“Okay, you’re going to come to The Lions? You’ll come and be on my team? Two-fifty mil and a hundred to sign?”
He nodded slowly. “I will, but I have a few conditions.”
Of course he fucking did. My chest deflated a fraction. I should have known this wouldn’t be straightforward. “Okay.”
“I don’t give a shit about the money, I have enough of it. I want you to do something else for me instead.”
I scratched through my stubble. My breath was lodged somewhere between my lungs and my throat, trying to figure out what he was about to ask, but we both knew I’d give him whatever he wanted. “Okay. What am I about to agree to?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned and stared out across the ocean. From this distance, the vast cargo ships travelling over to China looked like Legos. Down on the beach below us, a couple of dog walkers were getting into a tangle, trying to separate their dogs from each other before storming off in separate directions.
“I’m guessing that with your family you have resources you can tap into, ones I don’t have so readily available.”
Consider my interest piqued, because I had no idea what direction this was about to head.
“Yes, I guess so.”
“I need you to find someone for me.”
I frowned. “Find someone? Like a long lost kid or something?”
He rolled his eyes but I had no idea why, because it was a legitimate question to me.
“No. A girl.”
“You want me to find a girl?”
“Yes, that’s what I just said, wasn’t it?”
The crease in my brow deepened. This wasn’t a problem that only I could help with. “Jupe, why don’t you just hire a P.I.?”
“Because I need more than just to find her.”
I looked at him and he sighed deeply; a resounding sigh of defeat, making me wonder how long he’d been carrying this around with him.
“Have you ever had someone in your life that is so intrinsically part of you, you don’t know who you are or who you would have been without them? They’re your first and last thought of every day. Every achievement, every win, you know it’s because of them, because you want to make them proud…” His voice trailed off. I wasn’t even entirely sure he still realized I was here, but I knew exactly what he was talking about... because he could have been talking about me… and Lowe.
“I do, yes,” I offered quietly.
His eyes shot to mine. “Really?”
“Yep,” I nodded. I wasn’t here to talk about me, but I did know how he was feeling, exactly how he was feeling. “Hurts like a motherfucker, amirite?”
“More than a four-seamer in the groin,” he groaned.
“So what happened to her?”
He shrugged. “We were kids and I fucked up. I haven’t seen her in fourteen years.”
I whistled low. “Shit, man, I couldn’t even imagine that.”
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. I had tried to imagine that on several occasions, that maybe it would be easier if Lowe wasn’t around, but I’d come to the conclusion that I was a glutton for punishment, and that being near her and knowing what she was doing was easier than wondering twenty-four-seven what she was up to.
“Yeah. Fucking sucks.”
“So you just want me to find her?”
He shook his head. “No, I need to win her back. I need your help to do it.”
