Chapter 12: The Director

I made it all the way across the gravel lot before I heard Neil running behind me.

"Hazel. Haze, wait."

I kept walking.

He caught my sleeve, and I turned and pulled it out of his hand.

His tie was crooked and his cheeks were wet.

"They'll ruin me," he said. "You have to see that. You can't take it to a court, because they'll ruin both of us."

"They already ruined me."

"Then help me fix it. Just sign the page. One signature, and he stops, and I'll pay you back every cent."

"With what?"

He opened his mouth and nothing came out.

A shadow came around the side of the truck, and Bram was standing between us.

He didn't touch Neil.

He didn't have to.

"Let her go home," Bram said.

Neil looked up at him, and then back at me.

"Who's this?"

"The man who signs my paychecks," I said. "In my name, to me."

One of the floor boss's men had come out of the side door and stood watching with his hands in his pockets.

He crooked a finger at Neil.

Neil's face crumpled again.

He turned and walked back toward the neon with his shoulders bent.

I got into the truck.

Bram started the engine and drove us out onto Route 9 without a word, and I put the two-tailed coin on the dashboard.