4. Jackson #2
“Fine.” Her hands shook as she returned her attention to dusting.
I fought the urge to turn her face back to me and figure out if she was reacting to the situation—high adrenaline, pissed about getting bossed around—or me and my hands on her.
There were more pressing things to focus on. Like figuring out where Sue was hiding out. I hadn’t kept track of her old associates, but I drove past a few places hoping to see the Chevy Iris had described yesterday.
Three hours later, I’d found nothing but frustration.
When a question wormed its way to the front of my mind, I went looking for Hunter. The act felt familiar; I’d done it too many times before he’d been arrested this last time.
It didn’t feel like it used to, though. For one, he was easy to find. He was on Cole’s couch, laptop in his lap. Cole was nowhere to be found. I figured that was best, since I didn’t need any witnesses to what I was about to ask. I shouldn’t have been asking it in the first place.
“What are you doing?” My eyes tracked to his left arm. No bruising, needle marks, or anything else. I wondered how long it would take before I stopped waiting for them to show up.
“Filling out job applications. It’s a pain in the ass. Why do they want me to give them the same information three times and then take a fucking personality test to work in a goddamn kitchen?”
Unease curled through me at Hunter’s words. A kitchen was good; restaurants didn’t care about a criminal history or visible tattoos. But kitchens were also notorious for drug use, and that was the kind of crowd he should be avoiding.
With another uncomfortable twinge, I took a deep breath. “Are you still in touch with your old buddies?”
Hunter’s face dropped. “Man, I told you I’m done with those idiots.”
“I know, I know…fuck.” I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers. I wanted to believe him. I felt like believing him was the dumbest thing imaginable.
He was the only person I knew who might have the connections to figure out where Sue was holed up.
“What is it?”
“I’ve got to get Iris out of my house; she’s driving me nuts. Which means I need to find her mom.”
He smirked. “Thought you always wanted to get her in your house.”
“It’s not…it can’t be like that.”
“Travis wouldn’t care.”
“You think this is about Travis’s feelings?
Fuck that, he’s a grown man.” I leaned against a wall and stared at Hunter.
He was only two years younger than me. Before he fell in with the wrong crowd, he’d tagged along on more than one of mine and Travis’s adventures; he’d once been my friend as well as my brother.
It was one of the reasons looking at him hurt so badly.
But that was all back before our parents died in a car accident and I was suddenly in charge of two teenagers. Sure, we had extended family around to offer help here and there, but they’d all had their own lives and worries.
I’d been sucked into the responsibility. Hunter had gotten deeper into addiction. We’d both tried to shield Cole as much as possible.
But now Hunter was trying. Really, truly trying to straighten up, not just paying lip service.
Maybe Iris and Cole were right, and I was being too hard on him.
So I dipped a toe back into our old, friendlier relationship.
“Iris doesn’t know that Travis and I ran her mom off after her dad’s funeral.
” This wasn’t the whole of it, but it was the beginning.
He shrugged. “So tell her. Y’all did that girl a favor. She might not mind, especially if her mom’s causing trouble now.”
Her words floated back to me. Her running off like that…that was the worst thing she ever did. “She’d mind.” She’d be furious if she knew everything.
I’d felt like shit for weeks afterward, when Iris’s eyes welled up with tears every time the topic of her mom came up. She’d look at me or Travis and say, Didn’t she love Daddy even a little bit? And I knew she was really asking, Didn’t she love me?
My stomach still tied itself in knots anytime I thought about it. But when Sue showed up again, a little over a year later, Travis was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, and I paid her to leave Oakdale Springs before Iris caught sight of her.
Because the way Iris got when her mom was in town?
It was even worse than watching her be heartbroken after her mom left.
Taking every little word as a sign that Sue had seen the light and changed her ways, talking herself into ignoring every red flag, even while her reasoning mind knew she should be more cautious.
Jumping at every hint that Sue wanted to spend time with her.
Then, when she woke up and Sue had inevitably skipped town again, she’d spend weeks obsessively checking her phone, hoping for a message that never came.
So I’d done it again a year later.
The year after that, Travis had been the one to pay her off. He must have given her more than I did, because she stayed gone for a while.
But I paid her off again only eighteen months ago.
Iris seemed to be a little less at her mom’s beck and call now, but I wasn’t about to feed her to the wolves. Not when Sue was acting so out of character.
“So you’re just gonna run Sue off and keep your trap shut, is that it?” Hunter scoffed. “Typical.”
“You got a better idea? One that doesn’t involve Iris getting her heart broken—or worse?
Sue went after her yesterday, you know. Iris had to physically remove her from the house.
” Every time I thought about that, thought about the fact that some random guy had been a minute away and could have shown up to do god knew what, my blood ran cold.
Hunter’s eyes widened in shock.
“Yeah,” I said grimly. “Why do you think she agreed to stay with me? She’s spooked.” Sue needed to go, whether I told Iris the truth or not.
“Then what are you doing here?” Understanding, along with hurt, darkened Hunter’s eyes. “Oh. You were hoping I’d roll right out of prison and in with my old crowd, so I could hand you some information on a silver platter?”
I shifted uncomfortably. “Not exactly. I don’t want you back in with those folks, but if you were…”
“If I were, you’d take advantage. Look, I like Iris.” He made a face. “Even if those steaks she brought over last night were overcooked, it’s the thought that counts.”
Yeah, I couldn’t defend what Iris had done to those poor, defenseless steaks.
“She’s always been nice to me,” Hunter continued, “and last night she seemed happier to see me than you’ve been in the last, oh, five or six years.”
His words lanced into my chest. Had I been that much of an asshole?
“For her sake, I’ll put some feelers out, but shit, dude. I had enough time in the clink to figure out I never want to go back there again. I don’t want to live that life.”
“Easy to say, twenty-four hours out,” I muttered before I could think better of it.
“You can bitch about my past, or you can use my connections, but you can’t sit here and do both at the same time.” He took several deep breaths. “You bitch at me for lying, but I’m trying to live honestly now, and here you are, talking out of both sides of your mouth.”
His words hit me square in the chest. Guess he’d had time to do more than work out; he’d done some thinking, too. “Sorry. You’re right. I’ll quit bitching, and I’d appreciate it if you could put feelers out, if it won’t make things harder for you. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”