Ex-Con: Bad Boy Romance (5 page)

“Yeah.” I jerked a shoulder. “Cancer when I was in high school.”

“I’m sorry.” The words weren't rote. They were sincere.

Nodding, I focused on anything and everything but her. I couldn't take seeing pity on her face. I swung my knee back and forth, too much energy coursing inside me. I wanted to get up and pace. “Well, I guess I get why you need bodyguards.”

She smiled and I saw it then.

She had his smile. And his eyes, I realized. Those deep, vivid blue eyes were her father’s eyes. I didn't know why I hadn't seen it before.

My brain kicked in then, and I began to remember things I'd heard about her. There had been attacks on her life. Multiple attacks. Somebody had tried to kidnap her. Not once, but twice. There had even been something with a teacher. It'd been this elaborate scheme. The teacher had gone through the whole deal, applying for a position at the girl’s school, biding her time.

When she’d ended up in Carly’s class, she’d asked Carly to wait for a few minutes after class one day, and she’d attacked the girl. It had been a passing teacher who’d saved Carly's life.

I hadn't been following news about her, exactly, but because of my mom, I tended to absorb whatever I heard about Phoenix Prince. Including...

“Your mom. She still batshit crazy?”

Even as I said it, I wanted to kick myself. My stomach churned, and I felt like I was going to be sick. Fuck. Why had I said that?

The hotel suits looked appalled, but Ryan started to laugh and Jake looked mildly amused.

Carly reached across the table and caught my hands with hers. “Oh, honey, I think you and I are going to get along wonderfully.” She squeezed my fingers and then pushed back from the table. “You’re taking the job. Say you’re taking the job.”

She stood and walked past me. I forced myself to think and not stare at her legs.

The apology tripped out of me. “I...look, my head – I mean, my brain and my mouth, they aren't always connected right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Oh, please.” Carly rolled her eyes and shot me a rueful look. “Trust me. I’ve said much worse. Or at least, I’ve thought worse.”

That stopped me.

“What?”

Her eyes widened. “You think I don’t know what my own mother is like?”

For once, my brain worked and I said nothing.

Carly winked at me and then turned away. “Julio, if you could take your crew out, I want to talk with my new employee.”

Her new employee? When had that happened? I didn't remember agreeing to this. “Hey...hold up a minute.”

Nobody paid me any attention.

Julio started ushering his men out while Carly turned to Ryan. “We need to get Jake to the hospital. Can you take him while I go over things with Bobby?”

Ryan gave me an uneasy look, and my estimation of him rose. “Carly, I’m not so sure...”

“Now everybody just wait a damn minute!” I raised my voice so they'd listen.

To my surprise, everybody stopped and looked at me.

“I’m not taking the damn job.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the whole stupid lot of them.

“Don’t be silly.” Carly waved a hand at me, like I was some kid who'd said there was a monster hiding in the closet.

“Silly?” Lowering my voice, I took a step toward her. “You think I’m being
silly
? Sugar, you don’t know who in the hell it is you’re trying to hire to guard your cute ass. You might as well be hiring the fox to lie down with the chickens.” My accent thickened as emotion took hold.

Her forehead wrinkled. She looked confused. And adorable. I wanted to shake her.

And kiss her.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

I curled my lip at her. “You want a bodyguard, maybe you should get somebody a little more trustworthy, sugar.”

I turned and stormed towards the door.

“And just what’s wrong with you, Bobby Cantrell?” she called out after me.

I kept on walking. At the elevator, I stopped and looked for the down button. Then I scowled.

All I saw was a slot for what looked like a keycard.

Damn rich people.

Frowning, I looked over at Julio who was watching me with a slightly amused expression on his face. “You mind?”

Carly cut between us. “
I
mind.”

I leaned down so my face was only a few inches from hers. “Sweetheart, there’s a word for keeping people against their will.”

“Yeah? What are you going to do? Call the police and tell them that I’m trying to offer you a job and you don’t want it?” She rolled her eyes. “Cry me a river...
sweetheart
.” She drawled the last word.

I opened my mouth, only to shut it with a snap a second later.

Straightening, I jammed my hands in my pockets as I deliberated about just how to handle her.

It came to me then. There was a beautifully simple way to end this, and all it required was the truth.

Skimming the room with a quick look, I finally settled my gaze on her. “You should probably know, I’m not exactly between
projects. I fudged the truth a bit on that. I just got let go from my last job and haven’t even started looking for my next one.”

“Okay.” She smiled wider. “Sounds like this will be perfect then.”

I gritted my teeth. This woman was impossible.

“No. See, it wasn’t the boss. He liked me, appreciated my work, appreciated my willingness to work hard. But some of his clientele didn't like my background.”

I watched her closely. From the corner of my eye, I could see her two suits as well. I saw a flicker flash across Jake’s face, saw how Ryan’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Didn’t surprise me. I had a feeling at least one of them had already put it together.

“But in the end, he had to make a choice. It was his business, or me.”

“Why?” Carly stared at me, clearly baffled.

“Because I’m a convicted murderer.” I smiled at her, slowly. I took no pleasure from the way her face went pale, nor did it please me to see how dark her eyes suddenly seemed, but I continued on. She needed to hear this. With what was supposed to be an uncaring shrug, I said, “I’ve been out about a year. I did nine years of a fifteen-year sentence. And, yes, before you can ask, I am guilty. I killed a man. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Carly continued to look at me, her eyes all wide and dark...and scared.

That bothered me. I couldn’t hide it from myself. Knowing that I’d scared her hurt me.

But I didn’t let it show.

