Maddox nodded. “I know that. But even so…” He tightened his hand into a fist, then bumped it against the table. “I didn’t know he was moving cocaine,” he said. “I didn’t know the money would be there, either. That changes everything.”
“We can use it, though,” Gunner said. “We can blackmail him or something.”
Maddox shot air through his nose, obviously struggling to bury his anger. “That’s not happening,” he said through clenched teeth. “I got the papers I needed. There’s no way we could use the drugs against him, anyway. There’s no proof, and trying to move on it would just tip him off that someone was in his building.”
“But we’re safe,” I said quickly. “That’s what matters, right?”
Maddox started to nod his response. Then his eyes went wide, his gaze trained right to Gunner’s jacket. “What’s in your jacket pocket?” he asked.
Gunner’s jaw tightened, and he shook his head quickly. “What?”
“You heard me,” Maddox said, pointing at him across the table. “What’s in your jacket pocket?”
Gunner took a deep breath, then released it through his nose. He pulled his hand from mine, reached into his leather jacket, and pulled out a large bundle of cash.
Maddox’s hand shot across the table, covering the cash and pushing it back into Gunner’s jacket. “Keep that out of sight,” he whispered. He glanced around the room, then back to us. He was squinting, his eyes wrinkling at the corners. “Fuck,” he said to himself. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Gunner turned to me. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.
I felt dizzy trying to process what had just happened, and when I turned back to Maddox, he was already rising to his feet.
“I’m sorry,” Gunner repeated with his full voice. “You don’t have to leave, Maddox.”
Maddox waved his hand in the air. His eyes still looked worn with strain, and his face was crumpled into a frown. “I have to go,” he said. “I’m not making the right choices.”
“It’s okay,” I said, urgency rising up in my voice. “Gunner is sorry. You don’t have to leave, Maddox. It was just a mistake.”
“It was,” he said. “It was a mistake, and I’m sorry for that.”
Maddox paused for a moment, towering over the table and staring down at us with an ache in his eyes. After a few breaths, he leaned in and brushed each of our cheeks with a quick kiss. “I’ll find you when the time is right.”
“Wait,” Gunner said. “Let me drive you back to your bike, at least. We have more to talk about.”
But Maddox just turned on his heel and walked away.
