Page 49 of Ruthless

Jimmy held the bag open and went to each seat, getting sullen looks from his classmates as they reluctantly dropped their phones in the bag. Taylor went back to the front of the bus and opened Tessa’s purse to fish out her phone and put it in his pocket.

When Jimmy stood next to Kayla, she just grinned. “Sorry,” she said.

“What?” Jimmy looked astonished.

“I don’t have one,” she said, speaking more to Taylor than Jimmy.

“I thought all the kids were supposed to have them,” Taylor said.

Looking Jimmy straight in the face, Kayla answered calmly. “Well, I broke mine last week. My parents can’t afford to get me a new one. My dad said he thinks I’m better off without one, and they might not get me a new one. It’s my own fault for being careless, he thinks.”

Taylor frowned. “What if there’s an emergency? The school says you’re supposed to have one.”

“My dad’s a biker, and my mom is his old lady. They don’t give a shit what the school says any more than you do.”

The kids broke out in nervous laughter.

Tessa knew Kayla had a phone. In fact, she’d seen her making a call that morning. Unsure what the girl had in mind, she decided to help out and provide a distraction. She stepped into her teacher role. “Kayla, you watch your language.”

Taylor looked puzzled. “So, she’s got no phone?”

Jimmy laughed. “You won’t let me have one. Why would I be the only one?”

Taylor shook his head. “True.” He thought for a moment.

Kayla held out her hands. “You want to search me, Mr. Taylor?”

“No. That’s okay. Jimmy, get back to work and get the rest.”

Jimmy moved through the bus collecting phones, but when he got to Betsy, she just shook her head. “Ms. Lee took it,” she said, making Tessa catch her breath. She saw Taylor look at her, waiting to hear her explanation.

“That’s because we don’t allow texting in class, do we, Betsy?”

“No, ma’am.”

She improvised madly. “I caught her texting and confiscated her phone. She’ll get it back when we get back to the classroom.”

Taylor thought for a moment and finally nodded as Tessa struggled to keep from letting out an audible sigh of relief as Jimmy moved on. When he reached his dad, he held out the bag. “Don’t do this, Dad.” He sounded plaintive.

“Too late, Jimmy. I’m committed now. But I feel good about this. I think everything is going to be just fine.”

Jimmy swallowed. “No, it isn’t.”

The man put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Go sit down. We’re about to get on the freeway.”

When Taylor turned his attention to Jarvis’s driving, Tessa slipped her hand into her pocket and brought out the phone. The connection was still made, and she had to hope Ronan was figuring out what was going on. She had no idea what he could do, but she knew that it was possible to track a phone. He might tell the police. Or something. But if Taylor found the phone, he’d turn it off.

With her hand trembling, she set the phone on the floor, then straightened up. Taylor hadn’t noticed, and she used the toe of her shoe to push the phone out of sight under the seat in front of her, nudging it under a torn piece of rubber floor matting. It wasn’t a great hiding place, but better than having it on her if he decided to search her.

She sensed someone was looking at her and turned her head. It was Kayla. The girl smiled. “Cool,” she mouthed.

From behind them, she heard a whimper of anguish. Even without looking she knew who it was. Charles Affir. Taylor was right about him, saying he was a coward. When a chance came, whatever that meant, she couldn’t rely on him to act. It was good to know now.

Chapter 13

Ronan was,as usual, up to his elbows in grease when he got the call. To get this job done fast, he’d been forced to make the repair in the parking lot of the clubhouse, which wasn’t ideal, and he didn’t even particularly like the guy who owned the bike. But you didn’t pick and choose clients. Even the bike was a pain in the ass. It wasn’t well engineered, which made everything harder than necessary. Having to do unnecessary work made him grumpy. So he wasn’t in the best of moods.

He glanced at the phone. It wasn’t a number he recognized. He thought for a moment about letting it go to voicemail but having something to distract him for a moment appealed to him, and he answered.

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