Chapter Four
Joseph
The late afternoon shift at the bar was predictably slow. I didn’t understand why the managers bothered opening before ten PM. That was when the students started arriving.
As it was, I’d spent the last four hours deep cleaning the place, since there weren’t any customers in sight. After I’d abandoned my shift last night to be with Ashlyn, my coworker Sara hadn’t done the best job at cleanup.
I didn’t blame her. I’d kind of fucked her over, leaving without so much as an apology.
So, I scrubbed the bar, grateful for the distraction from my conflicted thoughts about pulling Ashlyn into my life.
Before I’d escaped to Cambridge, I’d never so much as wiped down a counter in my own home. We’d had half a dozen household staff who handled mundane chores.
But now, I didn’t mind the work. I’d scrub floors for the rest of my life and live in a shitty studio apartment if it meant that I could be free from my old life, my family.
When my short, solo shift ended, Sara arrived to take over. She glared at me, but she didn’t rip me a new one for abandoning her. She accepted my apology with a tight nod and a dismissive wave for me to leave. Grateful that she seemed willing to move past it, I left the bar without trying harder to make amends. I got the feeling Sara would rather not have me in her space today. At least she hadn’t called our manager to get me fired. If I wasn’t going to leave town, I needed this job.
When I stepped out of the bar into the twilight, my senses immediately went on high alert. The parking lot was empty except for my Corolla and Sara’s Buick, but I wasn’t alone out here. I’d spent years stalking people, intimidating them. I knew what it felt like to be watched, hunted.
If my family had tracked me down—or worse, my family’s enemies—I had to get out of town and get away from Ashlyn.
But I wasn’t going to leave her unless I was sure.
I decided she was worth the risk.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the cheap burner phone I’d bought when I first arrived in Cambridge. I’d keep the call short, and then I’d ditch the phone.
I entered the number I knew by heart and connected the call. It rang three times before the familiar, clipped voice sounded through the line.
“Who the fuck is this?”
“Are you following me?” I asked immediately, not willing to spend a second longer on the phone than necessary.
A beat of stunned silence passed. “Joseph?”
“I asked you a question, Marco,” I growled. “Are you following me? Do you have people looking for me?”
“Of course I have people looking for you. Where the fuck are you?”
I cursed and ended the call. Marco wouldn’t lie to me. I wasn’t surprised that my best friend had people searching for me, but if he truly hadn’t discovered my location, then that meant someone else was watching me. And they weren’t part of my own family. While I didn’t want anyone to find me, allies would have been preferable to enemies.
I threw the phone down onto the pavement. It shattered, and I finished crushing it under my boot. I wouldn’t be able to keep that number. Not after calling Marco.
“If I had that piece of shit phone, I’d smash it too.”
I whirled and found Stu approaching me, flanked by two of his preppy-boy lackeys.
Fuck. I’d jeopardized my hideout because of this asshole?
Even as relief washed through me, my fists curled at my sides. I’d put my location at risk by calling Marco, and it was Stu’s fault.
“What the fuck do you want?” I snapped, but it was pretty clear what they were here for.
They wanted to beat the shit out of me. I’d embarrassed Stu in front of dozens of his classmates, and he couldn’t let that slide. I understood his need to save face, but I wasn’t interested in getting involved in this pissing contest. I’d seen enough violence to last a lifetime, and I didn’t feel like kicking his teeth in. He’d touched Ashlyn, but he’d paid for that when I publicly humiliated him last night.
“I want to kick your townie ass,” Stu sneered.
So, he was an elitist dick as well as a misogynistic asshole. Great.
“Fine.” I shrugged out of my leather jacket and tossed it aside. It would only get in the way. “You and me. Let’s go.” I sneered at him to rile his pride. “Or are you such a chickenshit that you need your boys to back you up?” I could take all three of them if I had to, but I didn’t want to resort to that level of brutality.
Stu swallowed and swayed back a bit, but his expression quickly hardened with determination. He handed his own jacket off to one of his friends, his movements slightly jerky with tense apprehension.
“Okay. You and me, you townie piece of shit.”
Back home, no one would’ve dared to talk to me that way. And I couldn’t deny that the insult stung a little. I’d much rather be a normal college student, but that life had been denied me.
I wasn’t about to show this asshole any weakness, though. I simply stared at him coolly and waited for him to come to me. He hesitated, clearly unnerved by my calm demeanor. I could tell he wasn’t used to fighting. Not like I was. Fighting was in my past, in my blood. I’d been trying to escape from the relentless violence of my life, but I would call on my more ruthless skills to defend myself from this prick. He deserved to have his ass kicked, anyway. He’d touched Ashlyn. That was enough to make me see red.
Stu came at me with a wild, sloppy swing. I dodged easily and moved in close to slam my fist into his gut. He dropped to one knee, wheezing.
Unfortunately, his friends weren’t willing to let me finish him off that easily. Before I could ask if Stu had taken enough, one of his lackey’s fists connected with my jaw.
Fuck. I should’ve been paying more attention. I was rusty, going soft after months of separation from my old life.
I reeled back, and before I could get my bearings, another hit rattled my ribcage.
The pain sharpened my focus rather than distracting me, and I moved with brutal precision. Stu was still down on his knees. I turned on the bigger of the two men that were still attacking. He was barely more than a boy, really. I almost felt bad when I broke his nose.
Almost.
He fell to the asphalt, clutching at his face and groaning. I turned to my last opponent, only to see him sprinting off across the parking lot, fleeing from me.
Smart guy.
I rubbed my aching jaw and winced at the contact. That was going to bruise, and I had my date with Ashlyn in a few hours. I considered kicking Stu for that, but I wouldn’t beat a man who was already down.
I’d be damned if I painted my hands with more blood because of this bastard. Not when those hands would touch Ashlyn. I wouldn’t allow that taint to mar her purity and innocence.
“Are we done here?” I asked coldly.
Stu nodded without meeting my eyes, unable to draw enough breath to form words. His friend was still moaning on the ground beside him.
“I don’t want to see your face again,” I told him. “Don’t come back here.”
He managed another nod, and I decided I was satisfied with his defeat. I didn’t have to hurt him more to make my point. The whole “fight” had lasted less than five minutes. I was pretty sure they understood that they couldn’t fuck with me.