Spin (Boosted Hearts Book 2) (29 page)

When his old man kept leaving then finally left them for good. When they found out about the debts he’d left behind, and Hugh had no choice but to become a motherfucking thief to keep the roof over their heads. When Joe had been forced to stand back and do nothing, too young to help his family.

He slammed his fist into the bag again and again.

His brother’s massive arms came around him, and he was wrenched away and shoved against the wall.

Hugh’s face filled his vision. “What the fuck’s going on?”

Joe tried to shove him away, but the big bastard was an immovable object. “I don’t need you to rescue me, big brother. Just back the fuck off.”

Hugh scowled, but Joe could see he was worried. Dammit, he’d taken over the debt so he never had to see that look on his brother’s face again. He couldn’t even do that right.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Hugh growled.

Joe shoved again, and this time, Hugh stepped back.

“Ignore me.” He dragged his forearm across his sweaty face. “I’m just having a shitty day.”

“You have a shitty day, you have an extra beer, watch some TV, go for a run. You don’t pound a punching bag until you’ve torn your fucking knuckles open.”

Joe glanced down, surprised when he saw blood dripping from the ends of his fingers and onto the floor. “Just leave it.”

“No. I’m not gonna leave it. Not anymore. Something's been up with you for the last few weeks, and I want to know what.”

Hugh was a stubborn bastard at the best of times, but tonight, Joe knew his brother wasn’t walking out of here until he’d revealed his goddamn soul. The line of Hugh’s hard jaw told him that much.

Joe was pissed—fucking furious—and right then, just this once, he wanted to tell his brother everything, lay all his shit on the guy’s Hulk-like shoulders and let him deal with the mess. Walk away and never look back. Be the selfish, self-centered clown they thought he was.

But he couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that to him.

That wasn’t Joe. It had never been him. They just didn’t know it. And that stung like fuck.

He rested his bleeding hands on his hips, holding his brother’s hard stare. “I was seeing someone. Now I’m not.”

“You got dumped?” The frown dropped and he looked relieved. “That’s what this is about? Jesus, Joe. I thought something really bad had happened.”

Joe almost launched himself at the guy. “Leave before I smash your face in.”

“What?”

“You heard me, you arrogant motherfucker.”

“Are you on drugs or some shit?”

Joe dragged in a steadying breath. “Is it so hard to believe I could actually care for someone? That I’m capable of taking one fucking thing seriously?”

Hugh blinked like Joe had told him he had an extra toe. “You have real feelings for this girl?”

“If by feelings, you mean the way you feel about Shay? Then yeah, I have feelings for the girl.”

“I didn’t…” Hugh took a step toward him. “I didn’t realize you were seriously seeing someone.”

Fuck it. “It’s Darcey.”

“Who?”

“Al Ramirez’s niece, the one that stitched us up.” Hugh’s mouth opened, ready to start yelling the garage down, but Joe talked over him before he could start his rampage. “There’s a reason she did what she did, a fucking good one.”

Then he kept on talking. Hugh listened while he told him about Noah, about her reasons for getting in their way, how she was connected to the Ramirez family. Of course, he left out the part about the debt Joe now owed and that she’d been helping him.

When he finished, Hugh looked shell-shocked and worried as hell.

“Does Al know?”

“He’s dead.”

His brother’s mouth dropped open. “Dead? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t want to speak that asshole’s name. You’ve got your happy ending, brother. I didn’t want to rain on your parade.”

Joe rubbed the back of his neck. Neither of them were good at the whole heart-to-heart thing. They didn’t talk about their feelings. And now that he had, he was starting to feel awkward as fuck. He just wanted a hot shower and to wallow in peace.

Joe shrugged. “Anyway, now you know.”

“There’s no chance of you patching things up?”

He wished that was the case, but Darcey had been as cold as stone. Yeah, there’d been regret in her eyes, and he’d felt her heart going a hundred miles an hour when he’d pinned her to the wall, desperate to feel her against him one more time. But she didn’t feel the same way he did, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t force her to love him.

He shook his head.

Hugh walked over and smacked his back. “Well, I’m sorry then. I know how hard that is.”

Yeah, he did. But the difference was, in the end, Hugh had gotten the girl.

Joe had to figure out how to walk around for the rest of his life with a giant crater in his chest.

~ * ~

“You find it?” Jacob called down the basement stairs.

“Yeah.” Darcey crouched down behind the washing machine and scowled at the stupid pipe. Seriously? A loose pipe. How can a man be this goddamn clueless? Joe wouldn’t need to call a plumber for something so ridiculously easy. A kid could have worked it out. She reattached the pipe, screwed it back in place, and stood.

“Just a loose washing machine pipe,” she called back.

Picking up her toolbox, she headed back up the stairs.

Jacob shook his head when she reached the top, taking the toolbox from her hand before heading for the front door.

“Hey, I can carry that.”

He grunted. “I know you can. You look tired is all.”

“I’m fine,” she grumbled. It was a lie, of course. She wasn’t fine. She was heartbroken, devastated, hollow, and even those words didn’t adequately describe how she was feeling. There were no words for the pain she’d been suffering since Joe walked out her door. And now she was an insomniac to boot.

“Come and take a load off, girl.” Jacob opened the tailgate of his truck and rested his butt on it. “We’ll break for lunch here then head to the next job.”

She shrugged and grabbed her bag from the front and settled in beside him. They ate in silence. It was a beautiful day. This part of the city was nice. Quiet. Big lawns where you could have a dog if you wanted. A place where you could put down roots and be a family. The kind of home she could never give her kid brother.

