Chapter
Twelve
Tomorrow wasn’t the priority. Right now was. Trixie was.
He could understand her sorrow. He felt it too, but he wasn’t about to let it control him. Though he’d only met Lee this once, he’d gotten a good enough sense of the man to know he’d continue his vengeful crusade with or without Cayden. Taking down Carver was his current case, but it also would cripple a portion of Massey’s enterprise. Cayden wasn’t blind to that fact. At least with Cayden, Lee had a fighting chance.
Cayden didn’t know how they were going to bring down Carver and he didn’t know how long it was going to take. He had a feeling nothing short of a recorded verbal confession was going to cut it. Anything else Carver would be able to weasel his way out of. Cayden prayed it didn’t take too long to bring him down. He had a life to live, with Trixie. But he couldn’t live that life if he let her brother walk off into danger on his own. He’d never forgive himself, not knowing if there could have been something he could have done to help.
At the very least, he had to try. Whether he succeeded or not, he had to try.
But when it came down to it, it wasn’t Lee, Trixie, or Marco that had made up Cayden’s mind. Their involvements were just factors in his decision.
Cayden had met Carver when he was sixteen. He’d known how dangerous the man was, and for a while that had been appealing. Like many who fell prey to danger’s temptation, Cayden had thrived on the adrenaline and ignored the evil. He wasn’t blind or ignorant enough to not have figured out about Carver’s involvement in transporting drugs. It wasn’t his sole operation, more of a way to make some easy cash on the side. If he was already transporting the stolen cars, why not let Massey pay him to move his product too?
Cayden had known. He’d just turned his back on it and kept his eyes on the cars. Those were his prizes. Shame racked through him, not even wanting to know how much product had been moved in cars he’d boosted.
Cayden had had many options ahead of him years ago when his conscience had started to rear its head. He could have just walked away or he could have gone to the police then with all he knew. After Bucky had messed up, he’d taken the fall. Maybe he’d thought he’d deserved to be in jail, regardless of being innocent of the crime he’d actually been sentenced for. Maybe he’d just needed time to get his head on straight, to realize what he wanted in life.
Regardless, it had been the coward’s way out. He’d sat in a jail cell for two and a half years while Carver and the Black Pythons were still running the streets.
Lee’s offer to take Carver down was like a golden ticket to wipe his slate clean and cleanse his soul. Cayden may not have ever touched the drugs, but he certainly hadn’t been innocent in their distribution.
Trixie finally stopped shivering about an hour after her brother’s departure. Cayden hadn’t wanted to disturb her, so he hadn’t checked his watch to see what time it was. It didn’t matter anyway. He just held her until she was ready to talk.
He didn’t think anything he said now would have registered to her regardless. He rubbed her back and kissed her forehead, but he didn’t speak.
He nearly jumped when she spoke, unprepared for the break in the silence. “I’ve been to too many funerals already. Don’t make me go to yours. I won’t survive it.” Cayden closed his eyes, fighting the onslaught of emotions that plagued him at her words. “Don’t make me any promises. You can’t guarantee you’ll return to me.”
“You’re right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I can’t guarantee it, but I can promise you that I’ll do everything I can to return to you.”
She buried her face in his shirt. “Why? Why are you doing this? And don’t you dare say it’s to help Lee or you’re doing good to prove you’re worthy of me. Those are bullshit answers and you know it. I deserve to know the real reason why.”
“Maybe I’m doing this for me.” She didn’t respond but he knew she was waiting for him to elaborate. “I was arrested for car theft. I might not have stolen that particular car, but I did steal cars. A lot of cars. Beyond that, I aided in cloning cars, identity theft, and chopping them for parts. Cars were my…vice, but I am guilty of other crimes too. I kept telling myself it’s just stuff. People can replace stuff. As long as I didn’t hurt anyone, I wasn’t so bad. There were worse monsters out there than me.” A cynical laugh escaped him. “When I say I’m not worthy of you, it’s not because of my record. It’s for the things that made me empty inside, the sins that tore at my soul and blackened the remains.
