Page 308 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Just down the hall,” I said, inclining my head toward the door. “We won’t go far.”

I got to my feet. As soon as Jimmy turned my way, I caught his eye and flicked my head toward the hall. He stood, stalking past me like a sullen teenager. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that he was still a teenager. And with his grandmother in the hospital, his wallet God only knew where, and his cheek swelled up to twice its usual size, he maybe had good reason to be a little sullen. But he seemed to be twisting himself into knots over something, and I wasn’t going to let that slide. Whatever was upsetting him, bottling it up wouldn’t help.

But it turned out, I didn’t need to worry about getting him to open up. We walked through a set of automatic glass doors, and as soon as they closed behind us, Jimmy whirled around, his face crumpled in anger. “What’s your problem, man?”

“Okay, calm down,” I said. “I don’t even know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about Natasha!” he said, his voice rising. “You’re screwing up everything!”

A bud of irritation bloomed inside me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grumbled, defensive.

“I do so. Natasha told me what happened between the two of you on the drive over here. After she came all the way out there to get me,” he said pointedly.

I gritted my teeth. I was grateful she’d been there for Jimmy at that moment. I owed her one, but I didn’t have time to dwell on the status of my relationship—or lack thereof—with Natasha right now. “Look, Jimmy. You’re young. You don’t quite get everything that’s going on. But right now, my focus has to be on Dee. I don’t have time to deal with this Natasha situation.”

“Well, make time,” Jimmy snapped, surprising me. “And, sure, I may be young, but I’m not stupid, Trent. I have eyes and ears. You treated Natasha like absolute crap.”

“She wasn’t exactly a saint in return,” I muttered.

“She explained what her intentions were!” he cried. “She didn’t deliberately set out to hurt you! How could you even think that? What’s wrong with you?”

“Well, what the hell was I supposed to think?” I growled. “Mom had information that only Natasha could have known. And Natasha never said anything to me about meeting up with her.”

“You were supposed to think that you were jumping to conclusions like a dummy.”

I scowled. “She did it all behind my back, Jimmy.”

“She was trying to help! And you blew up at her like she’d killed your dog or something.”

I shook my head. This was getting ridiculous. “Okay, maybe I went a little⁠—”

“A lot!”

“—a lot overboard with what I said.”

Jimmy sneered, crossing his arms. “You think?”

“But what did she expect?”

“What did you expect?” he countered. “Why would you just assume she’d tried to sell you out?”

“Because that’s what people do,” I argued back. I’d been through this over and over with my parents, my exes… “People are always looking for a way to upgrade or get a payoff or step on some necks to get to whatever it is they want.”

“That’s what all people do?” Jimmy asked.

“Yes!”

“So that’s what I do?” he said. “And Paul? Dominic? Vincent? Aiden? All the guys who are currently sitting in that waiting room to support you? What about Nana Dee, is she always using people?”

I went to respond, only I had nothing to say, the words dying in my throat.

“And, hey, I don’t really remember Papa Davis—but if you’re right, then he must have gone around selling people out, too!”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, my chest aching at the memory of Papa Davis. Jimmy kept talking. “But you know that’s a load of bullshit! Of course Papa Davis didn’t do that because he was a good person. Like your friends. Like me…more or less. I guess I’m a pretty useless brother these days, but I’d like to think I’m a good person anyway.”

“You are,” I insisted. “And you’re not useless.”

“Great,” he said. “So, we’re agreed that good people do exist. People you can trust. People you can love without worrying about getting screwed over by them.”