Page 148 of Felonies are Forever

“Yeah, we’re going to need to take care of that, let her know this is the last chance saloon. She’s a fucking train wreck. When MaryBeth asked me to give her a chance, I should have known better.”

“We all make mistakes, man, I agreed to take her on too.” I let out a sigh, making sure he knows we both own this disaster. “MaryBeth asked you for a favor, a job for your daughter’s friend, you did what you thought best. Monday I’ll take care of it, lay down the law or she can hit the bricks.”

He nods. “I appreciate it. You’re better at bad cop.”

Martin and I have been friends and business partners for going on ten years and he’s as close to a brother as I’ll ever have. Normally his judgment is pretty flawless, but he has one massive blind spot. Not for MaryBeth herself his daughter’s mother, that was a onetime deal never to be repeated. But the daughter hedidn’t even know about until six years ago. For her, he’d do anything, even if it means being nice to her train wreck of a mother.

I start to reply when out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of blonde hair, the curve of luscious hips, the sway of the world’s most fantastic ass, and I’m instantly hard.

My muscles tense, my already crazed obsession revving into overdrive, and I snap my head around like a predator catching the scent of his prey, all my senses suddenly on alert. The rest of the room fades, as I watch her moving at the edge of the crowd, before Martin raises his hand and waves.

“Holly!” The world snaps back into focus as he motions for her to join us in the center of the room. “Over here.”

I grit my teeth, trying to quell the filthy thoughts that are playing in my mind about my best friend’s daughter.

Bringing my Coke to my lips, I take a long sip, trying to keep my heart from thundering out of my chest as Holly waves back and her lips curve into that perfect smile that dances in my dreams every night. The same smile I’ve been unable to get out of my head since the first time I met her, three years ago.

As I watch, imagining all the dirty things I’d use those lips for, Amanda sashays by her and mutters something that makes Holly’s face fall.

If I wasn’t frozen to the spot, I’d stomp up there, find out what she said and make her apologize. Instead, I focus on the sight of my obsession and try to control the low-level rage I feel when she hands her coat to the girl at the cloak room entrance, revealing the outfit underneath.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what she’s wearing. A tight red skirt, red heels and a low-cut red and white striped sweater to match, making her look like a sex-flavored candy cane, all snugging around every soft curve and making my mouth water.Her ripe tits push up behind the sweater, cleavage that calls for my tongue to taste it on view for every fucker to see.

Except, her skirt is too fucking short. If she sits down, you could surely see her panties. If she’s wearing any.

Fuck. I’m going to lose my fucking mind.

“You didn’t tell me Holly was back for the holiday.” I growl at my friend, who gives me a confused look.

“Yeah I did…” He sniffs then finishes. “Shit, maybe not. Anyway, it’s not just the holiday. The damn newspaper she was working for closed their doors last week. Everyone showed up for work and there was a notice on the door. Just like that.” He snaps his fingers. “Week before Christmas, everyone is out of a job.”

I blow out a long breath, watching out of the corner of my eye as she works her way through the crowd, greeting some of the employees and pausing to chat, making me want to kill the guys that are even thinking of breathing the same air as she is.

“She’s staying with her mom?” I ask needing to know where she will be laying her head tonight.

Martin’s voice darkens. “Yeah. I’d love if she’d stay with me, but her mom…” He puffs out a breath. “MaryBeth has been giving Holly the guilt trip ever since she left for Philly for that job. I swear she’s happy she lost it. Means she can have free labor and another stream of passive income.”

“Shit luck. On many levels.”

It was similarly shit luck that threw MaryBeth and Martin together in the first place, from what I know of the situation. That was years before I knew him, when he was just a laborer like any of the guys in the room right now. He was working a construction job in the vicinity of a hotel where she was staying while she attended some fortune-teller conference or other; she’s not psychic, but she does have a gift when it comes to bullshitting.

Anyway, one thing led to another, they ended up sharing her hotel room for the night, then they parted ways. She went back to Indiana and that was the end of the story. Except it wasn’t, because six years ago she popped up out of the woodwork, telling Martin he had a daughter. Turns out she was married when they had their thing, then when her husband fell over from a heart attack, her meal ticket was gone.

Enter a DNA test and a child support order from the court and instant fatherhood. Which, to give him his dues, Martin took to like a duck to water. For the shit way MaryBeth handled the whole thing, Martin made sure Holly knew he took his responsibility seriously and if he had known from the get go he had a daughter, he would have fought for at least partial custody.

He’s a good guy. I’ve never known him to sleep around or even date that much. He’s too focused on work. But if he knew about Holly sooner, I know she would have been his priority.

After her husband died, MaryBeth ran up a shit ton of debt and was about to lose her house, so Martin made her a deal. She sold the house in Indiana, pay off all her debt and he paid to move both her and Holly here to Michigan so they’d be closer. Bought her a very nice, albeit modest home, in a safe community about twenty minutes away from his own house paid in full including the yearly taxes as long as Holly was living there. From what he’s told me, she’s managed to nearly trash the place already and when Holly moved out to take the job, she pissed and whined to Martin about having to pay the property taxes on her own so he gave in and told her he’d give her another year to get her shit together.

Not damn likely.

Martin nods. “If I had my way, I’d move Holly into my place and keep her locked up. Jesus, look at her.” He looks pained as she walks past a group of the workers.

Two of our guys look her up and down and I see red, barely able to control the rage that is blinding me.

“Hey!” Both Martin and I yell at the same time, which snaps their heads up and toward us looking sheepish.

“Nothing to see here.” Martin stares them down and they both look at each other shaking their heads as Holly gives her dad a look.

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