“Grady is none of your business. Nor is anything I do.”
“Your daughter is my business.”
“Don’t you threaten me.”
“Jesus, Maya. Relax. I’m just saying. She’s my daughter, too.”
“You stay out of my business. You have no right to contact me, and definitely no right, after all this time, to contact Mackenzie.”
“I thought we were friends. Where is this coming from?”
Tommy finishes with his puppy dog look. It’s another tool in his box — another false face meant to get him what he wants. I don’t know for sure what Tommy does for a living, but I know he makes a lot of money. Something in finance? Maybe real estate? I know he makes deals, and negotiations are his bread and butter. Perfect for a scheming bastard like he’s always been.
“So is that what this is about? Is it about Grady?”
“I’m just noticing a change in you since he came back.” Tommy fake sighs. “I just hope you’re not believing what he’s saying.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“He just needs to auction off that house. That’s all. You know that, right? Then he’s out of here. But I know how you are, Maya. I don’t want you to get hurt again, like you did the first time he left you.”
I don’t want to be affected by anything he says, but deep down, that hurt. Tommy has a way of speaking that’s hard to disbelieve, even when you know how awful he is. He hasn’t given me any new information; I knew about the auction, the way he once left me, and even a planned (now supposedly rejected) trip to Alaska that Tommy didn’t mention. But whereas thirty seconds ago I felt bulletproof in my convictions about Grady, his putting them in line like that makes them feel daunting, like a pointed weapon.
“What’s between me and Grady is none of your business.”
Tommy pretends to reach a pitying revelation. “You think he’ll stay, don’t you?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“It’s my concern when my daughter’s involved. I don’t want that man around Mackenzie, Maya.”
My face doesn’t even know how to respond to Tommy’s monumental absurdity. Since when has he cared about Mackenzie? She doesn’t even know he’s her father. Since when has he cared about anyone? I want to laugh in his face, but anger rises to trump it.
“You’re kidding.”
I’m seated at the table’s edge, and now, unbelievably, Tommy reaches over to take both my hands in his. I snatch my hands back, away from his repugnant touch.
“We could be a family, you know.”
My eyebrows furrow. I feel my forehead wrinkle, lost in vertigo and disbelief.
“I know you don’t have a lot of money. I can help you.”
I move to stand in fury, but this time he grabs my hand and manages to hold it, keeping me where I am.
“Okay,” he says, his voice finally free of bullshit, as if he’s realized I won’t be played. “I’ll tell it to you straight. There is something big brewing in town. Very big. But the people involved … ” He sighs. “They’re conservative. Morally driven people. I can make this deal, but my chances are much better if I’m a family man.”
A sinister smile (in my mind, it’s like the wiliest smile of the Grinch) crawls across my face. I finally have the power to crush Tommy’s hope.
“A family man,” I repeat. I won’t hang Tommy yet. First, I want him to lay out the rope.
“Just think about it for a second,” he says. “Forget our past and — ”
“The past where you slept with me once and then shunned me. The past where you got me pregnant then spent all the time in between now and then pretending our child didn’t exist, and offering no help at all.”
“What’s done is done. Just listen for a minute … please,” he says, his beautiful face far less appealing to me than it’s ever been before. I can see right through him. Now that his cards are faceup on the table, it’s all so obvious. He wanted to seduce me into this, leading me into his command as easily as he could have dragged Roxanne to his table by an invisible leash. But I no longer want him because he’s a bastard and I have Grady. Now, he’ll beg instead.
“‘What’s done is done,’ Tommy?”
“Yes, it’s done,” he says, his voice irritated, arrogance blooming. “Start from today. Really think about this, Maya. I can give you security. I can give our daugh — ”
“She’s not yours, Tommy. Not in any way that counts.”
“Fine. I can give your daughter security, if you’re willing to move in. Come to an event or two with me — both of you — and look the part. You don’t need to see me more than that. And what I make on this deal, we can split.”
“Ah, profit. The foundation of every successful family.” I feel my face twist into dismissiveness. I stand, satisfied for once to leave Tommy in the lurch instead of the other way around.
Tommy seems disappointed for a second, but then there’s a change. “Well, if you’re not interested in playing house with me in the name of business, maybe I should talk to Grady.”
I won’t ask. I won’t feed the fire I can see sparking behind his eyes.
“Grady has been gone for a long time, Maya. I’ve stuck around. I have friends, and friends hear things. Friends do things.” A smile perks the corner of his mouth. “I’d bet Grady doesn’t know you half as well as I do these days.” Deliberately, his eyes flit to the bathroom. “So maybe he and I should get together. Man to man. And I can fill him in on all he’s missed.”
“Grady would never talk to you.” I hold my voice steady, though I can barely breathe.
“Maybe others then. Grady’s friend Brandon and I orbit in a few of the same circles. Even your parents belong to my church.”
I can’t imagine Tommy in church, and I’ve never seen him in ours. I’m sure he couldn’t walk through the front door without bursting into flames, but guys like Tommy have their hooks in everything. If I push him, he’ll explain. And it’s not hard to get into a church, especially when you have juicy gossip about some of the most prominent members’ daughters.
