“Hello?” I said. Another smash echoed behind me. Jay and Alfonso were wrestling, hurtling away from a broken wine cart. Liquor pooled on the floor, surrounded by broken glass.
“Are you there?” the woman said. “Tell me where you are. What’s happening? Is anyone hurt?”
I backed up. “I don’t know where we are. Somewhere outside Vegas. A mansion, Spanish-style, with a gate. Probably belongs to Simon Ting.”
“Stay on the line, we’ll find you.”
“You need to get Hopkins.”
There was a loud grunt, and I turned, keeping the phone clutched to my ear.
“I’ve alerted Hopkins and I’ve dispatched a unit. They’ll be there as soon as possible,” the woman said, “but don’t hang up.”
That unit better not include Officer Ting or I would scream.
Alfonso crashed to the floor. Jay loomed over him, one hand still clenched on Alfonso’s shirt, his fist raised. Alfonso moaned but didn’t move.
“Can you tell me what’s happening?” the woman asked.
Jay let Alfonso go and looked at me. I got shakily to my feet.
“Put the phone down.”
We both turned to the voice.
Ting was here. He had his uniform on and his gun out, the barrel pointed at me. The phone slipped from my fingers.
Ting smiled. Slowly, he swung the barrel away from me, toward Jay.
A shot rang out.
Chapter 52
Jay
Simon wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me. I could see it in his face. He wouldn’t wait for an explanation. I’d betrayed him. He pulled the trigger, the shot whizzing over my head as I dove.
The crack of another shot. Pain surged from the back of my thigh. Grunting, I fell.
“Jay?” Maggie choked out, rushing toward me.
Simon walked toward me, his feet crunching over broken glass. He was taking his time now that he knew I wasn’t going anywhere. Maggie bent over me, as if to shield me from Simon. Her hands cupped my face. Simon kicked her aside. I looked up as his foot connected with my stomach.
I fell back, groaning. I pressed one hand to the back of my leg where blood was soaking my jeans.
He knelt beside me, one knee pinning down my arm, the gun against my chest.
“Such a disappointment.” He squeezed the back of my thigh. I hissed. “After everything I’ve done for you. Maybe I’ll get Andrew Arthur to take your place. He knows how to get a job done. He doesn’t let feelings get in the way.”
“Stop,” Maggie pleaded. “You’re here for me. There’s no point hurting Jay.”
He looked over at her. “There’s always a point. You took his loyalty from me, just like that. You have more power than you realize. Or maybe you knew it. Maybe you were counting on it. Charm my boy into coming to your rescue?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, no?”
With my free hand, I struggled to sit up but Simon pressed his gun against my temple. He didn’t take his eyes off Maggie.
“Timing is everything, isn’t it? Fred Madsen borrows fifty grand, then disappears. You pay back Nico’s loan, in full, within the same week. Hell of a coincidence.”
Alfonso was coming to. I couldn’t get up. The pain in my thigh was intense, the cut in my side still bleeding. I pushed my palm over the wound. I had to block it out. Everything. It was the only way to save Maggie.
“I did some digging and found out about your brother, Frasier,” Simon continued. “I put two and two together. So now you’re going to tell me. Where is he?”
“You don’t need to do this,” I said, my voice a croak. “She doesn’t know anything.”
He let out a chuckle, as if this was a game. “He’s her brother. Of course she knows. And I think you should be the one to make her talk. Consider it penance for past sins.”
“No.”
Maggie gasped.
Simon pressed the gun harder into my temple. “Excuse me?”
I wouldn’t do this, not anymore. I’d been done with it for so long but kept on anyway, because I didn’t care what people thought, didn’t care who I’d been hurting. Maggie had made me care. Not just because I hadn’t wanted to hurt a woman, not just because she was Maggie and I wanted to be better for her, but because she was a person, just like anyone else.
I’d always justified myself by saying I only did bad things to bad people, but at the end of the day, all I really did was make things worse. People who only wanted a way out fell deeper and deeper into the hole because of guys like Simon. Guys like me. People turning their lives around was bad for business.
I was done. Nothing Simon said or did would make me lay a finger on Maggie. On anyone. Never again.
Simon’s face loomed into mine. “You think your little crush will save her? You think it’s so easy?”
Nothing was easy. Simon had saved me from the streets, given me purpose, and I’d taken that to mean he loved me like family. Maybe he did, in his own twisted way. But I wouldn’t work another day for him.
“You are in my debt, Jason. You think you can move on with your life but this is your life. Son, it’s high time you understood how the world really works, and why loyalty is more important than anything else.”
I looked him in the eyes. “I know.”
“Jay,” Maggie said.
Simon frowned, as if he didn’t understand me. Since that day in the warehouse when he’d told me I was smart, I’d believed him. But he’d never seen someone smart. He’d only seen someone he could use.
Not anymore.
I grabbed Simon’s hand over the gun, pushing it away. He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the floor. I followed through and elbowed Simon in the face. Rolled over him and smashed his head into the floor. His eyes didn’t open.
Maggie screamed. I looked up.
Alfonso had grabbed her. She was struggling to get free.
I lurched to my feet.
