Page 2 of Sawyer (Sabre Security Daddies #6)

T hree years later…

The bus ride from prison to Elk Jaw lasted two hours and seventeen minutes. She could probably have timed it to the exact second if the shirtless man sitting next to her on the bus hadn’t stolen her watch.

She’d spent the past two hours and seventeen minutes staring out the window, clutching her black cat stuffie, Lucky, to her chest while sitting next to him.

Her seatmate spent the time singing off-key with the imaginary songs on the imaginary radio he held in his right hand every mile of the way.

His left hand rested on her thigh, except for the one time he’d moved it to pull the watch Hector had given her as a college graduation present three years ago from her wrist.

It also turned out he’d been very fond of having people sing those imaginary songs along with him. Two hours and seventeen minutes was a long time to spend whispering song lyrics along with a crazy man on a bus.

In prison, she’d learned to go into her happy place and stay there until the bad things went away.

Her happy place was so much better than real life.

She should be grateful she’d only spent the past three years in constant terror of bad things happening.

If it hadn’t been for Mama Sam, bad things would have happened.

For some reason, the woman had taken care of her and kept the bad people away.

Mama Sam was in prison for doing bad things, but she’d been good to Lele.

She hoped Hector wouldn’t want to talk when she got home because, after two hours and seventeen minutes of singing, her voice was shot, along with her nerves and her patience.

She would have told you three years ago there was no end to her patience.

If that had ever been true, it wasn’t anymore.

She’d traded patience in for a protective shell that was impenetrable.

That shell was hard. Diamond hard.

Her smile.

Her eyes.

Her heart.

She wasn’t anywhere close to the innocent do-gooder she’d been three years ago.

Not that anyone except Hector had seen her that way.

No matter how hard she’d tried, trouble found her.

She’d never taken drugs in her life. Until the past three years, she’d never even seen any.

And yet, her name became tied up with them all the time.

She’d always been what kind of people would label as quirky, so it had obviously been easy for people to take the leap to drugs being the cause.

It grew from there. If there were ever any vandalism or robberies around town, for some reason, her name came up.

She held the town record for the person most frequently invited to come to the police station to talk .

If it hadn’t been for Hector, she probably would have wound up behind bars much sooner than she had.

Eventually, her luck had run out. She’d run up against trouble he couldn’t get her out of.

Not being on the right side of town didn’t bother her.

How would a conversation go with the people she used to know, anyway?

It wasn’t like she had a lot in common with them anymore.

The girl who stepped through the gate of prison with a bus voucher and clothes that weren’t hers and didn’t fit was nowhere close to the na?ve, innocent girl who’d entered through those gates before.

That person was never coming back, and it wasn’t fair. The allegations made against her hadn’t been true, but in the end, it hadn’t mattered.

Prison had changed her at every level. And the most tragic thing of all was she’d made it back out, but the Little who had been such a large part of her had not.

The only comfort she had from that life was Lucky.

It still made her feel safe to hold a stuffed animal.

She didn’t question why. The fact that her stuffie could give her that feeling was good enough for her.

She wouldn’t be returning to her childhood home. The person who’d lived there didn’t exist anymore. The small house on the other side of Elk Jaw, the seedier side of town, was where she belonged now.

The house Hector had rented for her looked about as she’d expected.

“I know what you’re thinking, Lucky, but who doesn’t want to live in a peeling mint green house with torn window screens and dead grass?

” Hugging Lucky tighter, she tried not to cry.

She had no right to cry. This was the house she’d told Hector she wanted.

The bars on the windows would be the first thing to go. She’d looked through barred windows long enough. No way would she avoid flashbacks and nightmares with cages over her windows. Those bars would definitely be going away .

She’d seen pictures of the little house. But did it have to look so much worse in person?

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be there much. Not to mention, once she started getting paid at Videotopia, the adult gaming bar Hector owned, she could paint it a better color. Giving Lucky one more squeeze, she said, “Well, this is our new normal, Lucky. The inside is probably better.”

The inside was worse.

Way worse.

Stale air hit her first. When was the last time this house had been aired out?

Walking through the house, she opened every window.

Lucky for her, there were no curtains to get in the way.

All she needed to do was go back outside and take off the bars covering the front windows.

She attempted to do this for what seemed like hours.

Unfortunately, the swelling of the wood wasn’t enough to loosen the screws.

It looked like so for now, the bars stayed.

How depressing. Maybe they would loosen over time.

To brighten her mood, she sat down on the floor to make a list of things she needed. Her focus was so complete, she didn’t hear the front door open.

“I have no idea why you would want to live here.”

Lele yelped, leaping to her feet, ready to flee when she realized she recognized the voice. Hand fisted on her hips, she glared at Hector. “You need to make some noise before you give a girl a heart attack!”

He cocked his head. “You mean like stomping on the front porch and knocking on the door?”

“Yes, exactly like that.”

Hector leaned against the door frame and crossed his ankles. “I did. You didn’t answer.” His pleasant expression turned to a scowl. “I also thought you were going to call me as soon as you got here.”

Had she said that? She probably had, though she couldn’t remember.

It didn’t matter anyway. “I have a phone, but after three years in storage, it’s dead.

And before you ask, no, I didn’t take a charger in with me, so I didn’t have one coming out.

Still don’t.” She waved her dead phone in the air as proof.

Hector frowned. “I didn’t think about that. I brought your scooter with me.”

Lele pretended to be affronted. “I’m pretty sure I’ve told you it’s a mini-motorcycle, not a scooter. But thank you for bringing it with you. I’ll need it to get to work tomorrow.”

Hector laughed. It was the first time she’d heard him do that in over three years. “I’ll do my best to remember. And I’m glad to hear you’ll be coming to work tomorrow. Best to hit the ground running. That leads to one of the reasons I stopped by, other than checking on you, of course.”

“Of course.” Her lips twitched. Another thing that hadn’t happened since they’d shown up at her front door all those years ago. She hadn’t had a lot to smile about recently. “Do tell.”

His smile died, so she braced. “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to talk about the past. Not at work or anywhere else. People will forget eventually, but they’ll forget sooner if you don’t remind them. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

That was Hector. He always looked out for her. Still, she couldn’t hold back her question. “Are you ashamed of me?”

He scowled. “Never.” He strode to her and gripped her shoulders. “I could never be ashamed of you. You’re my sister.”

“Will you have any blowback if I work for you? I know you’ve finally taken people’s advice and are running for mayor.”

He snorted. “Somehow, I doubt being mayor of a town of two thousand people will launch my political career.”

“It has to launch somewhere. I’d never do anything to mess that up. Not after all you’ve done for me.”

“Well then, let’s say leaving the past in the past will work better for both of us. Deal?”

It was an easy thing to agree to. He was her brother. Not to mention her only friend in Elk Jaw and her boss. She smiled again, an act that seemed foreign to her face. “Deal.”

Hector stepped through the door but turned around for just a moment. “And by the way, that TV in the living room, it’s a welcome home gift from me, so take good care of it.”

She ran up and gave him a big hug. “You’re the bestest brother ever.”

He winked at her. “Just taking care of my little sister, like always.”

She stood in the doorway and watched him leave. What had she ever done to deserve a brother like that?