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“Sweet… I feel like a shit for not being honest with her and Harry. But I don’t really have the heart to tell her the truth. I feel like it would crush her spirit.”
I handed the phone back to Smoke so he could plug in the address.
“So, what have you been telling her?” Smoke asked.
“I’ve tried maneuvering around the conversation. I don’t think it’s working.” I put the car into gear. “I think she just wants everyone to be happy and in love.”
The maps program chirped a direction.
“There are worse things,” Smoke said as he looked out the window. “There are definitely worse things.”
* * *
I snapped another photo of the empty apartment and then walked to the window to get a different view of the space.
“What’s going to be done with this building? I mean, I know the club wants to keep it as an apartment complex, but for who? And why?”
Smoke leaned against the open doorway; his thumbs hooked into his jeans pocket. “It was Doc’s idea, actually.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded and pushed away from the frame. “The club’s been wanting to get into pro bono work. Charity type stuff, you know? Help out the community. Doc runs the Wellness Clinic and it’s been good for the town.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Well, she mentioned to Colt that she keeps seeing patients who need a clean, safe place to land to help them transition out of their situations. Single mothers, women getting out of abusive relationships, that sort of stuff. They just need a place where they don’t have to worry about money for a while or anyone showing up to hurt them. This vision is gonna be something like a half-way house—help women in bad positions get on their feet again and start a new life.”
I looked at the space with a new perspective. “What a great idea.”
“Yeah. It was unanimous when the club voted on it. And the Old Ladies loved the idea too.”
“Did they get to vote on the idea also?” I asked.
“No. Just the brothers. It’s club business.”
“Which means?”
“We don’t involve our women in business.”
“But you told them about it…”
“After we voted.”
“So…is this the new direction of the club? The non-shady stuff?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have said anything about what the club was involved in.”
“Why not? It sounds like it’ll help the community.”
“Look, we’re not good men, okay? Just because we helped get Doc’s clinic set up and we’re doing this half-way house doesn’t mean we can make up for the things we’ve done. We’re the Tarnished Angels, get it?”
“I get it,” I murmured, my mood souring. It was the reality check I needed. I cleared my throat. “So do all the apartments have the same layout?”
Smoke stared at me for a moment before nodding. “Either just like this or mirrored. You want to see one that’s mirrored so you can get some photos?”
“Yeah. That’ll help, for sure.”
I moved past him into the hallway. He closed the door and then gestured to the apartment across the hall. It only took a few minutes to snap photos, and then we took the stairs down to the lobby floor. The entire building smelled musty and damp, like the air conditioning couldn’t keep up with the Texas humidity. The paint was peeling, and the front desk looked like mold had set in years ago along the base of the wood.
