Maggie stared at my lips like she wanted to kiss me. I could give her what she wanted. It was hard not to when every muscle in my body was tense, begging for some kind of release. I leaned in and her lips parted in surprise. I pulled a piece of fuzz off the shoulder of her coat and flicked it away. She blushed. I hid a smile.

“What do you mean, thanks to me?” she asked, stepping back.

“Sounds like you talked Nico off his ledge.”

“I don’t know about that. I just didn’t want to see him hurt himself. Worse than he already was, I mean.”

No one cared about people as much as Maggie. It was probably a preacher’s kid kind of thing. I’d never gone to church so I didn’t know a lot of religious types. Maggie wasn’t in-your-face about her beliefs, but there was something about her that I hadn’t seen in anyone else.

Of course, that something didn’t matter after she’d lied to Simon, screwing him and trying to get away with it. That I’d seen a lot of, just never to Simon Ting.

Maggie was studying me, a crease between her eyebrows. I met her stare, daring her to speak first. I should’ve known Maggie wouldn’t back down from a challenge.

“Why do you work here?”

The question caught me off guard but I answered honestly. “I like teaching.”

Her eyes widened, as if she couldn’t believe I wanted a normal life as much as anyone.

“I don’t want to work for Simon Ting forever.”

“Really?”

Right there, that said it all. All she saw in me was a fighter, a lackey. She couldn’t see past that to who I really was. She hadn’t ever tried. I leaned closer. “One day, I’ll own a gym of my own, this gym, and I won’t have to answer to Simon, or to anyone but myself. So you can get off your high horse and stop judging me.”

She opened her mouth but I didn’t let her speak.

“I used to believe you came from another world, one that I had never, and would never, be part of. But deep down, you’re just like all the rest. You and that friend of yours manipulated and lied your way out of Nico’s debt. Plus a nice little bonus to boot. Is your cut of that paying the rent?”

Heat rose in her cheeks.

“I’ve met plenty of lowlifes and criminals, the kind of people who’d come up with something like that. I never expected it from you. Bravo.”

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t lie to me. I’m not stupid.” I’d put her on a pedestal because I’d wanted to know someone who wasn’t capable of this kind of deceit. It had been nothing more than a pipe dream. “You’re lucky Simon doesn’t know. You don’t realize what he’d do to you if he found out. Or to me. He’s like a father to me, and I’m lying to him. For you.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t… It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t care. Do you understand?”

She turned her back on me.

I wanted to press my lips to her hair, her neck, her skin, everywhere.

I wanted to forget she ever existed.

“I don’t care about you at all,” I said. I almost believed the lie. “Don’t give me a reason to pay attention to you again.”

The door to the gym swung open. Alfonso stopped when he saw us, his eyes widening.

I stepped around Maggie. “What do you need?”

He tilted his head to the street. “Come.”

Simon’s Lexus idled near the curb. My blood froze. “He’s out?” Either that, or Alfonso had stolen his car. Which would get him just as dead as Alonso.

“He needs you,” Alfonso said.

I’d had a breather while Simon had been laid up, but now it was gone. Did he already want me to start recruiting Aguda’s boys? It didn’t matter. He called, I went. And I had to keep going for now because it was the only way to get something on him to take to Hopkins.

Maggie hadn’t moved. Maybe she was afraid of Alfonso, or more likely Simon. “You need to leave so I can lock up,” I said, shrugging on a hoodie.

She lifted her chin.

Alfonso moved in front of the door. “Her too.”

She faltered. “Me?” Her eyes flicked to mine.

“Both of you.” Alfonso gave me a look he didn’t have to bother with. It said, bring her or else. He went outside. This was bad. Simon should have no reason to want Maggie unless he was using her to threaten me, or if he’d found out about Fred.

“I’m not going with him.”

I moved in front of her, blocking her from the outside. “He won’t hurt you.”

She searched my face. “What about you?”

I scowled. “You should know better.”

“It’s your job, isn’t it?”

“I may not be interested in you anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’ll hurt you.”

For a long moment, her eyes never left mine. Then she took a breath and nodded.

I opened the door and cocked my head. Maggie hesitated, then went to the car. She climbed into the back seat and I went in after her.

Maggie faced forward, ignoring Simon, even though she was sitting right beside him. Alfonso got into the driver’s seat.

She shifted closer to me, pressing her thigh into mine. She trusted me more than him. It felt like a win.

“Margaret Hale,” Simon said. She looked at him, but leaned her shoulder into me as if she didn’t want her face too close to his.

Simon smiled. He was still pale, but otherwise looked healthy. I hadn’t expected him out of the hospital this soon. “I appreciate the expediency with which you handled Nico’s loan. It’s always satisfying to close an account.”

“Great,” she said. It didn’t sound like she meant it.

“How did you come by the money?” he asked. “I’m curious. I wouldn’t think your job at that diner would pay you enough.”

Her body tensed. “It didn’t.”

He knew. Somehow, he knew Fred and her were connected. My legs twitched. The air in the car was stuffy. Alfonso was watching from the front, his eyes on the rearview mirror.

Simon tapped his finger against the front seat and Alfonso pulled onto the road. I was surprised he was letting someone else drive his Lexus, but that didn’t matter right now. Simon’s hands were covered in black leather gloves. As much as another murder would help my case, that wasn’t the kind of evidence I wanted to gather.