I just stared right back and gave her a cocky grin while I was at it. It didn't mean anything, but I wanted the others to think it did. I needed them to make sure Carly was protected from herself.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ryan and Jake exchange glances. After a few more seconds, Jake leaned closer, nodding his head toward the hotel suits, and then Ryan nodded.

Jake started toward me and I braced myself for some manhandling. I wouldn't even resist, I told myself. No matter what they did.

But Jake cut around me as if I wasn’t even there.

“Julio, perhaps one of your men could drive me to the nearest hospital? Ryan needs to stay with Carly.”

There was a low conversation that passed between them. I could have listened in, but I was too busy watching Carly. I'd wanted her scared enough to get her to understand why I couldn't be here, be near her. And I hated that I'd succeeded.

She was still staring at me. She licked her lips and it hit me. I wasn’t going to be able to follow through on that kiss. That sucked, but I knew it was for the best.

As the elevator door swung open behind us, I turned, intending to join Jake and Julio and Company.

Ryan blocked me. “What’s the hurry?” He gave me an easy smile.

“I think I’ve worn out my welcome,” I said, not bothering to hold back the edge of temper cutting into my voice. I could feel my head starting to throb. I just wanted to get home and lose myself in sleep.

“Oh, don’t worry. Jake or I will let you know when that happens.” He clapped me on the shoulder, not too subtly nudging me back from the door. “Carly, I don’t know about you, but I'm starving.”

Carly’s silence seemed to be all the answer he needed. As Ryan pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket, he shot me a look. “You like burgers?”

I stared at him. What was he talking about?

Ryan’s smile was friendly. “It’s not a hard question, man. Beef, cow, you know?”

“Suck my dick,” I suggested. I wasn't in the mood to be jerked around.

“I’ll take that as a maybe. Preferred it dressed or plain?”

Since the man was clearly not going to be dissuaded, I just sighed. “Dressed.”

As he busied himself on the phone, I moved back to the window. The glow of the lights was one I didn’t think I’d ever tire of. It was a great view.

“Who was it?”

Carly’s question caught me off guard.

I closed my eyes. “Does it matter?”

“Somebody died. How can that not matter?”

Such a simple statement. So very true.

“He was an asshole. An abusive asshole. He beat on his girlfriend. He beat on his mother. He beat on the whores he hired. He beat on the people who were late paying him money. He beat on anybody who crossed him. He tried to beat on me once, and I kicked his ass.”

“Is...” Carly hesitated and then continued, “Is that why you killed him? Because he hurt you?”

“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. I glanced down at her. “Derrell, he wasn’t worth that. He wasn’t worth much of anything, really. Just a punk. A trouble-maker. He was a dealer. I was a...” I paused, taking my time with how I finished that statement. “I was a problem solver. I was always good with my hands. Strong. Fast. We worked for the same guy. I didn’t mess with the drugs, but if there was a problem, somebody who owed money, or somebody causing trouble, I was the one who got called. But the man in charge, one day, he told me to go after this woman. She was young. Owed him money. She had a daughter. A little girl. He said...”

I closed my eyes and leaned in until I could press my forehead to the window. I felt Carly watching me. I didn't want to tell her, but she'd asked, and if this was how I could get her to understand why I needed to go, then I'd say it.

“He told me to grab the girl. Use her if I had to. I wouldn’t do it. I grabbed the little girl from her bus stop, took her to her grandmother’s, then called the mom. Gave them money. Told them to leave town, all three of them. They did. He found out. Said he’d send his boys after them, but she had a cousin in Texas who was a Ranger. She went right to him, and my boss, he knew better than to go down that road. I said I’d take her debt, but that wasn’t good enough. He tried to send Derrell after me. Derrell, he said he’d do the job right. Do it the way I should have done it.”

My heart was racing and I could taste the acrid tang of fear in the back of my throat. My time inside might've hardened me, but this memory still gave me nightmares.

I took in a deep breath. Let it out slowly. “I had a little girl. Or I was going to. My girlfriend, she was pregnant. I got there just as Derrell was tying her up. And I killed him. Then I called an undercover cop I knew. He'd been looking for dirt on my boss for a while, tried to turn me, but I'd told him no. This time, I told him I’d give him dirt, but he had to take care of my girlfriend, the baby.”

I looked back at Carly.

Dammit. She was crying. Big, silent tears dripping down her cheeks and I flushed.

“Don’t go crying about me.” The words came out harsh and ugly.

“But–”

“Don’t!” I snapped. “I almost got my daughter killed. I don’t even know where she is now. All because I had to take the easy way out. I don’t deserve any fucking tears.”

“If you took the easy way, you would have just grabbed that little girl to begin with!” Carly threw the words at me like a challenge. Her eyes were glittering, but it wasn't all sadness now. She was angry.

Ryan cut between us before I could say anything else.

“Hey. Truce.” He lifted his hands and when his eyes moved from Carly’s to mine, there was an appraising sort of look there that made me want to squirm. “Sounds like you’ve been down a rough road there, Bobby.”

I sneered at him. “Yeah? Well, it’s my road. I can walk it just fine.”

“No denying that.” Ryan angled his head. “Doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to sit down and take a break every now and then. Come on. Sit. Have a burger. A drink. We can talk.”

***

I was so tired, and the thought of going back out into that fucking cold in just a worn out coat and my flannel, walking the miles still left between me and home made me want to shudder. The tread on my shoes was paper thin, and my feet were already hurting from the walk into town earlier, but I was pretty much broke, so walking was my only option. I wasn’t going to waste the extra money Frank had given me out of pity. It would cover rent and food – not bus fare.