn’t even close to enough. I tried everything I could think of, but they weren’t interested.

There was nothing I could do. I was going to run back home in shame and pray that my father could figure something out. It killed me to imagine the mafia getting a hold of our farm or, even worse, the bank bulldozing the whole thing.

Looking up at Guff’s dark eyes, at his long stringy hair and the sick smile on his face, I knew coming to Knoxville had been a serious mistake. I was so stupid and naïve to think that I could really fix any of this. My family thought I was just out here staying with a friend. They had no clue what I was up to.

“Come on,” Guff said, yanking my arm. I stumbled to my feet. “Let’s go for a fucking walk.”

“Get off me,” I said, terrified. I looked around but nobody seemed to care. Most of the men simply looked away, too ashamed to even make eye contact with me.

Guff and his boys, they were known here. Everyone knew the Dixie Mafia in Knoxville. They practically ran the town, and if you wanted to survive you had to make good with them. Nobody crossed the mafia and survived, not for long at least.

As I was learning. They dragged me across the room and out into the parking lot, pushing me toward my car.

I stumbled and tripped over a rock, tumbling down to the ground. The men laughed as Guff roughly pulled me to my feet.

“Open the car,” he ordered. I listened and unlocked the driver’s side door.

One of the goons tore open the door and grabbed my bag. He ripped through it, throwing the contents around. He looked at Guff and shook his head.

“Where’s our money, Hartley?” he asked. “Where’s our fucking money?”

“You know I don’t have it,” I said. “I gave you everything I could.”

“That’s not how this works,” Guff said, and shoved me against the car. “Your people took lots of money from us, and you showed up asking how you could pay us back. We gave you some options, but you didn’t like ’em. Now you want to leave?”

I clenched my jaw and looked away. Their idea of paying them back involved me whoring myself out to their customers. They wanted me to sell myself into sex slavery in exchange for my family’s debt, and I just couldn’t do it. I’d tried to think of something else, tried to make enough money to show that I meant to make good, but they weren’t reasonable men.

“I had no choice,” I said. “You really expected me to do that?”

“Hell yeah, girl,” he said. “I expect you to suck every fucking cock in this state if you want to get out of debt.”

“Screw you, Guff,” I said, surprising myself. I didn’t know where I was finding this anger, but it was there, deep inside me.

The men all laughed. “All right then, Hartley,” he said. “You can screw me, all right.” He reared his hand back and then punched me in the face.

I would have fallen if I weren’t held up by the car. Pain flashed through my face, blinding me, shocking me with its intensity.

“I’ll let you screw me right here,” Guff said, cackling like a madman. “Boys, go make sure nobody bothers us.”