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As he drove the road home, he thought about the fact that he wouldn’t have this place, wouldn’t have this life, if not for Penny. He was glad he got to show it to her.
He was... He was just glad.
The farmhouse was modest, probably nothing like what she was used to living in with the Kings, and so was his shop. He was proud of them. They were things he’d worked for. Things he’d worked up to.
He couldn’t fault Denver King for what he was doing, not really, but the simple truth was, the man still made money by gambling. At least that was the rumor. That he did big on poker tournament circuits. That he had taken his father’s ill-gotten cash and multiplied it. And sure, he had done a fair bit of giving it all back out, but even so.
Jude had opinions about it.
Penny’s sensible car pulled up beside his motorcycle, and he got off the bike as she stepped out of the sedan.
He took his helmet off as she shook her gold curls.
“This is really nice,” she said, looking around, a smile on her face. Of course she was as sweet as she had ever been.
“So tell me, what have you been doing all this time?” he asked. “Not just the overview.”
He looked at her, and he felt tension stretched tight in his gut.
She’d been fifteen and he was sixteen last time they’d seen each other, but he had never forgotten the way that she made him feel. When he’d been a teenager and the endless ache for her had been consuming. He had stayed awake at night dreaming about kissing her, knowing that he shouldn’t. That he couldn’t.
He’d given in the night everything had gone to hell. Elias King had been out of the picture for a few years. After a job gone wrong had gotten Sheena’s dad killed, he’d gone to jail and Denver had taken over King’s Crest. But on his release, he’d come sniffing around to get his old gang back together, and together they’d gotten.
And back into running drugs in a big way.
That was when Penny’s dad had gotten arrested.
Penny had been beside herself.
He’d only meant to hug her but he hadn’t been able to resist.
Then the Kings had come to collect her, and at first, he had been angry. Terrified.
It was Denver who had knelt down, hat in hand, and said he owed her a place to stay. He’d told her even though Elias had gotten out of jail, even though he’d managed to dodge the cops this time, he wasn’t welcome back at Four Corners and never would be. It was a safe space.
“How did you... What made you decide to go with them?”
He had never gotten a chance to ask that question before.
“With the Kings?” she asked.
“Yeah. You didn’t know them, and what you did know about them wasn’t any good.”
“I didn’t really have another choice. The trailer wasn’t mine. I would’ve been thrown out of it.”
“You could’ve come to live with me.”
He knew that wasn’t fair. Offering her a chance to live with him and his mother... It was no kind of life. His mom had her struggles, and she worked long hours in Mapleton as a waitress. She had gotten involved with Elias King because it meant a kickback of some of his supply. And his mom needed a little chemical help to feel good. She had been a good woman. But life hadn’t been kind to her.
He knew it wasn’t a fair thing to ask Penny. Hell, he wouldn’t have invited her, even then. Because it wouldn’t have been a soft place to land, and Penny really did deserve soft.
“I wanted something different,” she said, the words honest but painful all the same.
“You figured it was worth the risk?”
“He told me he would pay for my college. You know that’s the only way... It was the only way I was ever going to be able to make my own life.”
“And what is it you do with your college degree?”
