by Natalie Dean
Shoving that thought aside, she slid into the bath, watching as the water rose, then plopped the pretty bomb right in.
Ahhh, relaxation. She spent much longer than she should have soaking, nearly dozing, but when she got out, she felt restored in a way she hadn’t expected. In fact, she felt strong enough to go check on the carnage that would be her garden.
She’d asked Roman to water it, but that was about all she trusted him to do. She loved her brother dearly, but whatever genes made Andre good with plants had absolutely skipped over his son. The guy could kill a succulent in days flat, even with her careful guidance. She didn’t get it.
Wrapping herself in the fluffy, baby blue bathrobe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door, she put on her slippers and headed back downstairs. She wasn’t worried about anyone spotting her in her comfy getup considering the privacy fence, and it was just so nice to not be in a jumpsuit or three-day-old sweats.
She had been expecting overgrowth and maybe some deaths from overwatering, but that wasn’t what waited for her at all. From the moment she opened the door, she was acutely aware that something was different.
First of all, her garden was actively being watered by a series of automatic sprinklers, and a quick glance around saw a control panel on the wall. They were a series of small pipes above the ground—because anything else would have required digging up her garden—but there were brightly colored bands on the lengths so she wouldn’t trip.
The plants had all been properly trimmed. She saw that new trellises had been put in where her old, popsicle ones had been nearly bending under the strain. Her tomato cages looked new too, while the half-shells of the old one all stood in a neat row, supporting the beans that had clung to it.
It was… it was beautiful. And it was all for her. No one else really cared about the garden like she did, not even Andre. So, if it really was Silas who had done everything, he’d done it specifically for her.
That thought made her breath catch. She stood there for several moments, looking at the beauty of it all.
Maybe, just maybe, she had a lot to think about once everything calmed down.
Her stomach rumbled, interrupting the rather emotional moment and startling a laugh from her chest. Taking one last look at the beautiful spread of green and life, she headed back in to make herself a very carby dinner. She’d certainly earned it.
Besides, it was always easier to process feelings on a full stomach.
* * *
Teddy was still floating, as if in a dream, several hours later. She’d texted her brother, further reiterating how insane he was for orchestrating everything with Silas, but that was about it. She knew she needed to message Silas eventually. But she wanted to thank him as enthusiastically as she felt, and every time she started to text, she felt like she didn’t have the right words to convey how amazing everything was. And when she thought of calling him to say it that way, her mouth went dry and her heart started to do a full conga line impression.
So instead, she sat on the couch in her fuzzy robe and slippers, feet up on the new, lush ottoman, and she watched one of her favorite movies on the DVD player.
All in all, it was the nicest night she’d had since before Andre had collapsed, and she felt totally spoiled.
So when the buzzer sounded downstairs, she didn’t even mind. Maybe it would be Antonio or one of the others come to check up on her. That would be lovely. Maybe she could show them around the house, and they would agree to watch a movie with her. She could even feed them all. After being taken care of so thoughtfully, she was definitely in the mood to spread it around. She kind of wished she could hug the whole neighborhood; she was so syrupy and contented inside. Her father was on the mend, her family was together, and she had the best kinda employer she could ever ask for.
Heading down, she glanced out of the peephole to see it was one of the younger girls she saw very rarely. Amarillis? Esme? She couldn’t quite remember the name, but she did recall that the girl was dating one of the wannabe gangsters that was far too old for her. She looked roughed up, as the teens who visited her door often were, so Teddy quickly opened the door.
“Hey, are you al—” Teddy started to say.
But suddenly it wasn’t only the girl there. Others stepped in from either side of the door, roughly shoving Teddy back.
She stumbled, surprised by the sudden company, and clutched at her bathrobe. She wished she had put something else on as they crowded her further into the shop, more of them appearing until there were six of them and the girl.
Somehow, in her quick recovery, she managed to grab the baseball bat above the door on instinct. She hadn’t even been aware that she had done it until she came to a stop and the smooth, tapered wood of the handle was in her hand. Blinking quickly, she brought it up as a warning, facing the group.
She knew the young men in her space. All of them. They were the gang that her family had never gotten along with. The same ones that she had chased off of Silas that one night that seemed like ages ago.
“Good evening,” their leader said. “We heard that your pa’s been sick. Real sorry ’bout that.”
She forced herself to stand straight. Like she wasn’t in an enclosed space wearing nothing but a fuzzy robe and slippers. She’d fought plenty in her life, sure, because she was a scrapper, but she knew when she was outnumbered. Sure, she had the home-field advantage, but that hardly meant anything when there were six of them and just one of her.
“I’ll pass along your condolences. Now, if you don’t mind, Eugene, I’d like to get some rest.”
“That ain’t my name,” the young man hissed, his cheeks instantly coloring.
“What are you talking about, Eugene? That’s absolutely your name. You’re named after your father, ain’t you?”
She knew that the young man didn’t like his government name, that he insisted that everyone call him by the street name that he had made up. She also knew that she shouldn’t be goading him, and yet that was exactly what she was doing. She really couldn’t resist kicking the hornet’s nest, could she?
