The long pause didn’t bode well. “Your sister.”
Charlotte? Oh, God. “Why?”
Bo dragged his fingers through his hair. “You need to see her. Talk to her. She misses you.”
And Lucky missed her. But what could he say? What could he do? “I don’t know if I can. I promised to always be there for her… for the boys. And I ain’t been shit.” Rubbing the back of his neck didn’t stop his fast-approaching headache.
Bo wrapped his fingers around Lucky’s free hand. “That was a long time ago. You were different then. You’re a good man now, whether you believe it or not.”
Johnson’s words came back to him:“You show us how to walk the fine line that’ll bring down the bad guys and get us home at night.”Had to count for something, right?
Without knowing quite how he got there, Lucky sat on the couch, getting a shoulder rub. More of Johnson’s words got to him.“And do you do that for him?”
Tonight. He’d pay the man back tonight.
After he faced his demons, or more accurately, the sister he’d let down.
Chapter Ten
The warning buzz from the front gate gave Lucky a few minutes to try to compose himself.
“Breathe, Lucky, breathe.” Bo patted his back. “She’s your sister, not an Uzi-welding crime boss.”
“Uh-huh.” Of the two, Charlotte might be the deadlier.
“It’s not like she’s one of Nestor’s people, come to take you out.”
“No. She’d eat those wannabes for breakfast. You haven’t met my family.” And Lucky wouldn’t blame him for running once he had.
“What are you expecting her to do? Kill you?”
“You don’t know her like I do. She can get riled sometimes.” Lucky shivered at a particularly vivid memory, involving a well-placed bucket of hog slop and a vengeful sibling.
“Don’t I know it! She… Oh, dear God! She pulled a gun on me. She’s vicious. Let’s hide!” Bo patted his foot, scowl firmly in place.
“You’re making fun of me.”
Bo’s scowl softened. “Sorry. But for years I’ve heard how much you miss her. And I’ve never quite gotten why you wouldn’t even talk to her.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“I made promises I didn’t keep. I’m a bad example for her kids. I’m not the kind of guy anyone in their right mind would want for a brother.” There, he’d confessed—and got a mock punch to the shoulder for his efforts. “What’ya do that for?”
“In the tunnel in Mexico we promised once all the shit passed, we’d reconnect with our families. Have we? Huh?”
God, did Bo always have to be right? “I told you you wouldn’t understand.”
“The hell I don’t. Why do you think I haven’t laid eyes on my brother in years? Huh?”
“If you feel the same way about your brother, why’re you being so hard on me?” Lucky rubbed his shoulder.
“Because you need to tell me these things. How are we supposed to work out issues if we don’t communicate?” And there Bo went being right again.
“Youcoulda toldme, you know.” Lucky glowered.
Bo blew out a sigh. “Yeah. Maybe—”