“So maybe… Maybe I need to redeem myself just a little bit more than just going to jail. Maybe I need to help bring down someone like Carver so I can wake up every day and feel worthy of the beautiful woman in my arms.”
Her hands fisted his shirt. “You’re already worthy. I made you worthy when I chose to be with you. Doesn’t that count for something?”
Cayden lifted her up, sitting her back down on his lap so she was straddling his hips instead of resting on them. “Baby, that counts for everything. I am the luckiest son of a selfish bitch alive to have gained your trust and your love. Please, please, don’t think that I take that for granted.” He cupped her face, holding her to him when she tried to look away. “But I need to be able to face the mirror solo too. I need to know that I did what I could to help put a bastard like Carver away.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know how to stay away from you. I don’t know how I can continue on living not knowing where you are or who you’re with or what you’re doing.”
Cayden was quiet for a moment. “There’s an old fisherman’s tale that Gran used to tell me. Once upon a time, a woman fell in love with a fisherman. She loved him as much as he loved the sea. He told her it wasn’t safe on the boats and she had to wait at home for him. He told her, ‘every night, when the moon rises look up and know that wherever I am, I’m looking at it too.’” Cayden kissed her nose. “He said, ‘The moon and the stars will always guide me home to you.’”
A tear escaped her eye and he kissed it away.
“Every second that I’m gone, Trix, I’ll be thinking about you, missing you. Everything I do will be with the intention of returning home to you. I want it all, baby. You, this house, kids… Anything and everything you are willing to give me. I want it all.” She started to shake her head, but he gripped the other side of her face to stop her. “Do you want your present now?”
She paused and then looked up suspiciously. “It’s not a ring, is it?”
He laughed dryly. “No, but I make no promises that there won’t be one in the near future, along with a very existent marriage proposal.”
She sniffled, glancing her eyes away. “I think I’d be okay with that.”
Cayden’s heart soared. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “And I promise to only freak out a little bit.”
He leaned forward to take her lips. “Deal. Your present is in my pants.”
She looked down and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve already given me that present. Numerous times, as I recall.”
“I meant in my pants pocket,” he said out loud while his mind fist bumped, Hell yeah, I did.
She reached forward, digging her hand into the pocket of his jeans. He had to stretch back so she had enough room to squeeze her fingers inside. He heard the jangle of the chain as she pulled it out.
On a gold necklace hung a two-headed 1976 quarter. It had a hole drilled through it for the chain.
She held it up in front of her face, marveling at it. “I don’t know anything about coins. Is it special because it’s got two heads?”
Cayden shook his head. “This piece of crap is worth less than twenty-five cents. Technically, it’s illegal to put the hole there, but my family’s never been too concerned with legality.”
She cocked a half-smile. “I don’t get it.”
“My grandpa and I are more alike than my gran cares to admit. When he came back from fighting in the Korean War, there weren’t many jobs available for a one-legged vet. He started working on less…reputable means of making an income.” Cayden nodded to the coin. “He’d say ‘heads I win, tails you win’.”
“But there is no tails.”
Cayden shook his head. “Making him a double cheater. Gramps won and lost a lot of money over his lifetime, but no matter what, he always kept that coin. Said it was his lucky rabbit’s foot. Mind,” he added offhandedly, “his son was wearing it when he was shot and killed, so maybe it’s skipped a generation. But it’s the only thing I own that matters to me. This,” he picked up the coin between his pointer and middle finger, “is my inheritance. A crappy, possibly luckless coin that tricked a lot of people out of their money. And I want you to have it.”
Her eyes, still red from her crying, were a mixture of amused and confused. “Thank you, I think.”
“Trix.” He waited for her to look at him before continuing. “I own one thing in my life that I didn’t steal or cheat to get. It’s not valuable, not in a monetary sense, but here.” He touched his chest over his heart. “It’s the one thing I have on me, and I’m giving it to you.”
