Chapter 116: Standing in front of rented violence

Tom’s smile dropped but his will wouldn’t...

He turned back at once and quickly analyzed what her body was currently saying.

Josie was still beside her now useless car, her phone lowered now, and then there was the obvious annoyance clear on her face even if she kept it contained. Whatever arrangement she had just made for another vehicle would take time, and time was the one thing her expression said she did not want to spend standing in a parlor parking area.

He began approaching her...

"I can drive you," Tom said as he reached her. "If the car has developed a fault, there’s no point waiting here."

Josie looked at him for a second, measuring the offer the way she seemed to measure most things, carefully, without hurry.

Tom added, before the silence could evaporate into refusal, "You don’t need to waste time waiting for the other car to arrive."

That tipped it.

"Alright," Josie said.

"If it won’t inconvenience you." she added as an afterthought.

"It won’t." Tom replied immediately.

They got into his car. Tom pulled out of the parlor lot and headed for the main road. For a moment neither of them spoke. Josie sat with her bag place on her laps, maintaining an upright posture while keeping her eyes on the road rather than on him. She did not fill silence for comfort. That much was already obvious.

Tom glanced over once. "Where are you headed?"

"The office."

He looked at her more fully at that. "On a Sunday?"

"Yeah, I have something to handle."

"Is there a problem?"

At his question, Josie’s head turned slightly, and the look she gave him was calm with mild incomprehension, as if she could not see why the question belonged to him. Tom caught the expression and adjusted his body on the seat confidently.

"I only mean that if someone like you needed help with anything, she ought to get it." He paused for a heartbeat before continuing;

"You’re a kind person, Josie. You helped me that day when nobody else did... when I was half-naked by the roadside."

Josie let out a huff as if that say that wasn’t any big deal. "That was nothing. I did what any human being would do for someone in need."

"Still, I want to reciprocate." Tom maintained firmly.

Josie didn’t look at him as she replied; "Okay. But I don’t need help. I’ll get things under control the way I usually do. I just needed to destress before deciding what else to do."

Tom nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the road. "Fine. But I’ll still be here if you change your mind."

Josie did not answer that. She did not need to. The boundary had been placed smoothly enough.

Then her phone rang.

She answered immediately and listened without interrupting. After a a few seconds, the shift in her expression was small. Whatever came through the call was not new. It was familiar in the worst way, her jaw tightened.

"Not again," she muttered. Tom glanced at her briefly but didn’t say anything. She still had the phone pressed to her ear.

"I’ll be there." she finally said after the long pause. After that, the call ended and lowered the phone to her lap.

Tom kept his eyes on the road. "I take it there’s a problem."

"I need to make a detour."

"I’ll take you." he said immediately.

Josie turned her head at that, surprise breaking briefly through her composure. "Are you always this available to everybody?" she blunted.

Tom’s mouth curved into a smile slightly. "I’m just doing the basic kindness a human being would do for another."

That line landed with enough echo of her earlier words that she noticed. Josie sighed, then gave a short nod.

"Fine." After a moment, she added, "Are you ready for what you’re walking into?"

Tom cleared his throat. "I don’t know what it is yet. You can tell me."

Josie leaned back into the seat, her eyes moving briefly to the passing street. For the first time since getting into the car, she looked less sealed and more reluctant; not afraid, just unconvinced that explaining would produce anything useful.

"Can you fight?" she asked out of the blues.

Tom’s head turned sharply toward her.

The look on his face must have been enough, because Josie’s eyes twinkled and a low chuckle left her.

"I’ll explain," she said after a moment.

She smoothed one hand over her black short hair, gathering the matter into order as she spoke. "There’s a building my company purchased from an ailing man. After the sale, he went through a final stretch of sickness and died."

"However, his son refused to vacate the building He acts as if the building still belongs to his family in practice, papers or not."

Tom listened without interrupting. Josie continued;

"Meanwhile, a client has already paid for the redevelopment after my company advertised it. They want to move in before the end of the month. But my team can’t work on the building properly because this man keeps creating disturbances. For over a month."

"This son in question is a mafia member. He has local protection. Complaints go nowhere useful. Nobody ever seems to arrest him because nobody reliable ever sees him where it counts. He only sends boys. I’ve had more than fifty of them picked up at different points, and there are still more coming."

Her voice stayed calm, but the fatigue under the words was audible now.

"He won’t even show his face and he has caused more trouble than he is worth." At that point, it seemed her calmness had all been exhausted, she let out an exasperated sigh.

Tom’s hands tightened around the wheel as he digested the words. "And now you’re going there again."he asked.

"Yes." Josie’s chin lifted slightly. "The building is mine, not his. I’m not accepting that kind of injustice."

There it was, the boss-lady edge under her tone, sitting there unyielding. Tom noted it with quiet interest.

"Alright," he said.

Josie peered at him sideways. "Do you still think you can help?"

The question was not hopeful. If anything, she looked prepared for him to invent a polite excuse now that the details were on the table. She believed most men liked the idea of being useful until the usefulness required standing in front of rented violence.

"I will." Tom maintained firmly, then without glancing back at her, he asked for the direction.

Josie furrowed her brows but then she gave him. Tom shifted lanes and picked up speed. The car moved with a clearer purpose now, the Sunday errand had transformed into a meaningful outing.

Josie watched him for a long moment from the passenger seat, her expression saying;

She could not yet tell whether he was only trying to impress her, or whether he actually had the spine to do something once they arrived.