“Look, JR—”
I instinctively took a step closer to him before stopping myself. “What the fuck is going on, Jack? What did you do?”
“I’m trying to survive!” he exploded. “Fuck, JR. You think it’s easy running all this and keeping payroll clearing? I have to dosomething,or we’re all gonna be out on the street!”
I felt lightheaded. “What issomething?” I asked. “Dirtyparts? You in with a gang?”
“I’m not affiliated, or anything!” he said quickly. “I just strip the cars and keep the parts that they don’t want. They want the catalytic converters; stuff like that. The exhausts and other parts, I keep and use in the shop. No money gets exchanged. Nobody gets hurt.”
“Nobody gets hurt?” I repeated dumbly. “You’re processingstolen cars, and you’re trying to defend yourself?”
“You don’t need to get uppity about it,” he scowled. “It’s helping pay your salary too, man!”
A flash of white-hot rage coursed through me faster than I could contain it. I drew my right arm back and threw everything I had into connecting my knuckles with the side of my brother’s face. I barely registered the pain in my hand as my skin split. Jack’s wail split the night as he hit the concrete of the shop floor.
“Fuck!” He grabbed the side of his face with his hand as he winced.
I lowered myself till one knee hit the ground, grabbed a fistful of Jack’s greasy, tattered t-shirt, and pulled him up until we were nose-to-nose.
“Four years!” I screamed in his face. He squeezed his eyes shut as my spit peppered his cheeks.
“JR…” he pleaded.
“Shut the fuck up,” I yelled, shaking him back andforth before continuing. “Four fucking years. No college, no graduation party, nothing! Night after night in a frigid prison cell. For you. For Jenna! For that beautiful baby girl! You were wearing my hoodie the night you knocked over that gas station, and I took the fall! All for you to be doin’ dirt on the side? I was thrown away by our entire family, our parents especially, because of whatyoudid. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my fath—” I stopped myself before my voice could break. I let his shirt go with a shove, causing him to fall back and slam against the floor. “I could fucking kill you, Jack.”
I walked a full circle of the garage, my vision blinded with rage as I tried to clear enough space to come back to my body. Jack stayed on the floor where I’d dropped him, following my movements with wide eyes.
“JR…”
“Shut the fuck up,” I interrupted, but my voice had lost most of its previous poison. “I handed you a Get Out of Jail Free card, brother.Literally. When you came rushing to me in tears after you’d robbed that station. You were scared for your life, worrying about Jenna and her pregnancy; what Mom and Dad were gonna think… and I was so fucking stupid. I looked up to you. I had it in my mind that your life was worth more than mine. I was just some faggot that would eventually be thrown away, anyhow. I didn’t want one mistake to ruin your entire life, so I took it.All of it.I…”
The building frustration and hurt was suddenly toomuch, and I stopped mid-sentence to slam my fists down on the worktable with a thunderous crash as bolts and other small parts scattered, clanking down to the concrete floor.
“I’m not doing it again, Jack.” The words came out even and steady. “Four years ago, I didn’t think I had anything to live for. With Avery, that’s no longer the case. The only person I care to protect ishim.You better clean this shit up and get your fucking life together, because if I catch any heat from this shit, I’m gonna start singing like a canary. And if that happens, you and I both know a few dirty car parts are gonna be the least of your worries.”
I turned around in time to see Jack flinch. “I can’t even look at you.” He stayed where he was and didn’t offer anything else as I walked out.
Chapter Twelve
Avery
Ipulled the tray of oatmeal coconut cookies out of the oven three seconds before the timer played its little tune. Over the years I’d gotten really good at eyeballing them. If you left them in even 30 seconds too long, the cookies become tough. I’d always preferred my cookies on the softer side.
I hurried to pluck a spatula out of the utensil bin and made quick work of transferring the cookies to a cooling rack as the timer continued to beep into oblivion behind me. I tossed the hot tray back in the already-cooling oven and mashed the timer button once, twice, before it stopped.
I shifted the cookies around a bit on the rack, giving them space to cool off as my phone chirped.
JAMES:Sorry again about last night. The last thing I wanted to do was leave once I had finally gotten into the same room as you.
I could feel myself smiling like a giddy school girl as I re-read his text. It was hard to watch him walk away after longing to be next to him for so long, but I appreciated his loyalty to his family, and him being someone they could call on when in trouble. That thought made him even sexier to me. I shot off a quick reply before letting myself get swept away in the vibes.
ME:I hope everything is okay. It was nice to finally feel your arms around me. I can’t wait to be with you again! My parents will be home this afternoon. I’m gonna talk to them as soon as I get off work. Then maybe we can meet up afterwards?
JAMES:Should I bring the mask again? ;)
The fact that I didn’t yet know what he looked like was splitting my sanity in half. On one hand, the mystery was terribly sexy. The fact that he’d worn a maskand knewI would love it had me popping boners like a pubescent grade-schooler. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had been this keyed up about anyone or anything.
On the other hand, not knowing what he looked like was giving my imagination free rein to try and fill inthe blanks. Various images, looks, and features flashed across my mind like a flip book—plugging in different lip shapes here and facial hair there…
