Page 18

Chapter Seventeen

Fitz

“Uh, let’s take mine,” I said as we left The Roundup.

“That’s smart. You can drop me off after we talk to TJ, and I’ll follow you to Red Rock Casino. There’s a great barbecue place there I thought we could go to for dinner and then you can head back to Vegas. Again, sorry I was late.” Sawyer walked me to the driver’s side and opened my door, which was an unexpected surprise.

I slid inside, and he closed the door, hurrying around the truck to get in on the passenger side. “I’m glad you came, Fitz. There’s so much shit going on right now, my head is spinning. I need someone else to listen with me so I don’t miss anything.”

“I know that feelin’ far too well. I’ll help in any way I can, Sawyer. I’ve been told I’m a good listener. What’s goin’ on?” I reversed out of my parking spot and drove to the exit of the lot before stopping.

I turned to Sawyer, who was chewing on his bottom lip and didn’t seem to have heard me. “Are you okay?”

He sighed. “Fuck if I know. It’s been a brutal day.” He turned his head and looked at me as he rested against the headrest.

“Do you not want to do this today?” Hell, I was there at his request, but if he had too much on his plate already, we could do it another day.

“No, after the shit that happened today, I need to do this more than I thought. Please, don’t go easy on TJ. I need to know what the hell he’s planning to do. I gotta know about this fight on the twenty-second, and I’m hoping you can get him to tell you the truth.”

A million questions circled my head, but I kept my mouth shut. “Tell me where we’re going.”

Sawyer smiled, put his hand on my shoulder, and pointed to the right. “Head that way.”

I followed his directions, and within a few minutes, I saw a sign with a cow dressed in a pink bikini and the word, Cowpokes, in lights across the bottom. I pulled into the gravel parking lot with a group of mobile homes, each with a small, covered porch.

There was one large double-wide trailer at the front of the property, with three smaller trailers in an L-shape next to it. The total number of trailers was nine, and it was the strangest setup I’d ever seen.

“You couldn’t build a big house or a hotel or somethin’ else here?”

Sawyer grinned. “According to the law, brothels can’t be permanent structures. These are all unattached from each other and can be moved at any time. Come on. I’ll show you.”

We walked to the front porch of the large double-wide and he opened the door, motioning for me to go first. A small woman met me at the counter near the door. “Good evening. I’m Bess. Do you have an appointment?”

“I, uh…”

I glanced behind me as Sawyer stepped inside. “He’s with me, Bess. Is TJ available?”

The woman looked between Sawyer and me. “What’s this about, Bones? These are my kids to look after. What’s going on?”

“Ma’am, I’m not here to do any harm to any of your kids. I just need to speak with TJ regarding his recent arrest. I’ve spoken to Mr. Abbott about it, and he’s agreed to bring me here and allow me to have a conversation with the young man.”

Bess didn’t look happy, but she picked up a phone and dialed a number. “TJ, Bones is on his way over with a cop.”

I chuckled, not correcting her, as we walked back outside and Sawyer led me past four trailers until we came to a small white one with a sign tacked onto the outside with the initials TJ .

Sawyer knocked and called out, “TJ, it’s me.”

The door opened, and the young man greeted us with a big smile. “Hello, Bones. Is this a social call?” TJ scanned my body until he came to my face. His smile faded as he seemed to recognize me from when I bailed him out of jail.

“No, not really.” Sawyer handed the young man a hundred-dollar bill.

The kid took the money and stuffed it into the pocket of his gray sweatpants. He stepped aside and extended his hand. “Come in, please.”

The room was larger than I expected it to be, based on the size of the trailer. Though, my only frame of reference was the camping trailer a couple of wandering cowboys parked on the ranch in Midland one summer when they worked for my dad. It had a couple of tiny rooms, but this TJ’s trailer had been gutted and rebuilt as one large room.

There was a sitting area with a couple of chairs and a table with a lamp on one side of the bed, another chair was on the other side near a door, and in the middle was a king-sized bed. Hanging over it was a black leather sex swing.

I wasn’t sure where the hell to sit.

“TJ, take a seat. You remember Fitz Morgan. He bailed you out of jail not too long ago.” Sawyer pointed to the side of the bed, and TJ sat. I took the blue chair, and Sawyer sat in the other, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the sex swing. I’d never seen one before.

“Hi, Mr. Morgan.” TJ was a nice, polite kid… the kind of kid who could lie to his mother’s face with a sincere smile. I knew those types. I’d been one when I was young.

Sawyer cleared his throat. “Ricky tells me you’ve got a fight coming up. How’d he hear about it?”

“Fight? What fight, Bones?” TJ’s nose scrunched up, and his gaze wouldn’t meet Sawyer’s. It was a dead giveaway he was lying.

I reached for my phone and pulled up the video, turning the screen toward TJ. “What’s this about?” He reached out and took the device.

When the video started, the young man swallowed and glanced at me. “Where’d you get this?”

