Page 3 of They Break Beauty

I shrugged. “I got a little carried away.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Alec’s been causing me a load of bullshit. The punishment you delivered was warranted and a sight to behold. Really put him in his place. While you were gone, a bunch of these up-and-comers thought they could take control, even challenging me. And Alec was the worst.”

“Unfounded arrogance was their mistake. Also, coming at you.”

Sammy was a lot more than the organizer of the these fights in the college town of Stonewell. He was the lifeblood of the criminal underground here. Small-time stuff, sure, but a lot of it. He also had his ear to the ground in a major way, and he’d proven to be a font of information.

“You sure you don’t want the cash?” he asked, pulling it from his pocket and making a show of counting the thick wad of bills. “It’s a major payday. It being your first street fight in over a year brought in a massive crowd.”

I looked him up and down.

He hadn’t changed at all in the time that I’d been gone, still wearing those velour tracksuits of his, currently a navy one that blended well into the night.

The same couldn’t be said for the thick, gold chains hanging around his neck, nor the bling decorating his fingers.

“What I want is for you to fulfill your end of our deal.”

He stowed the money away. “Of course. Just checking.”

“Do you have it?” I pushed.

Him not offering it up immediately pointed to him wanting to engage me in a conversation to catch up since I’d been away. Unfortunately for him, I had no desire to do that right now and no patience for it.

I was laser-focused on one thing only.

He gave a nod. “Yeah, I’ve got the street level intel you wanted, the kind you can’t get via your usual means. As promised, I’ve had eyes on the girl.” He lowered the zipper of his jacket and reached in, pulling out an unmarked envelope. Handing it over, he told me, “This is everything.”

I took it and shoved it into the back pocket of my cargo pants. “Good.”

“You want me to continue watching?”

“No. Have your people stand down. I’ll take it from here.”

“All right. I’ll be seeing you around now that you’re home, yeah?”

“In all likelihood,” I responded, non-committal. I didn’t like to shoehorn myself in.

He grinned. “Some things never change.”

I merely smiled, then turned on my heel to go.

“Hey, out of curiosity, what’s your fixation with this girl? Seems pretty damn inconsequential, especially to the likes of you.”

I stopped in my tracks, his question cutting into me.

I ground my teeth, then sucked in a breath, and only just managed to answer steadily over my shoulder, “She’s far from inconsequential.”

“How’s that?”

“She’s an angel among demons.”

His brow furrowed with confusion.

All right, it was much closer to shock.

He knew, just as well as anybody I allowed to become a familiar of mine, that I didn’t see the best in people.

Far from it.

---