Hard Time (Hard as Nails #1) Read Online Free Page B

up together. Survived a shit storm together. And Trevor had stepped up for me more than once, in ways I can never repay.
    Sometimes I wish he hadn’t. That he’d let fate have its shot at me. Because at least I wouldn’t owe him. But Trevor had saved me. He was my friend.
    He just wasn’t my only friend.
    I used to be part of a motorcycle club. Nailed MC. Its members were guys I’d met when I was twelve years old, and we’d been friends ever since. Up until I went to prison. After that, I refused to see them. Told them to forget about me. When I had gotten out, I had wanted to make it on my own, even if it meant living in this shit hole. I hadn’t wanted to rely on anyone else, and thankfully I’d had savings left over from my pre-prison days.
    Every day I was tempted to reach out to one of them—Jericho, Slate, Axel or Davis. Every day, I’d considered Jericho’s offer to give me my old job back at Nailed Garage. But other than asking Slate to find Katie for me, I’d stayed away. I didn’t want to burden them with my shit and potentially take them down with me in the process.
    Yet now…
    I can’t jeopardize the promise of working in a bookstore next to a woman who smells like lemons and thinks I have goodness in me.
    For that, I’ll take all the fucking help I’m offered.
    Without a word to Trevor, I walk into my bedroom. I throw an empty duffel on the bed, then rush to the tall black dresser and grab a few days’ worth of clothing. I stuff them in the bag, along with some of my books, including the one I bought today, paying no attention to Trevor as he leans against the doorframe with the bong once again in hand.
    “You can crash here,” I say quietly. “I’ll tell my parole officer I’m staying someplace else.”
    “Where?”
    I don’t answer. I just throw the duffel over my shoulder with a quick swing.
    “Shit, you’re going to them? To Slate and Jericho? You know they think they’re better than us, Street. They always have. You really want their charity?”
    I lock eyes with him, and feel myself go dizzy with the weight of my anger. “I don’t want their charity. But they’re my friends, and I’m prepared to take it now. You want my help, Trevor? That’s the only way you can get it. Because they’re not willing to help you. I am. I’m just not willing to flush my life down the toilet again to do it, and you shouldn’t want me to.”
    We stare at each other before Trevor’s gaze skitters away. “I won’t stay long. I’ve got some leads. I’ll only be here a few days, so no need to contact your parole agent.”
    I nod. Hesitate. Then I hold out my fist and Trevor bumps it with his.
    “I’ll catch you later.” I head out, and I walk down the dingy hallway of the rundown apartment complex, thinking of Katie and bolstered by the knowledge that I’m doing the right thing. The smart thing.
    I shake my head as I make my way to the steps and rush down them.
    I’ve always thought of obsessions as dangerous.
    But my obsession with Katie just might save me.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Katie
     
    My fingers are curled around the steering wheel as I take a slow left onto Richland Avenue. Richland divides the city of Darsbury in half, where everything north is considered the good side of the city, and everything south is considered the exact opposite.
    It’s not the biggest city in the world, but it’s big enough to house both a prison and a community college. Many consider it a big town, but even with the population hovering around sixty-five thousand, it still feels claustrophobic somehow.
    I would have done well in a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere, where I couldn’t spot the nearest neighbors with a pair of binoculars. Unfortunately, the smaller the town, the smaller the pool of available opportunities. I was born into poverty, and have never been able to escape it.
    I still dream that my daughter will have a different upbringing than I did, but every morning I leave her