“Pfft.” She rolls her eyes. “They’d have us in dresses that cover us from wrist to neck again if they had their way. There are a lot of people who don’t share that opinion of sex workers, Kyra. Don’t you go thinking you’re a pariah around here because of what you chose to do with your life for a while.”
“I don’t.” I ease back in my seat to make space on the table when Vanessa returns with the food. “Thank you.”
“Have you spoken to your mom?” Ness takes the seat between Theresa and me.
“Not yet. I couldn’t guarantee if I went back to their house right now, I wouldn’t lose my shit, so I came here instead.”
Both women look tickled pink.
“You can always come here when you need space to regroup,” Ness says.
“I appreciate that.”
Theresa stirs sugar into her brew, the clink of her spoon the only sound between us. In a way, it’s nice. I don’t need a constant stream of affirmations or commiserations. Just to know people are there to support me is enough.
“Did Jinx seem different to you last night?” I ask Vanessa.
She frowns briefly, her hand poised over a slice of cake. “Um, he seemed less grouchy than usual. Does that count?”
I guess.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Silence falls between the three of us again. Theresa takes a bite of cake while Vanessa sips her coffee. I stare at the offerings before me, yet I can’t bring myself to enjoy them. To sit and relax as though my whole fucking world isn’t imploding.
It’s not my place to say why there’s tension between Jinx and me, but I need advice. I feel out of my depth with him because of the patch he chooses to wear and the burdens placed on him by the club. He doesn’t work a regular nine-to-five; our issues aren’t that… normal.
It feels as though no sooner have I untangled one knot than another forms between us, making our connection difficult.
“I should have done as Mom said and never come back.”
Both women stall their movements.
“Why?” Vanessa asks, as though confused why I would think that way.
I make eye contact with her, then with Theresa, before looking at my hands. “Because then I wouldn’t have reminded myself why loving Jinx is so damn impossible.”
THIRTY-ONE
JINX
It takes lessthan ten minutes to arrive at the Sheriff’s office, thanks to my goddamn frustrations and a tight throttle hand. A fancy-ass Mercedes that doesn’t belong in a town like Temperance sits at the curb outside the entrance.This can’t be good.They were supposed to arrive hours ago to consult with Crow. If I knew they’d still be here, I wouldn’t have fucked around punishing myself before I headed out to check in. Concern knots in my chest as I head for the main entrance—if the lawyer’s still here, maybe it won’t be as easy as we thought to get Crow’s charges reduced.
I step over the threshold to find tension thick enough to cut with a knife and an impeccably dressed woman arguing loudly with our deputy Sheriff.
“That is not how you treat detainees, Mr. Frees.” She thrusts a finger toward the cells out the back. “I don’t give a fuck what he’s done prior or what organization he belongs to; meals are a basic privilege afforded to all prisoners.”
I quietly move to the bank of seats and stand at the end, arms folded, to hear this out.
“He can’t find it in himself to show a shred of respect for my men,” Frees argues. “So cry me a river ifhefeels he’s been ill-treated.”
“Those same men who threw his colors on the ground in front of his cell and walked over them all night?” She scoffs. “They may as well have defecated on it or, in the very least, had the decency to dig their own grave. You realize what level of disrespect that is to a member of a motorcycle club, right?”
“They’re not above God and the law, Miss Larson.”
“Ms.Larson,” she growls. “I’m not a child.”