“A girl like you probably has good credit,” he said.

Maggie folded her hands in her lap. I desperately wanted to take one in my own, to comfort her, not that she would’ve wanted me to.

“I assumed that’s what you would do. But you didn’t take out a bank loan recently. Or ever, for that matter.”

Simon had done his research. I’d been hoping he’d never look into where she got the money once it was paid up, but that hope was dead now. He had to know. But why waste time with this charade?

“Then I thought, maybe you have parents with means. It’s not uncommon for children to try to make their own way in the world, then run to Mommy and Daddy for help.” He leaned toward Maggie. “But that’s not the case with you, is it?”

Simon opened a briefcase and pulled out some papers. “Richard and Maria Hale. A preacher and his lovely wife.” He held the papers out to Maggie but she didn’t take them. I glanced at the top sheet, a picture of an older couple stepping off the porch of their house, their mouths open in conversation. They were both bundled up, snow nestled at their feet. This wasn’t a picture he’d gotten off the internet. This was a picture he’d sent someone to take, and recently.

Maggie stared at her hands. The tips of her fingers had gone red from squeezing. I slid my hand between my leg and hers, curling my fingers so my knuckles were digging into her thigh. It was reminder that I was there, that she wasn’t alone.

Simon shuffled the papers, pulling a new one on top of the other. “Hank Markham, your high school beau.”

I stiffened, glancing at a photo of a goofy looking guy wearing a cowboy hat and an earnest smile. Maggie had dated that guy? Between him and Fred, she had terrible taste in men.

“His family runs a successful ranch. Did you borrow the money from him?”

She looked up and swallowed.

“He looks like a nice boy.” Simon held the picture of Hank beside his own face like some weird comparison. It hit me then, why Maggie never gave me a chance. To her, I was more like Simon than I was this Hank. No wonder she had no interest in me.

“He is nice,” she said quietly.

Simon’s eyes narrowed. “The kind of boy who would do anything for his girl?”

She lifted her chin. “I’m not his girl anymore.”

“No? Then where, may I ask, did you come up with thirteen thousand dollars? See, things just don’t add up. And I like things to add up.”

Maggie started to tremble. I wanted to pull her out of this car and away from Simon. Away from everything but me.

Alfonso pulled up in front of Maggie’s apartment without anyone telling him where to go.

Maggie glanced at her apartment, at me, then back at Simon. “Does it matter where I got the money?” Her voice rose, fear replaced with anger. There’s my girl, I thought, before I remembered she had never been mine. “I’ve paid off the debt. It’s done. If I’ve borrowed from someone else, that’s my problem with them and has nothing to do with you.”

I nudged Maggie’s leg, trying to tell her to shut up. She’d said too much. Simon’s face went blank.

“I see.” His eyes moved to me and I kept my face neutral. No doubt he was going through all the other Vegas loan sharks he knew, wondering which one she’d borrowed from. He’d look into it, or ask me to, and when nothing came up, would he put Maggie and Fred together?

My fist pressed against her leg. I couldn’t let him hurt her, and yet I hated her for putting me in this mess. If Maggie Hale had never come into my life, I probably could have been free of Simon by now and doing what I wanted. But hadn’t I learned early in life that I didn’t get what I wanted?

“I don’t think we need to know anything else,” I said. “We can let the girl go.”

Simon ignored me. “We’ll talk later, Margaret.”

I opened the door and climbed out before Simon could change his mind. Maggie got out after me. She looked into my eyes and I looked into hers. For a moment, I felt like we could’ve been other people, with simple problems, together.

And then I remembered how she had rejected me. How she thought she was better than me. How she had landed herself in trouble and now expected me to bail her out.

My eyebrows lowered into a scowl. I turned away. When I got back in the car, Simon didn’t say anything until Alfonso had driven off.

“I had a lot of time to think in the hospital about where Margaret could have gotten that money,” Simon said. “It’s too much of a coincidence that Fred Madsen borrows fifty and then Margaret Hale pays off Nico’s debt a few days later.”

I didn’t answer.

“They know each other. They have to.” Simon put the papers back in the briefcase. “To be honest, I never would’ve thought that girl had it in her. Especially after digging into her family. Preacher’s daughter, good student, no trouble with the law. You never can tell with some people.”

“We’ll need proof,” I said, hoping to stall him from doing something rash. “You’ve got your rep to worry about if you want Aguda’s boys on your side. Can’t afford a mistake.” My gut roiled. For once, I didn’t want to punch something. I wanted to run, and take Maggie with me.

“Of course,” Simon replied. “I’ll call the other lenders first, just to be sure.”

“You want me to handle it?”

“Have you found Fred?” Simon knew the answer from my lack of response. “Find him. Plus, I’ve arranged a meeting for you with Andrew Arthur. He owes me one but I want you to feel him out, see if he’ll join the business.”

Andrew Arthur, the worst of Aguda’s boys. Convicted of multiple counts of rape and assault. Simon had gotten him off on a minor charge a while back. My body went cold. I could tell Hopkins about Arthur, but we needed something on Simon, and he wouldn’t even be at the meeting. He’d be too busy looking into Maggie.

He wouldn’t go after her until he had proof she screwed him.

It was only a matter of time.