Dawson's Honor (Welcome to Covendale Book 6)

by Blaze, Morgan

  “All right, Mr. Stiles. I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t apologize. You did just fine.”

  The woman nodded and sent a nervous glance at Piper before she vanished among the machines.

  “I meant a little more private than this,” Piper said when she’d gone.

  “No. This is private enough.” Patrick folded his arms. “And you’d better actually be here about dry cleaning.”

  It was impossible to miss the threat in his tone, and she knew he was a dangerous man. That was about the only thing she did know about him. But she’d have to risk whatever he might do—because the more she thought about her aunt’s letter, the more convinced she was that her future held serious injury. Or worse. “I’m not,” she said. “You remember Celeste, don’t you?”

  “Of course.” His voice tightened around the words.

  “Well, she’s dead.”

  For the first time she’d ever seen, Patrick Stiles showed emotion.

  His lip twitched, and his face paled rapidly to ashen gray. His hands clenched into trembling fists at his sides—just before he let out a snarl and slammed them both on the counter. Then he hung his head, breathing in rough snatches and battling for control.

  The reaction was unexpected. And it scared the hell out of her.

  “How?” he choked out.

  She shivered at the raw fury behind that word. “There was a car accident,” she whispered. “And a fire.”

  His head came up slowly, and he fixed red-rimmed eyes on her. “Who told you?”

  “Her lawyer.”

  “Malory?”

  The lawyer’s name coming from him punched a hole in her gut. “Yes,” she managed. “Patrick, how do you—”

  “Get out of here.” His hand darted beneath the counter and came up holding something. A gun. “Right now.”

  Breathless and shaken, Piper turned and fled from the building.

  She was in her car with a few blocks between her and Lucky Six when she forced herself to slow down, regain her composure. She’d never had a gun drawn on her before. It wasn’t an experience she cared to repeat. She was also furious with herself for letting Patrick scare her away, but it wasn’t just the gun. It was the way he’d acted. That hadn’t been anger—it was shock, and it was grief.

  He’d cared for Celeste. A lot more than he’d ever let on.

  She slowed the car to a crawl and used a side street to turn around. She wouldn’t stop, but she wanted to drive past the dry cleaners. Just to see if the place seemed calm. When she glanced in the front windows, the older woman was back behind the counter and Patrick was nowhere in sight.

  At least he hadn’t shot anyone.

  The shakes set in as she continued down Main Street, and she decided to stop and grab something sugary on the way home. Then she was going to crash and worry about all this when she woke up. She’d have to approach things with a clearer head than she could manage right now.

  There was a convenience store three blocks away. She pulled in, went inside and bought a pre-wrapped cheese danish and a bottle of water. By the time she got back in her car, she was more exhausted than terrified.

  Just as she left the main part of town, she heard Patrick’s voice. “Don’t scream.”

  She came close. The man was in her back seat, staring at her through the rear view mirror. If he didn’t look so awful, she might have pulled over and tried to punch him. “Are you going to shoot me?” she said when she got her breath back.

  “No. Keep driving.”

  “Fine, but you’d better tell me what’s going on.”

  He uttered a hollow laugh. “That’s the last thing you need to know.”

  “Celeste seems to think that, too.”

  “You talked to her?” he rasped.

  “No. She left me a note. And three million dollars.” Piper glanced in the mirror. “You want to tell me how that happened?”

  “Oh, Christ.” His eyes were haunted. “You need to leave town immediately,” he said. “Go home, pack a bag, and get out. Don’t tell anyone—and don’t come back.”

  “Are you insane?” Her composure crumbled all at once. “Why would I do that? Why should I?”

  “Trust me.”

  “I don’t trust you, Patrick. Not even a little,” she seethed. “And if you’re the boy she mentioned, then she was crazy too.”

  Astonishment penetrated his face. “What boy?”

  “I don’t know! The note says I should trust the boy, because he won’t hurt me. I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

  Patrick shuddered. “Stop the car.”