“Shut up. You don’t know anything about me. But I do know that this shop been real busy the past few days. That fancy-pants outsider you saved been around and doin’ a whole lot.” He nodded to the others and spread out. Teddy lifted her baseball bat to be on the offensive, warning them off, but none of them tried to go near her.
Instead they went to the peripherals of her vision, smashing windows and knocking over toolboxes. The first shatter surprised her, making her jump, and the second made her want to sob. But she didn’t allow any of that to pass beyond her brain. She didn’t want these young men to think they were getting to her. Because if they did, they would only escalate.
“So what’s the deal? You turn down one shark just to hop in bed with another? Yeah, I bet that’s exactly what you did, didn’t you?”
She didn’t miss the double entendre of his words. Tension coiled around her back, radiating out to her legs. “We haven’t sold to anybody, and we never will.”
“You sure about that? You know, this neighborhood’s getting dangerous and your pa ain’t getting younger.”
More shatters. More crashing. The five others were breaking everything they could get their hands on and upturning anything they couldn’t. Every single bit of damage felt like it went right through her heart, ripping out a chunk of her and leaving it smeared across the floor. But she couldn’t show them that. She had to be strong. Impervious.
The leader continued, “Maybe you should do the smart thing and get out of here while the going is good. I’m sure that Mr. Cartwright is willing to make a real good deal.”
That startled her, pulling her mind away from the destruction around her. “How do you know his name?”
Eugene shrugged. “I’m a businessman. I make it my business to know other professionals.”
“Oh,” she said, a feeling bite to her words. “And is that what you are? A professional?”
Suddenly he
was up in her space, sneering down at her. Teddy was by no means a wilting flower, but she was acutely aware of how much bigger the young man was than her. If she didn’t have the baseball bat, would he be laying hands on her? Was he going to lay hands on her?
Eugene’s eyes grew darker. “You always been so uppity, you know that? You and your whole family think you’re better than us because you got this business. But you ain’t nothing. Nothing.”
She knew that she should be quiet, that she should let him say his piece and go. But some part of her was never willing to lie low and let people walk all over her.
“Huh, that’s a whole lot of nothing you’re breaking around here then. And I guess our insurance will be paying us more money than you’ll see in a year over all this nothing. But if that’s the case, and we’re nothing, that means you and your whole lot are… what?” She pretended to ponder. “Less than nothing, I guess.”
He spat a curse at her and, the next thing she knew, his hand was flying toward her to slap her across the face. She blocked it with her bat, then turned the wood to jab the butt into his stomach. Eugene coughed and doubled over, but then one of the others was rushing past him to shove her harshly backward.
She went with the momentum, keeping her eyes on them, bat still raised. They’d stopped breaking things, so that was something, but now the entire crowd was staring at her with no undue amount of ill intent in their eyes.
“Same thing as last time,” she heard herself say much more steadily than she felt. “I can’t take all of you, but I’m gonna take at least half of you. If you wanna play those odds, step right up.”
There was a moment of hesitation like they were thinking about exactly those odds. Their eyes narrowed. With one more person added to their number, they weren’t nearly as scared as before. Or maybe it was because she was only dressed in a bathrobe and Silas wasn’t there to be backup. She was acutely aware of all the differences that put her at a disadvantage, and she was sure that they were too.
Then the tension snapped, and she could tell they were about to rush forward. She crouched, but before any could make it to her, the garage doors started to open on their own and the place was flooded with blinding lights. Sirens soon split the air, sounding urgent and accusatory in their shrieking.
“This is the police. Stop all activity and drop any weapons. Do not move!”
There was a series of curses and cries to get out. Teddy shielded her eyes, straining to listen, but her adrenaline was making her blood rush past her ears. The cacophony seemed to last forever until it suddenly wasn’t there anymore, and the lights cut out.
She had to blink the light spots away for several moments, and even before her vision came all the way back, she felt a gentle hand touch her arm.
“Hey there, are you alright?”
She flinched automatically before her ears caught up with her brain. She knew that voice!
“Silas?”
“Yeah, I’m here. You alright? Can you see? I’m sorry for blinding you, but I wanted to make sure that they didn’t see it was just me.”
She couldn’t stop herself and she didn’t want to; she hugged him, holding onto him so tightly she was sure that she heard his back pop. But he didn’t object and let her hold him as long as she needed.
Which turned out to be about two full minutes, and when she let go, she could finally see without little spots dancing in front of her eyes.
“How did you even do that?” she asked. “It really sounded like there was a whole armada out there.”
At that he chuckled. “Just my car’s brights plus the fog lights and a Bluetooth connection to my phone to play some police sirens from online. Technology really is a wonder, isn’t it?”
She laughed too, but it was a much more panicked sound than she would have liked. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
“Do you have any weatherproof plastic? Or garbage bags? I’ll cover up the windows, and you can head upstairs.”
