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“I…I…” Willow’s face has fallen and tears dampen her amethyst eyes, shivering on the edges of her lashes. Liam is tired of her tears.
He steps to his bedside table and pulls phone from the drawer, tossing it on the bed. “Make your fucking calls and get out. I’ll be back later. Be gone.”
He turns his back on her and slams out of the apartment. And pretends he doesn’t hear the sob she tries to hold in as he leaves.
Liam takes the stairs two at a time and pushes through the double doors at the bottom. When he steps onto the sidewalk he realizes he doesn’t have any idea where’s he’s going. He looks at his watch and realizes it’s too early for the bar, they’re not even open. With a sigh, he turns toward the diner. If he can’t have beer, he’ll have to make do with pie for the time being.
Stepping into the steamy diner air, Liam slides into onto one of the stools lining the counter and accepts a cup of hot coffee from the waitress. He gestures toward the pie case and holds up two fingers. Sipping on his coffee, he watches as the waitress slices two generous pieces of pie and slides them onto a plate. She sets the plate in front of him, hip cocked to the side, eyebrow raised, as he digs his fork into the flaky crust and shovels cherry into his mouth. Cherry. Suddenly, he’s not hungry. He drops the fork and pushes the plate away, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Tossing a few bills onto the counter, he’s making his way out of the diner when someone leans out of a booth and stops him. It’s his little, round landlord. Liam shakes the man’s hand off his arm roughly.
“Hey, you,” the little man says, “you got that girlie in your place. You better watch for her, yes? She be nothing but big trouble for you.”
“I don’t think I need your advice, old man.”
The landlord chuckles. “You need or not, you listen me. She trouble. Always girls like her trouble. I know that type. Take you heart, then take you money. Better you leave her alone.”
“Just stick to landlording.” Liam turns and marches out of the diner. Damn it. The landlord is right. She’s trouble. He can’t even enjoy his fucking pie anymore because of her. And now he’s broke, because of her. Liam digs into his jacket pocket and pulls out the card Tony gave him the day before. He studies it carefully, considering his options. He has no options. This is his only one.
He’ll call Tony, get one good paying job, give half the money to Willow and then he’ll take the other half and disappear. She can go one way and he’ll go the other. He pulls a phone out of his pocket and thumbs open the screen, punching in Tony’s number. It rings three times before someone picks up.
“Hey. It’s Blacke. You still got a job for me?”
Chapter Seventeen
Liam
Tony is sitting in a booth in the back corner of the bar when Liam walks in. He lifts a hand and waves Liam over. Liam holds up a finger and makes a detour to the bar. He buys a couple of beers and picks his way across the room to the booth. He drops onto the cracked leather and slides one of the beers across the chipped table at Tony. He tilts his head back and takes a long, deep gulp of his beer before wiping at his mouth and facing Tony.
“I knew you’d be calling me back,” Tony says with a grin.
“Don’t go getting cocky.” Liam says. “This is a one-time deal.”
Tony chortles into his beer. “That’s what they all say. But once a criminal, always a criminal. Tiger’s don’t go changing stripes, boy.”
“Okay, enough of the fucking chit-chat, Peters. What you got for me?”
Tony reaches down and pulls a manila envelope to the table. He lines it up neatly in front of him and rests his hands on top. When Liam reaches for the envelope, Tony tugs it back out of his reach. “Now hold on a second.”
“Tony, would quite fucking around? I’ve had my fill of drama for the day.”
“All right, all right. I just gotta tell you something first.”
“What? Spit it out.”
“This jobs for Carlo.”
Liam feels like all the air has been sucked from the room. His beer slips from his fingers and hits the table, tipping over and running in a foamy river across the wood. The bartender hurries over with a towel. Liam takes it and waves him off with a muttered ‘sorry’. He’s mopping up the beer and cursing himself for letting weakness show in front of Tony.
When the table is cleaned, Liam settles back into his seat and spears Tony with a look. “You couldn’t find me anything else? Carlo can’t be the only boss hiring these days. What about those MC boys from up north? Nothing from them?”
“Why you so scared of Carlo?”
Liam flings the beer wet towel across the table at Tony. “I’m not fucking scared of Carlo. I just don’t think we’d play well together.”
“Not like you ain’t never worked for him before.”
“Shut up about that.”
“I’m just saying…”