She clutched it to her chest. “Thank you,” she said with sincerity. “I love it.”
“Keep it safe for me,” he told her. “I mean to take it back and exchange it for a ring on your finger.”
Not a hint of terror crossed her face as she smiled at him. “Who said I’d be willing to exchange? I want both the necklace and the ring.”
Cayden crushed her mouth to his. He couldn’t hold back anymore. They fumbled to get her jeans off and his undone. He flipped her down onto the couch. She put the necklace on, clasping it under her thick hair. The moment he saw that silly coin nestled between her breasts he lost all train of thought except getting inside her.
She was so wet, she took him easily. Fuck, she felt so good. Silky and hot. He groaned against her. “This is going to be fast, baby.”
She lifted her hips up, taking more of him into her. “Just promise me it won’t be the last time.”
“Never,” he vowed. He planned on taking her many more times today and through the night. Cayden pumped himself into her, never looking away from those chocolate brown eyes he loved so much. She reached up and laced their fingers together.
“I love you,” he told her. She fit him in every way. Not for the first time did Cayden think how lucky he’d been to have been standing in the kitchen when Mrs. Wynn had come in with that repaired photo of Mr. Wynn and Bobby Romero.
She nodded. “I know. I need it to be enough, Cayden. I need you to love me enough to come back to me.”
His body convulsed at her pleas. He felt his balls tighten as her walls quaked around him. His vision blurred, but he refused to look away from her. She was so beautiful when she was in the throes of orgasm.
He kissed the back of her hands still laced with his. “Every second of every day.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ll never look at the moon the same way again.”
Cayden felt his deflating cock slide out of her. He reached down and froze. “Shit.” He hadn’t worn a condom.
Trixie blinked in confusion, not understanding what he was looking at. Other than their connected bodies, that is, but his “shit” comment had not been in admiration. In retrospect, she had felt something different during this bout of lovemaking, but she hadn’t placed it until she looked down to see his bare cock. They’d just had unprotected sex. Her heart and emotions were already going haywire with the deal he’d just made with her brother. The consequences of this mistake… She couldn’t handle that right now.
He looked horrified. Like he’d just broken his favorite toy.
She forced herself to sit up. She’d already cried herself out and she had no desire to spend however little time they had left together being angry. “Cayden.” She took his hands, trying to get his attention. “Baby, it’s okay. I just came off my period, remember?”
“I never wanted… I didn’t mean…”
“I know.” Trixie pushed herself forward. His jeans were around his knees and they both were still wearing their shirts. Well, his shirts. She liked wearing his shirts. “I’ll run to the pharmacy and get a morning-after pill. I’m fine,” she promised him. “I’ll be fine.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe I did that.”
She took his face in her hands. “It takes two,” she reminded him. “I felt something was different and I didn’t say anything either.”
He pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead. “Shit. You need to get on birth control.”
She cocked her head. “I’m not sure it works like that—”
Cayden grabbed her up onto his lap. “I mean for us in the future. Because after being inside you raw… Damn, baby, I never want there to be anything separating us again.”
Relief flowed through her. He wasn’t angry. She let out a laugh. “I’ll look into it.”
“Good.” He stood them up, letting his pants fall to the floor. He awkwardly stepped out of them. She noticed he was wearing sneakers. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him without his boots before. He lifted her up into his arms.
“Where are we going?” she asked, wrapping her legs around his waist.
“I assume you cleaned up the bedroom?”
He started walking in that direction before she even responded. “Of course. Mi hermano certainly knows how to make a mess.”
“Then I’m taking you back to bed and,” his nose scrunched, “to the stupid-ass condoms.”
Trixie laughed. “They do serve a purpose, you know.”
He nodded, “Yes. There’d be a hell of a lot more rugrats running around if they didn’t exist. However, I never realized just how good sex could feel without them. Hence, your mission of getting on birth control. The sooner I can get back inside you without them, the better.”
