The scowl broke and Colin smiled ugly at me. “I think his name was Zip.”

Everything inside me felt colder, but I didn’t react.

David snapped his fingers. “That’s right. Zip. How could I forget a name like that?”  He stared at me. “You know Zip?  I heard you might.”

I didn’t say anything.

“And something tells me you might not just go running to the cops,” he said, smiling. “Just a guess. But I’m usually pretty good at guessing.”

Colin and the other two chuckled and laughed. I had no idea how they’d run into Zip or what he’d told them. But I’d lost a little leverage.

I still had one more play, though.

“You good at counting?” I asked.

David genuinely looked confused. “Counting?”

“Yeah. Numbers.”

He shrugged, then nodded. “Sure.”

“Okay, so then you’ll know if the backpack is a little short?”

The playfulness and mirth left his expression as he looked down at the bag. He picked it up and set it on the bar, then glanced past me. “Red. Count it.”

Red, the guy who met me at the door and brought me in, came from behind me and pulled the bag off the counter. He set it on a round, glass table and pulled out the stacks of cash. He thumbed through it quickly. “There’s fifteen here.”

David’s face colored. “There should be twenty-five.”

I smiled. “Yes. There should be.”

“That’s my money.”

“Yes. It is.”

“It would be a mistake to steal from me,” he said slowly, his eyes raking over me.

I held his gaze. “It would be a mistake to mess with Bella anymore.”

No one moved.

“So, if I stay away from her, I let her out, I get my money?” he asked.

“Yep.”

“When?”

“When I’m convinced you’ll leave her alone.”

“And when the fuck is that gonna be?”

“Hard to say. And I’ll try to keep quiet about having ripped you off, too.”

His eyes hardened and narrowed. I knew it wasn’t the money he was worried about. It was that his reputation would take a hit. If word got out that you could steal from him, his grip over the area would be severely diminished.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said.

“Am I?”  I asked. “You come after me, not only do you not see your cash, but then everyone starts talking. About the deal, about you. And I don’t think you wanna give that up. Not over something small like this. Just let her walk away and you can go on about your business.”

His nostrils flared.

“Be smart,” I said. “Don’t be like your boy Colin over there.”

Red snickered and Colin looked like he wanted to take a bite out of my face.

“Okay,” David said.

“Yeah?”

David nodded slowly, his mouth set in a firm, hard line. “Yeah. Deal.”

“Excellent,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”

I backed out of the room, waving at Colin.

THIRTY-SIX

I knew David was full of shit.

As I drove back to Fort Walton, I knew we didn’t have a deal. All he wanted was for me to leave so he could think of a way to come at me. Like I figured, he wasn’t going to do anything right then and there. He wasn’t completely stupid. But he also wasn’t going to let me steal from him, take away one of his couriers, and make him look like a punk.

But it bought me some time.

Now, I just had to convince Bella that she needed to listen to me. And I thought that might be a little harder.

She and Alex were sitting on the sofa when I got to her house. Jackson was sprawled on the floor, building a Lego city.  A large pizza box sat in the middle of the coffee table, surrounded by greasy paper plates and crumpled up napkins.

She looked at me anxiously.

“See, I’m okay,” I said. “No new bruises.”

“Ha,” she said. “What happened?”

She didn’t look convinced when I was done. “He won’t let it go.”

“I know.”

“So, what happens now, then?”

I sat down on the floor next to Jackson. “Hey, remember that space shuttle thing you wanted to build?”

Jackson looked up, his eyes bright. “Yeah. You wanna build it?”

“Maybe. Do you still have the instructions somewhere? On how to put it together?”

He bobbed his head. “In my room. I have a whole box full. I’ll go find it!” He hurried down the hallway.

I turned my attention back to Bella. “You need to think about moving.”

“Moving?”

“Yeah. And I don’t mean from this house. I mean out of the area. The state.”

She folded her arms across her chest and stared at me. “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m not.”

“I was just telling Alex I’ve never lived anywhere but Florida,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t just pick up and leave.”

“If you truly wanna be free of David, then I think you need to.”

“Why?”

“Because I can only do so much for so long here,” I said, picking up a Lego piece and pinching it between my fingers. “You’re right. He won’t let it go. At least not right away. But you cut out of here, he won’t follow.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he won’t,” I said. “You won’t be a threat once you’re gone. He won’t have anything to prove. And he’s small-time. Not like he has some long reach.”

“He’s right,” Alex said. “Chances of him following are pretty slim. He’s running his mouth, but he won’t back it up. They never do.”

She glanced down the hallway toward Jackson’s room, then back to me. “Where the hell am I supposed to go?”

“San Diego,” I said.

“California?  That’s the other side of the country!”

“Which makes it less likely that David will bug you any longer.”

“How would I swing that?  And I don’t know anyone there.”  She put her hands in her hair and rubbed her temples.

“Alex and I can set some things up.”  I looked at him and he nodded. “Place to stay, probably a job, all of that stuff. And you’d be protected. Not just by Alex, but some of my other friends, too. If David ever did decide to show up, he’d be making a huge mistake.”

She stared at me. “What about you?  Would you be there?”

I shook my head. “No. You know why.”

“What are you going to do?”

“This isn’t about me,” I said. “This is about making sure you’re safe and done with this stuff.”

Jackson reappeared, clutching a ragged instruction manual. He shuffled closer to me and set himself down in my lap and I wondered how much of the conversation he’d overheard.

“You should come with us,” he said. “So we can play Legos all the time.”

Bella raised an eyebrow at me.

“Hey, Jackson,” Alex said. “Do you know what’s in San Diego?”

“No, because I’ve never been there.”

Alex smiled. “Of course. But Legoland is in San Diego.”

“Legoland?”

He nodded. “Yep. It’s like Disneyland but with Legos.”

Jackson looked at his mom, wide-eyed. “Can we go to Legoland when we get to San Diego?  Please?”

“Thanks a lot,” she whispered under her breath to Alex, but she smiled as she said. “We’ll see, Jax. If we go to San Diego.”

“I wanna go! I wanna go!” Jackson yelled.

She laughed at her son, but looked at me without any amusement. “I’ll think about it.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

I needed to find Zip.

I spent a few minutes helping Jackson build his space station before Alex took over.

“Can you build?” Jackson eyed him skeptically.

Alex nodded. “Sure can. Let me talk to Noah for a minute and then I’ll be back. And we’ll trick out your space station, I promise.”

I said goodbye and Alex walked outside with me.

“He likes you,” I said.

“He’s a good kid.” He rocked on his heels. “So. Anything I need to know?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t fudge on anything. It went the way I said it did.”

“You think he’ll stay off?”

“No. He’ll probably come after me again. But I’m okay with that. You need to work on getting her to understand that San Diego is a good idea.”