What the hell was she going to do? She’d been searching for a new job, but so far she’d had no luck—unless she wanted to take up stripping or maybe become a high-class call girl. She didn’t want to leave Jacob. Despite the often gross aspects of her job, she liked what she did, liked that she wasn’t stuck indoors all day.

“So I was thinking,” Jacob said beside her.

She took a sip from her water bottle and turned to him. “Hell, should I duck for cover?”

“Smartass.”

“True. But you love me, anyway,” she teased.

His eyes went soft, bushy eyebrows lowering before he fixed his stare on her. “Despite your use of the L word just now.” He snorted and grinned. “I know you hate the mushy stuff, so I’m just gonna talk and you’re gonna listen.”

She stilled. “Jacob, what’s…?”

“Listen, not start yapping.”

When she kept her trap shut, he nodded.

“Thank you.” He crossed his arm over his chest and took a sip of his coffee. “Me and Faye, you know we weren’t blessed with kids. I think if we’d been given a daughter, she would’ve been a lot like you. Tough. A hard worker. A goddamn smartass with a heart of gold. That’s you, Darcey girl. I’m not good with words, but that’s how I see you. And I care about you.”

Ah hell, the backs of her eyes were stinging. She cared about him, too. Loved him like a father. But all she could manage was, “Same here.”

“I said no talking.”

“Right.” She bit her lip.

“If I’d had kids, I would’ve had them working with me, and one day, I would have passed on this business to them. And since you’re the closest thing I got to a daughter…” He glanced over at her. “I want you to take over soon, make what you will outta this business.”

“Jacob… no, I couldn’t…”

“I can do what I damn well like. I want you to be my partner to start with, until I’m ready to retire, then it’s yours. I’ve been coasting, doing as little as possible, if you want to know the truth. We could increase our workload immediately, put you up to full-time. At the moment, I’m turning down more jobs than I take. That means more money, so we can expand, maybe hire a couple new guys when we need to. If that’s what you want, we’ll do it, but you’ll be the one doing the hard yards. I’m too old to be shimmying up and down drain pipes—”

She cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck. His thermos cup full of coffee hit the ground since she’d knocked it out of his hand. He didn’t seem to care, though, and hugged her back, patting her shoulder awkwardly.

“All right, girl, none of that,” he said even as he squeezed her tighter. “You think that’ll be enough to get young Noah back?”

She gave him a watery smile. “It’ll definitely help.” She dashed away the tear that was burning a path down her cheek. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”

“Just be happy. That’s all I want.”

She smiled again, even as more tears streaked down her face.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I
t had been a long week, and a seriously busy one.

After Darcey’s talk with Jacob, she’d thrown herself into the business, doing as many jobs as they could handle, and she’d also put feelers out for a new part-time employee to help get things rolling. Like Jacob had said, the increase in work was immediate. She was putting everything she had into making the business a success, working as many hours as she needed to.

They’d be taking on more full-time staff in no time.

But it would take another month or so before she could afford a new place. The deposit alone was more than she had.

She’d had a visit with Noah. He’d seemed quiet, lost. It had killed her to see him that way. The family he was with seemed nice enough, but they weren’t
his
family—she was. Her brother was scared, terrified that all her promises to get him back were crap, that it was never going to happen. She’d let him down one too many times, and she didn’t blame him for losing faith in her.

Didn’t mean that loss of trust hurt any less, though.

As for Len, he’d suspiciously gone quiet. He’d been calling and texting, making threats since she’d run out of his house. Then they just suddenly…stopped.

She didn’t know why he’d backed off, and she didn’t trust it, either. But the longer he stayed out of the picture, the better it was for her.

She was so close to getting Noah back. She filed for the exemption on her previous criminal record, and if everything got approved, that part of her life would be wiped clean in the very near future. Alice thought it would be straightforward and go through without any problems. God, she hoped so.

Parking in front of her building, she turned the ignition off. The car was engulfed in silence. The prospect of another night alone, another night without Joe, made her belly clench.

Stop it, Darcey.

Forcing those thoughts from her mind, she climbed out, slung her bag over her shoulder, and made her way up to her apartment. She was concentrating so hard on not thinking about Joe she didn’t notice the guy standing by her door until she was almost in front of it.

Her head snapped up, and she stopped abruptly, gripping her keys in her hand. “Can I help you?”

The guy turned toward her and her belly dropped like a bolder to her feet.

Joe’s friend Adam was standing there, shoulder resting against the doorframe.

His blue eyes locked on her, his expression unreadable. “Got a minute?”

She shook her head. She didn’t need this, whatever it was. “I have no idea why you’re here, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”

He stepped back while she unlocked the door, and she had every intention of shutting it in his face, but he moved back in, putting his hand against the scarred wood, holding it open and forcing her back until they were both inside.

“It won’t take long,” he muttered and shut the door behind them.

Fucking wonderful.

“This is a bad idea…”

“Joe’s not in great shape.”

She jerked back like he’d shoved her. “I-I… I’m not sure…”

“I’m here to clue you in on a few things—things he’d never say because he’s a good guy, and he’s respecting your wishes. I’m not a good guy. I have no such moral code. I couldn’t give a fuck about your wishes. For some fucked up reason, he wants you and no one else. He’s gotten over what you did to us. I, on the other hand, have not. But this isn’t about me.”

“No, it’s not. What’s between me and Joe has nothing to do with you. So get the hell out of my place.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Not until I say what I’ve come to say.” His cold, blue eyes held hers. “Despite you dumping him because you think he’s not capable of serious, that he’s all about partying and fucking around, which shows how little you know him, he loves you anyway.”