Chapter 1
Levi
I’d always hated the rain as a child since it had meant being cooped up inside which, considering the household I’d grown up in, had been akin to torture.
But after having spent more than three years of my life not being able to do something as simple as feeling the rain on my skin if I wanted to, I doubted I’d ever have a problem with slogging through the torrential downpours or heavy blankets of mist that Seattle was dually known for.
Besides, it made the sensation of the sun warming my skin all the sweeter.
One good thing about the rain was that it meant I’d be less likely to encounter trouble once I set foot outside my apartment.
And by trouble, I was talking about actual Trouble.
With a capital T.
How the guy had figured giving himself the nickname “Trouble” would make him seem tough was beyond me, but apparently, he hadn’t relied on the stupid name alone to gain the street cred he’d needed to make a name for himself.
And clearly, I wasn’t the only one who thought the name was ridiculous because just about everyone called him T.
Even his big brother, Gun.
Yep, that was his actual name. Though I’d been told Gun was short for Gunnar which was a Swedish name.
Since I didn’t even know where to find Sweden on a map, I’d had to take my cellmate Hank’s word for it that Gun’s stark blond hair, sharp blue eyes and burly body were proof of his Scandinavian heritage.
Not that any of that had mattered whenever Gun had cornered me in the shower.
I shivered as the memories washed over me and automatically scanned my surroundings again as I hurried down the sidewalk.
T, whose real name I’d heard through the rumor mill was Hugo, might not be as big as his older brother, but he was proving to be no less dangerous.
A lesson I’d learned within a month of walking out of Washington State Penitentiary after serving three and a half years of a five-year drug possession sentence.
T had been waiting for me outside my apartment building.
To this day, I still had no clue how he’d found me and when he’d shoved me up against the side of the building and slugged me, I hadn’t even known who he was.
It had only been when he’d dragged me into the alley next to my building, pushed me to my knees and told me he had a message for me from Gun that I’d realized I’d walked out of one hell and into another.
That had been a year ago.
I’d been at T’s mercy ever since.
Except for when he was in jail. I kept hoping he’d be collared for something serious enough to send him to prison, but life wasn’t proving to be that kind.
At most, he was gone for a couple of weeks at a time, once for an entire month.
Every time I’d think maybe it was finally safe to take a deep breath, I’d round a corner and there he’d be.
Of course, it was no less than I deserved.
It was one of the many reasons I never prayed for things to change, though Father O’Shaughnessy had assured me repeatedly that God would be listening when I was ready to talk.
I’d believed that line when I’d been a na?ve kid begging God to bring my mother home or asking Him to make my dad and my older brother Ricky stop using drugs and alcohol long enough to keep from using me as their personal punching bag… and worse.
I didn’t believe in much anymore and especially not in things I couldn’t see or feel.
And even on the off chance that Father O could convince me that the same higher power existed who’d ignored so many pleas that night seven years ago, my own included, I wouldn’t be wasting His time asking for forgiveness for everything I’d done.
I didn’t deserve it.
Not from Him.
Not from the young man I’d helped make suffer in the cruelest of ways.
No, T was my well-earned penance. I deserved everything he did to me and then some. If I wasn’t such a fucking coward, I’d walk into the nearest police station and finally do what I should have done seven years ago.
Only, it wasn’t just about me anymore.
I found some relief from the rain when I reached the bus shelter.
On most days, I’d just walk the fifteen blocks that took me from home to St. Anthony’s or work, but I was already running late after having had another row with Dina this morning.
Our conversation had been proof that I needed to give up the evenings I spent at St. Anthony’s before I headed to work, but I was struggling with the idea of no longer volunteering at the soup kitchen Father O ran.
Letting T punish my body did nothing to ease the burden on my soul.
I knew helping feed a few dozen homeless people night after night wasn’t much, but it was one of only two bright spots in my life and I wasn’t ready to give it up yet.
Though, if Dina had her way, giving up one bright spot was the only way to keep the other one.
Thankfully, the bus was on time and was mostly empty, so I didn’t have any trouble finding a seat.
