“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you asked my brother to help you?”
“Why would I?”
“Our family’s company builds houses. River is currently designing his future home.”
“Yeah, heard he was gonna put his house where Fuse used to live.”
Shelby narrows her eyes and asks, “Do you miss him?”
Shelby’s gaze sharpens. The soft, sweet thing she was doing earlier is gone. Suddenly, she’s the daughter and sister of killers. Shelby stands atop a pile of vanquished bodies left behind by the Reapers’ choice to claim Shasta.
“He ain’t nothing to me,” I mutter, keeping quiet about how I figure he set me up to get pinched by the pigs. “Never visited me in the slammer. What do I care if the old president’s house is now the new president’s house?”
“Fuse was a bad man.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“No. It’s possible to be a criminal and a good person. Plenty of people follow the laws and are still bad. Fuse lacked honor and a heart. His death was an inconvenience. River’s death would be a tragedy.”
I don’t respond because what’s there to say? She might be wrong about River. I wouldn’t know. He’s my president, but we aren’t friends. I did know Fuse. My former president wasn’t pretty like River. While I can’t say if he had a heart, the man sure didn’t have any honor. All people were expendable to him.
“Fuse is too dead to worry about now,” I mutter and walk back to my trailer. “You can come inside, or you can stand out here. Leave too, if you want. I’m not your keeper.”
I glance over my shoulder at where Shelby stands. She seems delicate and too young. I don’t know what she expected by coming out here. If I had to guess, the men in her world are rough on the outside and soft on the inside. I bet she hoped I was too. In her girly head, she figured I’d barf out a poem or talk about how special she is. Something dumb and romantic like that.
Except I learned not to waste time putting on a show for women. Becklyn wanted me rough but not so much that I’d kill her cheating ass. Jaymes wanted me soft but not so much that I wouldn’t pay for shit with my blood money. Women always expect me to bend to their wills. Be quiet. Get loud. Fuck hard. Not fuck at all. They always had some damn rule, but I hit my limit for eating shit while in prison. I’m a free man now, and I’ll do what I want.
And what I want most is to keep a target off my back.
Besides, I don’t know any poems. No way can I look Shelby Campbell in the eye and say she’s special to me. That I think of her more each day. That she has power over my heart. Because I might look like a dumb-fuck, but I’m not a dumb-fuck. Not anymore, anyway. I learned the hard way how no one is loyal to me except the dumb-fuck in the mirror.
Shelby Campbell might be the most tempting thing I’ve ever seen, but I’m done playing the chump.
THE WEIRDO
Despite the number of SUVs, trucks, and Harleys in the driveway of our grand two-tone blue Victorian, the house is quiet. I have to walk through a long, dark hallway and past the kitchen to the back porch to find my people. My brown-haired brother, Shane, and his petite wife, Ramona, sit on one side of the large, partially enclosed patio. Baby Ozzy sleeps in his dad’s arms. Toddler Iggy sucks at a bottle and plays with his mom’s long black hair.
On the other end of the porch, long-haired hippie River cuddles with his just as blonde pregnant woman, Max. Her baby bump is his new obsession.
Shane, River, Taylor, and I were the tightest of tight friends. In the last few years, though, they’ve all hooked up with people and started building families. Meanwhile, I got stuck in a perpetual single life.
“I chickened out,” I announce as I walk to the grassy area, past all the lovey-dovey dumplings and their spawn.
“Thank God,” Shane mutters, sighing loudly.
“Chickened out of what?” asks nine-year-old Desi. Maude’s daughter takes a break from brushing her Chihuahua mix—Zathura—while my two French bulldogs—Hansel and Gretel—wait for their turns. “Did you have to get a shot? I’m not scared of that. I had a bunch of shots. Right, Mom?”
Emerging from the side of the house, Maude probably realizes we’re about to jump headfirst into a lot of cock