Page 14 of Wood Riddance
Now, I was thankful she hadn’t given up on me. Parker got me. And she didn’t let me pull away. Didn’t let me hide behind my snark and my resting bitch face. She also wasn’t afraid to call me out when I was being stubborn, judgmental, or downright bitchy. The ability was annoying more often than not, but once in a while, she helped me see another perspective or rein in my fury.
When I pulled into a parking spot near the building, she was already waiting by the door, her dark hair in a ponytail and two sets of boxing gloves dangling over her arm.
I grabbed my gym bag from the back seat and hustled to the doors.
“Ready to punch shit?” she asked, stepping back so I could enter first.
I was so fucking ready.
* * *
“Are you gonna give me the details?” Parker asked, holding the heavy bag while I let a flurry of jabs and hooks fly.
“Henri hired a Hebert,” I grunted. The name alone inspired me to pick up my pace and intensity, and I threw in an uppercut.
She nodded, adjusting her gloves.
“What did Paz tell you?”
“I texted him. Told him that you were upset and it better not be his fault or I’d withhold blow jobs for the next year. He swore he had nothing to do with it.”
Stepping back from the bag, I held back the bile that rose at the mental image she’d created. As much as I appreciated Parker going to bat for me, I could have lived without the other details.
“According to Henri,” I said, “we need a pilot. And the Heberts have a plane. And state-of-the-art drones.”
“Of course they do,” she said, side-stepping the bag so we could see one another.
“Finn Hebert apparently needs work. Since, you know, his murderer of a father destroyed their family business.”
Parker nodded, giving me a knowing look. She knew every detail inside and out. She was the one who’d connected Mitch Hebert to the opioid trafficking and linked him to a shell business run out of the local trailer park. And for all her trouble, she’d been kidnapped. She and my brother had only narrowly escaped, and Paz had taken a bullet to the ass as a souvenir.
It was only a graze, and he’d recovered fully, but so far, he’d made sure we all remembered his heroics. I doubted he’d ever let us forget. But the thought of how much worse things could have been haunted me.
“Keep punching,” she said, bracing herself behind the bag again. “This is next-level fuckery.”
“Henri has him working inmyshop! He told me that I’m supposed to keep an eye on him.”
“Let’s go kick Henri’s ass,” she said, wiping her brow. “Or we should tell Alice. She will definitely withhold blow jobs.”
I held my hands up as the bile made a reappearance. “Please stop mentioning blow jobs and my brothers in the same sentences.”
“Regardless, I think Henri feels bad for him. He’s such an annoyingly good person.”
That was the problem with my brother. He was too nice. Sure, he had this grumpy exterior, but it was all a front. My dad had been the same way. Trusting to a fault. After we discovered that Richard’s nephew Norman had been the one to tamper with my dad’s brakes, causing his death, Remy and I wanted Richard out. Sure, he’d been with Gagnon Lumber for decades, but he’d allowed his criminal nephew at camp several times, giving him access to kill my dad.
But Henri and Paz had overruled us, reasoning that he was Dad’s best friend. They assured us that Richard felt horrible that his actions had played a part in our father’s death. Since he wasn’t implicated in any of the criminal activity, they saw no reason to let him go. Still didn’t trust that crusty old fucker, though.
And now Finn? What kind of business philosophy involved hiring the mortal enemies of one’s family?
“His situation is awful. I’m sure even you can muster up some sympathy for him,” Parker said.
I stopped and turned to my friend, pinning her with a glare. “I do not. He’s complicit much like the rest of them. Any genetic link to the man who killed my father is unacceptable.”
“Mitch didn’t technically commit the murder.”
That was Parker—always a cop. Always assessing the technicalities.
“Yeah, yeah. His henchman did it.” I waved one gloved hand. “But when my dad found his stash house, he ordered the accident. And that’s enough for me.”