“Hi Carl,” I said to the driver with a nod as I slid my metro card through the reader.
“Wasn’t sure I’d see you this afternoon,” the older man said. “It’s barely even drizzling out.”
I nearly smiled at that because it was most definitely more than drizzling, but for Seattle, the steady rain, though light, was pretty much a part of the city’s landscape, just like the Marketplace and the Space Needle.
Only tourists would feel the need to escape the weather, either by using an umbrella or sticking to indoor activities .
“Running late,” I explained. “How’s Clarice?”
Carl snorted. “Wants me to take her to the opera for our fortieth anniversary,” he groused. “Says I need to wear a monkey suit and everything.”
I chuckled. “Better do it,” I suggested. “Forty’s a big deal.”
“Thirty-nine years of dinner at the Olive Garden suddenly ain’t fancy enough for her anymore,” the older man muttered. “Damn woman.”
I patted the man on the shoulder. “Don’t forget to get her flowers and act like you’re picking her up for your date,” I said with a smile before going to the first seat and dropping down into it. Carl grumbled something before swinging the door closed and getting the bus moving.
A chill swept over my body as the warmth of the bus clashed with my wet clothes.
Not a good day to have forgotten my jacket, which would have at least offered a bit of protection from the weather.
For as late as it was in spring, Mother Nature didn’t seem willing to completely let go of winter just yet.
Exhaustion settled into my limbs as the gentle motion of the bus had me seeking out the corner of the seat.
I let my head loll against the window as I watched the scenery roll by.
Rush hour was starting to pick up so the bus moved at a snail’s pace, giving the warmth from the heater a chance to settle over me.
Before I knew it and against my wishes, my eyes rolled shut and I was dropped right back into the same nightmare I’d been re-living for the last seven years.
Seven years earlier
“Levi, you got that?”
Before I even had a chance to nod, Ricky’s open hand slapped the side of my head.
“Stop that fucking daydreaming, you little shit!” Ricky snapped.
I managed to dodge his next slap, which only served to enrage my brother more and he shifted his whole body so he could lean over the car’s front bench seat into the back and grab me by the hair.
“You fuck this up for me…” he warned .
“I won’t!” I cried out as tears stung my eyes. “I promise, Ricky.”
I held perfectly still as he studied me. It was pitch dark in the car, but it still felt like he could see everything in my eyes. Hell, if he’d been hanging onto my arm, he would have felt how cold I was, as well as the tremors that were violently wracking my body.
Ricky shoved me away and I quickly slunk to the corner of the backseat so I was just behind the driver’s seat. It wouldn’t stop Ricky from getting to me if he really wanted to, but the farther away I was from him, the easier it would be to get ahold of myself.
I wanted to laugh at that.
Who the fuck was I kidding?
I was about to commit so many crimes, I’d easily spend the rest of my life in prison. The idea actually appealed to me for the briefest of moments because it meant getting away from Ricky and my father. But with my luck, they’d stick Ricky in the same cell with me.
The car started moving again and I clenched my fingers around the gloves and black ski mask in my hand.
Light from the overhead street lamps illuminated the car every dozen feet or so, giving me a partial view of the man driving.
Ricky had only introduced him as Jed. I guessed him to be a few years older than Ricky, which put him in his mid-twenties.
The guy hadn’t spoken to me at all, which was fine by me since he scared the ever-loving shit out of me.
Whereas Ricky ran hot and lashed out when he was pissed off, I got the impression Jed was the opposite.
Quiet, cold, lethal.
I turned my head so I could watch out the window.
I hadn’t paid much attention to where we were going when Ricky had forced me into the car after telling me I was helping him with a job.
Since I knew what kind of “jobs” Ricky did, I’d tried to tell him no, but all that had done was earn me a punch to the side of the head that had left my ears ringing.
It wasn’t until we’d stopped in a gas station’s abandoned parking lot a few minutes ago that Ricky had explained my role in what he’d said would be a simple burglary if I could just keep my shit together.
Apparently, the guy we were going to rob was loaded and we had just one goal when we got to the man’s house.
Find the wall safe where he kept loads of cash.