I sat up straighter, pulling up the authoritarian voice I’d honed to perfection over the years. “TJ, son, there isn’t a street, lane, boulevard, or alley in Las Vegas that doesn’t have a street camera recording every move people make. This is the age of big brother, with facial recognition capabilities to identify wanted criminals and possible crimes in progress.

“I’m aware that’s Jimmy Germaine. He’s been identified as a trainer at Boxed In, where you happen to occasionally be a sparring partner for some MMA fighters. Tell us why you met Jimmy at the Blue Diamond Casino?”

I might have embellished the ability of LVPD to run facial recognition through the municipal cameras because I didn’t know what they could or couldn’t do since I’d never worked for them. It was widely known that the big casinos employed it every day to keep an eye on the clientele for signs of cheating, pickpocketing, or any trouble that might disrupt the good times people flocked to Las Vegas to experience.

I was willing to bet my pinky toe that Lawry Schatz was hacking into a few of the cameras at Blue Diamond Casino as I sat there interrogating the kid. The man was fucking thorough.

“Jimmy said I might have a shot at a sanctioned fight so I could get my name out and start building a ranking to get picked up by the league. Ricky said the same thing, so I went to meet with Romero Garza to discuss a match.” His face flushed as he answered.

“What happened between you and Garza that he ended up in the hospital and you were behind bars?” I kept my gaze steadied on TJ, which only seemed to make him more nervous.

“I don’t… It’s compli—”

Sawyer reached over and put a hand on the guy’s knee. “TJ, unless your selling drugs out of this house and that guy is your dealer, there’s nothing we can’t work through together.”

“This is… I can’t… It’s serious, Bones. If I tell you what’s going on…” The kid chewed his nails.

I shoved my hand through my hair. “Let’s take baby steps, TJ. Jimmy Germaine asked you to meet him at the Blue Diamond. What did he say you were to do there?” I sat back in the chair and tried to relax.

“Jimmy wanted me to show Garza the sparring video we made the Monday before. I’d worked out that day with a guy named Chris Charlotte who trains at the gym. I hadn’t ever worked with him before, but it was a good match. Jimmy shot it on his phone.”

I nodded, remembering something Hardy had mentioned. “Do you know a trainer named Voss Graham?” He was the guy Hardy mentioned speaking to at the gym when he inquired about self-defense classes.

TJ scowled at me. “That asshole. He doesn’t like me because I turned him down for a fuck when I first started going to Boxed In. He talks trash about me to the other fighters. He’s a perv, always hitting on the young guys and volunteering to give them pointers when they’re working out.”

I’d have to talk to Hardy about the guy in case TJ was telling the truth. If anything happened to Hardy and I could have prevented it, I’d hate myself.

“Okay. So, you take the video with you and you go—did Jimmy give you Garza’s room number, or did you guys meet at one of the bars and then go to Garza’s room?”

TJ glanced at Sawyer, who chuckled. “Go ahead. He’s not really a cop anymore, regardless of what Bess said.”

“I’m a bail recovery agent. He’s right, I’m not a cop, but I want to help you out of this mess because I think you might be in over your head, TJ. If you want help, then talk to me.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my badge, handing it to the kid to examine.

TJ gave it a looky-loo and handed it back. He glanced at Sawyer. “You’re friends with a bounty hunter?” Even I chuckled at the incredulity in his voice.

Sawyer turned to me and winked. “Yeah. If I have my way, it’ll be more than friends, but we’ll see. Anyway, tell us what happened, TJ. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what the fuck is going on.”

Sawyer reached for my hand, holding it to his mouth and grazing his lips over my knuckles. I was absolutely speechless. I wanted to fucking jump the man in the chair.

“A-hem.” I dragged my gaze from Sawyer’s clover-green eyes and turned to TJ, seeing a smirk.

“Uh, yeah, let’s uh, let’s get back to the subject at hand. Tell me where you met Garza.” I gently pulled my hand from Sawyers and focused back on TJ.

“We met in the lobby bar and had a beer so I could explain to him what I was looking for—a chance to get ranked in the MMA world. If I could win a fight, I could get sponsors and travel. I could get out of sex work, and I could take care of my grandpa.” TJ looked down at his hands twisting in his lap before he lifted his right one to his mouth, chewing his nails again.

I glanced at Sawyer and motioned my head for him to say something. I couldn’t be the good cop and the bad cop.

Sawyer gave a subtle nod. “TJ, tell us about your grandfather.”

TJ’s eyes began to shimmer before he sniffled, so I reached into my pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to him. He took it, wiped his eyes, and twisted it between his fingers as he tried to pull himself together.

“My grandfather is my dad’s dad. When I was thirteen, my parents died in an explosion. My father worked for the Scorpions cooking meth, and my mom helped him. I’d been at school that day, and when I got off the bus, my house was gone and there was still a fire. Cops and fire trucks were there.

“After the house blew up, my grandparents took me in. My grandfather made a deal with the Scorpions that if I wouldn’t tell the cops who my parents cooked for, they’d leave us alone. My grandpa was a carpenter and my grandmother was a seamstress, and they could work anywhere, so we moved to Mesquite.” TJ lifted his right hand and wiped under his eyes with my handkerchief again.

