“But he hasn’t passed the real test.” I turned very serious. “Does he know the words to Bobby McGee?”
Slowly, Eric turned to Lincoln. He looked uncertain as he watched him drive a couple of blocks. Then Eric turned up the radio and seemed relieved when the song was in the middle of the piano solo.
“The next part is easy,” he whispered loudly.
Lincoln said nothing, simply stared through the windshield with that rock-like expression.
“It’s almost time,” Eric prompted as the song neared the end of the solo.
“Whooo.”
I whipped my entire body toward Lincoln when he let out a yell in perfect timing with Janis Joplin. Even the dogs lifted their heads.
Eric beamed and gave me an I knew he could do it look.
I’d tried to help Lincoln get out of a job interview, but he belted out the end of the song like it was his favorite. Granted there were only about three or four words, but still. And of course, he was a decent singer.
Eric joined in, and I lifted my hands and sang at the top of my lungs.
It wasn’t so long ago Lincoln had been in the back of the van, scowling while the rest of us sang along to our favorite song. Whether he liked it or not, he’d retained some of the words, but I liked to think he’d loosened up just a little because of us.
“You’re hired!” Eric shouted when the final guitar note played.
My brother and I had done this together, just the two of us, for so long, I’d never thought much about expanding beyond that. It was shortsighted, and I wasn’t afraid to grow. But there was something about this right here that we couldn’t get back if our business got too big.
We had an aggressive schedule, making and delivering dog food every day. But specializing in what our customers wanted was the entire premise of our business.
Dog Love kept us busy, allowed us to spend time together doing something we enjoyed, and provided enough money so that we weren’t under quite so much financial stress. The goal had never been to get rich.
And I still wasn’t sure about a store. In some ways that made more sense. Maybe it would be better. But I liked this. Liked being out and about, singing our favorite song.
I was a little scared of how easily Lincoln fit into that. Easy might not be the right word, but he’d gone from being a robot passenger in the back of the van to driving and singing. I hadn’t thought he was capable, and he was probably surprised himself.
Lincoln had an empire to run, but if he wanted to join us sometimes, I wouldn’t mind.
A record scratch went off in my head. I gripped the clipboard.
I couldn’t be thinking in terms of a future. Not like that, not where it was effortless and without hesitation. That was dangerous territory. Our lives were meant to be taken a day at a time. Barreling ahead and assuming Lincoln would be there was a surefire way to get hurt if he wasn’t.
The “good morning” he’d given me—or almost—hadn’t felt temporary. My face flamed. I’d gotten so carried away, I hadn’t thought. I’d just wanted. Needed.
And that was reckless. Because if we’d taken that step, it was beyond falling. That was willingly giving myself to him. Could I do that?
“Shit for brains. Shit for brains. Shit for brains.”
I bolted to my knees and touched Eric’s thigh as he repeated the phrase over and over.
“Don’t say that,” I whispered as I followed his stare out the window.
Red. Spots of fiery red dotted my vision.
Rage overpowered my underlying fear.
How had he found us again? My father knew where we lived.
Lincoln crept by the building in search of an empty spot. My father’s eyes slowly followed as we passed. The asshole had a white bandage around his head like I’d busted him with a bat instead of a slap.
I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He was counting on me doing just that.
I pressed Lincoln’s knee. “Keep driving and don’t come back.”
Chapter Twenty
Lincoln
“I want him gone.”
I pressed the phone so hard into the side of my face it would likely leave a permanent indention.
“What are you proposing?” Daniel asked carefully.
It had taken Lexie a good half hour to get Eric to stop repeating that awful phrase. And when we’d gotten home, she wouldn’t leave her brother’s side, but I managed to get out of her what had happened.
Her father.
I’d seen a man watching as we drove by. The head wound bandage was a nice touch.
What had he been doing at their apartment? Why? Why had he been there? Hadn’t he done enough damage?
I paced in front of the elevators. Eric had taken over my study, and I didn’t mind. But this was a conversation I wanted to have as far away from them as possible. There was no privacy at my house anymore.
I jogged down the steps to the basketball court.
“Something where he disappears and never bothers them again,” I said through my teeth. “Permanently.”
“I’m close by. I’ll come over so we can talk about this in person,” he said far too rationally for my liking.
“No,” I said quickly. Lexie and Eric needed my support. This was my way of doing it at the moment. “It’s not a good time.”
“I follow where you’re going with this request, but are you sure you want a permanent solution?”
In the years we’d known one another, we’d never had a conversation such as this. Then again, I wasn’t quite sure I’d ever been this angry.
Her father had a lot of nerve, I’d give him that.
“I want him back in jail. With zero chance of ever setting foot in the free world again.” I threw a basketball at the wall as hard as I could.
Whack.
The sound reverberated off the space, yet it did nothing to settle my frazzled nerves. I paced up and down the court, my shoes clacking on the polished floor.
“I . . . was concerned for a moment.” Relief was evidence in my friend’s voice.
“Believe me, I want to ask you for that.”
Daniel had close ties to a family well-known for its rule of the New York underworld. He wasn’t involved with them on a day-to-day level, but the head of the family was like a father to him.
I didn’t want to owe the Salvatores anything, but it couldn’t be worse than what would come due to my own father.
What exactly was I asking?
Until this moment, I hadn’t known I was capable of wanting someone dead. I certainly wished Father would disappear . . . but that was different than this.
Donnie Logan was a hardened criminal who had no boundaries. His children were a means to an end of getting what he wanted. What that was, I didn’t know.
I’d just make sure he didn’t get it. Especially after seeing the enormous pain Lexie had been in as she’d held her brother. Calmed him down, even though it was clear her head was in agony. She should be resting. Not dealing with this nonsense her father pulled.
“What happened?”
I laid out the scene from earlier in concise, measured sentences. As I replayed the event and the effect it’d had on Lexie and Eric, my rage boiled to a dangerous level all over again.
“I can’t allow him to terrorize them any longer.” I sank down on the courtside bench. “The rule of law has failed them. I won’t.”