Page 14 of Snow in Texas

“You gonna explain it?”

“I guess I will.”

Jinx shrugged, the tattoos on his bare arms rippling. He studied his fingernails as he scraped dirt from beneath them with his switchblade. He was curious, but he wasn’t going to be an ass about it. Disinterested in all things, that was Jinxie.

They sat on their bikes, boots braced in the pale dirt, waiting for the razor-wire gates up ahead to roll open and release Jud Riley out into the world. It was five til; they’d arrived early.

Candy took a deep breath and let it out, feeling tense and tired. “You’ve met Mercy’s old lady?”

Jinx might have grinned, but it was always hard to tell with the beard. “She wasn’t his old lady when I did, but yeah.”

“You know the story.” Because they all did. The tale of the overly devoted foot soldier and his princess had become a part of Lean Dogs lore. Once upon a time Ghost Teague had been struck with the brilliant idea of finding a personal guard for his daughter, and he’d seen all the markers of obsession and need in a young Felix Lécuyer. “Anybody else woulda done his job with Ava, but he wouldn’t have…”

“Fucked her?”

“Thrown himself in front of a bullet for her,” Candy corrected. “Ghost ain’t never had to worry one second about his girls.” He glanced meaningfully at his best friend. “I’m tired of being worried about Jen.”

Jinx finally lifted his head. “I think you’re always gonna worry about Jen, brother.”

“Yeah.” And didn’t that suck? “My point is, though, that it’d be nice for her to have someone who was invested. Someone besides me.”

Jinx made a noise that might have been a chuckle. “You’re an evil genius, ain’t you?”

“I like to pretend.”

The soft crunch of tires pulled their attention. A late model shit-brown Impala came to a halt fifteen feet away, the tint-free windows offering a clear glimpse of the man behind the wheel. Bad blue suit, skinny tie, cheap sunglasses. Straight out of a bad eighties cop movie, that was Elijah Riley.

“My pal,” Candy said.

“I’ma try to hold you back, brother,” Jinx said with a snort, “but I ain’t ever been any good at that.”

“Try a little harder.”

The driver door of the Impala opened.

“Oh, he’s not getting out of his car,” Candy said.

A booted foot reached out, touched the ground.

“That asshole isnotgetting out of his car.”

“Seeing is believing,” Jinx said on a smothered laugh.

A second foot, and then Riley stood, surveying this barren stretch of land. Expression smug, he shut his door and headed over.

“I know he’s not walking over here,” Candy said, loudly.

“Oh, but he is.”

“I just know that asshole’s not gonna try tospeakto me.”

“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Agent Riley said, hands going in his bad-blue-suit pants pockets.

Jinx folded his arms and put on his formidable face.

“Pinch me, Jinx,” Candy said. “I wanna wake up from this nightmare. There’s an ugly dickhead standing in front of me.”

Of the two Riley brothers, Judson had received the lion’s share of the good looks. By comparison, Elijah was square-headed and uninspiring to look at. His smile was made worse by the grimace that hid behind it. “Good to see you’re as charming as ever, Snow. To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?”

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