I’d just gotten out of the shower and changed for bed when my phone rang. The clock on the stove in my studio apartment over the shop showed it was just after ten. I assumed it was one of the guys, wanting to get together over a few beers on a Saturday night. Normally, I would’ve went, but ever since Tony died, I’d struggled to keep my head on straight, so if I wasn’t in the garage working, I was upstairs, staying to myself. Therefore, I ignored it.

Then it rang again.

Worrying there was a problem, I grabbed the phone and noticed Jinx’s name on the screen. He was one of the younger mechanics. Tony had hired him about a year ago when the kid was seventeen, pulling him back from the brink of a life he’d never survive. And now with Tony gone, Jinx had become a ticking time bomb, with no indication of when he’d detonate.

“Talon, I fucked up. I fucked up so bad, man.” He was panicked, and his words practically ran together. It was hard to understand him at first, but once his disposition became clear, it got a little easier. “He’s gonna kill me. I fucked up, and now he’s gonna kill me and dump my body in Lake Cuomo.”

“Jinx!” I screamed, having called his name a handful of times already without successfully gaining his attention. “Calm the hell down and tell me what’s going on. Where are you?”

“I was at Baker’s and I—”

“You into that shit again?” I huffed, questioning whether or not he was salvageable at this point. “Are you on something right now? Are you still there?”

“They’re accusing me of stealing, man. They’re saying I ripped them off, that I took coke and some pills without permission.”

“Did you? Is that what you’re on? Did you mix coke and pills?”

“No, you aren’t listening to me. Not that I took them—that I stole them.”

“Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.” I found a pair of jeans in the clean basket and stepped into them while holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder.

“I just left Baker’s.”

I grabbed a shirt and waited for more, but he didn’t say anything else. After I slipped the black, long-sleeved shirt over my head, I asked, “Again, Jinx, where are you? Are you alone?”

“Yeah.” There was silence, then, “Fuck!” before the line disconnected.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the flashing screen. It wasn’t my responsibility to keep Jinx—or anyone else—out of trouble, but it’s what Tony would’ve done. And now that he’d given the shop to me, I had a hard time turning the other way when one of my guys needed help.

The cell rang again, Jinx’s name at the top of the screen. “What happened?”

“I told them I would get the money. I made them swear they wouldn’t go to him until I got the money. But I don’t have it. And I don’t got a clue where it is. I can’t find it. Now he’s gonna kill me. Tell me what to do.”

“You need money for the coke and pills? How much do you need? I have some.”

“Y-you’d do that, man?”

“If it means you’ll walk away from that shit, then yeah.” As much as I wished that were true, it wasn’t. Depending on how far into that circle he’d gotten, there was a chance he’d never make it out alive. And I clung to the hope that he hadn’t reached that point yet.

“Where are you? I can come to you.”

“I’m at the shop. How far away are you?”

Again, the line disconnected. I tried several times to reach him, but he didn’t answer. I went ahead and put on my boots, just in case I had to go to him. He was definitely on something, and with as hard as he’d taken Tony’s death, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had, in fact, stolen from their supply—and more than likely ingested whatever it was.

I waited another five minutes for his call to come through, trying him a few more times as well, before I grabbed my hoodie off the barstool and headed out. I made it halfway down the stairs and stopped. A noise came from one of the bays located inside the garage, and I stilled to see if I could hear more. There was some rustling, possibly shoes shuffling against the concrete, and what could only be described as a metal pipe falling to the ground.

Cautiously, I made it to the bottom step. I wasn’t scared of a fight. I had been in plenty since learning how to use my fists to solve problems—prior to Tony teaching me a more mature approach—so I wasn’t afraid of whoever was in the garage. However, I wasn’t stupid, either. If it were someone from Baker’s house coming after Jinx, or coming for whatever he’d stolen, my fists wouldn’t stand a chance against whatever weapons they had.

The door to the back lot was to my left, and the one that led to the bays was on my right. With my hand on the rail, I glanced between both exits, contemplating my next move. There was a chance it was Jinx…just as much as the possibility that it could be someone else. So, before I made a decision about where to turn, I cataloged the sounds that echoed in the hall, listening more intently in order to decipher how many bodies were on the other side.

When I was sure it was only one person—likely Jinx—I took the door on the right and slowly turned the knob. His wide, panicked eyes met mine, and I realized immediately something was very wrong.

Jinx had always been the “baby” in the shop. Not only was he the youngest, he also had this immature quality about him. There were times Tony and I had questioned—not in a malicious way, more to understand him better—if maybe his mother had been on drugs while pregnant with him. Other possibilities included the cord being wrapped around his neck during birth, or substantial head injuries. Then again, they were merely theories to explain his naïveté and slow mental calculation. Nice kid, would do anything for anyone…but he lacked the kind of sense and street smarts that kept most people alive in this town.

“Talon…man, I need your help.” When he got closer, there was no doubt he was on something. His pupils were blown, making the golden color of his irises barely visible. He also appeared jumpy, paranoid, and his hands shook like he had his feet in a bucket of ice water.

“Just calm down, Jinx. Okay? Take a few deep breaths.”

He nodded, as if he would listen and do as I suggested, yet rather than focus on regulating his breathing, he aggressively grabbed the front of my jacket. “I need money. You said you’d help me out. If I don’t pay him, he’ll kill me, and no one will ever find my body.”

“You’ve said that already, except I don’t know who he his.”

“The Shadowman. He’s real. He’ll come after me, and I won’t know he’s there until it’s too late.” He was talking like a madman, and I wasn’t sure how much of what he said were delusions and how much was real. “If he can run his own flesh and blood off a bridge and not think twice, he won’t bat an eye for someone like me.”

