Chapter 37
37
Jake
I turn, slow, careful.
Frank, who I saw almost six weeks ago when I went to pay him a visit, looks about ready to explode.
With good reason.
“Frank. Oh my god, you’re home? You’re home. You’re home!” Kit races over to him and throws her arms around him. They hug long enough to give him time to lower his head and put his cheek against her hair and then lift it up to give me a death glare.
I’m a dead man. There’s no question about it. Frank’s close to my height and much wider. Clearly he’s been lifting inside. He looks harder, too, around the neck, the jaw. He’s got so much ink now I’m shocked his face isn’t covered.
Then again, Frank was always one of the smart ones. He knew perception was everything. Knew he’d get out one day and need to get a job. He took classes in prison, studied his ass off, got a fucking law degree. Not that you’d guess it to look at him.
After a moment, he loosens his sister’s hold and sets her away from him, eyes on mine like missiles to their target. Steady and sure. He doesn’t even have to threaten. Hell, I know I’m in the wrong. I shouldn’t have done this. Any of it.
He doesn’t want me with his sister. He’d want someone better.
“Brother,” he says in that way that makes me wonder where he’s hidden the shiv and what part of my body he’ll strike.
“Good to see you, Frank.”
“Yeah? Then what the hell are you doing over there?” For a handful of seconds, I watch him, not understanding what he means in the slightest. Then he moves and I tense up for the blow I know is coming.
He grabs me in a bearhug that’s so fucking tight I figure he’s opted for the less popular option of crushing me to a powder. But then he’s slapping my back and telling me he’s so fucking glad to see me and he sounds choked up.
It takes me a sec to give in and hug him back. It’s probably the lack of sleep and all the shit that’s gone down in the last day, but when he pulls away, emotion clogs my sinuses in a way I don’t usually let it. I look down.
Silence.
When I glance back up, his eyes are swinging from me to Kit and back again. “So what’s the deal here? This a thing?”
Kit looks over at me and back to him without speaking.
“I’d like that,” I finally say. “I’d like this to be…something.”
“Whoa. You two just figuring it out?”
She gazes at me, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s new.”
“This mean you’re moving here?”
My brows go up. “Got a contract in a couple days.”
“You’re leaving?”
“No.” As soon as I say it, it’s the truth. “I’m staying.”
“Nice.” He gives an evil grin. “Fucking worked.”
“What worked?” Kit asks.
“My plan. Been waiting for you and that prick to break up.” He slaps me on the back, hard. “Told you Jake was the best guy I know.”
“Jesus Frank,” Kit mutters, shaking her head at me with big eyes, which suddenly, go wider. “Wait. How are you here? You didn’t like, bust out or anything did you?”
Frank laughs. “Fuck, no. I’m on parole. It’s official.” His face goes slack and I feel his shock in my bones. “I’m a free man.”