Page 110 of Heart Over Heels

Jack rocked back on his stool, stretching out the curve in his spine. “Well, since you never answered me the first time, I’ll ask again. What’re you gonna do about it?”

I scrubbed my hand over the nape of my neck. “He kicked me out. I would’ve helped. I wanted to. They need me to. And they can’t run the club with just one guard. I’m not sure they can run it at all with the state it’s in.”

Earl frowned. “You’re gonna need to tell us a lot more if you expect that to make any sense.”

Exhaling a breath, I draped my arms over the bar. “I got in some trouble with my former employer.” I nodded toward the TV showing the Basilica logo stamped on the felt-topped poker table. “Turns out the idea of good and evil isn’t as clear-cut as I wanted it to be.”

Jack snorted. “Shit, son, that’s one of the first things they teach us in the service. I know you got your leg hurt, but did your brain get rattled too?”

“They’re angels, Jack,” I retorted. “Literal holy beings. What was I supposed to think?”

Earl blinked, eyes bleary behind his glasses’ lenses. “Who’re angels?”

“The Rossettis,” I said, unable to suppress the scowl that accompanied the words. “They run the casino I worked for. And with a name like that, how could theynotbe the mob?”

Earl squinted. “Theangelsare the mob?”

“Basically,” I replied, still grimacing. “They broke into my house and threatened Molly. Told me to help them ransack the strip club or else. It’s a mess.”

Jack’s bushy brows knit together. “The stripper club?”

“Yes.”

Why stop there? My whole life was a mess. It seemed like I’d been living in a jigsaw puzzle since I was eighteen, trying to piece it together one “right” decision at a time.

Marrying Rachel was “right.”

Enlisting in the service was “right.”

Signing up for deployments, sending money home, and taking care of my family was “right.”

Even when I got hurt, I’d been doing the “right” thing. I’d been with my squad, out on patrol. Speeding across the sand, following orders.

Since I’d been back, I’d gotten a house and a job, and I tried to doright. But what did I have to show for any of it?

A home that made me feel more sad than safe, a vague promise that I might be able to see Molly in a few days or weeks, and the man who’d said he liked me but meant so much more, now spiting me from all the way across town.

It fuckinghurt.

Earl sat up straight and narrowed his eyes. “They threatened your kid?” He might have missed some of the details, but that one stood out.

“They took her picture off my fridge,” I said, recounting the events that had haunted me for days. “Told me I could protect her or the dolls, but not both. So, I made a choice.”

Jack’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” I admitted.

I hadn’t even considered it. After putting three bullets in Narcissus Rossetti only to watch him sit up and whine about his ruined suit, I knew mine was not a problem that could be solved. Not by the police, not by a few good men, and not by a club full of the most harmless demons imaginable.

So, I’d faced it alone. The way I’d done everything since I’d signed the divorce papers. Since I got chewed up overseas and the Marines spat me out. Since I betrayed the people I’d sworn to protect.

“Didn’t seem like the kind of trouble I should drag someone else into,” I concluded.

Jack shook his head and muttered something before looking back at me. “Now, Doc, I know you don’t think we’re too old and washed out to get the work done.”

I gave him a tired smile. “You two can barely finish a round of pool without taking a break.”

Earl snorted. “Doesn’t mean we can’t still knock a few skulls if it comes to that.”