“I haven’t seen him in a few weeks. He said he was in trouble and took off right after I gave him the money I took from the bar. This is from the guys that came looking for him. Apparently he’s in bigger trouble than he led me to believe. They thought I was lying when I told them I didn’t know where Jared was. This”—she pointed a finger at her battered face—“was their way of persuading me to tell them the truth about his whereabouts.”

Her raspy voice wobbled and a chill slid up my spine. I knew all about how bad men tried to use the people in other bad men’s lives to try and get information. I would bet all my meager belongings that what I could see was only half of what she had been forced to endure while trying to protect her useless man.

“Why are you still here, Avett? Go home. Let your dad take care of you, let your family help you out. Where do you think this road you’re on is going?”

Ayden had taken a few steps back toward the door and Avett shifted her gaze to my sister as she quietly told her, “This road ends up with you hating yourself and walking away from people that love you. It dead-ends with you sitting by the bedside of someone you love praying for them to wake up from a life-threatening injury because there’s always more trouble around the corner and eventually it’s going to catch up with you and with them.”

The young woman shook her head and laced her fingers together as she took a step back toward the open doorway. “You don’t understand. Jared isn’t a bad guy. He loves me, he just has a problem. He needs me.”

Ayden and I exchanged a look. We both knew it was impossible to try and help someone that wasn’t willing to help themselves first.

Ayden’s voice was hard when she told the younger woman, “His problems don’t automatically have to be your problems.”

“Rome didn’t press charges, your parents bent over backward to give you a shot at a steady and normal life. I’m here because you remind me just a little bit too much of myself right before everything went to shit. How many chances do you think you get before your luck runs out?” I laughed drily and lifted a hand to rub the back of my neck. “Because let me tell you, when the luck runs out it’s a really scary thing, and what’s waiting for you on the other side isn’t something I would wish on my worst enemy.”

She just shook her head again, and shoved her mangled fingers through her hair and whispered, “I love him.”

She gave me a look that let me know the conversation was over and then turned on her heel and disappeared back inside the doorway.

I stood there in silence for a long moment trying to situate how I felt about what had just happened. Feeling helpless to help someone wasn’t something I was used to and I couldn’t say that I cared for it very much. Ayden grabbed my elbow and gave me a little tug to get me moving. She bent her head and rested her cheek on my shoulder.

“That kind of love kills.” Her voice was quiet and I could hear all kinds of memories and fear twisted through it.

“It’s not love.”

Ayden murmured her agreement, and we both fell silent as we got into the car and headed back toward downtown.

“So what are you going to do about her? She can’t just stay in that place while people are looking for her junkie boyfriend and using her as a bargaining chip.” It was all too familiar to my sister and I wished I had refused to let her come with me. She didn’t need any kind of reminder about the way things had been for us back in the day.

“I’m going to talk to Brite and my guess is he’ll go in there and bodily move her out of that crack den. I know he’s frustrated with the choices Avett has been making over the last few years, but there is no way he’s going to sit by and let her purposely put herself in danger over some loser with a drug problem.”

Ayden let her head flop back on the seat and shifted so she could put her boots up on the dash. If the car had been in pristine condition, I would’ve had a fit, but considering it was still a work in progress, I figured I could let it slide.

“Brite might not get a choice in the matter.” I knew she was talking about me and all the trouble that I used to actively bring right to our doorstep. She turned to look at me and I felt my heart along with several pieces of the soul that I thought had long been lost start to fuse back together when she told me softly, “You’re a good man, Asa. You might not see it because you’re so used to looking at the man you were before, but you are right here in front of me and I can see the good shining out of you. The fact I can see it means you should be able to as well.”