He tossed her onto the bed. She bounced, never losing eye contact with him. “Your mission is to come back to me. Whatever it takes.” He crawled up the bed towards her. Trixie grabbed his face. “Do you understand me, Cayden? Whatever it takes. You come back to me.”
He nodded. “Whatever it takes.”
“Good,” she smiled. “Now get the stupid-ass condom.”
“What do you mean you aren’t going back to the house? What about curfew?”
“Baby,” Cayden kissed her bare shoulder, “the plan was for me to break parole tomorrow, so tonight won’t matter. I’m not going back there when I could be here with you. I don’t know how long until I’ll be done with your brother and I need to be here with you tonight.”
“Won’t they come looking for you? I mean, they know you’re here now, don’t they?”
Cayden shook his head. “I left this morning before anyone else was up. They don’t know I’m here unless they tracked down the taxi I took.” Lee had taken Cayden’s phone with him, the sly bastard. It wasn’t like Cayden needed it anymore, but he had good pictures of Trixie on it. He hoped Lee had just turned it off and hadn’t destroyed it. On the plus side, though, it meant that his phone couldn’t be tracked to Trixie’s and his house now. “The last thing I said to the Wynns was that you and I had a fight. If you tell them I’m not here, they’ll likely think I’ve run.”
She made a face. “I don’t like it. Peggy and Greg have been good to you.”
“They’ve been very good to me,” he emphasized. “I don’t like it any more than you do but we can’t tell them anything. No one can know I’m working with your brother. For all intents and purposes, you and I are broken up and I’m going back to my former life of crime. No one can know any different or you risk the wrong person overhearing.”
Trixie wrinkled her nose. “I know that. I’m just saying that I don’t like it.”
“Come here.” He gathered her up into his arms. They had yet to leave the bed. It was approaching eight that night, which was why she’d brought up the question of curfew. “As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you and I had a massive fight yesterday and it drove me back to my life of crime. I’m going to have to sell the bit tomorrow at Romero’s so no one knows it’s a set up. You need to sell it. No one can know.”
She nodded into his chest. “I get it. I know. I just feel…” She looked around the bedroom. “I feel like I did all this prematurely, you know. I feel like if I had waited—”
“Don’t,” he stopped her with a kiss. “Do you have any idea what this house means to me? I’ve never had a home. Not one like this. I grew up in a crappy apartment with my grandmother who smokes like a chimney. Now, she did what she could, there’s no fault with her, but I’ve never had a home. Four walls that feel like mine. This,” he looked around just as she had, “this is home. This is the home I am coming back to, the home that will keep me going when things get rough. I mean to come back here. I mean to come home.”
Trixie touched his jaw. “It’s not a home without you, Cayden. It’s not my home without you.”
He rolled her over and made love to her again. They’d napped on and off throughout the day, neither one having gotten a good night’s rest the night before. Cayden had no intention of sleeping this night either. He couldn’t waste a single minute with her. Every second spent in her arms was another reason to come back to her.
Around eleven-thirty, Mrs. Wynn called her cell phone. Cayden listened in silence as Trixie lied and told Mrs. Wynn that Cayden hadn’t come to the house today. She repeated the story he’d given the night before about their fight. Trixie’s voice cracked at just the right places and her tears starting to fall made the fable all the more believable.
Mrs. Wynn told Trix that they had no choice but to call the police. If Cayden came to work the next day, she was to call too.
Just after midnight, a knock sounded on her front door. Trixie threw clothes on to find two police officers on her front steps. She invited them into the foyer and gave them the same story she’d given Mrs. Wynn as Cayden hid against the wall out of sight. He hated that she was involved at all. Couldn’t Lee have gotten to Cayden without involving Trixie? It wasn’t right that she had to lie.
“You’re welcome to check the house, officers, but I promise you, he’s not here. I haven’t seen him since yesterday when he left in an Uber. Or, Saturday, I guess since it’s after midnight.”
The officers gave her their card and told her to call if she saw Cayden. She promised.
