by Jen Davis
“Will said you’d been sick.”
“I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma almost two years ago,” she said tightly.
“Cancer.”
“Yes. But they caught it early. My dad had it, so when I noticed I had an enlarged lymph node, I went to the doctor right away.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “I did chemo and I’m in remission now. The doctors say I’m okay. I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want to change the way you look at me.” Her lip quivered. “I love the way you look at me.”
He swept her back into his arms. “Nothing is going to change the way I look at you. Hell, I’ve got nothing but respect for you fighting death and winning.” He rubbed her back. “You’ve got another fight on your hands with Tre. But you won’t have to fight it alone. We’re going to take it on together.”
She nodded against him.
“Do you have someone you can stay with tonight? Your sister, maybe?”
“Sure, but why can’t I go home?” Her fingers slid from his shoulders, down his arms, to grasp his hands.
“We don’t know if Tre ID’d your car. He could’ve found your address on your registration. Which brings me to my next question. Do you have someone who can pick up your car for you? It needs to be a man, and one who can handle himself if he needs to.”
Liv nodded. “Yeah. Take me to my sister’s gym. I know exactly who to ask.”
***
Olivia’s self-defense instructor said he would be more than happy to go pick up her car after she explained the risk to her safety. She didn’t go into the details, but the guy didn’t push. So, he was all-fucking-right in Brick’s book. When someone was willing to help him with no questions asked—no—he didn’t know anyone willing to do such a thing.
They found Liv’s sister at the gym too. Even without formal introductions, he couldn’t miss the family resemblance. He stayed quiet as Olivia asked if she could sleep over and then promised to come right back after she walked him to his truck.
“What comes next? How will I know when it’s safe to go home?” She shivered against the unseasonably cool night.
He grabbed his black hoodie from inside the cab and held it out to her. Would she—?
Liv accepted his offer without hesitation. Five seconds later, a sea of black cotton swallowed her tiny frame. For some reason he couldn’t explain, the sight of it made him want to beat at his chest.
“Your, um, instructor is going to bring the car back here. If there’s no sign anyone broke in, it means he doesn’t know where you live, and you can go home tomorrow.”
She burrowed deeper into the fabric. “What if someone did break in?”
He grimaced. “Then they’ll have your address from your registration. You won’t be safe there anymore.” He kept going when she opened her mouth to argue. “Tre knows where you work. He might still come searching for you. I need you to promise you won’t be walking to your car alone in the afternoons. Do you have someone who could walk with you?”
She sighed. “We have a resource officer. Technically, he’s a cop, but he’s more like our security guard. He would walk me out if I asked.”
“You have to be careful about being followed too. I’ll be at the construction site in the afternoons. I won’t be able to keep Tre occupied.”
“I’ll be careful.” She nodded reluctantly. “I’m going to tell Will about what happened. See if he has any suggestions.”
More than anything he wanted to stay with her, protect her with the strength of his body, but he could do more good by working on the other side of this. He needed to get to Tre.
“I’ve got to go.” He ghosted his fingers down her cheek. “We’re going to get through this.” He climbed in his truck and rolled down the window. “I’m going to keep you safe. No matter what it takes.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Brick
Brick’s head buzzed as he turned the key in the ignition. His tattered conscience branded him a liar and screamed that the only way to really keep Liv safe was to shove her in the truck and drive to a different time zone. But even if he didn’t have his grandma to consider, no way she’d leave her brother or sister behind. He needed to do some serious recon. As far as he knew, nothing linked Olivia to him, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get Tre talking, if only to see how much damage had been done. He gunned the accelerator and made it to El Cabron in ten minutes flat.
“Brick.” Sucre greeted him with a raised snifter of Hennessy. A topless Asian girl sat on his lap. She looked about sixteen. “What a treat to see you this early. It’s barely nine o’clock.”
“Thought I’d get a jump on my rounds for tonight. The kid coming with me or are we working separately?”
