Chapter 4
Her hands were clammy. Taryn was nearly hyperventilating by the time she pulled up in Big Pete’s drive.
It didn’t matter how much money he brought in, or how much he remodeled the old home he lived in, there was no getting around the fact that he was white trash.
She had detested him from the moment she saw him.
And she had made no bones about letting him know it, either.
Taryn couldn’t stop the shudder that ran down her back.
She didn’t want to be here, nor did she want to talk to Pete.
But she had already decided that she wouldn’t involve anyone else.
This was the path she had chosen. On the way there, she had decided not to call.
Showing up was better because there was less chance that he would turn her away.
She drew in a deep breath and opened the door before she changed her mind.
The minute she stepped out of her car, two men appeared seemingly out of nowhere to stand at the red front door.
While they didn’t brandish any weapons, she knew they had them on their person.
This wasn’t the first time she had been to Pete’s or encountered his muscle. If only it were.
She raised her hands by her head to show she was unarmed. “I need to see Big Pete.”
“You have an appointment?” the man on the left asked.
He and his partner’s penchant for steroids to help build their insanely large muscles made them brutes for sure—and not anyone she wanted to mess with. Taryn was certain that most people felt the same.
“I don’t. Please tell him Taryn Hillman wants to see him,” she called out, not wanting to get closer until she had to.
The guy on the right turned and opened the front door to step inside.
It closed behind him, leaving her with the other one.
Taryn wasn’t much for small talk, much less with someone she didn’t like.
She lowered her arms when they began to hurt and looked anywhere but at the muscle staring at her.
She took in the overgrown flower beds running along the house’s perimeter, the tree branches hanging too near the house that caused green mildew to grow on the white siding, and the immaculate, bright blue Corvette sitting in the driveway.
It took forever before the second man finally returned. He didn’t say anything, only nodded at his partner.
Lefty said, “Mr. Pete will see you now.”
Taryn nearly laughed out loud. Pete had really come a long way in the few years she’d been gone if they called him “mister” now.
She kept that to herself as she made her way to the house.
With every step, she wanted to turn and run the other way, pretend she was anywhere but here.
And yet, here she was, walking up to a house that gave her the willies, to talk to a man who made her want to puke, to ask for something that would likely take whatever freedom she got from Boyd.
Her knees knocked, and it took everything she had to keep her breathing relatively calm.
She was walking into a nest of vipers, and she needed to have her wits about her.
Before her current situation, she hadn’t known how to handle people like Big Pete.
But thanks to her time with Boyd, she learned quite a lot.
The moment she walked into the house, she wanted to cringe.
Just like the outside, someone had refurnished the inside, but the big dog chewing on the arm of the sofa, as well as the filth, cigarette trays, and beer cans everywhere, reaffirmed that money couldn’t fix everything.
Pete might have the cash to have nice things, but he and his .
. . friends . . . couldn’t take care of it.
They led her to the kitchen where it took everything she had not to gag at the horrible smell that assaulted her.
A young woman in a white negligee cheerfully cooked something that the dog probably wouldn’t even eat.
Taryn swung her gaze from the woman to find Pete sitting at the table with all kinds of drugs and money laid out before him.
He was only ten years older than Taryn, but he had a baby face that belied his age. That face now wore a sneer as he looked her over. She had known this was coming. It didn’t make it any better, though.
“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” Pete stated.
You need him. You need him. Remember that and stay calm. “Thank you for seeing me.”
Big Pete, who was actually barely above five feet tall and skinny as a reed, sat forward in his stained, white wife beater and cut-up jeans. His blue eyes narrowed on her. “You drive up after being gone for all these years, you bet I’m going to get your sweet ass inside.”
Remain calm. You need his help. Don’t let him rile you. They’re just words. Words can’t hurt you—not when freedom is so close at hand.
She held his gaze, waiting for him to say more.
Pete ran a hand over his close-cut blond hair as he sat back and laughed.
He crossed his bare feet on the chair near him, his soles black.
Behind her, Taryn could feel the eyes of the two men who’d brought her inside.
No doubt other armed men were in the house, as well. A nest of vipers, for sure.
“Your father was a good client,” Pete said with a smile. He lifted his hands and looked around the house. “Thanks to his constant need for drugs, I was able to get all of this.”
Taryn had expected this comment. The first time she’d met Pete was when she came to get her father, passed out from drugs.
Pete had told her that she could pay her father’s debt with sex, and she had slapped him.
It was an instinctive reaction that she immediately regretted since Pete and his goons could’ve easily killed her.
But if she’d thought that would anger Pete, she had been wrong. He liked that she had spirit.
And that had frightened her more than anything.
Because she knew people like Pete could do very, very bad things to her. That’s when she really started hating her father. If he had only dealt with his grief in another way, she never would have been exposed to such lowlifes.
Pete raised a barely visible brow on his pale face. There were only a few whiskers about, proving that he couldn’t grow a proper beard. His pale blue eyes unnerved her, but then everything about him made her want to bathe in hand sanitizer.
