“I’m not goin’ back either. I’m done,” the stranger spoke calmly.
Rip sighed loudly enough for me to hear. Then he said, “I’m too old for that shit. Liam’s too old for that shit. I got a good thing going here I’m not about to fuck up, messing around with those fools again.”
“Looks like it,” the stranger answered with a quiet chuckle. “No wonder you were so fuckin’ good at fixin’ shit, man.”
The “uh-huh” made me take a step back. “Fuck, man. I don’t need any kind of shit coming back here.”
“It shouldn’t,” the man tried to assure him. “I don’t know why they mentioned you after this long, but Shorty’ll let me know if anything else comes up.”
“I fucking hope so. Say,“ Rip continued talking, “I was in San Antonio yesterday, but nobody saw me. Even if they did, it doesn’t mean shit.”
There was silence, then, “What the fuck were you doin’ back there?”
Another pause. “Nothing. I was there for a couple hours. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re sure nobody saw you?”
“I’m sure.”
But I could hear the hitch in Ripley’s voice. It sounded different than usual, just a little, just enough for me to know that there was something big-time off about what he’d said.
Was he lying? Who could have seen him in San Antonio that he didn’t want to see? Or be seen by?
I never wanted to see my family. I wasn’t one to talk, but….
I took two steps back. Then I took a few more that got me to the door. I was quiet opening it, and I was even quieter closing it behind me once I was back inside the building.
Rip had paid himself out of what? What the hell was there to pay yourself out of? And why were they both worried about being found and getting pulled back into something? What was there to get pulled back into? And why didn’t people know his real name? Who didn’t have a real name in the first place? In what situation would it be possible to not have a real name? And he hadn’t wanted himself to be seen in San Antonio?
What the hell had Rip been doing before he’d come here?
I couldn’t even remember walking back to the main room of the building. I couldn’t remember crouching down to sit beside the car we had been working on either. All I knew was that the next time I paid attention, I was there, trying to figure out what Rip was trying to keep from coming back to him.
Had he been in jail? Been running from the law? Had he done something… bad?
I had lied for him before, but my gut had said back then, like it did in that moment, that there was nothing for me to worry about. Nothing that could be bad.
Not that bad, at least.
He didn’t have the most patient temper, but he’d never been remotely violent. His expectations were so high that I couldn’t see him being a cheat. He was rough, but he was mostly fair.
“Luna?” the deep voice I could have recognized anywhere called out from close by.
“I’m here!” I yelled back, getting up to my feet just as I slapped what I hoped was a smile on my mouth.
He was already standing four feet away, a confused expression still on his features when I popped my head up. Then that expression went away and the closest to an easygoing expression I thought he was capable of took over that hard face. “Everything all right?” he asked, coming toward me.
I was still smiling at him as I said, “Yeah. I just got a back cramp.”
He didn’t look like he totally believed me.
Then I decided I needed to change the freaking subject. “There’s some lead that needs to get taken care of, but I was hoping you might handle it? I can do it, but you’ll probably do a better job at it.” I forced a smile. “I’m not saying that to get out of doing it either or suck up, but… I would rather not do it if I don’t have to.”
For as much of a hard-ass as he was, he didn’t look even a little put out by me pretty much trying to worm my way out of doing this. “Show me.”
Luckily, I’d already been crouching right by where the spot was, otherwise… Well, I didn’t know what I would have done, but I would have had to lie better about something. Crouching right next to me, I showed him what I was talking about.
“Yeah,” he confirmed what I already knew. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about it.”
That’s what I had figured. I gave him a little smile even as my heart raced over the words that my brain was still stuck on. Paid his way out. Real name. Too old for some shit.
What it all meant, I had no idea.
But my eyes strayed to the collar of his compression shirt and stayed there longer than they should have.
“You all right?” he asked randomly.
That time, my smile was genuine as I nodded.
“Sure?” Rip even went as far as to ask.
“Yeah,” I told him. “I’m just tired is all. I slept like crap last night.”
Those blue-green eyes watched me, and I figured he had a decent idea why that had been the case. Just as quickly, his eyes shifted to the giant clock on the wall. “Get home. I got this, and then I’ll head out too. We got enough done.”
I looked at him, pushing the words I’d heard out of his mouth minutes earlier out of my head. “Are you sure?”
It was his turn to nod.
“Okay. I was—” My phone rang from the back pocket of my pants, and I pulled it out and squinted at the screen. Then I stuck it back into my pocket.
His gaze had followed my hand, and his face was smooth when he tipped his chin up, his eyebrow going in the same direction. “You gonna get that?”
“No.”
The corners of his mouth moved maybe a millimeter.
“My sisters have been calling me for the last two hours, even though they know I’m here,” I explained. “They got to Houston earlier and—” I cut myself off, realizing what I was doing. This wasn’t my other coworkers I rattled my business off to. I waved my hand in front of me and shook my head. “Anyway, I guess I’ll get going then if you don’t need me anymore.”
Rip’s little frown hadn’t gone anywhere, but he nodded.
I took a step back, ready to turn away. “If you want to come by my house tomorrow after all, I won’t let anybody bother you too much either,” I offered him, knowing he wouldn’t commit himself. “If not, I’ll see you Monday. Have a good weekend.”
At least I had invited him, like I always did.
“Luna,” he called out before I got another step.
I stopped, half expecting him to tell me there was something else he needed. “Yeah?”
My boss stood there, hands on his hips, watching me with that gaze that I never completely understood.
I grinned at him. “You all right, boss?”
I watched his whole body exhale before his mouth twitched and he said in that low, grumbling voice, “Decide what you want as a favor.”
“What’s that?”
The next expression he gave me, I did understand. It was his Luna’s an idiot face. Then he repeated himself.
And even after he repeated himself, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. So I asked him once more. “I don’t understand what favor you want me to decide on,” I told him slowly, like it was him who wasn’t understanding what he was saying.
Because that was the exact case.
I had used it up yesterday. He wasn’t exactly a spring chicken anymore, but he wasn’t that forgetful either.
Swiping at his eyes with the meaty part of his palm, he sighed my name. “Decide on a new favor.”
“What new favor?”
Rip rubbed his face again, shaking his head as he did. “Your other one didn’t count. Pick something new.”
Eh… what?
He must have read the question on my face because Ripley muttered, “Luna, the other one doesn’t count. Ask for something else.”
A memory of Rip coming to stand behind me, of telling my cousin to shut up, filled my brain. The relief of it could still fill my mouth. But I could never take advantage of him. I would never want to in the first place. “Rip, I never wanted the favor. You don’t owe me anything.”
The handsome, stunning man let his hands drop.