  “Fine.” She slammed the brakes, squealing to a halt in the middle of the street. “Who’s the boy, Patrick? And why do I need to be careful?”

  “Piper, please…you have to leave Covendale.”

  “I won’t. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t.”

  “Then I’m not leaving.”

  He stared at her, then opened the car door. “You have to,” he said. “And if you don’t, I’ll have to make you.”

  Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’d like to see you try, you—”

  The door slammed shut. She tried to look back, to see where he was headed…but there was no sign of him.

  She stayed there for a few minutes, stopped on the street, thinking about everything and nothing. Finally she put the car into gear and headed home. She really hated Patrick right now. Celeste too, but that feeling was all tangled up in love and loss and a hundred other things she’d tried to ignore these past eight years. If she was in so much trouble, why couldn’t either of them just tell her what was happening?

  No matter what she did, the first thing she needed was sleep. But she was startled to find herself actually considering what Patrick said about leaving Covendale. After all, she didn’t really have anything to keep her here—and the last thing she wanted was to end up like Celeste, broken and on the run from something she didn’t understand.

  She would miss Jonah. But he’d be fine without her.

  * * * *

  Jonah was summoned to the usual meeting place an hour early that night. He hadn’t heard anything from Patrick since he confronted him at Cray’s, so he had to assume his role was still set. That meant he’d have to agree to Eddie’s new venture in the city.

  This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have.

  Eddie waited by his car in the packed dirt clearing at the entrance to the rail yard. The bastard looked especially smug tonight. When Jonah parked beside him and got out, Eddie grinned and watched him approach without moving. “So, what’s the word?” he said. “Ready to play in the big kids’ court?”

  Jonah glared at him. “What do you think?”

  “I think I want to hear you say it.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’m ready.”

  “My man.” Clapping his shoulder, Eddie stepped aside and opened the passenger door. “All right, let’s roll.”

  Jonah got in and stared straight ahead while Eddie slid in behind the wheel. When they hit the main road, Eddie glanced over at him and said, “You know it’s better this way, right?”

  “Right,” he answered in a withering tone.

  “I’m serious,” Eddie said. “Look, you really want to quit? Fine. Just mind all the blood on your hands when you lose my protection.”

  He snorted. “What protection?”

  Eddie let out a laugh. “You think the law leaves you alone because you’re big?” he said. “Everybody takes orders from somewhere. Including our esteemed Sheriff Tanner.”

  “Come on, Eddie. You don’t have the sheriff in your pocket.

  “Don’t I?” The man raised an eyebrow. “You’d be surprised at the reach I have.”

  Jonah flashed back to the cryptic conversation with Patrick at the meeting, his protest to Eddie’s plan. How goddamned far do you think I can reach working like this? Now it made a little more sense. But if anyone could pull st
rings with the law, it was apparently Patrick. Not Eddie.

  He really hoped that was a good thing.

  “All right. Let me put this another way, because I want you to understand,” Eddie said. “You know what a coy dog is?”

  He shrugged. “Wild animal.”

  “Yes. But they used to be domesticated.” Eddie tapped briefly on the steering wheel. “When pet dogs get abandoned or turned loose, they go wild pretty fast. They form packs and run around howling all night, eating decent people’s cats and poodles. But you know what happens when one of them gets separated from the pack?”

  “Guess you’re going to tell me.”

  “The local law comes in,” Eddie said. “And they don’t trap the stray and bring it to the pound, clean it up and farm it out to some nice, stupid family. See, coy dogs are too far gone to ever be domesticated again—so they’re shot on sight.” He paused. “Get what I’m saying?”

  Jonah didn’t bother responding.

  “You’re a coy dog, Jonah,” he said. “I take your leash off, and you’re just waiting to be put down.”