“Not interested in small talk, eh?” he asked, disdain filling his voice.
Taryn glanced at the floor and inwardly kicked herself. “My apologies. I’ve been traveling.”
“You got into town last night.”
Her heart clutched as she held his gaze. The fact that he had known she was in town didn’t sit well with her at all. “It was late. And I slept in this morning.”
“Where have you been, my beautiful flower?”
How she hated when he called her that.
Pete lowered his feet and stood. He looked behind her to the two men. “She’s stunning, isn’t she?”
“Yes, sir,” the one who’d spoken to her outside answered.
Pete walked to her and ran the backs of his fingers down her arm. “Your skin is so soft and pale, but during the summers in the sun, it turns a lovely bronze. And those eyes of yours. I’ve never seen a green like it.”
Taryn noted that the girl had stopped cooking and now stared at Taryn as if she were the devil herself.
Pete looked up at her, lust filling his visage. “You get more beautiful with age, Taryn.”
She took a half-step back to put some distance between them without being obstinate. Pete had always told her that he wanted her, and she knew she had to appeal to his ego. It was the way with men like him. “I came because you’re the only one who can help me.”
“Is that right?” he asked skeptically.
“It is.”
He studied her for a long minute as he leaned back against the table. “All right. I’ll bite. What is it you want?”
“I need half a million dollars.”
His eyes bugged out as he gaped at her, then he laughed and walked back to his seat. “You think I’m just going to give you that kind of money?”
“I’ll work for it,” she said, fisting her hands as she tried not to think of how he’d make her work for it.
“That’s assuming I give it to you.”
She raised her chin and took a long shot. “You will.”
He quirked a brow. “You’ve got some balls, woman. Why would I give you anything? Look at the way you’ve treated me. Hell, even now.”
“I always squared my father’s debts with you. Always.”
Pete seemed to think about that and then nodded slowly. “That’s true. And you were timely, too.”
“We just need to negotiate how I pay you back.”
“Whoa,” he said, lifting his hands. “Hold up a moment. You’ve skipped some steps. Like finding out if I even have that kind of cash.”
And here’s where she went for it all. She had no choice. Because five years under Boyd’s thumb was enough. And it was time she did something and got herself and Payton out. “You do.”
“Is that right? What makes you say that?”
“Because if you didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Pete’s smile was slow as it spread across his face. “You’re fierce, woman. If you had a mind to do it, you could have your own business. Anyone you work for will make loads of money.”
“I’ve got another job at present that isn’t negotiable. That changes when I bring the money.”
He reached for a toothpick near him and speared one of the olives sitting on a plate. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed before he said, “So you say.”
“It’s the truth.” God, she really hoped it was. She didn’t want to think about being indebted to both Boyd and Pete.
“Sounds like you’re in a bit of a pickle.”
“Can you help me or not? I don’t have time for this.”
“If I don’t help, where else are you going to go? Perhaps to your old boyfriend? His family is well-off, but nothing like the Easts. Then again, you know that.”
Just the fact that Pete had brought up Jace made Taryn want to kick him in the balls. She fisted her hands in a bid to keep a lid on her temper, proving once more that she had learned a lot while working for Boyd. “I’m here with you.”
“So you are.” Pete laughed. “So you are.”
“Are you willing to negotiate with me?”
Pete stuck the toothpick into his mouth and crossed his arms over his chest. “The thing is, darlin’, I’ll want you to pay off the debt in my bed—or anywhere else I want your fine body. You can’t do that if you’re . . . otherwise employed.”
“As I said, that will be taken care of.”
Pete pulled a face. “And I’m just supposed to take your word for it?”
“I’ll pay it back with ten percent interest.” When Pete hesitated, she tried one more thing. “I’ll do anything. I’m desperate.”
“The last thing you should tell anyone you’re negotiating with is that you’re desperate,” he told her, though he had the look of a wolf about to go in for the kill.
“I don’t have a choice. I have to get this money, and my deadline is closing in. You’re the only one I know who can help. With our . . . past . . . you know I wouldn’t be here—begging—if it wasn’t serious.”
He nodded again. “That I do. Did your father put you in this position?”
“It doesn’t matter whose fault it is.”
“Actually, it does. That man doesn’t deserve you or your siblings. I told him a long time ago that he was dead weight, that he would pull all of you down. It wasn’t but a few months later that your entire family vanished.”
Taryn shifted uncomfortably, praying that Pete didn’t prod more. “Bad things happen to people all the time.”
“Why did you leave?”
“There was an . . . unavoidable situation.”
Pete pulled the toothpick from his mouth and tossed it onto the table. “Apparently, pretty bad if it caused all of you to leave. And yet, here you are once more. So, I’ll ask again. Why did you leave?”
“Men came for us,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Sit. Brandi over there is cooking dinner.
You’re going to join us. I have a feeling it’s going to take hours for us to hash out this .
. . negotiation. But you can start by telling me everything I want to know.
” Pete kicked out the chair next to him so she could take a seat.
Taryn knew this was her very last chance to leave.
She sank into the chair.