I glanced at Sawyer, and he raised his eyebrows, tilting his head for me to continue. I sighed and cleared my throat.

“I’m sorry for your loss, TJ. Your grandmother—is she still alive?”

“No. She died from cancer. Grandpa Jim has shown signs of early dementia and depression, according to his doctor, and I pay for his care. I need this money, Bones. I can’t take care of him without it. He needs a facility where they’ll look after him because he’s isolated himself. I don’t want that for him.”

I sat forward in the chair. “What money? TJ. Tell us what’s going on.”

TJ stared at the ceiling before he finally exhaled. “Romero said we needed to go to his room so he could get his wallet. I paid for our drinks at the lobby bar and followed him to his room. When we were inside, he brought out a tablet and he said I should watch a video.

“‘This is your grandpa,’ Romero said before he showed me a video of an old man who looked a lot like my grandfather. He was being beaten, stabbed in his arms and legs, and then they poured gasoline and lit him on fire. I puked in the floor of Romero’s hotel room.”

Sawyer started to sit forward, but I put my hand on his shoulder. When he glanced at me, I gave him a shake of my head.

“Do you know who that old man was in the video?” I held my breath.

TJ sucked in a breath. “No, but it wasn’t my grandfather. I called Rosemary, his caretaker, when I got out of jail, and she said he’s fine. I’m worried he might be in danger.”

“What did Garza say to you after he showed you the video?” I wanted to push the kid to answer, but he broke down… hard.

Finally… “He said, ‘Take a dive in the ring and your grandpa will be fine. My people will be sure both of you are fine. This isn’t your time to become a ranked fighter, but I’ll see that you get a turn in the ring.’ I knew he was threatening me, and I beat the fuck out of him so he knew I could best him.

“When security came to his room, he asked me again, ‘Is that a yes? You love that old man that much?’ I said yes, and then the security guards hauled me out.”

I nodded. “Okay, TJ. Anything else we should know?”

“To keep my grandfather safe, I’m supposed to take a dive in the third round. Garza has to win, and if I take the dive, the Scorpions will leave my grandfather alone. Garza said they’d pay ten grand toward his care. It’s more money than I can raise in a couple of months by tricking.”

Sawyer stood and sat on the bed next to TJ. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me what was going on? We’ll help you. You’re not alone in the world, TJ.”

Jealousy coursed through my veins for an instant. It was maddening to see Sawyer wrap his arms around TJ, but as the young man sobbed, I moved to sit on the other side of him to offer any comfort I could.

It had to be a heavy load for TJ Middleton to carry by himself, and as I glanced at Sawyer, it was a heavy load for him too.

I stepped out of TJ’s trailer and sat on the second step from the bottom to wait for Sawyer. He’d stayed behind to speak with TJ, though I wasn’t sure what was being said. It really wasn’t my business.

To me, there was only one way to tackle the disaster laid at Sawyer’s feet, and I wasn’t sure if either man would go for my solution. It sounded as if the Scorpions were trying to fight dirty, and if it was my problem, I’d fight dirty in return.

TJ, now wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt, followed the handsome biker outside. I glanced over my shoulder toward Sawyer. “So, what are we going to do about this bullshit?”

Sawyer took my hand, pulling me up. “We’re going to go get Grandpa Jim and maybe he can stay with you at your place? Nobody would know he was there, and we can bring his care nurse along to look after him.” Sawyer stared at me for a reaction, but I was waiting for more details.

I didn’t mind Grandpa Jim and his caregiver staying with me. Heaven knew I had enough room and was barely ever home, but I had neighbors to worry about if someone came looking for the old man.

I had Elgin Tan and his mother, Mae, who lived across the street. Elgin had swept the sidewalk, the driveway, and the front porch several times, and I’d left money in an envelope on his mother’s porch for him. I didn’t know their story, but the young man was trying very hard to help his single mother, and I admired him for it.

“I’d take him to the clubhouse, but I think that’s the first place the Scorpions would look, and I don’t want to bring the fight to us. I want to keep the element of surprise. Do you mind, Fitz?”

What the hell could I say? “Not at all. Mr. Middleton can have my room, and the nurse can have the spare. I’ll take the couch.”

“Thank you. I wonder if I should stay at Mr. Middleton’s place in Mesquite and wait for a Scorpion to show up?” Sawyer stared at me, and I shook my head. No fucking way was he going to be a sitting duck.

“We’ll talk about that later but,” I turned to TJ, “we need to pick you up in the morning to go get your grandfather.”

“Get my grandfather?” TJ looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. Had he not listened to what we’d just discussed right in front of him?

“Yeah. We’re going to take care of him and bring along his caretaker so he’s comfortable at my place, and you’re going to fight, but you’re not going to take a fall. You’re going to kick that guy’s ass, and the club is going to bet on you to make up for the money the Scorpions stole from them.”

The kid’s mouth flew open as he turned to Sawyer. “I agreed to take the dive, Bones. I can’t back down or they’ll find my grandfather and kill him.”

Sawyer laughed. “Not a chance in hell, TJ.”