Page 43 of Cole

“A hole in the dirt,” I said sharply.

Finn flinched at my directness.

“I get it,” he finally said.

“No, I don’t think you do get it. You hear it, but you don’t get it. At least not yet.”

He stood still, very still, and at that moment, he looked seventeen. He was seventeen, but it was easy to forget just how young he really was. Hell, I felt older than I was by a decade.

“I told you last week to go ahead,” I said, finally admitting my fault in the whole thing. “You asked a question and I didn’t hear you. I agreed without knowing what you had planned. That’s on me. I’m sorry I put you in that position.” His eyes snapped to me like I had thrown him a life vest. “That doesn’t make what you did smart. It makes me distracted, but distracted or not, the only reason you’re alive tonight is because I paid for my end of the mistake.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak.

I shook my head. “I’m not done. If you ever bring my name up in a negotiation that I did not directly authorize, you’re done. If you try to make yourself look taller by standing on my name, you’re done. That doesn’t mean I yell at you again; that means you don’t get to come through this door again.”

His eyes watered, and I thought I might see him cry for the first time since his old man died.

“I want in the Hounds,” he said quietly.

“Then shut your mouth and learn,” I said before pointing to the door. “Go home and get some sleep. You have an early shift tomorrow.”

“Shift?” he asked, clearly confused.

“You’re going to do everything I ask, without complaint, for the next six months, and then maybe I can forgive you for the stunt you pulled tonight, or better yet, go back to school and beg them to forget you dropped out.”

Finn avoided my gaze and I knew that wasn’t an option.

“Ok then, I want you to sweep out the back alley tomorrow. I don’t want to see a single shard of broken glass or piece of garbage when you’re done.”

He nodded hard and added, “Thanks, Cole.”

“Go,” I said, because mercy starts to taste bad when it’s on your tongue for too long.

I slumped into my desk chair and ran a hand through my hair, jumping when my entire desk vibrated with a call from the burner tucked away in the drawer. Only one person called that line. I picked up the call.

“Bailey?”

I didn’t say a single word.

A sigh. “Still not ready to talk?”

I held my tongue longer.

“Ok, fine. But answer me this… if you’re never going to talk to me, why keep the phone?”

I hung up.

fourteen

ISABELLE

Eve’s boyfriend drove us out to the surprise party place in his truck. He was a billionaire’s son and had a car for every occasion. I’d grown up around the same kind of people as Beckett, and was more than a little jealous that he’d finally found the person who made him feel real. The difference in his smile was noticeable.

Today was Marcus’ surprise party, and I couldn’t muster up any excitement. However, I’d promised Eve I’d go and I wasn’t about to let her down. We were quite the incestuous little group: the hockey Ice Gods and the girls they were obsessed with. Despite my best efforts, I had no hockey-playing hunk to call my own, not for lack of trying. I’d hooked up with a couple of hockey players over the years, but it had always fizzled out. It turned out my tastes ran rougher than that. Like a certain biker.

Marcus’ surprise party was in a cabin in the woods. It wouldn’t be the first time the Ice Gods kept their party private, but I’d never seen this place before.

I got out of the truck and slammed the door, the sound echoing around the quiet forest.