Page 55 of Fiona and the Fixer

“They divorced?” he asked.

“She died.”

His smile dropped and something akin to gentleness crossed his weathered face. “Sorry, kid. That’s rough.”

I ran a hand over the back of my neck, uncomfortable with this odd bonding moment with a guy whose finger I’d removed with gardening shears. “I saw what happened to my dad after that.”

“Yeah, heard about Big Mike. He’s like the mysterious Big Bad Wolf around here. His name’s still whispered in fear across town.”

It should have been with the way he took out the trash during his time. He made me and Jack look like candy stripers.

“I’m not going to be like him,” I said.

“Kid, you’re just like him.” He sat back, crossed his arms over his chest. “You and Jack, both.”

I shook my head. “No. Destroyed by love.”

He leaned forward, making his old chair squeak again. “Listen, love destroys.”

I chuckled. “Exactly.”

He shook his head. “Why do you think I married three times? Because being in love is the best thing ever. When it’s good, it destroys you. When it goes bad or you lose someone you love, it destroys you.”

“Again, exactly. Why the hell would I ever want to get mixed up in that shit?”

He shrugged. “Because it’s worth it.”

Was it? Big Mike turned into a fucking vigilante after Mom was killed. He turned me and Jack into killers. Jimmy here knew firsthand the kind of dark soul I had. All because love destroyed. Whatever I felt for Fiona wasn’t love. No way. She drove me insane. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much she did that.

That sure as hell wasn’t love.

He clapped his hands, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Tell me, kid. I’m dying to know. She’s not a librarian like Jack’s woman, is she?”

I shook my head. “Worse.”

He frowned. “A nun?”

I grimaced. “She’s an FBI agent.”

Jimmy started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh until I went over to him, grabbed his shirt and hoisted him up onto his toes. Got in his face. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re in love with an FBI agent!”

“What?” I opened my grip, and he dropped into his desk chair, making it squeak and creak in a way that signaled it wasn’t going to last much longer. Nothing in this place was. The only way to get this place clean was to burn it to the ground. “Hell, no.”

I wasn’t in love with Fiona. Nope. So maybe I called Nitro on the way down the mountain and told him to look into her coworkers. Find out who her partner was. Make him pay for fucking with her.

That didn’t mean I was in love. Helping an FBI agent with a partner problem was the dumbest thing I could ever do. Yet, it was happening.

Oh, the guy was going down. No one fucked with my girl.

“Then bring her here. I’m looking for wife number four.”

Jimmy getting his nine fingers on Fiona? “No fucking way. I’ll break all your fingers and then snip them off one by one.”

He arched a shaggy, overgrown brow. “You know what’s going to motivate me to have Bones’ money for him the next time? To find out what happens next in the Fixer FBI Fiasco.”

I glared at him because he was enjoying this way too much.

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