As she shut the door, Cayden realized how fast his heart was pounding. It was official; he’d broken parole. There was no turning back. He either went with Lee or he went back to jail for violating his parole. He honestly wasn’t sure which was the better option, since they both took him away from Trixie. But his resolve was set, and he knew, no matter what, that he’d made the right decision.
Trixie was late driving in to work. She wasn’t used to a commute and had judged the traffic incorrectly. In addition, her morning routine was slower in the new setting. She’d lived in the same apartment for six years. Moving back into her childhood home was going to take some getting used to.
There was also Cayden, who was currently stuffed in her trunk like a suitcase. His odd claim that it wasn’t his first time in the trunk of a car had spiked her curiosity, but she hadn’t asked. She was late enough as it was.
Trixie had lost count of the number of times they’d made love the day before and through the night. She honestly was trying her hardest not to count. She couldn’t get her heart to stop running a million miles per minute and she felt like there was never enough air in her lungs.
She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t know how to do this.
To make her reactions more genuine, Cayden refused to tell her what he was about to do. He simply asked that she remember, no matter what he said, he loved her with all his heart and he would do his damnedest to come home to her.
Trixie had refused to have a clichéd last kiss or a long goodbye. She wasn’t sure if she was going to regret that decision, but she knew that her heart wouldn’t have been able to handle letting him go if there was even a possibility that it would be their actual last kiss. Maybe it was cowardly of her, but saying goodbye just seemed too real. Cayden was leaving for who knew how long and doing only God-knows what. Her sanity was walking on thin ice as it was. She wouldn’t have been able to handle putting a label on their last kiss as being their last kiss.
Trixie did acknowledge that, though they were the same words, they sounded different in her head and had separate meanings.
She pulled into her designated parking spot. For some reason the sight of Romero’s didn’t fill her with the joy and pride it usually did. This place that had helped her through so much tragedy suddenly felt…bleak, empty. Her hands trembled so badly Trixie struggled to get the seatbelt off her.
She stepped outside into the October morning. Why did the bright sunlight feel like a bad omen?
Her eyes landed on the closed trunk. She wasn’t supposed to linger, she wasn’t supposed to look or think about him in there. He’d said he’d make his own way in so no one knew he’d driven with her. She wished he could have ridden up front holding her hand. She really could have used that extra support right then.
She looked down at her empty hands, recalling Cayden’s last words to her before he had gotten into the trunk. “I need you to promise me something, baby. I need you to be safe. Don’t take extra chances, don’t take any risks. Be safe and smart. I love you.”
Safe and smart. That’s what she needed him to be. How had their perfect weekend turned into such a clusterfuck? How had they gone from domestic bliss to him going undercover to bring down his old motorcycle club?
Her eyes glanced around the parking lot. Lee had said he’d be here this morning to get Cayden. After whatever it was Cayden had planned to do to publicly break his parole, the two were supposed to meet up. She didn’t see her brother anywhere. Was that the point? Was he here and just watching? Or had Lee gone back on his word?
She’d never known Lee to lie. It was the Marine in him. At his core, Lee was honorable and trustworthy. Which she did not consider to be good qualities right now. Lee was seeking justice for their dead brother. No matter if Cayden and Lee were successful in bringing down Carver and then Massey, it wasn’t going to bring Marco back. AJ might be safer in prison, but he would still be in prison. Personally, her life wouldn’t change much if they were successful. But a lot of other lives would. Didn’t that count for something? Didn’t that make Lee’s mission noble? She was struggling to accept that since Lee was taking away the love of her life for who knew how long.
“Where have you been?”
Trixie’s head snapped to Jeff, who was speed walking out to her. “I spent the weekend at Abuelo’s.” Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the panic on his face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“The police are here,” he told her. “They’re looking for Cayden.”
Here? She tried to keep her face calm while her heart nearly flatlined. She wiped her clammy hands on her pants and locked her eyes forward so she didn’t glance at the trunk where Cayden was currently hiding.