I find my words with effort. “Are you threatening me?”
He glances again at the bathroom then meets my eyes. He looks at me like we’re already in bed. I want to smash his face. I want to pick up one of these chairs and beat him unconscious. I might, too. But what can I do? He’s got me, with truth as his weapon. I wasn’t giving Tommy rope to hang himself. Instead, it seems I’ve spent a decade braiding a long one for myself, stringing it from the gallows and handing the hangman’s mask to Tommy with a bow.
“I’m showing you how great my offer is,” he says.
I want to kill him. I want to scratch and claw and bite.
But Tommy looks right at me, makes infuriating seductive faces, and adds, “Look at the upside. Once we’re together, there are all kinds of ways to enjoy ourselves like we used to.”
CHAPTER 35
Grady
I don’t know who to call. It’s not like I want to call Tommy and ask why the hell he’d want to buy my uncle’s place, but the auction company won’t be helpful at all. To them, he’s a big, fat dollar sign. If they’re showing him the place sometime today, that means they’ve nabbed his attention before finishing repairs. They can stop making them. The cash purchase option is unflinchingly as-is, without warranty. There’s no financing to wait for, and the bank statement verification proves that Tommy at least has the money to spend. To the auction house, Tommy’s a dream come true. They won’t want to help me even if they can — me, who’s entering the discussion looking for reasons the deal won’t, or shouldn’t work.
Maybe Tommy is trying to buy me off. Maybe that’s all this is. Or maybe he wants to humiliate me by showing how simple it is to buy something I’m working hard to unload. If that’s all it is, I face a dilemma of integrity: Is it okay to take money from someone I hate? Is it okay to let my archnemesis get something he wants? Or should I screw myself in the name of pride, in order to screw him
, too?
The idea of attempting to thwart Tommy’s bid sounds intellectually interesting, but as a practical thing, it seems flat-out moronic. Money is money, and this gets me more than I’d been expecting. He won’t get me to leave; Maya is keeping me here now, not the auction. So why not take what he’s offering?
But the way Tommy seems to have gone about this bugs me. All the traveling I’ve done, I’m used to living by my wits. And living by your wits makes your instincts louder. I’ve learned to listen to mine, and right now, they’re screaming.
I started asking probing questions as soon as the girl on the phone revealed Tommy’s name. We both realized she probably shouldn’t have given it to me. The offer is through a company moniker; Tommy’s isn’t on it. But he left his name for the showing appointment. That means he’s trying to buy Ernie’s place on the down-low and didn’t bother to brag — not exactly ideal if he has any reason to want the house other than … well … wanting the house.
But why would he want such a piece of shit?
I decide to call the only guy I know in real estate. At first, I’d thought Brandon made the offer as a charity gesture, so he might have ideas.
But I don’t get Brandon when I call. I get his wife, Riley. I have Brandon’s number somewhere, but apparently he’s one of the ten people in the country who still has a land line, and apparently I’ve called it before. I apologize and ask Riley for his cell, but she says he dropped it on a job site the other day and is waiting for a new one. She’ll have him call me in the evening, if I want. But this feels red-hot, and I need an answer now.
Then it dawns on me. I’m being either ignorant or sexist because Riley knows real estate, too. Her father’s company, I’d swear, owns half the county.
I tell her the situation, about Tommy’s bid, made behind my back. I figure she’ll answer right away with an I don’t know. Instead, she goes quiet.
“Riley?” I ask the silence.
“I’m thinking.”
“So you do know?”
“I don’t. But … where is your uncle’s property?”
I tell her. It’s not terribly close to anything, not in the best (but not the worst) part of town, on the outskirts. The house is a shithole, and the land is only good for farming, until it’s developed. Right now, there’s nothing upscale enough to support Life of Riley Homes, or anything close.
“I remember the listing. Brandon showed it to me. Not because it was interesting — no offense — but because it was your uncle’s. He … ” She hesitates.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Riley, what?”
She sighs. “You know Brandon loves you.”
“Sure.”
“Don’t be mad. But he wondered if we’d want to hold it, just to get you … well, to get you out of a bind.”
I’m not in a bind, but I probably look like it. Brandon’s known me longer than anyone. And as much as Joe encouraged me to stay for Maya, Brandon is understandably less optimistic. He knows how that wrecked me, but doesn’t know all the good that’s happened to change my mind. Of course he’d want to help; he’d want to give me what I needed to make up for my lost time and get me moving, if that’s what I wanted.
I sigh. I’m sure she can hear the smile in my voice. I’m not stung by Brandon’s charity. I’m too happy, given the past twenty-four hours, to be stung by anything.
“But you didn’t,” I say.
“The asking price was too high to justify, given the potential return any time soon. You’ve got a lot of land there, sure, but it’s … ” She sighs.
“I’m not offended, Riley. It’s fine.”
“Dad didn’t want to try it in auction. So we just forgot about it. But … you said Thomas Finch?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s with … ?”
“Equatorial Finance. But it wasn’t in Equatorial’s name. This seems to be just Tommy, by himself, through use of a company moniker.”
She sighs again, seeming to think. She starts to say something then says, “Never mind.”