“How did you even get into this mess in the first place? Are you working at Baker’s now? Are you in his crew? You peddling shit for the guy? I need to know what’s going on in order to help you.”

“You can’t, man. You can’t fix this.”

“Then why are you here? Why are you sneaking into the bay after ten on a Saturday night if I can’t do anything for you?” As irritating as it was to go round and round in circles with someone coked out of their mind, I wouldn’t give up until I had a solution.

He released his hold on my hoodie and stepped away, glancing around him on the floor. “I can’t find it.”

“Can’t find what?”

“Baggie…the money. I can’t find it.”

I reached for him, and as soon as my hand landed on his shoulder, I realized what a mistake it was. He whipped around, his arm flying through the air, his eyes wide. Luckily, I was able to dodge the punch meant for my face.

“Jesus, man!” I held my hands up, hoping it would give him enough comfort to calm down. “What the hell is going on? Did you bring drugs into my garage? Is that what you’re looking for?” He better not have stashed anything illegal on this property, or he’d have a bigger issue than some guy dumping his body in a lake.

He moved to a large, red toolbox and leaned into it, his head hanging between his raised arms. I’d never seen him so desolate. Jinx was the one who had the shop laughing during stressful times, so witnessing this breakdown felt like a punch in the gut.

“How much money do you need, Jinx?” There wasn’t a lot in the safe, but I was sure it would be enough to cover whatever he’d taken. If it meant he’d have to work extra hours to make it up, I didn’t care, just as long as he was safe and out of their reach.

“Sixty,” he mumbled.

It saddened me to see how desperate he was for sixty dollars. Sure, to someone his age, that would be a lot, yet it wasn’t worth the anxiety that consumed him right now. “That’s it? Fine, it’s yours, but you have to promise me that you’ll stop—the drugs, the crew, all of it.”

“You don’t get it. I can’t get out. I’ve seen too much. He’ll never let me live.”

“All over sixty fucking dollars?”

“No…thousand.”

The air was knocked from my lungs. “Sixty thousand dollars?” I barely waited for his nod before the next words were out of my mouth. “No way. I don’t have that kind of cash, man. What the fuck were you thinking? How the hell did you skim that much dope?”

“You said you’d help me!” he roared, coming at me like he was out for blood.

I grabbed him by the throat and swung him around, hoping to disorient him long enough to make him stop and realize what he was doing. But it didn’t. Instead, it lit a fire under his ass, and he charged me like a bull would a waving red cape.

He managed to get in one hit, on my side just below my ribcage. It stunned me for a second, yet it didn’t have the effect he probably hoped. I shoved against his chest and yelled, “Calm the fuck down, Jinx!”

“No! You said you’d give me cash. Now you won’t. You lied! Now I’m a dead man.”

This time, when he stepped toward me, the heel of my palm met the underside of his chin. I hadn’t meant to hit him so hard, but he’d aimed his head toward my hand, making the impact more solid. As soon as he was on his back, sprawled out on the garage floor, I knew something was wrong. He didn’t make a sound, didn’t try to get up.

With each breath I pulled in, my heart stuttered a little more.

And with each breath I let out, my future slipped further and further away.

His eyes were open, except his normally gold irises were dull, lifeless. And if I had any question about whether or not he was alive, the blood that seeped beyond his head to form a crimson halo answered that.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” I paced, my hands in my hair and my heart in my throat. Any other person would call the cops. It was an accident; I didn’t do anything wrong. They would see that. Except…they wouldn’t. Because Jinx had come in high, looking for a baggie of something in the garage. And if drugs came into question, no matter how innocent I was, I would instantly be guilty in their eyes.

Without a witness, I didn’t stand a chance.

I left the garage, closing and locking the door behind me. But rather than head upstairs, I continued straight down the dark hallway toward the lot behind the building. I didn’t once stop to think about my actions as I headed outside, got in my car, and drove away from the shop.

My first thought wasn’t to run. In fact, I needed to get away from his body and clear my head. The rumbling engine of the 442 had a way of offering me clarity. I wasn’t sure if it was the connection to Tony or just the vibrations that ran through my body as I shifted between gears on the open road, but by the time I made it to the gas station, I had a better idea of what I’d gotten myself into…and what my options were.

The fumes that seeped out as I filled the tank tempted me to find solace in things I had left behind years ago, substances that had lost their appeal after I’d discovered the peace that lay beneath the hood of a car. Yet now, facing the possibility of losing everything, the alluring song of what I’d find inside a pill played a melody I had trouble resisting.

I shook it off and recapped the tank. I was better than this. Hell, I was better than killing someone—a friend, no less—and leaving his body behind for someone else to find. That wasn’t me. It wasn’t who I was, so I locked the car, went inside the store to wash my hands, and planned to return to the shop to deal with the fallout of my actions.

While staring at my reflection in the grimy mirror above the sink, I had to face reality. I’d left the scene of a crime. I’d stood above his body, saw the blood…and I had walked away. Nothing else mattered. It wouldn’t matter that it had been an act of self-defense—I was bigger than Jinx and could have easily taken him. Not to mention, he didn’t have a weapon. I could’ve told the truth about what happened until I was blue in the face, and the cops would only see a twenty-three-year-old piece of shit.

I dried my hands and walked out, not paying much attention to anything around me.

Until I ran into her.

From the first glimpse into her eyes, I knew she’d be my salvation. I couldn’t save Jinx. I’d failed at protecting him, getting him out of the shit he’d submerged himself in. But this girl…I could save her.

At least, I’d do everything in my power to try.