“Close the door and take a seat,” Brigitte said when she got to the table and put down what she was carrying.
Matt did the first thing she asked then took his time, so he could watch her sit down. The hem of her skirt did slide higher on her legs and he let out a slow breath as he sneaked glances at silky thighs. He’d lived on memories for the last four years and it was an unexpected pleasure to be getting a glimpse of such pretty legs. The sight of her shuffling around as she pulled the hem lower made him wonder if she was aware of his interest or simply conscious of revealing too much of her legs, but she said nothing as he moved to the table to join her.
The nervous smile returned to her face when she looked at him and he was struck again by how pretty she was. He could sense her slight trepidation, but that made her all the more endearing and he forced himself to stop staring when she lowered her gaze to the papers in front of her.
The last thing he expected when he walked through the entrance to the building was to find himself attracted to the counselor assigned to his case, but he couldn’t deny that he was. It made him glad that the man he was supposed to meet wasn’t there. The thought of that brought a question into his head.
“What happened to Mr. Brody?”
“Oh, he called a short while ago to say his car broke down on the way into work,” Brigitte answered when she glanced up from the papers she was studying.
“Not the best start to the day for him then,” Matt said.
“He’s trying to sort it out to get here and will join us when he does,” Brigitte went on. “He called the apartment building to ask if you could come in later in the day, but the man there told him you’d already gone out.”
“I went for a coffee to wake myself up,” he told her, but declined to mention the hit of Jameson Whiskey that was put in the cup. “After four years of early wake-up calls, I’ve been getting up late for the last week or so.”
“Are you managing to sleep OK?” Brigitte asked.
“The apartment is a lot quieter than a cell in the state penitentiary, but I’m getting used to it.”
The comment brought it home to her the kind of man she was dealing with. The files on him revealed his past and why he was sent to prison, but she knew enough from her volunteer work not to pre-judge someone on purely what she read about them. She still half-expected to be sitting across from a violent thug although that wasn’t the impression the man opposite was giving off. His clean-cut, handsome features made it look like he’d never taken a punch in his life, but she suspected that wasn’t the case. He came across as self-confident and sure of himself, but his demeanor was also surprisingly polite. It made her wonder if he was simply putting it on because of the situation he was in.
“What have you been doing in the week since you were released?” she asked.
“Not much, to be honest,” Matt went on. “Taking things easy and trying to get myself used to being on the outside again.”
“Have you met anyone from the life you led before your time in prison?”
“No,” he said and smiled. “But I’d hardly be likely to tell you if I did, would I?”
Brigitte pouted her lips as she wrote some notes then lifted her head to catch Matt staring. It wasn’t the first time she’d noticed and she remembered Sarah’s comment about a bad boy coming out of prison being driven crazy by a slim, pretty blonde. She’d dismissed it as a fantasy although she found herself pondering whether there might be any truth in it as she stared across the table.
She wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t know when someone was showing an interest and strangely enough found that she wasn’t too unhappy about that. It still unnerved her slightly that she was having such thoughts about the man opposite, but she cleared them from her mind and carried on with the questioning.
“Why did you join the program? Was it just for the perks it could get you?”
“That’s direct,” Matt commented, but a smile played on his lips.
“Does it get a straight answer?” Brigitte challenged.
Matt sat forward on his seat and leaned his elbows on the table. He saw no point in lying.
“The perks were definitely an incentive to get involved,” he admitted. “The chance of a free apartment to get myself back on my feet wasn’t something I could turn down.”
“But what does getting back on your feet mean for you?” Brigitte went on.
“Four years of incarceration is a long time to contemplate your past life and your future,” Matt said. “It makes you consider if you’re heading down the right path.”
“I would have thought a prison sentence was a good indication that you weren’t,” she pointed out bluntly.
“I guess so,” Matt conceded.
“And what do you think the right path is for you now?”
“A break with the past,” he told her.
“No more assaults then,” Brigitte replied.
“I’m not planning any,” Matt said and a smirk flashed across his face. “But then I never was before either. Believe it or not, I would always want to talk my way to a resolution. That’s usually what I tried to do, but it doesn’t always work.”
“And that’s when the violence starts?”
“Sometimes when you get a reputation, it can be difficult to shake off,” Matt said. “I can put my hand on my heart and say that it’s been years since I started any fights.”
“But you’ve finished a few and look where it got you.”
“In my line of work, it was best to be the last man standing,” Matt went on.
