Joel Wilkerson settled onto a porch swing and stretched his legs out to rest on the railing. David could appreciate a wife leaving that man, but he didn’t understand why she hadn’t taken Connie with her when she’d gone.
Using the fence post as leverage, David rose to his feet. “This is a two-man job, if you want to help.” If you want to get off your ass and be useful for a change was what he wanted to say. He didn’t expect any assistance, but for Connie’s sake, he felt he should give the man a chance to do something around the house.
And he could use the help. Idiot that he was, he hadn’t pulled one of his men out to work with him. He hadn’t known he’d be working at Connie’s today, or any other day considering their fight. Connie didn’t even know he was there. But when he’d woken this morning, instead of facing paperwork, and building plans, and demanding clients, he’d just wanted to come pound some nails. Maybe when Connie saw the completed pen, she’d understand how sorry he was about the settlement.
“I’m fine up here.” Wilkerson settled his mug on the porch railing and leaned back, swinging slightly. “I’ve got a bad back, you know.”
David snorted. Sure. His back hurt whenever he made a disability claim, but it never hurt enough to stop him from bowling or dancing at the Pins ‘N’ Pints. Connie’s dad liked to have a good time.
David hefted a new bag of gravel over to his last fence post and shrugged it off his shoulder, the sack thumping to the ground. He tried to ignore the grown man in the swing, and focused on finishing the job for Connie. That became impossible when Wilkerson strolled over, his slippers poking into David’s view. He smacked his spade on the ground harder than necessary, tamping down the gravel around the post in the hole.
“I would be interested in other kinds of work with you,” her father said.
David pressed harder, leaning his body weight onto the spade to make the gravel as compressed as possible. “Is that right?” The post listed to the right, and David straightened it. “Hold this steady,” he told Wilkerson, and filled in some more gravel.
Wilkerson held it straight, resting his palms and chin on the top of the post. “Remember that deal back in ’08? Damn, if Carson hadn’t backed out at the last minute, that would have made our fortunes.”
“I remember.” David remembered Joel trying to introduce him to some big players, pretending he was good friends with them. Wanting to be the middle man who set up a large real estate development. All the while his “friends” had no interest in developments in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan. Even if they had, no way would they have cut Wilkerson in. He didn’t even have a broker’s license, for Christ’s sake, but he’d expected his ten percent just the same.
“I still don’t like how that one got away.” Wilkerson shook his head. “Even though the deal fell through, I shoulda got something for my work. I spent a lot of time landing those investors.”
“Uh huh.” Punching the gravel down, David locked his back teeth together.
“If you’d been able to lock up Carson, that’s all we would have needed. A high-ranking state senator on all the right committees.” He sighed heavily. “I was sure surprised you weren’t able to wrap him up. Like you have your other politicians.”
David rose from his crouch and took off his gloves. Connie’s father or not, he’d had enough.
Wilkerson didn’t seem to notice. “So look. I know this guy over in Shenoah. He’s a member of some Indian tribe, can’t remember which one.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Anyhow, he needs the government to declare his people a tribe, and then he’s gonna build a casino.”
“Stop talking.”
Wilkerson’s face was flushed red with excitement; he didn’t hear David. “I can introduce you two. We need the right politicians to make their group a tribe—that’s where you come in. If you can get us that, then you’ll get the contract to build the casino. It’s a win win.”
“How do you expect me to get his people declared a tribe?” David asked the question even though he knew the answer, and disgust slid through his intestines like oil.
The older man snorted. “Let’s not waste time on stupid questions. Paying off the right people is what you’re good at.”
Rage boiled low in David’s gut, and bubbled up his throat. That’s what he was good at? Not his high-quality builds. Not the multi-million dollar business he’d built from the ground up. Not the fact that he’d given up his dreams to support his family. None of that mattered to people like Wilkerson.
David threw his gloves to the ground. “I have not, nor will I ever, bribe a politician.” He’d danced around it, given donations to the right people, but that was business, not a bribe. Not in his mind, anyway. “And there will be no introductions. What you don’t seem to understand is if I want a deal to happen, I’ll find my own people. I don’t need you.”
Wilkerson pinched his mouth into a hard knot. He pushed off the fence post, and David was gratified to see that it hardly moved. “Now wait just a damn minute. Don’t go acting so high and mighty with me. I know where the bodies are buried.”
Shaking his head, David strode over to the adjacent fence post, and grabbed the roll of wire fencing. He unwound it, walking back toward Wilkerson. “What bodies? Everyone in town already knows all my skeletons.” Connie’s face, accusing and disappointed, sprang to mind. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so determined to make his business grow at a breakneck speed when he was younger. Maybe he should have run his company in a more accepted way. Maybe then he’d have had a chance with Connie. But the fear that had gnawed on him every night, that he wouldn’t be able to feed and support his sister and nephew, hadn’t let him do things the accepted way.
“What do you want, a bigger share?” Her father’s voice turned cajoling. It made David’s skin crawl. “I’ll only take five percent instead of the usual ten. Kick back the difference to you. That’s a good deal, right?”
