Jason, who was about three inches taller than me at five ten and in decent shape, gulped. I saw the fury in his eyes, and I didn’t like it. I never had. That was why I gave him about as much of a berth as possible.
But… Mr. Cooper, who never asked for anything, wanted me to work with him. I could do it for him. I would.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk. I can’t be okay with you skipping two important steps. I would be furious if I paid thousands of dollars for a paint job that wasn’t done correctly. Mr. Cooper wouldn’t be okay with it either. We have a reputation, and I’m not going to let that come back on me. I’m sorry, but you have to do it again.”
He was still giving me an angry expression and those beady, mean eyes.
Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cooper. I could do this for Mr. Cooper.
“I’ve messed up before too. It happens,” I added, trying to make him feel better. “It’s fine. It can be fixed. It isn’t a big deal.” We didn’t have to tell Rip, so he should be grateful for that.
He wasn’t. “It’s a lot of fuckin’ work for a little bitty—”
All right, maybe Mr. C was going to end up owing me if I survived this.
“It isn’t a little bitty mistake. It’s a big one. I don’t want to argue about it anymore,” I told him, trying to keep my voice calm and my expression light and not like I’d just kicked him in the balls twenty-one times in my head. “Let’s roll it out of here and into the room so you can get started on it, and I can keep going. I need to finish that hood sooner than later, and I still have to tape the lines.”
He didn’t move, and he didn’t respond. All he did was keep giving me that ugly look I had seen too many times by people a lot better at doing it.
Oh freaking well. I pointed toward the wheels. “Let’s do it now.”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded after a moment, and it was only because of that, that I turned my back to head toward the big double doors that took up nearly an entire wall of the booth. They had to be big enough for entire cars to go inside easily.
And it was the second that I turned my back that I heard a mumbled, “Fuckin’ bitch.”
Maybe if he had been a teenager, I could have let it go.
If he wasn’t always a douchebag to me, I could have let it go.
If I hadn’t known he was a liar and a cheat, I could have let it go.
But that wasn’t the case.
I turned around slowly, deciding whether or not I was going to tell Mr. Cooper afterward, when the door connecting my room to the rest of the facility opened. Appearing there was the handsome face that had been pretty freaking nice to me less than twenty-four hours ago.
…and one more person who had a small idea of the mess I had come from. But he would never say anything to anyone. He wouldn’t tell the rest of the guys at the shop who my dad was or that he’d been in jail.
But no one knew that had happened because of me.
Rip held the heavy door open with a shoulder, his coveralls buttoned all the way to the top. His face didn’t reflect that he thought any differently of me. “Luna, you mind staying tonight and helping me with that GTO we found at the auction?” he asked in the same way he’d asked two hundred other times in the past.
I should have said no. After dealing with Jason, I just wanted to go home. I wanted to purge myself of how frustrated he’d already made me. Plus, I really did have things I needed to buy for tomorrow.
But… I still nodded.
That’s what twenty-four-hour stores were for.
“I only need you for a couple hours. I wanna get it flipped as soon as possible,” he went on, his gaze slid to Jason and rested there for a moment.
I wondered if he could sense the lazy-pain-in-the-butt vibe coming off him too, but Jason had worked on the floor long enough that I bet he did just enough for it to not be noticeable. Otherwise… well, otherwise, I figured Rip would have fired him.
“Sure,” I replied.
“’Kay,” he answered. His gaze stayed on the other man, but I could tell that notch between his eyebrows had formed. Maybe he really could sense it too. “Everything good?”
No, but I said, “Yeah.”
Rip swung that gaze back to me.
I gave him a smile that, if he knew me even a little well, he would have seen right through.
“Let me know if anything’s up,” Rip said in a voice that was too calm.
Let him know if anything was up? Could he tell I was seconds away from putting this person on my permanent shit list? I had just literally been thinking about ratting Jason out to Mr. Cooper, but even for me, telling on him to Rip seemed a little harsh.
I wasn’t in that bad of a mood.
I waited until Rip was out of the room before turning my attention back to the imbecile I was going to be stuck with for the near future.