“And you’re hoping that a breaking away from that might enable you to leave your reputation behind?” Brigitte commented.
“That was the idea of getting involved in the program.”
“Along with the perks,” Brigitte commented as she looked down to write some notes.
The thought that sprung in Matt’s mind was that he was staring at a perk he never anticipated, but he wasn’t about to say that. He liked the straight talking young woman sitting opposite him and found himself wondering whether she was single.
“So, what can you do for me?” he asked and stopped the grin from showing on his face as a thought he didn’t think Brigitte would appreciate ran through his mind.
“What are your plans when it comes to finding a job?” she asked. “I’m taking it you’ll need some work to provide for yourself.”
“Don’t really know,” he said. “My previous employment didn’t exactly set me up with skills that are wanted in most everyday jobs.”
“You must have some ideas,” Brigitte went on.
Matt settled down in his seat as his mind ticked over. The one thing he did enjoy was tinkering with engines, although it was never something he took seriously in the past.
“I like working with cars.”
“OK,” Brigitte responded. “What kind of experience do you have with that?”
“Working on my own and friends’ cars,” Matt admitted.
“You don’t have any formal training then,” Brigitte said. “Would you consider going to classes to learn more? That’s something we could look into arranging.”
“Hmm…,” Matt said. “I guess so.”
Brigitte looked down to continue writing, but didn’t get the chance to go on when she lifted her gaze.
“How long have you been doing this?” Matt asked,
Suddenly the attention was focused firmly on her and she screwed up her face, but knew there was no point in not telling the truth.
“This is my fourth day on the job,” she admitted.
“So, you have as much experience of doing this as I have of fixing cars,” Matt said and laughed.
“Not far off, I guess,” Brigitte conceded, with a wry smile. “I did go to college for three years though.”
“You’re smarter than me then,” he went on.
“Maybe I got the breaks in life that you didn’t.”
“And maybe you made the right choices,” Matt pointed out.
“Well, there is that,” Brigitte replied. “But you’re making the right choice now and there’s no reason you can’t go on to have a successful life. At least you’re making the effort and maybe you can leave the past behind and move on to something better.”
“Maybe,” Matt said although Brigitte detected the confidence draining from his voice for a split second and guessed he wasn’t quite convinced by what she said. He glanced up from the table and saw he was being watched. “You’re right,” he said in a firmer voice.
Brigitte was about to go on, but a knock on the door stopped her. It could only be one person and she was surprised by the slight disappointment that came over her when she looked across the room to see Mr. Brody coming through the door.
“Made it,” he said as he moved to the table. “You’re Mr. Harris,” he went on and held out his hand.
“That’s correct, but call me Matt.”
“I hope Miss Sanderson has been treating you kindly,” Mr. Brody went on and laughed as he took off his jacket.
He sat beside Brigitte at the table and she was aware of Matt looking at her. She glanced across at him and their eyes met for a brief second. She was aware of the slight prickle of nerves and it was nothing to do with his reputation.
“We’ve been discussing what Matt thinks he might do for work,” Brigitte informed her boss. “He has an interest in cars and I was suggesting that classes might be something we could arrange to help him improve his skills.”
“It’s a good idea and I have contacts at one of the local colleges,” Mr. Brody said. “They arrange weekly classes in vehicle repair and maintenance. The guy that runs it is a skilled mechanic and knows his stuff. I could have done with him this morning, to be honest.”
Brigitte leaned back in her seat as Mr. Brody took over the discussions. It gave her a chance to study Matt Harris and another of Sarah’s comments from the time they went for lunch came to her. Her friend had talked about the men in prison only having gym equipment to take out their frustrations on. It was easy to believe that might have been the case with the man opposite her. He wasn’t heavily muscled, but there was definitely an athletic, toned physique underneath the shirt he was wearing.
A rugged, handsome guy was Sarah’s comment when she was teasing about who would be getting rehabilitated and it was an apt description that could easily be applied to Matt. She knew that she shouldn’t be having those thoughts about him and that it would be crazy to get involved with someone with his past and reputation. The idea still flitted through her mind as she listened to what was being said, but she cleared it away as the discussions came towards an end.
“I’ll get the details of the vehicle maintenance classes sent to the apartment building,” Mr. Brody said. “That will give you a chance to look through them and see what’s involved.”
“OK,” Matt replied.
“Is there anything you wanted to ask us?” the older man went on.
Matt glanced down at the table for a few seconds, but shook his head when he brought his gaze up again.
