Page 83 of You're the Reason

He said you didn’t, and I need it in cash.

Seth leaned back and rubbed his eyes for a moment. Nothing worse than trying to have a conversation with his mom when she was in desperate need of a fix.

SETH

I’ll be by with food tomorrow, I’ll talk to him.

He turned his phone to Do Not Disturb, grabbed his things, and started toward the door. He dropped his keys and when he went to retrieve them his phone nearly slid out of his pocket. He snagged it, flipped off the lights, and headed outside, juggling the phone, a water bottle, the cash box, and keys as he locked up.

There was a missed notification on his phone. He must not have heard the chime with the incoming email. Oh right, it was still on Do Not Disturb. But with the twenty missed incoming texts from his mom, he wasn’t turning that off yet.

He tapped on the email and read it over as he walked toward his car.

It was a job offer. A real job offer from JBL, the company in California. The email explained that some of his references had come back slowly but after what people wrote, they had reconsidered. Seth set the cash box and water bottle on top of his car as he reread the email. There was no mistaking it. It was a real, honest job offer doing system analysis starting in two weeks.

He’d told Grace he didn’t want to stay in Heritage, but now staring at the opportunity to leave, it didn’t feel like he’d expected. Then again, what did he have here? Grace was leaving, and he couldn’t open the gym. Jon had dismissed the idea and said Seth would just take over in a year. But who wanted to trust their kids to a guy who had only been legally cleared months before?

He slid his keys into the lock just as movement off to the side caught his attention. Down along the side of the building, Gabe was talking to Zane. They appeared to just be talking, but there was something in the way they stood a couple feet apart that that set Seth’s senses on high alert.

He pocketed his phone and stomped that direction. When Zane saw Seth, his eyes widened. He tossed whatever was in his hand toward Gabe, but it landed on the ground.

Gabe bent over and picked it up. His obvious irritation seemed to melt into amusement as he spotted Seth. “It ain’t nothing he ain’t done.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Seth’s words nearly shook.

Zane’s gaze darted to him, then back to Gabe, who held the drugs out again to Zane. “Go ahead, take them.”

Seth snatched the bag from Gabe’s hands and shoved it in his pocket. He’d toss it on the ground, but the last thing he needed was another kid picking it up or a dog eating it.

“I knew you’d come around.” Gabe smirked at him. “That’s fifty bucks.”

“You said it was only ten.” Zane’s voice spoke from next to them.

Ten? No way that was just ten dollars. Gabe was grooming the kid to be a regular client, and he couldn’t even see it. Just like Seth hadn’t seen it. And probably like Gabe hadn’t seen it with whoever gave him his first.

“Zane, go home.” Seth’s voice had a steel edge to it that he didn’t even recognize. He might be angry now, but he was in the kid’s corner whether he knew it or not.

The kid hiked his backpack up a little higher on his shoulder, then hurried past Seth. His footsteps faded but Seth never took his eyes off Gabe.

When he was pretty sure the kid was gone, Seth grabbed the front of Gabe’s shirt and slammed him up against the brick side of the building. “If you ever?—”

Gabe pushed Seth back, his eyes extra wild. “Who do you think you are? Hammond’s new replacement?”

“I’m serious, Gabe. I see you talking to Zane or any other kid in this town again?—”

“And how are you going to see me? From what I’ve heard, you don’t plan on staying in town anyway.”

“So help me, if you sell one drug?—”

“You’re going to what? Kill me like you killed my brother?”

“Leave. I’m serious.”

“I don’t leave. You leave. Over. And over. As soon as someone lets you down—as soon as the cost looks too high, you quit. You quit the Ninja Warrior gig, you quit me, and I bet you already have plans to quit this town. The only thing you haven’t quit is your mother, and honestly, that’s the only thing you should quit.”

“Leave my mother out of this.”

“But how can I? She’s such a valued customer.”

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