Reaching up to touch my now aching cheek, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the figure on the ground as I slid my boot on and headed back the way I had come.
“We got it,” Miguel assured me, still covering my cousin as I walked by them. His gaze was thoughtful and somehow mad at the same time.
“Thanks, Miguelito,” I said carefully, wondering just for a second what he was thinking right then. I’d worry about what those thoughts might mean to our friendship later.
I didn’t feel bad, I didn’t feel even a little bad, I thought as I walked away.
I was only feet away from them when I heard Rip strangely ask, “You remember me?”
Chapter 24
I had just finished stripping my protective suit off when the knob to the door of the room jiggled. The knob and door shook once more as whoever was on the other side tried to open it again. I didn’t blame them for being confused that the door was locked. It never was.
But the fact was, I hadn’t seen Jason in hours. Not since he had walked past me into the building, leaving me out there, alone. Well, not technically alone.
It had taken me maybe ten minutes after washing my hands all the way up to past my elbows to put the pieces together. They didn’t make sense. Not exactly at least… but enough.
Someone had let my cousin and the other guy into the lot.
And it didn’t take a genius to know there had only been one other person in the lot. One other person who would willingly let someone who didn’t like me into it. At least that’s what my gut said.
The one and only person who had disappeared. I hadn’t had the heart to ask any of the guys who had wandered into the break room what happened or if they knew anything about Jason. By the time I had gotten done and Rip and Miguel hadn’t come back, I had gone to the back door and looked outside to find it empty.
What a mess. What a freaking mess.
What was my dad thinking? I didn’t think anything would surprise me, but he did. After all this time, he still did.
I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. It was done. I knew how things were for them. Even if Rip hadn’t… hurt Rudy… the point had been made. I would go to the cops again if they made me. But I knew, in my gut, they wouldn’t.
“Hold on,” I called out as I wiped at my face with a paper towel.
Taking in the face on the other side, I turned the lock and then pulled it wide.
“Luna,” Owen peeked his head inside the door.
“Hey.” I turned my back to him, needing to sit down so I could pull the rest of the suit off. “What’s going on?” I asked just as I made it to my desk and pulled out the rolling chair so I could take a seat.
“Mr. Cooper asked me to tell you to go to his office,” my coworker answered, sounding a whole lot more serious than usual.
I pulled the suit off from my feet, glancing up at him to shoot him a smile that made my cheek ache. I had iced and smothered ointment on it afterward, so I knew it hurt less than it would have if I hadn’t. I needed a freaking break. A nice, long break, and if things could go right for just a little while, well that would be nice too.
But I wasn’t going to hold my breath.
Especially not when one sister still wasn’t answering my calls and another one was being weird too.
“Okay, I’ll go up there in a second.”
Owen hesitated. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “My cheek hurts and the cuts on my hands sting, but I’ll be okay.”
My longtime friend looked at me in a way that said he believed me, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He hadn’t been around when I had been upstairs, but the guys at the shop were nosey. They knew something had happened, but I hadn’t said exactly what. I’d bet within three minutes, they had come to some conclusion and were just giving me space now.
I appreciated it. There was something really messed up about a family member trying to hurt you, especially when it was your dad who had put it into effect.
But luckily none of that was anything new for me.
And if I got some pleasure at Rudy getting hurt… well, I wasn’t going to feel bad. I could feel nice after everything that had happened. It was the least he deserved.
“Luna…”
I couldn’t even find it in me to muster up a smile. “Yeah?”
His dark brown eyes slid from one side of the room to the other, and his voice dropped so I could barely hear him as he said, “You want us to deal with it?”
“Deal with what?” I asked him as I stood up.
He was still looking around the room. “With the kid.”
I stood there.
He looked at me and let his stare stay. “We looked at the video. He was the one who let them in,” he told me solemnly. “You want us to teach him a lesson?”
I don’t know what it said about me that I felt more loved by my coworkers than ever before right then in that moment.
You didn’t offer to beat up someone unless they meant something to you.
And that’s what Owen was in here doing, being the representative. That was what Miguel and Rip had done for me by running out into the lot to help me. That was what family did.
And even though I shouldn’t have smiled, I did. I probably sounded way more chipper than I should as I answered back, “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever offered me, Owen, but it’s okay.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure? Because nobody messes with one of our own.”
I had always known I was one of theirs, or they were one of mine, but to hear it…
Well, that took care of the pain more than anything else ever would.
“I’m sure, but thank you. And tell the other guys I said thank you too. I’m touched, honestly,” I told him.
“You change your mind, tell us.” Owen took another step back and then said, “It doesn’t have to be us that do it either, I know people. Miguel knows people.”
Miguel had known how to hold Rudy down… but that was something to ask him about later.
All of my coworkers had some shady pasts apparently.
It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one. It was so nice that I grinned at Owen even though it stung and said, “I’ll tell you if I change my mind, but I’m all right. He isn’t going to get to me.” More than he already had at least.
“We’ve all tried calling him, but he’s not answering. It looks like he took off right after Rip and Miguel did.”
Wait. Wait.
Did they watch the cameras… and see what had happened? Wasn’t that literally what he’d said a minute ago? We looked at the video?
“Fucker. He better not ever think about trying to come back.”
I appreciated what he said, but I was too focused on one thing. “Did you watch the security footage?”
Owen grinned… and he nodded. “All of it.”
Well.
Then backed out with that sneaky, and in some way, a strangely pleased, expression on his face.
Well, if I had been worried that they wouldn’t like me once they found out I wasn’t always Nice Luna, I would have been reassured they were okay with it.
Now, I needed to go talk to Mr. Cooper. He had never asked me to his office before, and I wasn’t delusional enough to think this time would be meaningless. He hadn’t been around while I had been upstairs. He had left for a long lunch.
I figured he wanted to talk to me about Jason, but…
Why wouldn’t he come downstairs then?
I realized now I could have prevented most of this by not sucking everything up. If I would have told Mr. C about how rocky things had been the entire time the younger man had been stuck with me… well, I wouldn’t be here, with my busted cheek and torn up forearms. Or if I would have just told Rip straight-out that I couldn’t stand the weasel….
It was my fault. The only person I could blame was my own freaking self.
Maybe if I would have genuinely tried to be nicer to him, we could have built a better working relationship.
Then again, probably not.