Page 114 of You're so Bad

“I’m not putting you in the middle—”

She squeezes my arm. “I’m already in the middle of it. We do it together or not at all.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You’re going to stop me?”

“I’ve flipped men bigger than you. I can and will stop you.”

It’s obvious from the look in her eyes that my tiger means business. Dammit, Ilikethat she wants to do this with me. That she’d risk everything to stand up for the kid…and for me.

I glance back at the hallway, and bless Constance, she’s still chatting away like there’s no tomorrow.

“I need this, Shauna.”

Something sad passes through her eyes, and I hate that it’s because of me.

“You never got to confront him,” she says. “You turned him in, but you never got to tell him what he did to you. You didn’t get your moment of reckoning.”

She’s thought this through more than I have, not that I’m surprised. “It’s not just that, dammit. I can’t sit back and wait for Burke’s private dick to put together paperwork. I need to do something. This man’s a foster father. A teacher. He’s around kids all day.”

“Wait until it’s dark. I have ski masks we can wear.”

“You’re not going anywhere near him.”

“Fine,” she says, although I’m not sure I believe her. “But I’m bringing you. You don’t have a car, or any way to get there. For God’s sake, you haven’t even looked up his picture so you know you’re going for the right dude.”

She’s right about that too.

“And we may not have an opportunity to talk to him today. Or tomorrow. Or the next day. We don’t step in until we find him alone, and you willnotseriously hurt him. If you do, you’re no better than he is.”

I feel like hanging my head. “You should know I’ve done bad things before, Shauna. I’ve shaken people down for money.”

“When you were muscle.”

“Yeah.”

I hated myself then. My life was hollow and small, and even though I’d broken free from my father I didn’tfeelfree. It was like I’d gone from one shitty prison to another. I only did it for a for a little while before…

Well, I don’t want to think about that either.

“Which is all the more reason you’re not going to go back to that life.” She lifts out her little hand. “Either you shake on it, or it doesn’t happen at all.”

I pause, my mind working, while she watches me with her hand extended. “We’re going to the wedding,” I say. “I’m setting that as a condition.”

She snort-laughs. “Seriously? What’s the wedding compared to this?”

I don’t know, but it seems important. I’m not backing down. “Seriously.”

“Okay.”

So I shake on it.

* * *

We casethe place for three nights, driving by the house and then parking a few blocks away. After Shauna sees the property is a good size and overgrown, next to a greenway that makes getaway a cinch, she agrees to let me scope it out on foot alone. It’s on the third night that I get my opportunity. Joel’s out back on his phone, talking in the shadows of the trees like he’s asking for someone to give him trouble. He’s got a wholesome look—short hair, buzzed on the sides, and pleated trousers secured with a braided belt. Then again, bad people aren’t given a dress code they have to abide by.

I slide up behind him from the trees where I’ve been hunkering and get him in a headlock, his arms twisted behind his back. His phone goes flying.

He gasps before kicking out at me. He’s a big enough guy, but he’s let himself get out of shape.

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