Maggie’s knee came up, right into his groin. He hunched and grabbed himself. She balled her hand into a fist and punched him in the face.
“For the love!” Maggie cursed, shaking her hand like she’d hit a rock.
Her punch wasn’t enough to stop Alfonso. I went for him. He was angry, sloppy. I sidestepped him, grabbing his arm as he passed and hurled him into a wall head first. He went down. Hopefully for good this time.
Panting, I looked at Maggie.
Her mouth hung open. She was cradling her hand. She stumbled toward me then stopped. Close, but not close enough.
“Are you okay?”
She made a noise somewhere between a snort and a sob. “Are you?”
My side burned, my leg throbbed with pain. It was a miracle I was still standing. “I’ll live.” I reached for the gun, hissing at the pain shooting down my thigh.
Maggie was there, her hand on my back and her face full of concern. The desire to pull her into my arms and kiss her was intense. Stronger than the pain.
“Hopefully Hopkins will be here soon.” I put the safety on then pocketed the gun. “But we should tie them up, just in case. There’s zip ties in the pantry.”
“Why are there zip ties in the…never mind.” She shook her head as she walked to the kitchen. I grabbed the towel I’d used on my side earlier and pressed it against my leg.
Maggie came back with the zip ties. She stood over Simon and grimaced like she didn’t want to touch him. I started to hop toward them, but Maggie bent down and pulled Simon’s wrists together. “He won’t wake up, will he?”
“Not yet. Put his arms behind his back. Tougher to get free that way.”
Maggie made a face at me and then rolled Simon over. “He better not wake up,” she muttered.
I couldn’t stop from smiling as Maggie used the zip tie, pulling it tight until Simon’s skin bulged around it.
She did Alfonso next, then stood with a shudder. “Well, that was a first.” Her eyes met mine. “And hopefully a last.”
My hear
t stopped. That sounded final. “How’s your hand?”
“Hurts like all-get-out, but I’ll live.”
I motioned my head, telling her to come closer. She didn’t hesitate.
Letting go of the towel, I took her hand gently in mine. My thumb brushed over her knuckles. Her hand was bruised, but nothing was broken.
“Who exactly is Hopkins?” she asked, shaking a little under my touch. “He’s not dirty too, is he?”
“No.” My eyes moved to her lips.
Maggie swallowed. “He’s sure taking his sweet time.” She looked down. “Your leg.”
Blood was still soaking through my jeans.
She knelt, perching on the balls of her feet. She dabbed the towel against the wound. “This isn’t working. You need to go to the hospital.” She steadied herself with one hand on my other leg. I inhaled, and not from the pain.
I grabbed the hem of my shirt and started to pull it off.
She looked up at me. “What are you doing?”
I smirked. “It’s either yours or mine.”
She held her hand out and I gave it to her. She wrapped the shirt around my thigh, tying it off tight.
When she stood, her dark eyes moved up my body, lingering over my chest, then my lips, finally holding my gaze.
I knew that look. I hoped to hell I was right about that look. With Maggie, I could never be sure, but I risked it. I moved into her, rested my hands on her hips.
Her lips trembled. The look was gone, but she wasn’t angry. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” I whispered.
Her eyes darted to the blood on my shirt, to Simon, to Alfonso. “You’re hurt, and it’s all my fault.”
“Maggie, look at me.”
She lowered her head but she grabbed my arms, holding on.
My fingers dug into her hips. “Look at me.”
She did.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I said.
I didn’t believe it, and she didn’t either. Nothing could be that simple. Would her testimony be enough to put Simon away? Could he wriggle out of it, based on his reputation, the cops he had in his pocket? And what about me? I wasn’t innocent in all this, Simon would make sure everyone knew. If he wasn’t put away for something, he’d be gunning for both me and Maggie.
I cupped her face. “I will make it okay,” I said, my eyes boring into hers. “I promise you.”
Chapter 53
MAGGIE
Jay held my face in his hands. I’d always seen him as dangerous, seen those hands as weapons. And they were—but he’d used them to save me. The world wasn’t as black and white as I’d imagined it. I didn’t want to fight it anymore.
“I will make it okay,” he said. “I promise you.”
He couldn’t make that promise, no one could, but I loved him for it anyway.
I loved him.
Or I was starting to. There was so much I didn’t know about him, about his childhood, his family, what had led him to Simon, what he liked to do when he wasn’t fighting or teaching. But I wanted to know those things, all of them. The simple things, the normal things, the extraordinary things. I wanted badly to know everything about him.
I stared at Jay Thornton. His eyes were lighter up close, but no less intense.
He let go of my face. I grabbed his hand, entwining mine with his, like they were meant to be that way, only I hadn’t seen it. I lifted his hand to my lips, pressed my mouth against his cracked knuckles.
His lips parted and so did mine. This time, when our mouths met, it wasn’t unwelcome. It was real.
His lips were as soft and sure as I remembered. He tasted of blood and I probably tasted of tears, but that didn’t stop us from coming together. It didn’t break us apart. I felt sure nothing would.
The door slammed open and we wrenched apart.
“Police!” someone shouted. “Put your hands where we can see them.”
