James stands tall and eyes me narrowly, his blue eyes ice cold. “Yeah. He did probably do that. But you caught him anyway. And you sent him to jail once. You can do it again. But if you let him fuck up what’s going on with Mercy, you’re gonna regret it.”
“She isn’t even from around here! How the hell is that going to work? I can’t ask her to move.”
“Why not? She can work from anywhere. She just needs to go into her office once in awhile and do what needs to be done. Half the time she’s mobile anyway.”
“And she’s away from me. Away from home.”
“You can’t suck it up for the woman you love?”
“I never said I loved her!”
James cocks his head and glares at me. “You’re an idiot. You’ve got a woman that really cares about you. We all could tell. And you’re gonna let her go because you’re afraid? Are you kidding me? Grow a fucking pair, Reed!”
He whips around and stomps off, leaving me staring at him. Wondering if I’m doing the right thing.
Should I give this a shot? Am I using Frank as an excuse?
Am I about to fuck up the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time?
Leaning back, I stare at the map, my eyes gritty.
There has to be something there. There just has to.
CHAPTER 12
Mercy
Petal smiles at me when I walk in the door but it fades almost immediately.
“What did he do?” She groans.
“Nothing. He just wanted to be alone.” Forever, I sigh to myself.
“Right. Sure. Well, I have to get to the bingo hall. That’s where we play poker.”
Grinning wryly, I nod and drop the baggie onto the hall table. I’ll deal with that later.
“Well, have fun.”
“What’s that?” Petal reaches out and lifts the baggie, her dark eyes going wide. “Where did you get that?” She breathes out, her face so white I reach out for her automatically.
“Shit. Sit down before you fall down. What’s up with that damn pin anyway. Reed looked at it kinda like that right before he…”
She jerks her head up, groaning. “Right before he told you to go…right?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Because he knew exactly what that was and he wanted you somewhere safe…away from him.”
Staring down at the tiny square, I reach out to touch it. “One of the guys lost their pin. No big deal.”
“Uh-uh. That’s an old pin. About five years ago, we changed the style to be a little more modern.”
“Okay. So what?”
“So that pin is old. And it’s….well, it’s a fifteen year pin. And none of those guys have been there that long. Except for Reed, of course.”
“Of course. Well, I’m sure he’d recognize his own pin.”
