Page 81 of Playing With Fire
I pour a finger of tequila and call Jake as I open the sliding glass door onto the back porch. Knox’s house is pretty private as it is, but it’s also the off-season which means there are even fewer people around.
“Hey, Hud,” he greets with a slight question in his voice. “Everything going okay?”
The only reason I can think of that this idea didn’t occur to me sooner was because my head’s been such a mess.
I smile at Jake’s concern. Meeting him, Knox, and Phoenix was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
“Hey Jake, yeah, things are…good…but I have a favor to ask.” I chuckle asAnother One Bites the Dustplays in my mind. I’m damn near out of favors.
“Sure, man, what’s up?”
“Is there any way to legally obtain proof that your dad works as Gregor Hartley’s wealth manager?”
He’s thoughtful for a minute before answering. “Sure, I mean if I get subpoenaed, I’ll turn over every single file his name has ever been associated with. But otherwise, our client list is protected by the Right to Financial Privacy Act.”
“Okay,” I say, processing slowly.
“Phoenix has a friend at the sheriff’s office,” Jake starts. “Officer Stewart, he’s the same one who?—”
“Yeah, I remember,” I say, cutting Jake off so he doesn’t have to replay the most horrible memory of his life.
“Well, he’d probably look into some things discreetly to let you know if you had a case. Are you planning on going after Gregor Hartley?” Jake asks.
“Yes. It’s time that bastard pays for always choosing the wrong side.”
Giving me the same warning that has become the mantra of my life recently, Jake says, “Be careful, Hud. You’re playing with fire.”
This time I just smile. “We’re firefighters, Jake. It’s what we do.”
Only this time, I don’t intend to play with it…I intend to put it the fuck out.
I’ve just stepped out of the shower when my burner phone rings, making me smile. I figured it was helpful to buy us each one because if Gregor goes after my phone records, I didn’t want them tracing the number to a throw-away line. That would be a littletooobvious.
“Hey, baby! Did you get checked-in okay?” I know she arrived safely because I can see her location. Who knew these things came with so many features?
“Hudson,” she cries my name into the phone, immediately alerting me that something’s wrong.
“Shannon, what’s going on?”
“Hudson, he knows. He’s threatened everything: your job, Monica’s job, your house,everything.He had me followed. He has pictures from the apartment. I’m so sorry,” she wails, practically hysterical.
“Shannon, where are you now?”
“I’m at th-the h-hotel,” she stutters in the phone.
“I’m coming to get you. Grab your shit and meet me out front in twenty minutes.”
“NO!” she yells, panicking into the phone. She’s so distraught she hasn’t picked up on the fact that I’m here at the coast with her. “He’s going to go after Monica if I try to leave. He told me I have to be at tomorrow’s dinner, wearing a smile, or he’s going to destroy you both.”
“Shannon, listen to me,” I say calmly. “The ruse is over. You’re not beholden to him anymore, and if you think I’m just going to let you stay trapped in that hotel room with him, feeling like your only choice is to do whatever he says, you’re wrong. I’ll bring the goddamn cavalry if I have to, but you’re walking out of that hotel with me tonight.”
“How? Aren’t you?—”
“I drove down as soon as I got off work too. You don’t have to do everythingalone anymore, baby.”
Neither do you, I hear Will’s voice as if he were sitting next to me. He even includes the wordbabyon the end in that voice he used to make and I can’t help but smile.
Fucker.
