Free The Short Game by J. L. Fynn Page B

best to get comfortable enough to fall back to sleep. Nothing helped. My regrets about the fight kept swirling around in my head, over and over again. I threw my arm up over my head with a frustrated growl.  
    “What’s wrong?” Tracy said groggily. She looked up at me with heavy eyes.
    “I’m just thinking about my mam. We got into a bit of a fight before I came over, and I’m feeling awful about some of the things I said. I need to apologize.”
    “So go. You’ve barely slept all night.”
    “You don’t mind? I didn’t want you to think I was up and leaving after...” I grinned at her to make my point.  
    She pulled her mouth to one side in a dubious frown, but her eyes sparkled with amusement. “You’re not leaving me. You’re going home to be a good son. They always say look at how a man treats his mama because that’s how he’s gonna treat you. And I like a man who knows when to apologize. So get. Go tell her you’re sorry.”
    I kissed the top of her head. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Who was this girl? And how was she so perfect? I stood up to pull on my jeans, still thinking of Maggie. I wondered how she’d react to me telling her that I wanted to leave the clan and go straight. Would she come with me? Help me talk Shay into it?  
    All these years I stayed in, kept playing the game because I thought that was the best way to protect my family. But that was silly. When you lived the life of a con, you were always in danger. My da’s death should’ve taught me that, but I guess I needed to learn that lesson for myself.  
    I leaned over Tracy and pressed another kiss to her head, but she grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my mouth to hers.  
    She let go and patted my cheek. “Now go, so I can get back to sleep.”
    I smiled, but her eyes were already closed again, and she was tangled up in a pile of blankets. Her blonde hair curved around the top of her pillow like a halo. She couldn’t have looked more beautiful.
    ***
    I pulled into the Village and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Nothing looked wrong or out of place, but now that I’d decided I no longer wanted to make this my home, I felt like I didn’t belong. I drove by the Sheedys’ house. Or mansion was more like it.
    I heard the dogs howling before I’d come to a full stop next to the picnic table in our yard.  
    They were tied up to the tree, which was all wrong. Maggie never made them sleep outside. They always slept with her in bed even though they took up more space than she did.  
    The door hung open, banging against the side of the trailer with each breeze. What the hell was going on here?
    I jogged over to the trailer and up the stairs. “Maggie?”  
    I walked the ten long steps to the back of the trailer, but she wasn’t in her bed. She wasn’t anywhere. I turned back to the kitchen and something crunched under my feet. Herbs were scattered across the floor, and Maggie’s basket lay on its side a few feet away. As my eyes adjusted to the dark interior I saw other signs I’d missed when I first came in. A mug, Maggie’s favorite, was in pieces on the floor by the sink. The sheets from my bed were hanging from the side like someone had grabbed them in a failed attempt to anchor themselves to the trailer.
    My mind raced. Where was she? And if something happened to her, what did that mean for Shay? I fumbled in my pocket and realized the phone wasn’t there. I must’ve forgotten to bring it with me when I was upset and running off to Tracy’s. How could I have been so irresponsible?
    But I could berate myself later. There was no time for that now. I ripped the sheets out of my way and climbed up to my bunk, groping around under the pillows for the phone. I didn’t find it, so I threw them off the platform and onto the floor with the sheets. Finally I saw the phone at the foot of the bed. I opened it and noticed more than half a dozen missed calls. All from Shay. God damn it. How could I be so