“I don’t understand. They haven’t found him yet?”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed just slightly. “You knew he was missing?”
She forced herself to nod. “They came to my house last night, said he broke curfew and never returned to Greg’s.” Jeff just stared at her. Crap, had she given something away? Trixie squared her jaw. “What?”
“Your boyfriend goes missing and you’re this calm?” Jeff shook his head. “I don’t buy it. What’s going on?”
Trixie flinched. “He’s not my boyfriend.” He was her all and her everything. “We had a fight on Saturday and I kicked him out. I haven’t seen him since.”
The employee door of Romero’s opened. Two uniformed police officers walked out towards them. They were different from the pair who had come to their house last night.
“Beatriz Romero?” one asked, looking down at his notepad.
“Trixie,” she corrected, holding out her hand. “What’s going on?”
The first officer shook her hand. “I’m Officer Sutton and this is my partner Officer Hail. We’re looking for your employee, Cayden Russo.”
She nodded. “Yes, I had two officers come to my house last night. They said he broke curfew and is in violation of his parole.” She looked to Jeff. “He hasn’t shown up for work?”
Jeff stiffly shook his head, his eyes never leaving her face. Crap, the old man saw too much.
Trixie forced her attention back to the police. She tried to keep her voice even, but she had a feeling it was a bit too high pitched to sound like her usual self. “As I told the other officers, Cayden and I were romantically involved. We had a fight on Saturday night around nine. He used my phone to call and pay for an Uber, the cheap bastard. I haven’t seen him since.”
“Mr. Ingram gave us access to your place of business, Ms. Romero. We have confirmed that Mr. Russo is not here at present.” That was the second officer, Hail. “His rehabilitation officer is also looking for him.” He lowered his sunglasses to give her a stern gaze. “If we discover you are hiding him or aiding him in any way, you will be charged with harboring a fugitive.”
Trixie paled but forced herself not to look away. “I haven’t seen him,” she lied. “I don’t know where he is, and furthermore, I don’t care. Bastard broke my heart,” her voice cracked. “He deserves whatever’s coming to him.”
Her eyes glanced to Jeff. The weight of his stare was intense. His eyes weren’t on her face, but on her hand. Trixie glanced down to her chest. She was unknowingly fisting Cayden’s present under her white tank. Shit. Trixie took a deep breath and unclenched her fingers. The necklace was secure under her shirt. Why did Jeff have to have such eagle eyes? Of everyone, he was going to be the toughest to fool.
“Ms. Romero?” Her head snapped back to the officers. “Do you mind if we search your car?”
She swallowed. “Um, what?”
“Your car, Ms. Romero.” That was the first officer, Sutton. “We need to search it.”
Her heart started pounding even louder. She couldn’t let them search it. Cayden was in there. But she also couldn’t let them not search it. How guilty would that make her look and then they’d end up searching the car anyway? Shit, shit, shit…
Mechanically, she extended her arm with the keys. “Knock yourself out.”
Hail moved Jeff and Trixie away from the vehicle as his partner donned a pair of latex gloves. She hadn’t locked the car yet, but he still pressed the unlock button on the remote. She felt like throwing up. What now? What if she feigned fainting to draw their attention?
The officer methodically looked through the driver and passenger front seats and then did the same in the back. He was looking for more than just Cayden, because there clearly wasn’t a man sitting in the body of the car. Her knees near gave out when he popped the trunk of her Firebird, hand on his holster, and she nearly fainted for real.
She needed to stop them. Needed to distract them. She had to give him a chance to get away…
To her shock and amazement, there wasn’t a shout or a struggle. Cayden hadn’t leaped out of the trunk the moment it was opened and made a run for it. She saw Sutton duck under the lid, rummage around a bit, and then close it.
Trixie blinked. What the fuck? Where was Cayden?