  His jaw clenched, and he turned to stare out the side window. Much as he didn’t want to admit it, Eddie might have a point. Maybe he was too far gone for normal. His life had never really been domestic—so what made him think he could just walk away from everything he knew, everything he was? It wasn’t like he’d suddenly discover his inner ordinary person. He was damaged, and it was probably permanent.

  Eventually he pulled his attention back to the moment. “So are we hitting the city?”

  “Nah, not yet. Just a local gig tonight,” Eddie said. “New client.”

  “Great.” He hoped there wouldn’t be any baseball bats involved this time. “Collection or warning?”

  Eddie grinned. “Notice.”

  Jonah stared at him. That wasn’t a term they used, so now he had no idea what to expect. He didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark.

  The car slowed, and Eddie pulled into the driveway of a modest house on a quiet back road. Neighbors were few and far between here—no one across the street, lots of trees surrounding the place, and fields interspersing what houses there were. The porch light was on, but all the windows were dark. Unusual for eight at night when most people were still up and around.

  “Just follow my lead,” Eddie said, and got out of the car.

  Reluctantly, Jonah went after him to the porch. Eddie pressed the doorbell once, waited a minute, and then pressed it again and held. The chime repeated probably a dozen times before a light came on in an upstairs window.

  “Okay, here we go,” Eddie said, letting go of the doorbell.

  Another minute and the front room lit up. Faint footsteps approached from the inside. There was a brief pause before the door opened.

  On the other side, looking startled and half-awake, stood Piper.

  Chapter 6

  Piper had to be dreaming. Jonah Dawson, who didn’t even know where she lived, was at her front door with a man who could only be Eddie Verona.

  She was one hundred percent sure she hadn’t borrowed money from any loan sharks lately.

  “Miss Starr.” The tall scarecrow of a man in front of Jonah smiled. “We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet. My name is—”

  “Let me guess. Eddie Verona.” She cut her gaze to Jonah, who stared blankly as though he’d never seen her before. Something told her it would be a very bad idea to acknowledge that she knew him—but she wanted to. In fact, she wanted to backhand that dead expression right off his face.

  “I see my reputation precedes me.” Eddie held a hand out to indicate Jonah. “My associate and I are here to discuss a certain windfall you’ve come into recently.”

  A deep chill settled into her. How could this thug possibly know about Celeste’s will at all, let alone this fast? She decided to try playing dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “And this is private property, so—”

  “I think you do. Piper.” If there’d been any friendliness in his grin, it was gone now. “I was acquainted with your aunt. By the way, I’m sorry to hear about her passing.”

  That got a reaction from Jonah. He flinched and closed his eyes, and muscles twitched along his jaw. Eddie couldn’t have seen it—but the reaction suggested the loan shark hadn’t told him what was going on here.

  She knew that feeling all too well.

  “Look,” she said. “I don’t know you, and I have no idea how you heard about my aunt when I just found out myself. But there won’t be any services, and you have no business here. So leave.”

  “Actually, I do have business with you.” Eddie’s smile had vanished completely. “She left you a lot of money, but it wasn’t all hers to give. Some of that money is mine.”

  “What?” Piper whispered.

  “Five hundred thousand of it, give or take,” he said. “So I’m here as a courtesy to inform you of impending collection activity. When you get your hot little hands on the money, you just sign over my share and everything’s settled.”

  “You’re crazy,” she said, shaking her head and backing away. “I don’t have anything to do with you.”

  Eddie let out a sigh. “Look, Miss Starr. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” He jerked a thumb in Jonah’s direction. “He’s the hard way.”

  Piper swallowed and risked a glance at the big man, but he wasn’t paying attention to her. His green eyes burned with fury, all of it fixated on the loan shark—or at least the back of his head. She tore her focus away from him before Eddie noticed. “You can’t do this,” she said. “Even if my aunt made some kind of deal with you, I wasn’t part of it.”