“Leave it. They’re not going to come back today with that stunt you pulled. I’ll report everything in the morning, and we can clean it up then. For now, I just don’t want to be alone.”
He shot her a warm grin, apparently not thinking her request was bizarre or pathetic. “Sure. We can do that.”
He took her hand and led her upstairs, gently picking around all the mess. It was going to be a task and a half to clean it up the next day, but it would get done. What mattered to Teddy at the moment was feeling safe.
Because she had been feeling so safe, warm and protected before those hoodlums had arrived. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to exactly that, but she wanted to try. Because if she didn’t calm down soon, she felt like she might rattle apart entirely.
They made it up to the new and improved living room, and he walked her over to the couch before going back to lock the entrance securely. Once he was done, he came back to her and gave her an uncertain look.
“How can I help? A glass of water?”
She nodded, realizing her mouth was as dry as the desert. “Yeah, that would be nice.”
“Ice or no ice? Your fridge has a filter now, by the by, and it comes cold right out of the door.”
Teddy managed a weak chuckle. “You really did all this, didn’t you?”
He flushed, and if that wasn’t just the most dashing look across his broad features. “I hope it’s not too jarring. I just wanted to help.”
“Oh, you helped alright,” she said, taking the cool glass he offered her when he returned. “I… I have no idea how I’m ever going to repay this.”
“Please don’t,” he said quickly, then flushed again when he realized how urgently he’d said it. “I mean, it was a gift. People don’t have to pay back gifts. That defeats the purpose.”
“I suppose you may have a point.” She drank about half the water then gave him an uncertain look. “Do you have to go right now?”
“No. I could stick around. Do you need anything else?”
Could she say that she needed him? No, that was far too much. Crossing too many lines. “We could watch a movie? That would be nice.”
“You want to watch a movie with me?”
She nodded. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
“It wouldn’t be trouble at all.”
More relief flooded through her. She could certainly use it considering the emotional roller coaster her day had been. Patting the spot next to her on the couch, she scooted over so that he could be comfortable. But not that far over. She wasn’t a saint, after all.
“I don’t suppose you refilled our cupboards on top of remodeling our whole apartment, did you?”
“Actually, I did have one of my workers grab a few things since I figured you’d be too tired to cook. Do you want pretzels or pizza bites?”
“Is that even a contest? Pizza bites. Definitely.”
“Alright then. I’ll be right back.”
He returned to the kitchen and, true to his word, he did return with snacks and more cool drinks. Without any fanfare, he sat on the couch beside her as she started up her movie again from the beginning.
It felt nice, having him next to her. Warm and solid. She could feel him looking at her from time to time, but he never made her talk. It seemed that he was just as content as her to sit there, enjoying the nostalgia of the movie.
But when it ended, she wasn’t ready for him to go. She didn’t want to be alone with the mess of a shop downstairs and the fear of exactly what lengths Mr. Cartwright was willing to go. So, she asked if he’d watch another movie with her.
And to her great surprise, Silas said yes.
So, they sat through that too, drink and pizza bites long gone, just watching and being in the moment together. But good things could only last for so long because then that was over too, and she was sleepily looking over at the handsome man.
Wow, she was exhausted. Without all that adrenaline pumping through her, she felt like a hollowed-out log.
“It’s late. I suppose
I should let you go.”
He let out a truly massive yawn, then rose to stand. “Alright, if you’re done for the night—” Silas didn’t finish his sentence, and that was probably because she was gripping his arm tightly, fear pinging around inside of her skull all over again. But instead of looking irritated with her, his face softened again.
“You know, I’m not sure I’m awake enough to make the hour-plus drive home. If you don’t mind, I can crash on the couch.”
Of course, he would make it like he was asking her a favor. Because he was kind and sweet and entirely out of her league like that.
“Would you?” she asked in a voice much smaller than the one she would normally use. But he didn’t comment on that either.
“Absolutely.”
19
Silas
Silas woke up slowly, consciousness rolling over him in doleful waves. The first thing he realized was that there was a massive crick in his neck, quickly followed up by the fact that he smelled something absolutely delicious.
Both were motivating him to sit up, which he did with a groan. After a quick crack of his neck to ease the tension, the situation came rushing back to him.
He was at Teddy’s. Her shop had been razzed the last night, a harsh counterpoint to the happiness that she was supposed to get from the remodel of her apartment. He hated that those creeps had scared her, but he also hated that they had tainted something he’d been so excited to give her. True, the apartment hadn’t been touched by the gang members, and for that he was grateful, but there was always going to be that shadow on the day.
At least it seemed that she liked things, judging by the truly oversized, thick and fuzzy bathrobe she was wearing. It was one of the things he’d seen online during the first day, and he’d rush shipped it to make sure it arrived in time.
He had almost thought their project wasn’t going to work out. He’d paid a ridiculous amount of money to hire some of the on-call construction guys and designers his family had, and even more money to do things as quickly as they had, nearly two dozen men working in shifts around the clock. Silas had wanted to do more, but the professionals had been very clear about what was just insane and what was physically impossible.