I snort out a quiet laugh. “I don’t believe in the sunk cost fallacy, so save your agent pep-talks for the meatheads you recruit.”
“But you believe in AJ…well, youdid.”
“Yup. And my mama believed in a man just like him too.”
“And I bet your mama would’ve told you it was worth it in the end,” he murmurs, setting the checks down and spreading them out between us.
I catch AJ’s hard hazel eyes. “Actually, that man she believed in for so many years killed her right in front of me. So how’s that for your sunk cost fallacy?”
“You told me your parents died in a car accident.” AJ scoffs.
An uncomfortable silence settles over the room, and AJ tries to pull his eyes away from mine, but I don’t let him until I’m ready. Afterward, I scan the checks, eyeing the three separate million dollar amounts and names written on each one.
I place my hand over Rich’s gun. “You can pack them back up and I’ll be on my way so you don’t have to worry about protecting your client from little old me anymore. I’m gonna need you to get Rich’s truck from the valet, and I’ll meet you behind the building—unless, of course, you want me to walk back through the lobby like this.”
I snort, pushing back from the table. “Good luck with your winning season.”
CHAPTER
FORTY-THREE
LOVIE
Back on Joliet,the world seemed to have ended in the four hours I was gone.
It’s quiet. The neighborhood dog isn’t even flouncing around, and Smitty’s front door is closed. Arnez’s car sits crookedly in front of the house with half of it pulled onto the curb like she hopped out before she could even put it into park.
I pull into the driveway while her and Rich stare at me from his porch. An empty glass dangles from his hand, and neither of them are sitting down. All the people I thought I heard laughing in the background when he called are gone.
I push the truck’s gear into park and press the button to kill the engine while avoiding their intense gazes.
Rich moves first. He narrows his eyes at me as he takes slow steps down the porch. The hazy sun beams on the veins in his forearms.
I hurry up and pull the visor down and flip the vanity mirror open.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen my mouth the color of a ripe plum and the whites of my eyes red with the memories ofanother fight with AJ. I tug the collar of my sweater up to hide the imprint of his fingers, but it falls back down, and I rake my fingers through my frizzy hair, but it puffs back into a curly bush.
All the adrenaline I had at the Post Oak fizzles out of me as I push out of Rich’s truck with my purse in the crook of my arm and his keys dangling from my hand.
He staggers toward me with Arnez on his heels. As soon as they get close, his trembling lips part and her eyes balloon.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I mutter, touching my swollen lip.
The glass falls from Rich’s hand, and he hunches over, hurling his words into the grass.
“Come here, Lovie,” Arnez says, grabbing my wrist. “Let me…let’s uh go in the house so I can clean you up.”
Rich jerks upright and swipes the back of his hand across his mouth. His brawny body convulses, and he tosses his head back, staring up at the bright sky as if he’s searching for the right words to say.
“Pup?” Arnez whispers.
“Go home, Arnez,” he breathes out toward the sky.
“I…I can’t leave y’all here like this. I can’t.”
He looks down at us, and the air grows still. “He did that to you, Lovie?”
“Rich,” I mutter. “It’s oka?—”
