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“I was so good to you, baby. When you and your mama got into a fight, I gave you a place to stay. I taught you everything I know and split everything I earned with you.”
“What about Maya? Is she here?” Maya is Dell’s sister, his favorite partner in crime, and the only one I’ve ever known who can keep him in line. Or as much in line as anyone could ever keep Dell. He’s always been a dreamer, with very few of the traits he actually needs to make any of those dreams come true.
“Maya’s dead, Honey.” His jaw works as he looks away. “She made some bad choices, and they killed her.”
“What kind of bad choices?” My throat tightens and guilt rises back up. “Last time I talked to her, she told me she was doing really well.”
He winces. “You left her and, when things went bad, she had no one to talk to. She got mixed up with some bad people and made a choice that killed her.” He reaches out and lays a palm on my shoulder. “You starting to understand what happens when you turn your back on the people who should matter to you?”
I don’t flinch. I don’t give him any indication he’s getting to me. “She could have called me. She and I didn’t always get along, but I would have helped her if I’d known.”
He rubs my shoulder and slides his hand down my arm, squeezing my biceps. “You know as well as I do she wasn’t the type to ask for help, Honey. You abandoned her. Don’t pretend to care she’s dead now.”
A tear slips free and slides down my cheek. “I’m sorry, Dell. I know how close the two of you were.”
He looks down at his feet and swallows hard, but when he faces me again, there’s no sign of sadness or emotion of any kind on his face. “Good. Then you should understand how much you owe me.”
My answer is reflexive, something I say to myself over and over again whenever the guilt about leaving him and Maya the way I did creeps in. “I don’t owe you anything, Dell Rutherford.”
He moves his hand from my arm to my neck in a heartbeat, squeezing gently and dropping his forehead against mine. “Things were good when we were together, Honey. We were making money hand over fist. Remember those days?”
He doesn’t smell great, like he hasn’t bathed in a few days, but I don’t pull away. This is Dell’s version of a hug, the closest he’ll ever come to admitting he needs comfort. I can give him that when he’s grieving for his sister. “I remember.” I let myself slip back into memories of the good times. “We had some fun.”
He lets go and backs away, his smile not reflected in his sad eyes. “We had the best time. I understand you’ll be coming into a fair bit of money in a few months.”
I nod again. It wouldn’t have taken much digging on Dell’s part to find out what I’m going to inherit if I live in the house with my sisters until the end of the year. I doubt he knows how much I’ll inherit, but he wouldn’t be here unless he at least suspected it’s a lot.
He looks around, giving away his own nervousness for the first time. He scrubs a palm over his face. “I want to go straight, Honey, but I can’t get a decent job with a felony conviction. I just need you to front me some money so I can open that repair shop I’ve always wanted to run.”
I search my memory. “A repair shop?”
He nods. “You don’t remember? I wanted to open a mechanic shop, fix cars.” He shakes his head. “It’s like you never paid any attention to anything I said.”
“You hate fixing cars. You complained every day when you worked for your uncle at his shop.” He was good at it, though. The only thing in his life that ever came easily to him.
He frowns and scratches his head. “Oh, yeah. Well, things have changed.” He ducks his head, not making eye contact. “I’ve got a kid, Honey. I want to do right by her, but I just need a couple hundred grand to get started.”
He’s lying. “What’s really going on, Dell?”
Finally, he looks up and meets my eyes. “The details don’t matter. You’re coming into a whole lot of money and, if you still care about me at all, you’ll help me have a better future. Isn’t that what you always said you wanted for me? A better life?”
I did say that, and I’d meant it. At some point, though, I had to admit to myself I couldn’t help him when he wasn’t willing to help himself. “Are you serious about going straight? You don’t have to tell me what you’re doing, Dell, but I need to know you won’t be using the money to do something illegal.”
He runs a hand through his hair and grips the back of his neck. Slowly, he lowers his hand and looks into my eyes, his expression serious. “I’m going straight, Honey. I want to be a good person.” He looks away, chewing on his lower lip. “I’m starting a business that’s going to make me a very rich man, but I can’t tell you about it, because I don’t want anyone stealing my idea.”
He’s lying. Even as blind as I was to his faults when we were together, I learned his tells when I taught him to be a con artist. He’s just shown me every one of them in the space of five seconds. “I’m not getting any of that money for a few months.”
He pulls at his hair and scowls. “I’m living out of my car, Honey. I’m barely scraping enough money together for three meals a day. I need money now.”
The tight feeling in my chest is a mixture of that guilt I’ve been trying to ignore and sadness. “I don’t have the money now, Dell. I can give you a couple hundred bucks, but that’s all I can do.”
He drops his arms, shoulders slumping. “Maybe we could go back into business together. You know we could make that much in probably less than a month.”
“I’m not conning people anymore, Dell.”
His laugh is wry as he shakes his head. “You’ve gotten real good at lying to yourself, Honey, but I know you. You’re no angel. You enjoy the game just as much as I do.”
I cross my arms across my waist and squeeze. He’s wrong. I’m not that person anymore. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to do anything illegal to help you.”
