“Chuy. Lalo.” Naomi breathed with relief.
The room was tense for a moment, and Lash looked to see what was going on. Sal appeared to be sizing them up. Chuy looked like he could handle himself, but Sal had the look of a well-trained assassin. Lash was about to step up when he heard a loud whirling noise.
“Perdóname,” the janitor said when he bumped into Sal with the floor polish machine.
“You need to leave,” Sal growled. “This is a private matter.”
“Qué?” the janitor asked looking confused.
“Leave.”
“Qué?”
Sal looked down at him suspiciously and then over at Chuy and Lalo. He let go of Naomi. “Leave the premises at once and don’t come back,” he told her. With that, he glared at the janitor before disappearing back into the ballroom.
“Yeah, that’s right. You better leave,” Lalo threw up his arms, yelling out after him. “When you see brown, you best not come ’round—ow! Why’d you hit me?” He scowled at Naomi, rubbing his side.
“Because you’re acting like a fool,” Naomi hissed. “What took you guys so long?”
“They charge twenty bucks for valet parking,” Chuy said. “I couldn’t find a place nearby to park.”
Naomi rolled her eyes. “Come on. I’m going back inside.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. That Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson look-alike let you off easy.”
“Ooh, he does look like The Rock,” Lalo said excitedly.
“Knock it off, Lalo.” Naomi slapped a black clutch against his chest. “I’m going back in there.”
Chuy grabbed her arm. “They might call the cops on you.”
“I don’t care.”
“Welita will.”
“She’ll understand.”
“She’ll bail you out. You want her to do that? She’ll use all her savings to do it, whether you like it or not.”
Her face fell, changing instantly from fury to sadness.
“Look, I know you want to do something, but let’s face it,” Chuy’s voice grew soft, “no one’s going to bother listening to people like us. We’re a blip to them, a number.”
Lash’s heart broke as he saw Naomi struggle to hold back the tears that glistened in her eyes. The fire that had lit her up, making her face glow with fiery beauty, was now gone, and he ached for her. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt for anyone in a long time.
“Se?orita,” the janitor said timidly. “Are you okay?”
“You speak English?” Naomi asked, surprised.
“Of course.” He grinned. “I worked with your father on the night shift cleaning offices. I recognized you from the picture he always showed to the crew. He was so proud of you.”
Naomi blinked rapidly. “Thank you,” she choked.
“He was a good man.”
Naomi smiled sadly. “Yes, he was. If you’ll excuse us, we need to go.” She turned and walked toward the exit. Placing her hand on the door handle, she paused.
Chuy gently put a hand on her back. “It’s over, Naomi.”
She nodded, and as she walked out the door, her body sagged with defeat.
Chapter 7
Lash pulled a small plastic baggie from his pocket and looked at his watch, wondering what was taking so long. A door squeaked open, and then he saw a reddish-brown bullet fly around the corner of the house, heading straight toward him.
Bear bounced up and down, her little pink tongue hanging out.
“Oh, so now you’re happy to see me,” Lash said. “Or are you happy to see this?” He waved the bag filled with Vienna sausages.
Bear barked.
“Shh.” He went to the corner of the house to see if anyone had heard her. Over the past couple of weeks, he’d managed to keep a low profile as he watched over Naomi. It wasn’t difficult to do. Most of the time, she stayed at Welita’s house, and when she wasn’t there, she was at her apartment or at work. The only time he wasn’t able to keep close tabs on her was when she went on her evening rides. At first, it was easy to keep up with her. Since she went on her rides at night, it was easy to fly without being caught, and she never rode too far. Today, though, he had had to turn back before he went too far and wasn’t able to get back on his own. He cursed the fact that he was limited in the distance he was able to fly. Why bother giving him an assignment if he couldn’t use all of his gifts?
Lash tossed a sausage to Bear. Naomi was getting more reckless. Lately, she’d started to ride the bike faster, and he worried that she would get into an accident. It was as if she was hoping something would happen.
Bear gobbled the morsel down in two bites and looked at him, panting for more. He tossed her another one and sat down on the grass, watching her as she ate. When she was done, she curled up on his lap. “I guess we’re friends now.”
Bear licked his fingers in response.