Sucre pinched the girl’s nipple, then soothed over it with the side of his thumb. “Tell me. What do you think I should do with young Tre?”
Kill him.
“It’s not my job to think. It’s my job to do what you tell me.”
Over the course of the past decade, he’d seen too many people tell Sucre what he should do. It was a trick question. His boss laughed darkly when he refused to step into the trap.
“There’s a reason you’re my best, Brick. You’re smart enough not to try to be smart.” This time, he pinched the girl so hard she cried out.
Poor thing. She gave Sucre exactly what he wanted. He kept twisting the tender flesh as he regarded Brick. “I’m not sure whether I bet on the right horse this time. Maybe the younger Lowry boy would be a little less…”
Crazy?
“Independently motivated.”
There were so many things he wanted to say, but the same words that might influence Sucre to focus on Tre one day might make him more determined to target his brother on the next. Even worse, it might be a tip off he cared one way or the other. Ignoring the Tre situation entirely, he asked, “What do we have on tap for tonight?”
“Two stops. Carolinda asked to meet. I think she’s looking for a short-term loan.” Sucre’s hand snaked up the teenager’s skirt. “Spread your legs, baby. Let Daddy play.” The girl did as he told her.
Brick kept his attention on Sucre, unwilling to play the game.
“Find out what she needs the money for. Fifty percent interest. Due in two weeks.” The boss looked at him expectantly. “You know the other one.”
Oh yeah. “Lorenzo is due today.” It was not likely to go well.
Sucre’s arm jerked as he moved his hand roughly under the girl’s skirt. Tears rolled down her face, and he licked up the side of her cheek. Laughing, he pushed her to the floor and pulled his phone from the inside pocket of his suit. Wisely, she stayed where she landed. Sucre fired off a text, then tucked the device back where it came from. “Tre will be here in five minutes. He is to observe you only. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Tre made it in four. Sweat dotted his forehead as the kid practically ran to the bar where he waited. “Boss says I’m going out with you?”
How quickly a predator could turn into prey.
“You’re observing.” They walked out the door together and climbed in his truck. He’d left the windows open to make sure Tre could pick up no trace of Olivia’s vanilla scent. Glancing at his sidekick for the night, he cranked the engine. “I know you enjoy this shit, but what you’ve got to understand is it doesn’t matter if you love it or you hate it. You do the job the exact same way no matter what. You want to instill fear? Make people piss themselves? You do it by creating an expectation of the same outcome every time.”
The punk bristled. “You saying those guys weren’t afraid of me when we went out before?”
He kept his focus on the dark road. “You don’t want to make them too scared to work with you. This is a business, Tre. The same way they know you’re going to break a bone if they don’t pay, they’ve gotta know you’ll leave them alone if they do. Or maybe they can live with the idea they’ll get roughed up if they’re a little late, but not somebody raping their sister
. And Tre, you can’t change the rules of the game. You can’t take the money someone owes out of their ass. You feel me?”
Tre said nothing as they turned into the trailer park Carolinda called home. Brick sighed as the truck came to a stop. He knew none of this was sinking in. Still, he had to try. “C’mon. This is an easy one.”
He led the way toward the second single-wide on the left. “Carolinda Ortega is a single mom with one kid who has problems finding someone to watch her baby while she’s at work.”
“So?” Tre sulked.
“So, it’s our job to know everything we can about the people who want to borrow money. This girl’s not an addict. She’s not a whore. She cleans toilets to pay for diapers. Her terms are a little different. Right now, we’re a last resort, but if this goes well, she might not wait so long to turn to us for help.”
He rapped twice on the trailer, and the door swung open to reveal the girl in question. Carolinda was eighteen or nineteen years old, with tired eyes and a toddler on her hip. She acknowledged him with a nod but stepped back in alarm when she spotted Tre.
“I don’t want any trouble,” she murmured as she edged further into her home.