“It’s clear,” Sutton announced walking up to them. He handed Trixie her keys back. “We appreciate your assistance, Ms. Romero. There will be a car parked outside your residence if he shows up there. Hail and I will be around here today. You should be aware that a warrant has been issued for his arrest. Please inform your staff to notify us if they see him.”
Trixie took back her keys. Her entire body felt like it was weighed with lead. Where was Cayden?
“Thank you, officers,” she heard Jeff say through the ringing in her ears. “Please feel free to use our facility as needed, including this wonderful new Italian roast we have in the breakroom.”
The officers extended their hands to them both with gratitude. They walked off towards their cruiser, which was parked out at the edge of the parking lot.
“Get inside, Trixie.” She felt an arm pull her in the direction of the building. As soon as they were inside, Jeff rounded on her. “What the hell is going on? You expected those officers to find Cayden in your car, didn’t you?”
She flinched. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would Cayden have been in my car?”
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “But you suck at lying. Whatever it is that is going on, do not get Romero’s involved, Trixie. You’ve worked too hard to ruin everything now.”
Trixie’s back stiffened. His accusation stung. How dare he think she’d do anything to hurt her abuelo’s legacy? “Jeff, you are a friend and a valued employee, but if you ever suggest or insinuate that I would knowingly bring ruin to this place again, you’re fired.”
He didn’t blink at the threat. “All of the employees are in the breakroom with Joey. What do you want to tell them?”
“The truth,” she said. “They’ve earned it. Cayden broke parole and he’s on the run. If they see him, they are to call the police. Did you get those officer’s information so we can call them if needed? I have the card from the two who stopped by my house last night too.”
Jeff didn’t move. “That’s twice you’ve called Bobby’s place your house. Are you planning on moving back in there, Trixie?”
Not alone, she thought before banishing it. “I’ve been debating on it. I figured I’d fix it up. If I don’t want it at the end, it might be time to sell it.” Not our house, never our house.
Jeff nodded once. “I’m glad to see you’re finally doing something with it.”
“We need to get to the breakroom,” she reminded him.
Cayden watched Trixie and Jeff speak with the officers outside Romero’s. He’d suspected that the police would beat them to the shop. He’d bailed out of the Firebird at a traffic light stop. The woman in the car behind Trixie had gaped at him but he just gave her a smile, waved, and run off. The only thing that could have made that encounter more amusing would have been if his hands had been bound, maybe a stretch of duct tape across his mouth.
He wanted to chuckle at his wayward thought, but he concentrated on Trixie. He was putting her in a dangerous position, making her lie to the police for him. Once again, he wished Lee had never involved her.
Her brother stepped up next to him on the sidewalk. Cayden hadn’t heard the man’s approach or seen a vehicle. Maybe having a stealthy ninja on his side would come in handy. The man escaped drowning, he assumed in the gulf, with a cinderblock attached to his feet.
Lee was perhaps an inch or two taller than Cayden and broader in the chest. Bathed, shaved, and in his own clothing, Lee looked slightly less menacing than he had the day before. Just slightly. Cayden got the feeling the man could be very deadly when he wanted to be.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Annoying,” was the curt answer. “How’s mi hermana?”
“Lying to the police.”
“Better lying to them today than dead tomorrow because someone suspects she knows too much.”
Cayden flinched at the man’s deadpanned rationality. The stealthy ninja really needed to take some heart lessons from the Grinch. “You’ve gotten her protection detail?”
“The officers you see there will be here today. They think they’re here for you, but they won’t turn their backs if anything else happens. Tomorrow an undercover will be parked down the street. They’ll rotate shifts between here and the house.”
“She won’t return to the house.” Trixie hadn’t said anything, but she hadn’t had to. His gut told him she planned on staying at Romero’s until he returned to her.
“They’ll be wherever she is.”
Cayden nodded once. “Good.”
They watched in silence as the cops walked back to their cruiser while Jeff pulled Trixie inside the building. Cayden had never been happier to have convinced her to increase her security. At least he knew exactly what was keeping her safe.
