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“ D on’t tell me to fucking calm down! You didn’t just get a gun shoved in your face.

” Greg whirled from the park bench and walked jerkily away, out of hearing distance of the woman checking him out from behind her upheld newspaper.

With her stringy gray hair and judgy eyes, she reminded him of his mom.

Always ready to give a criticism or lecture.

Stand up straight, Gregory. Maintain eye contact.

How are you ever going to get a job if you don’t possess self-confidence?

Like she hadn’t made it her life’s mission to grind that out of him from birth.

He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his T-shirt.

“Yeah, well, you also said she’d be alone and that was a lie.

She’s got some psycho bodyguard or something.

” He listened for a moment longer. “How the hell would I know who it is? Think we made introductions? The guy was gonna call the cops. If he catches me again I’ll be in lockup.

And they’ll send me to prison this time. The judge warned me about that.”

Greg knew damn well that he didn’t stand a chance in the pen.

Local jail was bad enough. He had one of those faces that just made people want to pound the shit out of him.

That’d started with his mom’s boyfriend and continued into high school.

Like he had an invisible “punch me” tattoo on his forehead.

He put the cell down in frustration to avoid the barrage of verbal abuse.

When there was a pause, he raised it again.

“There was nothing I could do. Follow her home, that’s what you said.

Discover what car she drives. Let you know where else she went.

I done most of that. It’s a white Hyundai.

Local.” Greg picked up the note he’d scribbled and read off the license plate.

“They ate at that restaurant on Third and Pinecrest. It didn’t look like she talked to anyone else there.

I kept it real cool, just drove by a couple of times.

” He listened, but the bitching turned to accusations, and fuck that. He’d done the best he could.

“How the hell would I know how he saw me? It wasn’t like I was tailgating him. I stayed a few cars back. Maybe he’s trained to spot a tail. That’s probably part of the his job.”

The voice calmed. Talking and more talking.

Nerves twisted in Greg’s gut. Tightened his shoulders.

“I know I said I’d help, but not this way.

Not again. He knows my car. He took pictures of it, for crissakes!

And of me. He’ll make me easily if he sees me again.

” The familiar craving had lodged in his brain, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll wait for your call.” He eyed a passing police cruiser, and a knot of anxiety balled in his throat.

He shoved the phone in his back pocket, heading to where he’d illegally parked his car.

A ticket was the least of his worries. He hadn’t been gone long enough for it to be towed, but you never knew.

Some of these asshole businesses worked with scam tow trucks that refused to release owners’ cars until they coughed up serious cash for the impound and storage.

Greg couldn’t afford to let that happen.

Especially since he wasn’t going to get paid for this afternoon, even though it wasn’t his fault the thing went sideways.

That was the story of his life, man. Try to do right by someone, and he got fucked over himself.

He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and retraced his steps to the Fusion.

He needed what was in his glove box. Just a taste to take the edge off.

Then he’d head to the beach where he could really relax in peace while he waited for his next instructions.