“You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”

Orion was sweating bullets, but Joe’s words and attitude were as cool as ever. He paced back and forth in front of his car, too restless to get in. “Yeah. I’ve come to a decision about the job. I really appreciate you letting me have this time off with my family, but my work here isn’t done.”

“I figured it would shake out that way.” Joe sounded like, however begrudging, he respected Orion. “You gotta put your own blood first.”

“Yes, sir.” Orion leaned on the hood, then winced. It was warm in the direct sun—summer was well on its way. “I’ll send you an official notice letter this afternoon, for your records.”

“Oh, sure. You know I’m easy about that bullshit,” Joe snorted. “Just as long as you let me know, which you’ve done.”

“Great. I hope you find a new guy fast. Let me know if you need anything from me—I can come by Houston for a day if you need it.” Orion felt guilty leaving him in the lurch, given how many clients he had to juggle at any given time.

“Don’t worry about it. You keep doing what you gotta do for your family, kid. I’ve got it taken care of,” Joe told him firmly. “Call me if you need a character reference. I won’t even mention you fucking off to backwater Texas when I had jobs lined up for you.”

That was as close to a joke as Joe ever got, so Orion laughed. “Thanks, sir. I appreciate it more than I can say.” He might just need a reference, if he was lucky enough to find a position close by here that could use his skills and pay him a decent salary without sending him out of town every few weeks.

But he’d finally realized that he couldn’t stay on in his line of work, abandoning the people who needed him more, just to prove to himself that he was good enough. One screw-up was nothing in the grand scheme of things. If it had been a big one, Joe would never have made that offer.

As abrupt as ever, Joe told him, “Call coming in. Gotta go. Catch you later.”

Orion breathed the country air as he hung up—manure from the morning’s fertilizer load, fresh grass, and the clean, sweet smell that lingered after rain.

Another stormy weekend had passed, and the roadside stand sales had slumped again. So had many orders, since people weren’t going out in bad weather as often to shop for groceries or eat out at the diner.

Tensions were high at the farm, which was why he’d chosen today to find out more about any jobs that might be going in town.

Lunch at the gyro takeout restaurant would fuel his job search. Now that he’d finished pacing back and forth in front of his car, he locked it and headed in to place his order.

It didn’t take a genius to spot the massive black car parked outside, or the massive guy in a tailored black suit ahead of him in the line. Feds were either completely oblivious and thought they were stealthy, or they simply didn’t care who knew they were around.

“Excuse me, sir?” Orion was in work mode now as he approached the guy, who was now sitting down and waiting for his order. He kept his attitude casual, yet professional.

“Hey.” The guy looked up at him and away from his phone. Orion noticed the way he kept the screen angled so nobody else could see the screen—as if the guy weren’t already giving off enough fed vibes to power the town’s bedside tables.

“Cop of some kind?” Orion decided to go for the direct approach with a touch of humor and grinned as he pointed out the car outside.

The guy played along and laughed. “What gave it away?”

“Just a wild shot in the dark.” Ryan offered a hand and introduced himself, and the guy—Axel—returned it. Strong handshake. He was such a fed that it hurt to watch him try to blend in as a civilian.

“Don’t suppose you know much about the explosion out on Victory earlier today?” That made the most sense as to why the feds might be sniffing around.

More importantly, for a private security guy like Orion, it meant potential work. Especially if word had already slipped out that they were there, and more offices and government buildings got nervous that the rumors of an explosion weren’t just rumors.

For a guy who was out of a job, any bit of information he could get was something he could feed potential employers. Feds say it was deliberate and they haven’t caught the guy who did it was his perfect answer.

Axel wasn’t giving him an inch. He shrugged, and all he said was, “I know there was one. Led to a fire. I guess it was on the news, huh?”

Okay, that was sounding more suspicious by the moment.

“Only local that I saw. Plenty of eyewitnesses saying they heard an explosion though.” If Orion could only get confirmation that it had been an explosion, and it hadn’t been some natural disaster… gas lines didn’t just blow up buildings like that.