“You broke parole last night instead of this morning.” Cayden didn’t bother to defend that decision. He wouldn’t have given up his night with Trixie for anything. “Wasn’t as public as I was hoping for to get back in with Carver, but I guess it’ll do.”
Cayden snorted. “No wonder Massey thought you were a cop.”
Lee was silent for a second. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re methodical, man.” Cayden turned towards Trixie’s brother. He had his long black hair combed straight back and tied off at the nape of his neck. His mocha skin was slightly darker than Trixie’s, though that was likely from time in the sun. “You think like a cop, a soldier. All action and no flair.” The man’s dark eyes narrowed. Cayden rolled his in return, facing Romero’s again. “I broke parole last night to spend more time with your sister. I’m stealing a car to get back in with the MC.”
“What car?” There was a bit of curiosity lacing the ninja’s voice.
Cayden’s grin was malicious. “One he couldn’t refuse even if he wanted to.”
Their morning staff meeting took much longer than normal. By the time Trixie dismissed her employees from the meeting, she felt gutted and flayed. Their reactions to Cayden’s rabbiting ranged from anger and shock at Cayden to accusatory glares at Trixie herself. She had been too nauseous during the entire meeting to even take a sip of coffee. Throwing up was still an option for the morning.
It was the employees’ shouts that drew her attention on her way to her office. She really just wanted some alone time to sulk, but she couldn’t ignore their yells of panic. Trixie ran down to the showroom, along with every other employee who had heard the sales team. Fear gripped her that someone had spotted Cayden. She didn’t even know if he was here or if he had already met up with Lee and they were on their way to wherever it was they were going. She had a feeling she would be jumping at shadows until he returned to her.
Trixie squeezed her way to the front of the gathered crowd of her employees and felt her stomach sink.
The lime green Porsche Spyder 918 that had sat in the center of her showroom was gone.
Her eyes went to the large garage doors on the left wall. They were the only way to get a vehicle in and out of the showroom. They sat firm and closed, just like always. Her alarms hadn’t gone off nor had she received a notification on the app on her phone that the doors were opening.
“Don’t touch anything!” she shouted when an employee went to reach for something lying on the floor where the Spyder had been. “Where the hell are those cops?”
Sutton and Hail came rushing into the showroom then. They had their weapons drawn but lowered. “What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”
“No, we are not okay!” Trixie shouted. What the hell was going on? “My fucking car has been stolen!”
“The green one? We saw it drive out.” Sutton holstered his gun.
“Why didn’t you go after it?” she demanded to know. “That’s an eight hundred and forty-five thousand dollar vehicle!”
The officers exchanged a sheepish look between themselves. Sutton cleared his throat, “Our cruiser was disabled. We couldn’t pursue.”
“We called it in,” Hail defended. “We have backup on the way.”
“We need all of your employees out of this area please,” Sutton informed her. His voice was deeper now, like he was trying to make up for their mistake by his current authoritative attitude. “This is an active crime scene.”
Cayden, what have you done?
“Officers.” Trixie and the cops turned towards Adam, who was standing the closest to where the Spyder had been. “You should see this.”
Trixie informed Jeff to get everyone out of the showroom and then followed the officers over to where Adam stood. He was the one who’d been reaching for something on the floor before Trixie had scolded him for nearly touching.
Her eyes narrowed. It was one of their service tickets. It was tented to stand up, the carbon copy on top. Hail quickly snapped a picture with his phone.
Sutton put on a pair of gloves, kneeling down in front of it. He picked up the note, only to find a small clear packaging underneath it. Hail put away his phone and then put on his own gloves to grab the plastic container.
Trixie knew what had been in the package before Hail said it. “Sparkplugs.”
She felt herself let out a long sigh. Of course, it was. And likely from her own stock in the motor pool too. Damn it, Cayden.
Sutton opened the note, his brows furrowing. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Trixie leaned forward to see writing she easily recognized and read out loud:
Thanks for the ride, baby girl.