“There is no deal.” David hammered the wire to the post. “There has never been any deal.” He hammered harder, the impact stinging his palms. He turned to reach for his gloves on the ground, but didn’t see them. Why the shit did things keep go missing? Screw it. More blisters to add to the collection. He placed a nail farther down the post and drove it home. “And there never will be any deals. Do you understand?”
Bending at the waist, Wilkerson brought his face close to David’s. “You think you’re better than me, but you’re not. Your expensive suits and fancy cars can’t cover up the fact that you and I, we’re alike. And don’t think Connie doesn’t see it. She—”
“Don’t bring Connie into this.” David shot up straight, towering over the man. “And don’t for one moment pretend that you and I are alike.” He remembered Connie working two jobs in high school, buying the groceries for her and her dad while the man went out and spent his paycheck drinking with friends.
David had been a lot of things in his life, but being like Joel Wilkerson wasn’t one of them. He bit his tongue to stop himself from saying any more. This was Connie’s father, and David was trying to be a better person. But he didn’t try for long.
Wilkerson tilted his head, his eyes narrowed. “If I put in a good word to Connie for you, would that change your mind any?”
David froze, blood pulsing at his temples. “What was that?”
“I see the way you look at her.” He stepped in close. “I know what you want. But she can’t stand you. So, if I put in a good word, make her come around so you get what you want…” Wilkerson raised his eyebrows, and David wanted to kill him. Literally wrap his hands around the man’s scrawny neck and twist. He almost felt sad that he had more control than that. But as everyone kept pointing out, he was the town prick. The asshole that nobody liked. He didn’t have to control his tongue.
Feeling edgy, David cracked his neck from side to side. Then he smiled. Wilkerson shrank back. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen up.” His voice came out low, feral. It matched how he
felt. “If you ever try to whore your daughter out again, I will destroy you. I won’t give you the beating you so sorely deserve.” He stepped forward, and Wilkerson stepped back, bumping into the fence. “I know you’d enjoy suing me if I did that. No, I’ll destroy you in this town. No one will ever hire you again, or rent to you again. Hell, with a few appropriately placed words, no one will even look at you again. And if that doesn’t work…” Narrowing his eyes, David smiled. “Then I’ll beat the piss out of you. But I’ll make sure that I’ll have witnesses swearing on a stack of bibles that I was somewhere else, so you won’t get a dime from it. Do you understand me?”
Wilkerson’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He nodded.
David circled around him. “You’re going to treat your daughter better, starting now. You will respect what she’s done with her life, respect her accomplishments. It’s amazing where she is, especially considering how far she had to come. She’s amazing, and it’s time you understood that.”
A branch snapped behind him, and David whipped around. Connie stood there, eyes wide. Shit. How much had she heard? If she’d heard her dad try to trade her favors…
“Hi, honey.” Wilkerson waved at the pen. “I was helping David finish your project. Looks good, right?”
David almost had to give the man respect at how quickly he could recover.
Connie smiled at her dad, and walked to the last post, gave it a solid shake. “Looks great. Thanks for helping out.”
Okay, she couldn’t have heard her dad’s proposition. No way would she be smiling after that. Which just left her hearing him threaten her father. Great.
“Sure, sure.” Wilkerson backed away from David, and laid a quick peck on her cheek as he passed Connie. “I’m going to head into town for lunch. See you later.”
“Bye.” She watched him climb the porch and disappear inside the house before turning back to David. They stared at each other in silence.
“Well…” David swallowed. “The pen is done.”
“So I see.”
“The, uh, gate is on that side”—he pointed to the side closest to the house—“and—”
“What are you doing here?”
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand her. “I wanted to finish what I started.”
Throwing her hands up, she paced beside the fence, kicked the dirt, and stomped back. “I don’t understand you. Every time I think I have you figured out, you mess with my head again.”
“I don’t think I’ve changed. Only your perception of me has.”
She shot him a disgusted look. “Don’t give me that. Not too long ago you had Sadie Wilson’s house condemned so you could buy it cheap at auction. You aren’t some misunderstood soul.”
David flushed, the tips of his ears going hot. He had done that. Not his proudest moment. But Zeke had just been arrested, and David had known the legal fees would be enormous. Sadie hadn’t wanted to live in that house anyway. She’d been looking to sell but wouldn’t make a deal with him out of stubbornness. Or out of loyalty to Colt McCoy, now her fiancé, but then just another contractor trying to make a profit flipping the house.
Competing against Colt had probably had more to do with his choices than he wanted to admit. In David’s mind, McCoy had become a stand-in for the man’s brother, Caleb. And David had lost too much to that particular brother. Getting some of it back had only seemed fair. Damn, he was an asshole.
He stared at the woman he’d lost to Caleb, his heart thudding dully in his chest. “You’re right. I’m still the same man you despise.” His legs felt too tired to move, but he forced his feet to head toward her back porch.
“Where are you going?” she said, sounding exasperated.
