Living on the Edge by Susan Mallery

Interesting? Unlikely.”
    She wanted to wound him. Payback, he thought, knowing he’d earned it.
    â€œI grew up in the barrio of Los Angeles,” he said. “About fifteen miles from here. The only mostly Anglo kid on my street or in my class. My mother died of a drug overdose when I was five and I never knew my father. My grandmother raised me. She was tiny, religious and lived her life in fear of me losing my immortal soul.”
    He smiled as he thought about the amazing woman who had raised him. “She couldn’t stop me from joining a gang when I turned twelve or getting arrested more times than either of us could count. By the time I turned eighteen, I’d spent a total of three years in juvenile detention and jail. I didn’t expect to make it to my twenty-fifth birthday. I’m not sure she did, either. Gang life was hard and dangerous. But she was determined I would be one of the rare ones who made it out. She insisted I go to mass with her twice a week, if I wasn’t locked up, and she never stopped praying for my soul. She wanted more for me.”
    Madison started on her soup without speaking. Tanner told himself that silence was a good sign. He didn’t usually talk about his past with anyone, but he knew he owed her something and this was all he could think of.
    â€œShe begged me to give up the gang, to find another goal. Something that would give me a future. Two weeks before my eighteenth birthday, Nana was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting. She’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I couldn’t even go after someone for revenge—the shooter was in my own gang.”
    Madison raised her gaze to his. “Was it you?”
    â€œNo. I wasn’t around when it happened or I would have prevented it. Instead I could only hold her hand as she slowly bled to death.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œMe, too. She was…” He hesitated, then figured he might as well say it all. “She’s the only person I’ve ever really loved and the only one who loved me back. I told her I would make things right, but I didn’t know how. You can’t kill someone in your own gang, although I was willing to for her. She told me to forget about the gang and the streets. To leave. She made me promise to join the Marines for one tour. That was all. When that was done, I could do whatever I wanted with my life. So I agreed. I buried her and enlisted on the same day.”
    â€œThings seem to have worked out the way she wanted.”
    â€œYeah. I got out of the inner city, saw some of the world. Grew up. Once I realized I’d been damn lucky to escape with my life, I never wanted to go back.”
    â€œGood for you.”
    He shrugged. “Good for her. For never giving up. After life on the streets, life in the service was a snap. When my tour ended, I found work as a mercenary. I took to it.”
    â€œI can imagine.”
    â€œI worked my way into a job with a high-profile security company. Long hours, great pay and I got to see the world.”
    She picked up the toast. “There’s a woman involved, isn’t there?”
    â€œOh, yeah.”
    â€œRich?”
    â€œKidnapped daughter of a Swiss banker.”
    â€œAh. Let me guess. You rescued her and at the same time swept her off her feet with your many charms.”
    Despite the tension between them, he smiled. “Pretty much.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œAre you surprised because you don’t think I’m charming or because it’s such a cliché?”
    Madison considered the question. “Both.”
    â€œShe was young and spoiled and enjoyed being rescued. I became her flavor of the month. For reasons not clear to anyone, she wanted to marry me. Her father didn’t approve but he wasn’t used to telling her no.”
    â€œYou said you hadn’t loved anyone but your grandmother. So you didn’t love her?”
    â€œI