“Paris was innocent. Rain was innocent. Eileen Stone was—”
Jeremy swiped the chicken tenders off the table. “No one connected to you is innocent! You’re all one gangland family, running Bedlam like it’s your turf. No one— No one believes your family doesn’t know exactly what you do, and helps you get away with doing it. ‘Sorry you experienced violence in our town’ my ass,” he spat.
This was going downhill fast.
“Sheriff Dad refused to arrest you. Judge Stone-Faced Bitch doesn’t let a single charge with your name in it go to trial.” He smiled nastily at Jacques. “Hey, how is she, by the way? I heard a server accidentally dropped some sesame oil in her food. Tsk, tsk. What an oversight.”
Jacques blinked slowly. “This attempt to upset me is both sad and futile. We have an agreement, or we don’t?”
“The company’s already invested millions in this project. Dad couldn’t pull Foundry out if he wanted to,” Micah said. “He answers to other people.”
“That’s too bad,” Cairo crooned. “Oh, well, you can keep those photos. We know what they look like.”
Legend tugged me up. It was time to go.
“Wait,” Jeremy called.
We kept walking.
“Wait! Alright, we’ll do it.”
That brought us back.
“I’ll convince my father to let go of Foundry. Tell him there’s no chance of the vote going our way. We’ll need time though.”
Cairo shrugged. “Take all the time you need. Rain will have amnesia till the last development sign is gone.”
“No, she comes clean first. It’s the same deal. We need assurances you’ll hold up your end too.”
They hashed it out back and forth—me the silent figure in the corner while they decided my life, and while Legend had his fun messing around under my skirt. The man had magnet fingers. If we were in the same room, they were attaching themselves to my body.
“I won’t let you fuck with her, so you know I’ll come through,” said Jeremy. “Rainey walks into the dean’s office on Monday. The sooner she clears our name, the sooner everyone gets to move on.”
Arsenio got a notepad and pen from the barkeep. “Write it. Sign it.”
Jeremy hesitated. “Write what?”
“That the six of you will leave and take Foundry with you.”
“I don’t work for Foundry. This won’t hold up if I can’t convince my dad—which I will.”
Jacques’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Let me worry about the legalities. Sign it.”
After a beat, he took the pen.
Jeremy wrote down their agreement, scribbled his signature at the bottom, then passed it to Micah to do the same. They went down the booth till Asher handed it back.
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
Jacques ignored his outstretched hand.
We got up and the Crows did too. The crowd parted to let us out.
I glanced back at Jeremy as we spilled out on the parking lot. He tapped on his phone, nodded at Micah, then caught my eye.
Smiling, he tossed me a wink.
“I’m glad we could get this settled,” Jeremy said.
Two sides faced each other on the pavement.
“You should know we didn’t want it to come to this,” he continued. “If your precious mom mayor hadn’t turned down our construction requests, and then Judge Stone-Face backed her up in court, none of this would have happened. They forced the board to take extreme measures, and your charming selves didn’t know when to back down.”
Cairo turned his back on them. “Y’all have a safe trip out of my town. Don’t skid off the road and die in a fiery crash, or anything like that. We’d be inconsolable.”
Jeremy laughed. “I’m gonna miss your sense of humor most of all, Sharpe. Just a second, St. James.”
He grasped my arm and pulled us both up short. Legend was holding my hand.
“This is for you,” Jeremy said, handing him an envelope. You guys have a good time.”
Jeremy and the Crows headed for their cars.
Legend watched them go, eyes narrowed as he held the envelope.
“What’s it say?” I asked.
Ripping it open, he took out the note and read.
Legend shot after Jeremy.
“Hey! Come back! Stop, you filthy little shit!”
Honking and laughing raucously, Jeremy swerved around the human obstruction and peeled out of the parking lot. “Good luck.”
“Legend?” I cried. “Legend, what’s wrong?”
We followed him out into the street. It was me who caught him, stopping his futile chase after the disappearing headlights.
“What does the note say?”
He just handed it to me.
You’re about to find out that you’re missing something. Something you can’t live without. And when you do, you’ll crawl to me sobbing and licking my fucking boots, dripping apologies.
I suggest you make them good.
It was nearly word for word what Legend said to Jeremy before he took Micah.
“Oh no.” Air punched from my lungs.
“Roan.”
Chapter Nine
Legend broke every traffic law speeding to the dean’s house.
Dean Banks lived on Bay Avenue in a home provided by the university. Roan hadn’t gotten around to inviting me inside, but I knew the English cottage-style mansion near the end was his, along with the car parked outside with the engine still running.