Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,259

had corrupted her all the same.

The world wasn’t made of chocolate; it reeked of shit. Except that I hated teaching her that lesson. If anyone needed rose-tinted glasses, it was my little sugar plum fairy with the piping bag of pink icing.

I’d asked around for the usual jobs. Shady, immoral bullshit that would never come with a 401k or healthcare. Once, I protected as many whores as I shook down pimps, and I dealt in as many drugs as I muled. As long as it paid, I’d do it.

But something stopped me. Running guns and kicking the shit out of debtors worked for earning the money I needed to pay off the chief, but it wouldn’t rebuild the walls of Sweet Nibbles.

If I ever went back.

Why the fuck did I leave?

So I stole a paper from a diner and hunted through the pages for a decent job. I circled the electrical work, but I never thought I’d get a call.

Doubted more that they’d take me on.

First time for everything.

Some prick named Sam hired me. He didn’t give a shit about my record, just wanted a certified electrical subcontractor who’d keep his mouth shut and get paid under the table. It sounded great, except the job was in some little pet shop in the middle of Ironfield. One of the districts that hadn’t been updated in thirty years.

I took one look at the shop and considered taking up dealing again. Sam hoisted his pants over a beer belly and rubbed a mustache that was missing a leather cut and motorcycle.

“You gotta be kidding.” I pointed to the mess of a breaker box. “I can’t rewire this.”

“Don’t want you to,” Sam said. “Just change the covers on the outlets.”

Gut instinct was a bitch. This job was more crooked than drugs. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. In and out, and you get your money.”

“This whole system is a fire hazard. The connectors are probably worn to shit. I’ve seen it before. Give it time and the whole box will short out and burn. Bust up a couple connectors, and she could collect her insurance money.”

“Just replace the goddamned plates,” Sam said. “Now.”

And risk my fucking certification? Hell no. “Screw you. You set your own death trap.”

“No one’s asking you to play fire marshal.”

“You’re lucky I don’t call him in here.”

I flipped him off as I stormed out. My record was ruined already. If I got pinned to a job with another electrical fire?

Fuck it. Once was enough.

Hell, I still couldn’t believe Josie’s shop burned the way it did. She never had an issue with the building or health codes. All her equipment was top of the line, too new for fraying cords. How the hell did the arsonist even set it on fire? Not like Matthias left him a detailed instruction manual on the store’s outdated circuits.

My chest seized.

I nearly walked into traffic and got my ass kicked by a bus.

In that moment, I knew exactly what had happened that night.

I knew how the arsonist did it and why I was framed.

Revelation felt a hell of a lot like a screwdriver touching a live wire. What the hell was I supposed to do? I had to get back to Josie. She deserved closure. I needed…

Anything.

Just an excuse to see her again. She held my heart, and the aching pit in my chest festered and ached without it. I couldn’t think straight when I was separated from her.

How the hell was I going to tell her the truth?

She hurt me, betrayed me, but I couldn’t protect her anymore. She had a right to know what had happened—even if it killed her.

It was late when I made it to her apartment, later by the time I worked up the courage to approach her steps. Like a ball-less asshole, I twisted with cowardice and shame.

How had we fucked this up so badly? She forgave me when I offered my services to Nolan, even when she knew I was in danger every second I let that bastard near.

She had been scared. Helpless. And she understood me better than I knew myself. No matter what I said, no matter how much I swore, nothing would have stopped me from murdering Nolan a year ago.

She didn’t put me in jail to stop Nolan. She did it to protect him, to save me from myself because I was too consumed with rage and now too consumed with revenge to see clearly.

I lost her because of it.

No. It ended now. I let time and prison