Page 35 of Reckless Vengeance

I figured honesty was the key with this conversation or she’d tell me to stay home and I’d look like an asshole for leaving.

“Mule had a problem with her neighbor that resulted in her door coming off the frame. I want to go and fix it to avoid squatters moving in or someone going through her stuff. It’s not safe to have an unlocked door in the Heights,” I replied, knowing Mule would hate her knowing, but needing Josie to know we weren’t out to steal cars or something.

“Your friend can stay here if she needs,” she offered, but I shook my head.

“She’s going to stay here tonight but it’s her home, Josie.”

Sighing, she gave me a look of defeat, knowing I was going regardless.

“There’s tools in the garage. Help yourself. Be careful, and call or text if you’re going to be longer so I don’t worry. I really wish you’d stay home.”

“We won’t be long,” I promised, closing her door to let her get back to her phone call.

“Why do all rich people want to take in the needy like stray dogs?” Mule grumbled as we made our way to the garage.

“Most do it to look good. Josie does it because she actually gives a shit. She does a lot of charity work that doesn’t get reported on, and that tells me she doesn’t do it for articles or whatever. She’s one of the good ones.”

“Do you remember when those rich assholes from Crestford came to Hawthorne Heights Middle School that day? It was supposed to be a barbecue and fun day with games and stuff?”

I scoffed, remembering it well. “The one where they showed up, had fancy photographers take photos of them spending time with us for five seconds, then left and sold the photos to every magazine and newspaper in the country to make them look good? Yes. I do remember that.”

“Why do they bother if they already have it all? It wasn’t like they needed the money from selling the photos.”

“Because despite having money, they always want more. More attention, more connections, more social status. It’s not like they have anything else in life,” I huffed, opening the internal garage door to start rummaging through tool boxes.

I thankfully found a drill to make things easier, and I also found a hammer and screwdriver, just in case.

“Are the screws bent?” I asked as I ran my eyes over multiple boxes of screws.

“There’s old doors on hinges in the backyard. We can take some from those if we need to,” she shrugged, pulling her keys from her pocket. “You sure this is safe?”

“No,” I chuckled, giving her the side-eye. “I’m carrying though. I’ll save you.”

“It’s not me that I’m worried about,” she muttered as we shut the garage door and moved through the house to the front door so we could leave.

I hesitated before pulling my phone out and calling Skeeter, knowing he was probably busy, but it couldn’t hurt to ask if he could come as backup. It also meant he couldn’t yell at me later for sneaking off to the Heights without telling him.

It rang out, so I tried once more but got his voicemail again.

“Proof I tried,” I sighed as I pocketed the phone and climbed into the passenger seat of Mule’s car.

The drive to the Heights was uneventful, and I winced when I saw the bent hinge. “Good thing I brought a hammer. It should flatten out.”

Mule blew out a breath and helped me hold the door while I unscrewed the hinges, then I carried them over to the sidewalk and started hammering them flat on the solid ground.

They weren’t completely flat by the time I was done, but they’d do the job.

Once the hinges were back on the door, Mule helped me hold the door straight so I could drill the screws back into the frame. It was challenging since part of the frame had split, but the drill made it a lot easier. Especially when we found some longer screws in the doors in her backyard.

“Thanks for this,” she mumbled as we shut and locked the door so she could test the key.

“It’s fine. It’s not like I did a great job, but it will hold,” I smiled, putting my things back in the car before joining her on the small porch again for a cigarette.

We’d only been gone forty minutes, so we still had time to get home before Josie worried.

A car pulled up out front and I reached for my gun, noticing the tense look on Mule’s face. She didn’t know who it was either.

She cursed when the door opened and Hunter climbed out, but I relaxed.