I loved my job. I loved the people here. I was super lucky.
But I still couldn’t stand this human hemorrhoid. “Well, let’s get the wheels out there so you can get started.”
* * *
“Rip?” I called out later that day as I looked at a small part of a panel of the GTO. There was lead on it, but I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to burn it out—which I didn’t want to do—or if he’d do it.
I got no response.
“Rip?”
Nothing.
Where was he?
I’d swear I had just seen him not even ten minutes ago; his cell phone had beeped, but I hadn’t seen him walk off. I didn’t need to look at the digital clock on the wall to know it was almost eight o’clock. I wanted to get home. Everything hurt today. I was tired. Exhausted, honestly.
But first, I really needed to ask Rip about the car, and the other builder, who had been here until an hour ago, had left. He wanted to eat dinner with his family, and I didn’t blame him. I told him to go.
“Rip?” I called out again, this time even louder.
I listened, but there was nothing. Not a ting. Not a voice. Nothing.
Where the hell was he?
Standing up, with a hand going to the base of my spine because it ached from standing all day, I called out even louder and more annoying, “Rippppp?”
My voice echoed in the big, main room, making me smile.
“Rip?” I called out again, but still nothing.
It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to climb up the stairs and check his office and the break room. Then it only took me a couple more minutes to go to my room, but he wasn’t there either. Opening the door and calling out for him in the bathroom still didn’t get me a response.
He wouldn’t have left me here without saying a word.
At least he never had before. He didn’t give me a hug and a kiss goodbye at the end of the day when we were working together, but he never left first. I doubted he’d start now.
Trying to guess where else he would be, I figured maybe he was outside. My lower back tightened up as I headed to the back door and slowly pushed it open, trying to listen for him. The fence and gate around the building kept out people who shouldn’t be hanging around, but if someone really wanted to get over, they could jump the fence. The shop had automatic floodlights and security cameras all around the building that were triggered with any movement after six in the evening.
I’d barely opened the door a crack when I heard his low, low voice. “....that’s not what I’m talking about.”
I hesitated for a second, not sure if I should wait until he got off the phone, but… it was work.
Shutting the door behind me, more quietly than I needed to if I was going to be honest, I followed where his voice was coming from. The lot was mostly empty except for a handful of customers’ cars waiting to be picked up, three clunkers that were on the list for restorations, my car, and his truck.
“Shorty said they brought you up. All I’m tellin’ you is what he said to me, a’ight?” an unfamiliar voice spoke up, making me pause.
He wasn’t alone.
Should
I…?
“Why? I paid my way out. I’m out. I’ve been out. There isn’t a reason for any of them to bring me up,” Rip replied, confirming that I hadn’t been imagining his voice to start off.
“Man, I don’t fuckin’ know. I don’t want shit to do with it either. I got a life now. A real life. I got a kid on the way; I don’t want a piece of it,” the unfamiliar man spoke up. “I knew that shit was gonna blow up in their faces. They’re getting desperate, I bet. It ain’t like they got all that many allies.”
“’Course we knew that was gonna happen. They would’ve too if they’d been paying attention. But it doesn’t matter because there’s no way for them to know where the hell I am. None of ’em knew my name. They know yours?”
“Nah. Why would they? S’not like we filled out IRS forms. Shorty’s the only one who kinda knows I’m still around, and that’s only ’cuz he’s the only one who’s got any business with me. I haven’t seen him since we got out. Only reason he called today was to tell me what he heard. Warn us in case somebody tries to hit us up about coming back, I guess.”
There was a tense silence that seemed to last longer than the two seconds it actually did. “I’m not going back.”
“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 exh
ale 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.
“I don’t need a new favor. You did more than I could have asked for. That was what I wanted.”
He gave me that laser-like stare that I loved and hated at the same time. “I don’t care,” he tried to tell me in that we’re not talking about this anymore voice.
“Rip—”
His shot me that Luna is an idiot look again. “It doesn’t count.”
“But I don’t want anything else.”
“And I don’t wanna owe you shit, Luna,” he insisted, watching me closely. “Something else, all right? You can come up with something.”
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