“Never mind what?”
“Just something Bridget said.”
“Brandon’s sister, Bridget? What about her?”
“She was on Brandon’s side. She wanted us to buy it.”
“You and Bridget?”
“Life of Riley.”
“Why does she care what Life of Riley builds?” Bridget isn’t in real estate. She records audiobooks and does voice acting. I have to assume she was merely rallying behind Brandon’s idea, trying to get me the money they both seem to assume I desperately need. But instinct is still prickling at me, and something about this doesn’t quite fit. Namely: I can’t figure out why Bridget, who has no background in real estate and far less attachment to me than her brother, would feel strongly enough to say something other than possibly “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
“She doesn’t. I think it was something else.”
“What?”
“She didn’t say. But I got the impression she knew something she wasn’t saying. Wouldn’t say to Brandon, either. She seemed to think that if the place went to auction, it would … ”
“Would what?”
“I don’t remember, Grady. I’m sorry. She let it go when my dad shot it down. But she kept asking if there was movement. I assumed she was looking out for you.”
I should assume that, too. But I don’t, for reasons I can’t explain.
“Maybe you should have Brandon call me,” I say.
“Sure. But if you want to know what Bridget knows, you should talk to her, not him.”
I ask Riley for Bridget’s cell, again pulling into a parking lot while tooling around to scrawl digits on a napkin. I thank her, hang up, and am about to call when the phone buzzes in my hand.
Turns out, there’s another person I can ask about all of this, and he’s calling me now.
CHAPTER 36
Maya
It’s dark when I leave work. The Nosh Pit closes early-ish on Mondays, which are slow from beginning to end. But tonight — what with Tommy’s threats, and my line-walking fight with Roxanne — I hung back. When I walk toward my car, the parking lot lights are my only friends.
Old Town Inferno Falls is a safe place, but I still have my keys sticking through my knuckles like claws just in case. I’m riled up, angry, terrified, every nerve on high alert. I feel dizzy — actually dizzy. And when I hear a voice in the gloom, I almost strike out, happy to be holding keys instead of pepper spray, because there’s no question I would have shot first and asked questions later.
“Evening,” says the voice.
I spin, my heart thrumming against my ribcage like a cartoon in love. But it’s only Grady, sitting in his truck bed, seemingly waiting for me. To take me home like a gentleman, maybe. To make sure I’m safe, or kiss me in the dark, and take away all my pain.
But instead of coming forward or rising to greet me, he continues to sit. His posture is sloppy. His voice is rough, not friendly. I can barely see his face. I step forward. When I do, I can smell the beer, and see the cans he’s consumed while waiting.
“Guess what?” he says.
“What?”
“I got a buyer for my uncle’s house.”
“Well … that’s great!”
“I turned it down.”
“It … why?”
“I didn’t like the person who wanted to buy it.”
“Who wanted to buy it?”
“Tommy.”
I pause. Too long, as if the name startles me.
“Tommy?”
I think Grady nods. I think he’s staring at me like an enemy, but I don’t know why.
“I don’t like Tommy, Maya.”
“I … I don’t either, Grady.”
“Except for when you did, of course.”
“Grady … ” I’m not sure where that sentence is going. Maybe a simple statement: Grady, you’re drunk. But he cuts me off.
“I talked Br
andon into buying it.”
I’m still standing in the middle of the parking lot’s lighted circle while I talk to Grady in the shadows. I’m in my uniform, smelling like diner food, my purse over one shoulder. Everything about this is strange. I want it to be over, and for whatever’s wrong here to be put right.
“Oh. That’s nice.”
“I had to beg. He fronted the money himself, not even through his company. I told him I’d pay him back.”
“Why didn’t you just keep it?”
“I don’t have enough to pay Ernie’s debts.” A beer comes up. He takes a swig. “And I don’t want to be tied down. I don’t need something keeping me here, in case I want to leave.”
“What are you — ?”
“Do you want to know the worst part? I don’t even know why I did it. I think Brandon’s sister, Bridget, knows a reason Tommy shouldn’t have that property, but I couldn’t reach her. I’m mostly following my gut. I guess I’ll find out what’s going on when Bridget gets back to me.”
“You … you committed to buy a house you already owned on a hunch? Why didn’t you at least wait to — ?”
He cuts me off again. “And Tommy was no help at all.”
“You talked to Tommy?” My stomach sinks. I told Tommy no. Never. Fuck off. Go away. Jump off a cliff and die in a fire. I left no question. My and Mackenzie’s future will never be with Tommy, no matter what. My future is with Grady, for better or for worse.
“I talked to Tommy.”
“And what did he say? About the — ?”
“He said that you fucked some guy in the diner bathroom the day I came to town.”
His words hit me like punch in the chest. I can barely stand.
“Is it true, Maya? Just tell me. Whatever you say, I’ll believe you.”
I manage to take a step closer. From here, I can see Grady’s eyes. I was wrong about them. There’s anger there, yes. But mostly I see the same pain I’ve seen so many times before.
“Grady, there are things about me that I’m not — ”
The Second Chance (Inferno Falls Book Three) Page 21