“The pen is finished, I’m done here.” Picking up his keys, he looked around for his Pendleton. He’d left it lying right here, folded on the floor of the porch. “Have you seen my shirt?” She shook her head. “What the hell is going on? All my shit keeps disappearing.”
Connie rubbed her nose. “I’ll look for your shirt later. Right now, tell me why you’re here. Really. Did you build my pen to try to get confidential information about the case out of me?”
David scowled. “No!”
“To try to get me in trouble with an ethics violation?”
David wouldn’t even answer that one. He seethed inwardly, and stalked around the corner of her house, heading for his company truck.
When he hit the driveway, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “You can’t be a nice guy helping out one day and then your normal crooked self every other day. It doesn’t work that way.”
He exploded. “I’m not a crook! I had to build my business, whatever it took. If I stepped on a few toes along the way, so be it. But don’t judge me for the choices I’ve made. You weren’t there.”
“Weren’t where?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, David turned toward his truck, but she clung to him like a barnacle. “Fine,” he bit out. “You want to know why I am the way I am? Let’s go.” He dragged her to his truck and practically tossed her in the passenger seat. Climbing behind the wheel, he turned the key, letting all the rage that had festered within him for years bubble over. His tires spun as he gunned it down her drive.
Her fingers went white on the armrest. “I’d like to find out your secrets before you get us killed.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, easing off the accelerator. He forced his hands to lose their death grip around the wheel. None of this was Connie’s fault. Well, her always treating him like crap was partly on her. And holding a grudge since high school. Yeah, he’d have to have a talk with her about that one.
They hit the highway and Connie relaxed back into her seat. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“To see my family.”
“Oo-kay.” She waited a beat. “We’re going to see your sister and her family?”
“Something like that.”
She fidgeted in her seat, and David glanced over. “You want to ask me more, right? Like why?”
“Maybe. But I can wait.” She turned on the stereo and found a station she liked. By the time they reached Kincheko Correctional Facility, David’s anger had mostly evaporated.
When she saw the sign to the institution, her jaw dropped. “Uh…”
“Not what you were expecting, right?” David pulled into an empty spot and turned the ignition off. The cab grew silent. There was no road noise, no nearby businesses. The prison was out in the middle of nowhere. A crow landed on the pavement twenty feet away and picked at something on the ground.
“Who’s here?” Connie asked quietly. “I know your parents have passed. Your sister?”
Staring out the windshield, he drummed a thumb on the steering wheel. “This is the men’s medium-security prison for central Michigan.” The raven lifted its head and stared at him before flying away with its prize. “My nephew has been a guest since the beginning of this year. Burglary and possession of a deadly weapon while in the commission of a crime. He got three years.”
“I’m sorry.” She rested a hand on his arm, her fingers squeezing. “I know those words don’t help, but…”
He cleared away the tickle at the back of his throat. “Thanks.” Shifting onto his hip, he looked her straight in the eyes. “I was in college when my parents died.”
She nodded. “I remember.”
“My sister was a year younger than me, and soon after the funeral, she found out she was pregnant.” He flattened his lips. “Some guy at a frat party who didn’t want to take responsibility for his part in the pregnancy. But she was determined to keep the baby.”
“So you stepped in.” Her voice held no hint of surprise, and David was thankful. If she had shown disbelief that he’d taken care of his sister, it would have killed him.
“I didn’t become a dad or anything to him, but I did support them. I knew the chances of me having a career in baseball were slim to none so
I left the team and concentrated on getting my business degree.” He laid his hand on the center armrest, inches from hers. If he stretched out a finger, he could touch her. “My sister took two years off, then finished her degree. I made sure she and Zeke lived in a decent area, that she could afford to finish college, and that when the time came, Zeke’s education would be paid for.” He snorted. “There’s money that will never be used.”
“You don’t know that. Zeke’s what, eighteen? Nineteen?” She shook her head. “Even if he does his full sentence, there’s still a lot of life ahead of him. Don’t give up on the kid.”
“Why not? You and everyone else gave up on me.” Jesus, he sounded like a sullen teenager, and he made a note to try not to criticize Zeke the next time he sulked. But for the first time, he realized that’s how he felt. That Pineville had turned its back on him. Snubbed him when he was doing everything he could just to survive.
“Nobody knows you’ve been supporting your sister. At least, I didn’t.” Tucking her left leg up on the seat, she leaned toward him. “But that still doesn’t excuse some of your actions. Other people have supported their families without resorting to what you’ve done.”
“And your precious Caleb would never do the wrong thing to help those he loved?” Anger beat against his chest, a caged beast, waiting to escape. “You always had blinders on with that guy. He was some perfect god in your eyes, and everyone else paled in comparison. No one’s perfect. Not me. Not even Caleb. We’re all trying to do the best we can.”
Red stained her cheekbones. “Caleb would never have cheated. Never bribed anyone. Not at work, and not in his personal life.”
“He cheated on you.” The moment the words left his mouth David regretted them.
Her face drained of color, her amber eyes grew huge
Why Did It Have to Be You? Page 14