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He throws his head back and laughs once more. A warm feeling slices through me, despite knowing I’ll need to avoid him in the future. He’s the kind of man that could be dangerous to a girl like me. Not because he’d break my heart, but because I could break his. Once he found out who I am and what I do, he’d walk away, and I wouldn’t stop him. Not everyone is born to live in the shadows or on the fringes of acceptable society.
“Lock the door behind us. It will keep anyone from just waltzing in. I’ll knock when I’m done,” Hank tells me quietly before leading Law out and closing the door behind them.
I flick the lock and head to the desk, sitting in the seat Hank just vacated before pulling out my cell and calling Sugar.
I kick up my feet on the edge of Hank’s ridiculously messy desk and wait for Sugar to pick up.
“Reese. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I made contact today. Thought I’d ride down and get a vibe of the place, see what my welcome would be like, just in case I needed to work another angle.”
“And?”
“It was like coming home, only not. It’s hard to explain.”
“No, I get it. The place is the same, but you’re not. You were always destined for more than living on the streets, kid.”
I smile at the term kid. She used to call me that a lot in the beginning. Not for a while now, though. Seems me coming back has brought memories up for both of us.
“Normally, you girls would go in undercover, but that won’t work here. We spent a long time making sure Malice was dead. I’m worried reviving her will bring with it old ghosts too.”
“Perhaps, but what choice did we have?”
She grumbles, but she doesn’t argue. I know if she had any other options, she’d have taken them.
“Will it expose you too much? I don’t know if being there alone is wise when we don’t know what we’re dealing with. You are my most skilled fighter, but some of the bodies recovered were big fucking guys, Reese. Guys that should have been able to overpower a single abductor.”
“So either they are heavily armed, or there is more than one.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, that’s kind of what I want to talk to you about. There are people here who I know would have my back, no questions asked, but I’d need to let them in on what’s going on. At least some of it.”
She’s quiet for a minute, thinking over my words.
“You trust them.”
“With my life.”
“Even after all this time? You know, they could have changed. You did.”
“And I’d still have their backs if they needed me. I can’t explain it, but cutting myself away from this place was like amputating a limb. I knew I had to do it, and I still stand by my decision. But even though they weren’t a part of my life anymore, I could still feel them.”
“It’s your call here, Reese. We’re not dealing with blowing your cover and exposing The Candy Shop. You’re going in as a girl who escaped the streets. Who better to have your back than the ones who were there with you from the beginning?”
“It’s been a long time,” I warn her before she starts reading too far into it.
“And they welcomed you back.”
That shuts me up because she’s right, they did. No question about that. I walked through those doors, and they acted as if this was exactly where I was supposed to be.
“Exactly. You don’t need my permission for this. You’re smart, Reese. Trust your instincts. They’ve never led you wrong before.”
“I wish I saw myself the way you do,” I reply wistfully.
“We all wish we could see ourselves as others do. But the people we meet are just mirrors. Like attracts like, after all. If you say these are good men, then they are only drawn to you because they see the same goodness in you.”
“If that’s true, explain Dulce and the crazy bunch of men she has.”