With a word in his ear from the feds, he could bring that to every place on Victory Boulevard and maybe good-old-boy himself with a charming smile into a job, with his skillset.

But Axel was still evasive. “Huh.” His grin was slow, teasing—handsome, too, Orion had to admit. “They must’ve heard plenty of ‘em if they know what one sounds like, I guess.”

Ryan squinted at Axel, trying to figure him out. He definitely knew more, but he wasn’t giving away even a clue. He couldn’t say he blamed him. For all Axel knew, if it had been deliberate, he was involved and trying to suss out how much law enforcement knew about it.

Probably better not to mess around too much with this shit. All he wanted was a quiet, steady job here.

“Damn, you’re good.”

Axel’s order was called, and he took off with a thumbs-up for Ryan. “The best. Have a good evening, sir.”

“Yeah, you too!” Ryan called after him. When Axel was gone, he shook his head, his gaze on the counter expectant. If he couldn’t have information and a lead for jobs in the area, he at least wanted a great lunch out of this, goddamn it.

Then he was going to hit up Victory Boulevard. If nobody needed security, someone might at least know someone else who did. In a town this size, it was inevitable. A little flirting with receptionists and he’d find out the down-low.

He wasn’t more than three bites into his gyro before his phone rang. He answered without even looking, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he wiped his hands off.

“Where the fuck are you?” It was Uncle Pete, and he was pissed. “Mom fell again!”

Orion nearly sprinted for the restaurant door, abandoning his meal and ignoring the stares. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“She’ll be fine, just got a scare. Get your ass back here. You’re not here for vacation, you know.”

Orion dug his keys out of his pocket and glowered, his cool attitude gone. “You know what? You don’t get to say why I’m here. You don’t get to decide for me what I should be doing, and you don’t get to yell at me when accidents happen.” He climbed into the car and hung up, shoving his phone in the cup holder as he started it up. “Asshole,” he added under his breath.

He knew Pete was going through a rough time, but he was not going to sit there and let Pete pass off any sense of guilt or responsibility as Orion’s failings.

Surely today couldn’t suck any more.

* * *

By the time Orion got to the other end of town, it was Gabriel’s quitting time. The stand looked about half-packed-up, and Gabe was waving to him, flagging him down as he passed.

He slowed, stopped by the farm gate, and got out to open it for himself. “Hey.”

Gabriel waved again from the stall, even his beaming smile not cheering Orion up. “Hey. You wanna give me a hand and talk about something?”

“Depends what the something is.” Orion tried to keep his cool even though his worry about Gramma was gnawing at him.

“The paths here aren’t in great shape. Cora can’t get out easily, and when she tries, her cane gets stuck. Which leads to falls…”

Orion’s cool was well and truly gone. “Did everyone know about this and just not fucking tell me?”

“What?”

“That she’s falling? You’re not supposed to—when you’re—she could hurt herself again!”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m thinking the paths need fixing up.” Gabriel frowned. “I know it’ll take time and you’ve got a lot of stuff to do…”

Orion cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair as he climbed back into the car. Was Gabriel implying he should have done it before?

Of course he should have done it. It didn’t take a genius to see that Gramma struggled to walk around on ground that wasn’t flat and level. One more thing he couldn’t do right—and one more thing that should have been his priority.

Why couldn’t anyone see he didn’t have the energy to do it all? But he’d just given up his hard-won life to try, and that made him the idiot here.

“I know. Not like I’ve got a job and a life of my own anymore.” Orion shook his head again and closed the car door, then drove down the lane, leaving the gate open for Gabriel—and because he didn’t have the energy to answer questions.

Hell, he didn’t have time to have this conversation right now. Not if he was supposed to be by Gramma’s side, keeping her from doing anything reckless, 24/7. Which he wasn’t gonna be able to do when he got a job. If he got a job.

What the hell have I done?