Brick spoke softly. “We’re not here for any trouble.”
The girl kept staring at Tre, like a scared rabbit. This was exactly what he’d been trying to explain on the way here. Tre’s reputation affected potential clients. If Pam told even one person what Tre had done to her, every woman in the neighborhood would soon be running the other way.
“Hey. Eyes on me. Your business is with me.”
She swallowed and did as he commanded. “I need to borrow two thousand dollars. Only for a few days. My boss doesn’t pay me until Tuesday, but if I don’t give my landlord the rent by tomorrow, he says he’s going to throw me out. I can’t have Esperanza on the street and I don’t feel safe at the shelter.”
“We can loan you the money, but you need to understand the terms. Are you listening?”
She nodded.
“You have two weeks to pay it back, but it’s not cheap. Interest is fifty percent. So, if you borrow two thousand, you pay back three.”
She gasped, and the baby squirmed in her arms.
“If you don’t have the money when it’s due, I’m going to come searching for you. I will find you. I find everyone.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll have to remind you about the commitment you made. It will be…uncomfortable. If you don’t have it two days after that, I’ll have to break something. And if I have to come back a third time…I hope you’ve made arrangements for your little girl.”
Tears poured down her face as she put her child in the playpen next to the worn loveseat. “Are there any other, um, ways to pay?” Her voice shook, and Tre laughed softly from behind him.
“Sometimes Sucre allows some alternate arrangements.” He thought back to the girl at the bar. Someone had probably paid his debt using his daughter. “I wouldn’t recommend it, but if you want me to take the offer to him, I will.”
“I’m not sure I have any other choice.” She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “I won’t have three thousand dollars in two weeks.”
The poor girl had no idea what she was in for, but it was her choice to make. He texted Sucre, and the response came instantly. “He said yes. He gets you for twenty-four hours and it will cancel out the interest. You’ll need to find a place for Esperanza, and there’s no changing your mind. Do you understand?”
She lifted her chin. “I understand.”
He counted out a hundred twenty-dollar bills and placed them in her hand. “Your service begins the day the money is due. Five p.m. at El Cabron. Please don’t be late.”
Tre waited until she closed the door behind him before he spoke. “Why did you try to talk her out of it?”
He climbed into the driver’s seat. “I didn’t. I wanted to make sure she understood what she was agreeing to. For the record, though, it’s better business for them to take the high interest. Sucre can fuck anybody he wants.”
Tre flinched.
“The high interest option gives him money in the bank. Cash is more valuable than pussy any day of the week.”
True, but not the real reason he warned women against paying with their bodies. Some things you simply couldn’t come back from the same way you went in. A night as Sucre’s plaything neared the top of the list.
Tre ran his tongue over the back of his teeth and made a sucking sound. “I don’t know. I ran into a prime piece of ass tonight, man. Might be worth losing some cash to rip into her pretty pussy.”
His fingers dug hard into the steering wheel. Tre was talking about Olivia. He should just kill the worthless fuck right now and get it over with.
Unaware he was taking his life in his hands, Tre kept talking. “She was one of those pristine little blonde numbers. Thinks she’s gonna save the world. I’m gonna tear into her until she can’t walk. Afterward, I might tie her up and keep her under my bed for a while—pull her out whenever I want to stick it in another hole.”
A red haze coated his vision. Tre had no idea how lucky he was they were already at Lorenzo’s place.
Ignoring his preening protégé, he stomped toward the apartment door and kicked it open. Lorenzo would get something broken tonight.
The strung-out twenty-something white dude jumped to his feet and backed toward the wall. “Brick! I only need a little more time.”
“You’re out of time,” he growled. “Give me the money, Lorenzo.”
“I don’t have it.”
He advanced toward him. “Wrong answer.”
