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The wafting s coffee hit my nose and made it twitch I had an arm raised up over my eyes and was sprawled uncomfortably on the couch, which is how I typically crashed out I hadn’t heard anyone coured the only two people ould venture into roaned and sat up to stretch out the kink that had formed a solid ball between my shoulder blades and blinked in surprise when I saw that my visitor was neither of the people I would’ve expected I rubbed hard hands overup everywhere, and yawned so hard my jaw popped

“What are you doing here, Titus?”

The detective looked enough likethey were brothers Titus was bigger and his eyes were blue instead of ht black, but he had the sa mouth, and the same black hair Titus was in his late twenties but he looked a little bit older and he always looked tired He even had a s at his temple that had just appeared after the fateful shoith Novak Being a cop in this place was a thankless job, and it was starting to look like it earing on those already overburdened shoulders

“What are you doing here, Race?” he asked

He walked over fro coffee I looked up at him from under my eyebrows and didn’t answer the question

“Didn’t I just ask you that? How did you get in?”

He snorted and took a seat on the only other piece of furniture that existed in the barren space

“Bax is good at breaking and entering, but I’le one of those cars sitting in the garage and on the lot down there?”

I flashed hirin and slumped back on the couch so I could rest my neck on the cushions

“Do I need to? Have any of them been reported stolen?”

We stared at each other for a long, tenseabout taking a gambler’s ride, my clients were so far in it was easier to just let et it back The vice would alin, and I would always break even

Titus grunted and his eyes narrowed at me a fraction

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing, Race? How deep in this are you willing to go? If things go bad, do you think you can do what Bax did? Serve a nickel behind bars, let Dovie be out here on her own? Have you thought about an end game in all of this?”

I took a sip of coffee and shrugged “Dovie won’t be alone as long as Bax is around, and I learned the hard way that even if I ht have a perfect end planned out, the Point always has a different idea I’o in as deep as I have to in order to keep so back up on top”