“Fuck off, Jaxson, okay? Just fuck off.”
He straddles his bike and grins at me wickedly. “Tell Kady I’ll talk to her later.” He kicks the bike into life and rolls off, spitting smoke on his way. I watch him and want to scream but settle for walking over to the truck and kicking the tire hard enough to make my foot hurt.
“Fucking fuck,” I say, pacing back and forth. Jaxson, that crazy bastard. He’s really not going to leave Kady alone, which means everything I’ve done so far, going to Nolan, getting dragged back into his world, kissing him—
Kissing him down by the tree—
It’s all for nothing if that biker psycho won’t leave my sister alone.
The pathetic truth is like a cancer in my eyes.
I take out the phone and call the only number programmed into it.
Nolan answers on the third ring. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you.”
“Forget what I said this morning. I’m in, okay? I want the money, the health insurance, and whoever killed my mother to burn. And I want you to keep Kady safe. Can you do all that?”
I can almost taste his kiss and see his smile again.
“I can do all that and more, baby girl. I can do all that and so much more.”
Chapter 8
Nolan
Cora doesn’t talk to me on the drive into Atlanta.
Not that I can blame her. She’s pissed that everything’s a lot more complicated than she thought it would be and she’s worried about her little sister. I can’t do much about the first thing, but I can make sure Kady’s taken care of and protected, which is why I assigned two of my low-level soldiers to keep an eye on her from afar. I doubt the ORB cares about her enough to make a move just yet, but I’m not taking any more chances.
“Let me ask you something,” I say as we cruise into the city. I angle my Range Rover toward Inman Park, a quiet and upscale neighborhood. “You knew I was willing to pay you a lot of money to work with me. Why’d you think I was willing to shell out that much for you?”
She doesn’t turn in my direction, only stares out the window. “I don’t feel like talking about this.”
I shouldn’t push but I can’t help myself. “It’s because I wanted to make sure you were fairly compensated if I was going to drag you into trouble.”
“Like I was fairly compensated last time?”
“Last time wasn’t my call. And don’t forget, you had a pretty good deal that only looks like shit in retrospect.”
“We don’t have to keep going over this.”
I shrug slightly and roll down a narrow road. On the left is a hill with single-family homes at the top, while the right is lined by offices and apartment complexes. I slow and find a parking spot near a strip of shops and cafes. When I kill the engine, I turn to face Cora, but she’s still staring out the window like she’s willfully not looking in my direction, like if she lets herself turn and really see me, she might feel something for once.
“I need you to be careful for the next half hour. Can you do that for me?”
She leans her head against the glass. “Dragging me into danger again? I’m not surprised.”
“No, not exactly, but we still need to be careful about what we say next.”
“You told me your boss wasn’t the one that set me up.”
“I don’t think he was. Ben had too much to lose and he suffered when your shipment got caught. It doesn’t make any sense for him to have been the one to rat you out, not when it would’ve been like shooting himself in the foot. Ben’s too smart for that and he didn’t have anything to gain by throwing you under the bus.”
“Then why do I need to worry?”
“Because you talked to the cops. Even though I vouched for you and made sure the Famiglia didn’t retaliate, even though I kept my mouth shut and did the time and nobody else went down, what you did was still an enormous insult. Ben won’t like seeing a snitch.”
“Ben can fuck himself. I didn’t think he was your boss anymore.”
“He’s my connection back to the main Famiglia up north. I don’t take orders from him directly, but he’s got a lot of control over how things get presented to leadership, and those bastards are my bosses.”
“Why come here at all then?”
“Ben knows things. He can help. And if I want certain resources, I need to use him as an intermediary.”
“What resources?”
“Guns. Money. Drugs. You really want the details?” I push the door open. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Cora follows me onto the sidewalk. It’s hot, brutally hot, almost oppressive. I head over to a quiet coffee spot at the end of the small row of bars and restaurants and step into the amazing air conditioning. I let the coolness blast over my skin for a moment as I scan the mostly empty room and breathe in the smell of lattes and dark roasted beans and freshly baked bread until I spot Ben sitting in the corner with his back to the wall.