Jackson Stiles, Road to Redemption (Road to Redemption #1)(79)

She doesn’t wanna tell me, whatever it is. “Until what, Green?” So I encourage her to keep talking even though I know I’m gonna hate what’s f*cking coming next.

“Until it didn’t.” A rogue hand flails out in front of her. “I wanted to be a writer so I could tell real stories. I never planned on being the city’s go-to girl for crappy gossip about bogus crimes.” She genuinely seems disgusted with her choices. Something I can identify with.

Sometimes, I guess we see what we want to see instead of the plain f*cking truth.

“And now?”

She bites her lip.

“Green?”

“And now everything’s a mess. I broke things off with Connor about a month ago.”

Funny way of showing it, if you ask me.

“But?”

There’s always a but, ladies and gentlemen.

“It was getting to the point where we were inseparable. He was putting a lot of pressure on me to take the next step. He’s a great guy. I don’t know why I wanted out so bad. But it’s difficult to find a place in Redemption that I can afford. Then there was all this pressure at work, and my position was getting scrutinized.”

“Green.”

“Right. Anyway, we haven’t slept together since I broke it off, but I know he wants me back. I think he might be manipulating some of the apartment building board members around town into purposefully not giving me an apartment.”

Possible.

He is an accountant. Manipulator of money.

Dick.

One thing at a time, Stiles.

“Okay. First things first. We need to find you a place.”

“But I just told you─”

“Not a problem. I know a guy.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t. But I’m getting you the f*ck out of that apartment whether dipshit likes it or not.”

I might just clock him upside his smug f*cking face, when I go to give him the good news, for good measure.

Green fidgets and I can see her chewing on the inside of her mouth.

“What?”

“What what?” She genuinely thinks I don’t see it. Does she not know me better than that by now?

“Spill it, Green.”

She takes a breath in and lets it out, steadying herself for this next part of the conversation.

“Anonymous, whoever it is, was supposed to be friends with my dad, Stiles. When he wired me that money, I assumed it was a gift but-”

“Jesus.”

“He’s been threatening me lately. Saying it would be a shame if something happened to my dad if I didn’t…” She doesn’t need to finish the sentence. I f*cking get it. As big a dill-hole as my father is, if someone threatened his life, I’d play along. At least, until I could track a motherf*cker down and splice his ass open with the six-inch hunting knife I keep for emergencies.

Know what I mean?

“I’ve been paying him back in increments,” she insists. But we both know, at this point, the payback isn’t the goal.

“So you’re basically on his f*cking payroll until death do you part.”

She shrugs. “I guess, technically? I don’t know any more, Stiles. I have no idea what to do here. I don’t know what his plans are for you, or what you have to do with anything that he deals with. I checked you out. You don’t do anything illegal. Not really anyway.”

“You checked me out?”

Of course, she checked me out. “Well, ya got something f*cking right at least.”

Green’s face falls. That was a low blow, I know, but damn, I’m pissed the f*ck off right now.

This guy is the real deal. Sucks you in, gets you comfortable, and before you know it, you owe him a favor. Or ten. People like this, it’s their way of bribing someone without that person actually realizing their being bribed.

In other words—blood money.

Once they’ve got you, they’ve pretty much got you.

My point is…

Hold up.

Something just clicked with my brain.

“Did you say your job was paying really well??” She doesn’t exactly misuse grammar, this one.

“Yeah.”

“Meaning?”

I’m thinking it could be anything from them firing her because they found out what she was up to, to her getting a promotion because what she’s up to could help them, a million ways to conspiracy.

“I quit.”

But I was definitely not thinking that.

“Why?”

“I’ve said it a hundred times, Stiles. I didn’t know you then. Now that I do, and I’m seeing what happened to Donnie as more than just another criminal getting what he deserved, I want to do more than just report on gossip.” She pauses. “I need to. And if I can’t do it for The Chronicle, then I’ll find another way.”

Green impresses me. More so than anyone else I’ve met in Redemption. The fact that she’s willing to leave and cut ties with this *, or at least try to, says a lot more about her than what originally meets the eye.

“You surprise me, Green.”

“Well, there was one other thing that influenced me in the decision to leave.”

She’s blushing, and I want to know why.