“Nothing that I can think of at the moment,” he said.
“Then I would say that’s us for today,” Mr. Brody said. “Sorry about being late. I’ll try to get here on time for your next appointment.”
“No problem,” Matt said and got to his feet. “I’m sure Miss Sanderson would show me the same courtesy as she did today.”
Brigitte saw the broad smile spread across his face when she glanced at him.
“Of course,” she replied.
The three of them made their way to the door to leave the room and it was Brigitte that led the way up to the reception area.
“See you next week,” she said.
Matt reached out a hand to her and she found herself holding her breath as she took it. Their eyes met and the spark of something passed between them for a brief instant before Mr. Brody interrupted with his own goodbyes. She and her boss then turned away to walk towards their office.
“So, what did you think?” Mr. Brody asked when they were sitting at their desks.
“He appeared genuine enough,” Brigitte answered. “Before you arrived, he was honest enough to admit that the perks of the program were a big incentive for him agreeing to take part. I didn’t get the impression that was all he was interested in though. It seemed like he does want to turn his life around.”
“That was my first impression too,” her boss replied. “Although considering his reputation, he’s not someone I would want to get on the wrong side of.”
“He said he hadn’t started a fight in years,” Brigitte said.
“Did you believe him?”
“I didn’t think he was lying,” she went on. “Then again, I did respond by saying that from what I’d read about him, he’d certainly finished plenty of fights in his time.”
“You know what?” Mr. Brody said and laughed. “I think you’ll do fine in this job. But you shouldn’t take anything these guys say at face value – you need to remember they are criminals, even if they’re working towards a better life and you want what’s best for them.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she told him and rolled her eyes. “I’ll write up my notes from the early part of the discussions you missed and pass them to you.”
She opened the folder in front of her and saw the picture of Matt. It didn’t do him justice and her shudder was involuntary when she remembered bumping against him when they first tried to walk into the small meeting room.
“Get a grip,” she muttered under her breath, but spoke too loud.
“Pardon?” Mr. Brody said.
“Oh, sorry, I was speaking to myself,” Brigitte replied.
She looked down at the desk to cover the slight flush of hot red that erupted on her cheeks, but there was no way of getting Matt Harris out of her mind as she concentrated on the work she needed to complete.
Chapter 6
“What the hell are you smiling about?”
The words came out of Billy’s mouth quietly after he released a plume of cigarette smoke. There were others around him enjoying a quick hit of nicotine and it gave him some cover, so that he didn’t stand out. Most were smartly dressed in business clothes although there were a few sporting scruffier outfits like his and he guessed they were workers that carried out some of the more menial tasks in the government building.
Not that he was paying much attention to the people around him. His gaze flitted constantly to the building entrance while he waited and the comment he muttered under his breath was aimed at the man he was shadowing. It was around an hour or so after going inside that Matt Harris walked out of the place and Billy was of the opinion that the smile could be an indication of a couple of things. Firstly, it might mean he enjoyed something about whatever it was he’d been doing in the building. On the other hand, it could simply mean he was glad to get out of the place.
There was no way of knowing and Billy wasn’t about to catch up to ask. His instructions were to keep an eye on Matt and find out what he could about his circumstances. He sucked hard on the half-smoked cigarette, but couldn’t hang around and ground it under his boot when he dropped it. The likelihood was that the man he was following was on his way home and he went with that assumption.
Instead of keeping him in sight, he headed off in a slightly different direction. His intention was to get to the bus stop before the one he suspected Matt would go to. If it worked out right, he would already be on the bus and the chance of it being noticed that he was following him was much less likely.
His gamble paid off and he was sitting on the very back seat when the bus approached the stop at which Matt and some others were standing. His position allowed him to see the rest of the vehicle’s interior, but he didn’t watch as the passengers got on. Instead, he took the newspaper he bought earlier that morning from his pocket and started reading it. Staring would only give the game away and he didn’t look up until the vehicle was getting close to where he knew he w
ould get off.
He waited until Matt stood up to walk to the door. A few others did likewise and it meant he didn’t have to get too close. He crossed the street straight away when he got off the bus and stopped to light a cigarette. It meant he was lagging behind when he started walking and it enabled him to keep his man in sight.
Matt went straight to the apartment building and Billy didn’t even glance across as he kept on moving past. It was still morning, but the thirst for alcohol was already on his mind and he decided to find someplace to have a drink. He walked by the first few bars he passed to put some distance between him and the apartment building, but eventually stepped inside a place.
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