The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) by Scarlett Cole Read Free Book Online Page B

host other similar events.”
    “Would you consider traveling to do this? Like out of state? I know the organizers of the expo in New York in the new year. Bet they’d love to have you on board.”
    She’d have to figure out dates and logistics with Trent and Cujo, but she’d make it work. And this was the long-term development of her career, so well worth going toe-to-toe with her father for. “I’d love to do that. Please pass my details along.”
    They said their good-byes, and she headed to the office to collect her baggage before she exited the hall. The unimpressive beige Impala sat in the parking lot, having been delivered by the rental car company earlier. It was bland and blah and so unlike anything she would choose for herself, but it had four wheels and would get her home to Miami. Once the cases were safely stowed in the trunk and she said her thanks to Carl, she set the sat-nav for home, turned on her favorite music, and settled in for the three-hour drive. It was five thirty, and if she had a clear run she would be home before nine. She considered giving her friends a call, mentally debating what to do that evening, but as she scrolled through her options only one person came to mind. The one person she wasn’t meant to call.
    Kenny.
    * * *
    Insurance. Wages. Bills. Six thirty on a Saturday night and Reid was still in the garage moving stacks of paper from one pile to another. He looked at the invoice in his hand and made a note to call the vendor. There was no way in hell they’d shipped twelve cases of radiator fluid.
    When he had first moved to Fort Pierce, he’d promised himself over and over that he would find a way to get a life. He’d been a mess in those early days, still reeling from the ultimatum his father had laid down, and uncertain where to live or what to do. He’d worked at the garage for two years before the owner decided to sell it. With help from a fellow mentor, Logan, who worked at the bank in town, he’d secured the funds to buy it.
    The bad choices he’d made in Chicago still haunted him, and every day he fought to make some kind of peace with what he’d done. Spending time with at-risk youth gave him the opportunity to give back, even if it was only in a small way. He mentored boys from the club at the community center in a bid to help them avoid the kinds of mistakes he’d made. It had given him a small sense of pride to see the first class of boys he had mentored graduate the previous summer.
    He ran his hand over the new front wing and light that he’d installed on a fender bender that quite frankly should have been written off. Insurance companies these days were far less willing to pay out, and it irked him when safety was put below profit. The car now needed paint spraying, but it was too late in the evening to start up the noisy booth.
    Raising his hands above his head, he cracked his neck from left to right and bent backward to relieve the pressure on his spine. What he needed was a hot bath, a cold beer, and a comfortable bed.
    “Hello,” a small voice said from outside the double doors of the garage. “Kenny, are you still in there?”
    Recognizing the tone, he called out, “Hey, Tyrell. Come on in. What’s going on, bud?”
    A young boy in a pale blue T-shirt and navy shorts wandered into the garage, running his hands over his tight curls. “I was bored. Wondered if I could hang with you for a while.”
    Reid pushed the paperwork to one side. “Sure thing, did you have something on your mind?”
    “Dad isn’t home yet, and I’m stuck on my homework. Do you know anything about adverbs and shit?” Tyrell handed him a blue notebook and a white sheet of paper from his teacher.
    “Language,” Reid chided.
    “Sorry,” Tyrell said dolefully.
    It had been a long time since he had done English homework, but even though he didn’t know one end of a noun from a verb, he’d figure it out for Tyrell’s sake. His sister, Taylor, would have nailed this, and