Jonny's Redemption (Gemini Group Book 7) by Riley Edwards (audio ebook reader TXT) 📕

“You’re back,” Nix greeted when Jonny walked into the reception area of Gemini Group.

Of course the man would know Jonny was on his way up. Nixon had cameras outside and in the stairwell that led to the second-floor offices. What he was surprised about was his friend hadn’t known he was on his way home.

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what? Last update from Chasin was you and Bobby were staying at the beach for another couple of days. Is she okay?”

At that moment, it was a good probability Bobby was not okay. But he pushed aside how that made him feel and concentrated on why he’d come to see Nixon.

“Right now Bobby is driving my mother home from the sheriff’s station. She was arrested. Driving while impaired.”

Nixon’s face was perfectly blank. Not even a twitch of shock.

“You knew?” Jonny inquired.

“That she’d been arrested? No. Did I know your mother is an alcoholic, yes. I’ve known since we were kids. My dad told me. He wasn’t gossiping, but that time we gave you a ride home after baseball practice he told me.”

Wayne Swagger hadn’t given him a ride home. He’d loitered around the ballfield waiting for Anita to show up to pick him up. Nix and Jonny had run the bases, made a race out of it while Wayne had timed them. Nix’s dad had made a game of it so Jonny wouldn’t realize how late it was getting. But Jonny knew.

“She forgot to pick me up,” Jonny lied.

Why the fuck was he still lying? “No, she didn’t forget. She was passed out drunk on the couch when I got home,” he admitted.

Nixon’s face was grim. He’d known that though; his father probably told him after he’d walked Jonny inside and saw.

“You never brought it up,” Nixon accused.

Jonny felt his friend’s accusation for what it was. Nix was pissed Jonny hadn’t reached out.

“There’s more to it than her being a drunk. A long, fucked-up story I’ll tell you about but I don’t have the time right now. I need to get to Bobby. But I wanted to stop by and talk to you.”

“You wanna go into the conference room?”

“No. I need a favor.”

Fuck, more favors. More asking for help.

“Anything you need.”

There it was again, the shame that threatened to take him to his knees. Jonny had lied for years. Hidden everything, and there Nixon was being the good friend he’d always been. The guilt gnawed at his insides. Jonny had no business asking anyone for favors, not when he’d been such an asshole over the years. And he wouldn’t if it weren’t important.

“The benefit concert in Nashville,” Jonny started. “I figure Jameson will be staying behind. I want to take his place. Bobby needs coverage. I’m not asking you to put me on the payroll, just give me the proper credentials that will give me full access to the venue.”

“Why aren’t you asking to be on the payroll?”

“What?” Jonny shook his head, not tracking where Nix was going.

“Why aren’t you asking? I’ve offered you a job. Hell, my plan was to bring you on board as soon as I got into town. But all that shit with Dillinger happened, then Baker took over and I figured he’d have a shit hemorrhage if I poached you.”

Dillinger.

That was another fuck-up on Jonny’s part. Sheriff Richard Dillinger had been running roughshod over the citizens of Kent County for as long as Jonny could remember. His son, Dick Dillinger, was arguably worse. Dick lived up to his name and then some. The whole department hadn’t been dirty. But when the sheriff turned a blind eye to the havoc his son caused and encouraged his buddy Deputy Clifford to back up Dick in his endeavors of becoming a tyrant it painted everyone with the asshole brush. And there hadn’t been a damn thing Jonny could do but eat shit. Watch as Dick moved up in the ranks at the sheriff’s department, all the while terrorizing people. Dick Dillinger had even gone as far as pursuing Nixon’s sister-in-law Mandy when the girl had been a teenager. The motherfucker had been in his late twenties. The whole situation still made his stomach roil. Richard Dillinger despised Nixon and had sent his asshole son on a mission to seduce a teen to get Nixon to snap.

Thankfully, Richard Dillinger was rotting in the ground. Unfortunately, Dick Dillinger got off easy and was still breathing. The stupid fuck had gotten off for what he’d done to Mandy. The only good thing that had happened was Dick had slithered away to a neighboring county and kept to himself.

“I appreciate the offer but I can’t accept,” Jonny said.

“Why the fuck not?”

The bitter bark in Nix’s tone was one he was familiar with. It was the same way he’d sounded the first time Jonny had declined his job offer.

“Because I don’t need a handout.”

Nixon’s face turned a deep shade of red, a sign he was trying to rein in his temper but was failing.

“If your day wasn’t already shit and I wasn’t worried about your woman—and by the way, it’s about damn time the two of you sorted your shit and stopped dancing around each other. But now that you have, I suppose she’d give me shit if I gave you a black eye, which is what you deserve for spoutin’ off that stupid shit. A handout? Whacked, brother.”

Nix shook his head in disappointment and leveled Jonny with a stare that would bring a lesser man to his knees. “We’ve been together enough for you to know you’d be doing all of us a favor if you came aboard. You know I’m offering you a job because I need you. And fuck you for saying otherwise. You’ll have your credentials. We’re going over the security brief tomorrow, I’ll expect you in the office at eight. And McKenna’ll email you your contract. I expect it filled out and on my desk before you leave tomorrow.”

Nixon paused but not long enough