Page 5 of The Eraser

He holds out his hand. "Freddie, though most people call me the Thief."

"Not that you can blame them, right?"

He grins. "Nah, but I will promise you that I'll never steal from you. So, what's the plan for today?"

"Haven't got any," I say as I continue to walk. This is something I do every day. Ma's still the same. Her drug addiction hasn't changed. In fact, it's only gotten worse. Hell, it's so bad that she's no longer working. Da's still an asshole and beats me whenever he can—something that pisses me off now I'm almost as tall as him. I just need to work on getting stronger. Once I can do that, I won’t hesitate to throw punches back.

"Come with me then. I'm starting a job today, and I know Jerry is looking to recruit more people."

"Jerry?" I echo, wondering who he's talking about.

"Jerry Houlihan. Have you heard of him?"

The name rings a bell but I don't know from where. "Not sure."

"You want some money?" he asks, and I nod. Of course I fucking do. Money means saving, and that means getting out of the house I share with my family. "Then come on. You’ve just got to meet the guy. Not forcing you to do anything."

"Sure, why not," I say as he moves a step ahead of me.

Whoever this Jerry is, he had better be good.

* * *

A sleek black car rolls to a stop in front of us.

"Guys," I hear a deep voice say as the car door opens. "How did you get on today?"

When Freddie told me he had a job, I never expected it to be selling drugs, but hell, he’s good at what he does. There are many drug users in Dublin, and most of them seemed to come to Freddie today.

"Jer," Freddie greets. "Sold out twice. Had to have Nathan come and restock us."

It finally hits me where I know the guy from. Jerry Houlihan is Callie's uncle. He's Nicola's brother. I’ve seen him only in passing. Usually, when Callie’s family have big family gatherings, I don’t attend. I don’t need to be around that many people, especially when they’re people I don’t know.

Nicola, Eric, Butch, and Patty—Nicola’s sister—are the only ones I know, who I have been around. They were there for Callie’s birthday party, the day I first met her. I haven’t been around any of the other family and don’t really want to.

"That's good, Freddie. That's very good. You boys are going to make me extremely rich." He turns his gaze to me. "You want a job, Stephen?"

"Yes, sir," I reply. "But I'd prefer if Nicola and Callie didn't know."

Jerry's grin widens. "That, son, is something we can ensure doesn't happen. I love my family. My sisters, Nicola and Patty, are the shit, as is my niece, but I'm not going to listen to their disapproval. If you want to join the ranks of my organization, I'm more than happy to have you."

"Thank you, Jerry."

"To you, I'm Jer. Now, be back tomorrow, same time," he says as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of cash. My heart starts to race as he moves toward us. "Here you go. This is payment for today." He hands Freddie money and then hands me some.

"See you tomorrow, Jer," Freddie says as he slides the money into his pocket.

"Stephen, if you could stay for a while. Freddie, you'll see him tomorrow."

Freddie nods, although I can see the confusion in his eyes, but I nod, letting him know that it's okay.

"Son," Jer says. "Get in the car. We're going for a ride. We need to talk."

"What's going on?" I ask, hesitant about going with him.

He laughs. "We need to talk. Besides, Nicola would kill me if I let something happen to you."

That makes me relax. He's right, Nicola and Callie would lose their shit if something happened to me. I climb into the front passenger's seat of the car and wait for Jer to get into the driver's side.