  “Oh, but I can. And I will.” Eddie stepped forward, alarmingly fast, and slammed a hand against the door frame. “You’ve got twenty-four hours to think about which way you want this to go,” he said. “We’ll be back tomorrow for your decision. Oh…and don’t even think about pulling a stunt like your aunt did. You’re not her, and I will find you.”

  The man’s awful grin resurfaced before he turned and walked off the porch. Jonah stayed an instant longer, meeting her eyes with no recognition in his own. Then the light of his gaze snapped off as he followed the loan shark.

  Piper shuddered, closed the door and leaned on it with her arms folded across her fluttering stomach. At least she knew why no one had explained things to her. The threat was real, it was close—and now she had no way out. She wasn’t Celeste. She had no idea how to disappear.

  She’d just have to pay the man off, and hope that really was the end of it.

  * * * *

  Jonah wasn’t sure how he managed to walk away and follow Eddie back to the car without breaking the bastard’s neck.

  He said nothing. Wouldn’t even look at his boss. He knew Eddie would have plenty to say, so he waited—and didn’t bother hiding his anger. This was just the kind of nasty surprise Eddie loved to spring.

  There’d been a hell of a lot in that little exchange. When Piper answered the door, he’d been stunned motionless. Shock was the only thing that kept him from smashing Eddie’s face. The inclination had only grown worse as he figured out that the woman whose leg he’d refused to break was Piper’s long-lost aunt, and she was dead. That must’ve been what the lawyer told her.

  When Eddie lunged at her, Jonah was inches from grabbing the son of a bitch and throwing him off the porch. If he’d laid a hand on her, he would have ended him.

  After a tense stretch of silent driving, Eddie said, “So here we are, back at the beginning. I did warn you this day would come.”

  “This is about Celeste.” He had more trouble speaking than he expected, but he had to choose his words carefully. “The girl’s right. Why go after her?”

  “Because she’s getting my money.”

  “Five hundred grand?” he said. “You don’t loan more than fifty.”

  “Interest. Plus, I made an exception for that bitch on the upper limit.” A fierce expression settled
on his face. “And look how she repaid me. Dodges me for eight goddamned years, and then dies. No way I’m going to sit back and let her pretty little niece enjoy what’s mine.”

  Jonah clenched a fist until his hand burned. “So you expect me to hurt her.”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “What if she pays up?”

  “Then you’re still going to hurt her.”

  “The hell I am.”

  Eddie slammed the brakes so hard, he was thrown against the seatbelt. “I want you to listen to me very carefully,” he said. “Are you listening, Jonah?”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Good, because I’ve waited a long time for this.” He calmed down a bit and started driving again. “You’re broken, and that suits my purposes. But you’re not broken enough—not until you get rid of this little hang-up of yours. You’ll hurt who I tell you to hurt. And yes, this is a test.”

  Jonah’s lip curled. “What do you think you’re testing?”

  “Your loyalty,” he said. “This Greenway thing is a big move, and little Miss Starr is the perfect opportunity to start things off with a bang. Show people what happens when they try to cross me. Specifically, what you’re going to do to them. Even if they happen to be female.”

  A cold weight lodged in his gut. “She didn’t cross you,” he said. “Celeste did.”

  “And Celeste is dead. So I can’t make an example of her, can I?” Eddie shook his head. “Eight years is a long damned time to wait for revenge—on Celeste, and on you for refusing orders in front of the help,” he said. “So you’re going to hurt her. Extensively. And then I’m going to finish her off.”

  Jonah closed his eyes and struggled against a scream as he realized just how far Eddie had strayed from the reservation. The man had rules when it came to his clients, and the biggest one was that as long as you paid on time, you didn’t get hurt. This went against everything he’d built the business on. And if he planned to kill Piper, the insanity was just beginning. Greenway would be a bloodbath.

  With or without Patrick’s help, he had to end this now. The first thing on his list was to get clear of the lunatic in the car with him and go back for Piper, take her somewhere safe—because no one was going to hurt her. Not while he was still drawing breath.