“There’s a cop who’s been hassling me. He’s making me sell Molly for Levi.”
“What?”
“Yeah. He caught my brother doing it, and to keep Vic out of trouble, I said I’d work for him as a CI.”
“Is his name Schultz?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says. “Logan Schultz.”
I can feel that anger rising up inside of me again. I have to hold my body stiff, so my hands don’t shake.
Camille can feel it anyway, with her hand resting over mine. She looks at me with a frightened expression.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
I am angry, but not for the reason she thinks.
I’m furious that one more person is piling onto Camille, bending her and bending her far past the point where anyone else would break.
I don’t give a fuck that some ambitious cop wants to take a shot at me. But he has no business messing with Camille. The thought of him waiting outside her shop like he waited outside The Brass Anchor, with that stupid smirk on his face . . .
It makes me want to track him down and put a knife in his heart.
“Did you tell him anything?” I ask Camille.
“A few things about Levi,” she says.
That’s not good. If Levi finds out what Camille is doing, he’s violent and reckless enough to try to hurt her.
I’ll fucking kill him too, if he even thinks about it.
“I didn’t tell him anything about you!” Camille hastens to assure me.
“I don’t care about that,” I tell her. “I’m not scared of Schultz. I’ll put him in the ground if he threatens you.”
Camille blanches.
“I don’t want you to kill anyone for me,” she says. “I’m serious, Nero. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”
I look her in the eyes. “Then how can we be together?” I ask her. “I can change some things about myself. But not that.”
A shiver runs through her. I don’t know if it’s the idea of us being together, as a couple. Or if she’s disturbed by what she knows about me. That I’ll use violence when I have to, without hesitation.
We’ve reached Axel Auto. I pull up to the curb, turning off the engine.
“Do you want me to take you up to the door?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “I can make it. I’m back to normal now, I think.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I tell her.
She leans forward and kisses me softly on the lips.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” she says.
I watch Camille go inside her shop, but I don’t go home myself.
If Schultz is leaning on Camille, he’s a bigger problem than I thought. I need to look into him again, but from a different angle this time. I want to know about Matthew Schultz.