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The ‘yes’ felt like it was torn from my soul.
“Deal. Good luck,” The Judge said. Then hung up.
The silence in the air was deafening as I said, with a little less vigor this time, “He won’t care.”
“So you stay with me,” Justice rumbled. “We’ll stop by the store and buy a blow-up mattress.” He looked at Tellings. “She can fill in for Pamela. She’s on medical leave while she recovers from her emergency C-section. That’s at least six weeks.”
I would’ve argued and told them I didn’t need a job, but the phone call with my father was over, and I felt like my soul had fled my body.
I had zero energy left after the day that I had, and I had a feeling that I hadn’t seen the last of The Judge yet.
God, he was such an ass.
What the hell had I done in my previous life to deserve him as a father?
A hand squeezed my elbow, and I looked over to Justice to see him staring at me with a look of pity on his face.
I yanked my elbow away and stiffened my spine.
That bastard would not do this to me in a room full of people.
I turned away and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Tanika can teach her how to man the front office,” Tellings said. “And we can keep her at this station and away from the main one. Less traffic over here, and less chance of Marcus deciding to come in off Eleventh Street and showing his ugly mug.”
That was when I rejoined the conversation.
“Why wouldn’t you want him to do that?” I asked him. “Parading myself around town is to use me as bait, right? Why wouldn’t you want me to do that?”
“Less collateral damage,” Tellings said bluntly. “More people to get hurt in case things go south.”
The brutal truth of those words sounded so much like my father’s that I winced.
“Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
Anything if it got me out of this situation alive, and unscathed. Bonus points if I got to work while I was at it and save up the money that I would require for me to leave.
With Marta back in the picture for now, I didn’t worry about if Jimmy would be okay or not. Marta would never let anything happen to him.
And maybe it was time to start thinking about me for once.Chapter 9
The neighbor said hi again. I’m just going to move.
-Justice’s secret thoughts
Justice
“So…” she said once we were pulling to a stop in front of her place. “A cop?”
I drew a deep breath into my lungs and wheezed the whole way through.
“A cop,” I agreed.
“What the hell?” she asked. “I thought you owned that shop on Eleventh. What exactly is that place?”
I held out my hand for her keys, and she rolled her eyes as she placed them into my waiting palm.
“I do,” I admitted. “Which was why I could so easily do what I did. Bought it when I first moved here. The previous owner sold it all, as is. Had to leave town fast. I scooped it up because of all the tools he had. Stuff that I wanted that I didn’t want to bring from my old place. Hell, I bought that place before I found a place to live. At first, I was staying in the apartment built into the back of it, but then I found my place and the rest is history.”
She sighed, and I could feel her breath hit the back of my arm as she did.
“I feel duped,” she said.
“Why?” I asked as I pushed her apartment door open and glanced around.
At first, I was too busy checking to make sure she didn’t have any unwanted intruders to really pay attention to the apartment. But when I was done and saw how neat and tidy everything was, I couldn’t help commenting on it.
“My father, The Judge, was meticulous about cleanliness. I didn’t, under any circumstances, want him having an excuse to ground me or anything. The less fuel I gave him, the better. As a result, I’ve always been a neat freak, not because I was one, but out of habit. Trust me when I say, my father was a real dick—still is for that matter—and keeping my room clean gave him one less bullet in his arsenal.” She paused and looked around. “I guess it’s just stuck with me even after I moved out. Now it’s one of those compulsions. I start to feel icky inside when I don’t have it clean, like I’m just asking for him to come over here and ruin my life over a sock I left on the floor.”
I grimaced and jerked my head. “Go get your shit going. Pack enough clothes to get you through the week. And grab your toiletries and stuff.”
