He wasn’t fucking Jorie. There’s no goddamned way. She never would have touched him.
But, still, my brain goes back to fifteen years ago, and how fucking reluctant she was to leave town. How strangely she’d acted for months. How it had been weeks since we’d touched each other before that awful fucking day.
Did I miss it?Was her hesitation because she didn’t want to leave Moses behind? And how the fuck could his crew have killed her if she was fucking him? Not a goddamned bit of it makes sense.
I slow for a red light, grateful for the silence in the Bronco. The last thing I want to do right now is talk. Every part of me has drawn inward, until I feel like I’m suffocating on the questions running rampant through my brain.
When I finally pull up in front of the service station, Hal parks across the driveway, sideways, blocking us in.Good. If I know him, he’s got a shotgun in his SUV, and he’s not afraid to use it.
I open my door, climb out, and push the seat back to make room for Bump and Roux. I’m strangely fucking thankful that my dog apparently sneaked out of the office while Bump was watching TV. If she’d seen Moses and gone at him with those big teeth of hers, he would have shot her without blinking.
Scarlett meets me around the front of the Bronco, and I hand her the keys.
“Will you get him settled? I need to talk to Hal before I come up.”
Scarlett’s pale, drawn face guts me all over again. She shouldn’t have experienced what happened tonight. None of this ever should have touched her. I should have killed Moses years ago.
This is all my fucking fault.
I stole that truck. Sold the shit. Got Jorie killed and Bump shot.
I might as well be a fucking wrecking ball, and now Scarlett’s life is becoming unrecognizable because of my destruction.
“Of course. Whatever you need, cowboy.”
Her nickname for me is a balm. But no matter how much I want to let it soothe me, I can’t. There are way too fucking many sins I’m answering for tonight. I’ve earned the pain clawing me apart, and haven’t suffered enough for the chaos I’ve caused.
“I’ll be up soon.”
I don’t lean in to kiss her, but she presses her lips to mine anyway.
I don’t deserve her.
As soon as she’s gone, I walk over to the SUV. Hal is at the tailgate, unearthing something from beneath the carpet. As I expected, it’s a small arsenal.
“No one will get through me tonight, Legend. You have my word.”
“Or me.”
The voice comes from the darkness, and both Hal and I tense as footsteps crunch in the gravel.
“Who is that?” Hal asks, reaching for a gun.
I put my hand on his to stop him from grabbing it.
Big Mike steps into the pool of light. “This is my property. My people. And no one, not even some gangster from Mississippi, is going to come up here and cause trouble inmy house.”
“Big Mike, meet Hal, Scarlett’s new full-time security. Hal, this is Big Mike, Q’s dad and the craziest Puerto Rican I’ve ever known.”
Big Mike lifts his chin at Hal. “Damn right. I’ll pull up a chair and sit here all night if I need to.”
“What about Joanie?”
“She’s staying with Melanie tonight at Dani and Tony’s while they’re out on the town. I’m at your disposal.”
I walk over to Big Mike. “I appreciate it, but Hal’s got it covered. No need for you to sit out here all night.”
“Q called and told me everything. I think there’s plenty of reason to.” He glances at the chairs he and Bump leave out front so they can shoot the shit. “I’ll take one of those. No arguing with me, Gabe. You’re family. We take care of our own.”