Jay and I looked at each other.
“Now they come,” he said.
It was Lieutenant Hopkins. He’d known Officer Ting was dirty and Jay had been working with him to find enough evidence to put him away. My statement was a good start, enough to get him arrested. Alfonso too, when he came around. Alfonso pitched a fit, ratting out Jay, telling the police he was involved, that he worked for Ting. Hopkins had to take him in too after we both got fixed up at the hospital.
Ting said nothing. I’d watched enough Law & Order to know he’d lawyer up and be out of jail in no time. And then I’d be back to where I started.
Except it didn’t happen that way. Officer Ting was dirty, they all knew it now. The kidnapping and illegal money-lending was just the beginning. The police had recorded my call, and even though I’d dropped the phone when Simon appeared, the dispatcher had still been on the line, and recorded everything.
To lighten his own sentence, Alfonso told the cops he’d witnessed Alonso’s murder, and where the body was buried, out in the Nevada desert. Jay told me Hopkins and the other police would be uncovering Ting’s shady dealings for months, but the murder charge alone would hold him.
Jay was charged with illegal money-lending and grievous bodily harm and went to jail. It took a week but Hopkins finally came through and got the charges on Jay dropped.
I waited outside the station with my hands in my pockets. The weather had turned warm lately, too warm for March, but a light breeze blew the ends of my hair into my face.
The door swung open and there he was. He still walked with a slight limp. His face was still peppered with bruises. I had bruises too, but I’d been marked in other ways.
Jay paused when he saw me. I hadn’t visited him in jail. I needed time to work through what happened. To sort out my feelings and make sure they were real. But I’d left him a note telling him I’d be there when he got out.
We closed the distance between each other, stopping at arm’s length.
“Hi,” I said. I wanted to grab onto him and not let go. I wanted him to hold me. He’d always been so confident around me, as if he knew just what to do to get under my skin. Right then, he didn’t seem so sure.
“You came.”
“I said I would.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you packed it all in and went back home.”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. An apology that was long overdue.
Jay stepped closer. So close. His mouth gave the barest of smiles. “For what?”
“For being such a jerk. I never gave you a chance. I didn’t even try to get to know who you really are.”
He grabbed my hips and pulled me in until my body was pressed against his. Heat enveloped us, from inside and out. I braced my hands on his arms.
“I’m the one who’s sorry. For Simon, for letting it all get that far.” He bowed his head. “For taking so long to take a stand.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“But it was. I should’ve seen what Simon had become. I should’ve stopped him the moment he got you involved. But I didn’t.”
“Life’s never that simple,” I said. “We just like to believe it is. You taught me that.”
“So, where does that leave us?” Jay asked.
“I don’t know. But I know where I’d like it to go.”
“Where’s that?”
“Where we should have started in the first place. Getting to know each other.”
“You’re giving me a chance?”
I slid my hands up his arms. Relished in the feeling of him. “As long as you’re giving me one, too.”
His fingers curled around the waist of my jeans. “You’re not a chance, Maggie. You’re a sure thing. The only sure thing in Vegas.”
My lips, my heart, everything I was opened to him.
Chapter 54
MAGGIE
I loved Lacey and Galen and my job at Maquitte. I loved Jay Thornton. I went to Eastside Boxing every night after work, or before, depending on my shift.
I could have practiced elsewhere, Robbie had off
ered use of the studio at Fluidity after hours, but I wanted to see Jay, to discover all the stuff I wanted to know about him. Sometimes Jay was a distraction, watching me while I danced, his eyes so intense I went crazy and had to take a break.
He told me about his foster family, his time as a runaway, about Simon. And I told him about Hillstone and Fraze and my parents. We talked about silly things too, inconsequential things, but they meant everything.
Despite the distractions, my audition piece got better and better. I had a new perspective to bring to my “Song of the Caged Bird.” I’d been a caged bird, one of my own making, and then one of Ting’s, but now I was free.
April arrived and I nailed the audition. I couldn’t believe it, but I was in, the newest member of Essence Dance Theater. What had seemed impossible so recently was now a reality.
My dream had come true, and so had Jay’s.
Jay had enough money saved to put a down payment on Eastside Boxing. McCrary was willing to do the deal without getting a bank involved. He knew Jay’s word was good. But Jay needed a partner, someone to run the business side so he could teach. I suggested Nico. He knew about managing a business. He also had a little put aside. They became partners, and, as unlikely as it was for me to be dating Jay, Nico and Jay became friends.
I walked down the street toward Essence, Jay’s hand in mine. It was June, the weather was already unbearably hot. My first performance was coming up, and my parents were coming to see it. Even though I was only in the corps, I was still nervous.
Jay tugged my hand, pulling me against the brick of a building next to Essence. He braced his hands on either side of me. I ran my fingers down his chest, along those muscles that used to be so intimidating, so wrong to me. Now everything about Jay felt right.
“Kill it in there,” he said, trailing kisses down my neck.
“I always do.” I tugged on his shirt, pulling him close, but never close enough. I always wanted more. The brick was scorching against my back, but the heat from Jay was even more intense.
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