Lorenzo reached into his waistband and pulled out a revolver his ratty t-shirt had hidden. His mouth opened, likely for some kind of pithy response, but Brick moved fast, knocking the gun out of his hand, onto the floor. He slammed his fist into Lorenzo’s stomach, and the guy doubled over before dropping to the floor.
They always pretended to pass out.
Dumb fuck. A gut punch wouldn’t knock anyone out.
“Get up.”
Lorenzo didn’t move.
“Get. Up.” He spoke through clenched teeth. He would be well within his rights to kill the guy after he pulled a gun, but he didn’t want to send Tre the wrong message.
When Lorenzo refused to budge, he lifted him off the floor by his neck. Lorenzo’s eyes flew open, and they immediately bulged in their sockets.
“Oh. So, you’re awake now?” Keeping his grip on Lorenzo’s neck, he used his other hand to snap the man’s wrist. “This is what happens when you don’t pay.”
A smarter man would’ve been grateful to escape with his life. Lorenzo wasn’t smart. Digging a switchblade from his pocket, he swung the weapon at Brick’s torso.
He let go of Lorenzo’s neck and used both hands to hyperextend his elbow. The man made an inhuman noise when the loud pop signaled it had left its socket. “This is what happens when you try to fight back.” Lorenzo slid to the floor, cradling his arm against his chest. “You have two more days to pay what you owe. You know what happens on the third.”
Much as he tried, he couldn’t ignore the tent in Tre’s pants when he turned toward the door. God, he hated this life.
“That was the fucking shit, Brick.” Tre adjusted himself as he took his place in the passenger seat. “That is what I want to do. I want to be like you, man.”
“Then stop being such a creepy fuck. This job’s not about keeping some girl under your bed to rape when you feel like it.” He struggled to rein himself in. He couldn’t let Tre see it was personal. “It’s about collecting Sucre’s money. You want a future as something other than his fuck-toy, you will get your head on straight.” He fired up the engine and flicked his gaze toward Tre. The kid had murder in his eyes. “You got something to say to me, son? You dumb shit, I’m trying to help you survive this.”
Whatever he was going to say, Tre thought better of it and deliberately turned his head to gaze out the window, which suited him fine. At least he’d k
ept the twisted fucker away from Olivia tonight. He’d figure out the rest later.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Liv
Liv stared out the window of Izzy’s apartment, painfully aware she’d made a colossal mistake the night before. Eduardo said her car had been intact, so she planned to go back to her own place tonight.
Izzy handed her a cup of coffee and joined her on the sofa. “How long until he gets here?”
“He said he’d be here for lunch around twelve-thirty.” She sipped at the dark roast, the flavor washing over her tongue. “I know he loves me, but the last thing I want to do is explain myself to Will right now.”
“I support you, Liv, but I won’t lie for you. If this Brick guy—”
“Jonathan.” More and more often, in the moments when she allowed herself to think of him, he stopped being Brick. He was more than the scary hunk of muscle other people could see. Calling him Jonathan—knowing she was the only one—made it feel as though a secret part of him was hers.
“If this Jonathan is who you have your heart set on, you can’t hide this from our brother. We’re family. We’ve got to have each other’s backs.”
Iz was right, as usual.
“You’ve got to tell him about what happened last night, Nugget. While you’re at it, you need to fill in some blanks for me, too. You barely told me anything, only something about your car getting stuck in a bad part of town and you needing to crash here. I didn’t push then, but I’m pushing now.”
She sighed. “I fucked up, but it had nothing to do with Jonathan. He actually saved me from my own stupidity.” She sipped her coffee, then set the mug on the table. “Remember I told you about my student, Devon, last year?”
Iz nodded.
“I went to his apartment last night.”
“Didn’t you tell me he lives in the Bluff—That’s why your car was there?”
“Yeah. Turns out his brother is a total psycho, and now I’m on his radar. How fucking naïve, right? If Jonathan hadn’t seen me walking out—if he didn’t know the kind of guy I was dealing with—I probably wouldn’t have made it home.”
