by Bethany-Kris
“I wanna sleep,” Diego whined as they exited the hotel room. Lucia was fast on his heels, still quiet but doing as he’d said for her to do. “Ren!”
“Sleep in the truck, buddy.”
“I don’t wanna!”
Renzo juggled his wiggling brother and the screwdriver he’d used to boost the truck the day before. They were lucky really that they’d managed to find two vehicles that were old enough to be boosted simply by shoving a screwdriver in the ignition, twisting it hard and popping two wires together at the same time.
Speaking of which …
“Did the guy look in the driver’s window when he was looking around?” Renzo asked Lucia.
She nodded before slipping around the back of the truck to throw the bags onto the bed. All except one—the black duffle that held his gun, and the cash he’d moved into it the night before. She put that in the driver’s seat for him. Renzo cursed under his breath, but tried to give Diego a smile at the same time so that his brother didn’t think anything was wrong. That wouldn’t help them at all. The kid didn’t need to be in any sort of panic right now.
But if the guy had looked in the driver’s window, there was no doubt in Renzo’s mind that he saw the hanging wires under the steering wheel, which was a good fucking indication that the truck was stolen.
Shit.
This was not good.
“Get in the truck,” Renzo told Lucia as she came back around the side. “We need to hit the road.”
He also didn’t want to panic for her. Sure, she knew something bad was up, but that didn’t mean he was going to fuel her concerns by acting like it, too.
Calm and steady was best.
Right?
“Y’all aren’t heading out of here already, are you?”
Lucia was just slipping into the passenger side as the voice drifted over the gravel parking lot. Renzo’s shoulders tightened with tension as he turned just enough to look at the guy from the side, but over his shoulder. That way, he wasn’t giving the man a good look at his face, not entirely. But he was still able to see him just fine.
“Yeah, thanks for the room,” Renzo called out, “have a good day.”
He didn’t for a second think that would be enough to satisfy the guy, but that also didn’t matter. Renzo just needed enough time to circle the truck, get inside, and boost the fucker so they could get on the road. Nothing more, and nothing less. He wasn’t about to have a conversation with the man.
“Now, you’ve got a deposit waiting for you in the office,” the man said. “You’re not going to leave that, are you? It’ll take me a few minutes to go and grab it out of the safe.”
Renzo’s gaze narrowed.
A few minutes?
A safe?
Why in the hell did a shitty little motel in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska need a fucking safe? That screamed strange to him in more ways than one. Renzo was not the type to ignore his gut instinct when something felt off to him. Sure, that thousand dollars could do a lot for them once they finally hit Vegas, and they needed as much money as they could get their hands on, but it still wasn’t enough to make him feel safe enough to wait.
The guy had come a hell of a lot closer, too.
“No, we’re good,” Renzo said. “Keep it—a thank you.”
He turned to round the front of the truck and jump in the driver’s side, but he barely even made it two steps before the guy came up behind him. Had they been back in New York and on Renzo’s streets, someone coming up behind him would have meant only one thing—the fucker wanted to get hurt.
But when the man grabbed Renzo’s arm, all he could think about was fuck, don’t cause a goddamn scene. Just get out of here, Ren. You need to get the hell out of here now.
The man’s hand tightened on Renzo’s forearm. “Now, you wait just a second, young man.”
He glanced down at the unwelcomed hand on his body. “Remove your fucking hand before I do, please.”
There, he was kind.
He gave the man a warning.
The guy’s gaze narrowed on Renzo’s face. “I thought something was strange with you two last night, even if you didn’t come out of the truck. You think someone wasn’t going to see those wires hanging down like that? All I had to do was watch the damn news to hear about the robbery just across the border. Looking for a dark vehicle, they said. Likely stolen. You’re not going anywhere. The cops will be here soon, so you might as well just give it up.”
Oh, was that what he thought?
Renzo had news for him.
“You’re going to let me go, or I’m going to make you wish you’d never even seen my face,” Renzo murmured. “Last chance, sir.”
“I just told you … you’re not going—”
“Let him go,” came a soft, yet still firm, order from the side of the truck.
Renzo really wished Lucia had stayed in the truck, and let him handle this, but she was out now. Out, and with his gun in her hand, it seemed. She’d already racked the weapon back by the looks of it, and she had it pointed right at the side of the man’s head as she edged closer to them. There was no shake in her hands, and no hesitance in her gaze with each step she took. Just a cold determination leveled on the man still touching Renzo like he had any business doing that at all.
“Babe,” Renzo started to say.
“Now, little girl—”
The man had a hand up, as if that was going to stop Lucia or the bullet if she pulled the trigger. Renzo almost wanted to scoff, but somehow, he managed to keep it in. How, though, he didn’t have the first fucking clue. If she pulled that trigger, the bullet coming for his head was the last thing the man was ever going to see.
Simple as that.
“You threatening me, girl?” the man asked.
“Looks like it,” Lucia returned.
It wasn’t much—a couple of seconds where the guy’s hand loosened on Renzo while his attention went to the thing he figured was the biggest threat to him at the moment.
Lucia.
And her gun.
No, it wasn’t much, but it was enough for Renzo to act. He only needed the chance, and he was the fucking type to take it every time. After all, he’d never know if he didn’t try. That’s what life had taught him, frankly.
Swinging back his free arm at the same time he jerked away from the man, Renzo swung forward fast and hard. His fist connected with the side of the man’s face with a sickening crunch. He saw the blood spew from the guy’s lips before his body dropped to the ground like a sack of dead weight.
It took Renzo a second, and then two before he realized no, the guy wasn’t fucking dead. Just knocked the hell out. Which honestly, worked for him.
The next thing he did was yank that fucking gun out of Lucia’s hand before she hurt herself, or somebody else. She just looked startled as he flicked the safety back on, and tucked the gun in the waistband of his pants.
“Stay in the truck,” he barked at her.
Okay, maybe that was rude.
Still …
Lucia blinked. “He grabbed you!”
“I had it handled, Lucia.”
“No, you really didn’t.”
“I did!” Renzo scrubbed a hand down his jaw, and shot her a look he hoped got his point across with his next words. “Don’t step in on something like that again. You don’t need to do that.”
“I will do whatever I want to do for you, Ren. Got it?”
Lucia crossed her arms over her chest, and glowered right back at him. That was probably one of the things he loved best about this woman—she was absolutely willing to go toe to toe with him over whatever she wanted to, even if it was the worst fucking possible time for her to be doing exactly that.
Renzo passed another look at the guy on the ground. The last thing he needed or wanted to do right now was sit here and argue with her. They had more important things to handle.
“We need to get out of here—you heard him,” he said.
Lucia frowned. “
What about the money—”
“Forget about it. Get in the truck, you can drive. I need to make a call.”
• • •
“Yeah, Tuck, hey …”
Renzo didn’t miss the way Lucia’s gaze slid in his direction as the guy he’d been calling for a half an hour finally picked up the phone. Fuck, it had been years since he talked to Tucker Earl. Far too long, really. The last time the two of them spoke, Tucker had been dealing for a rival on the streets, and they had just about gone to blows over it. But their mutual respect at having known each other since they were kids took over, and they figured something else out.
Shortly after that, Tuck headed to Vegas. He always said if Renzo ever needed anything, to just give him a call and let him know. Well, Renzo was finally making that fucking call. Whether or not Tuck was serious, or if the guy was even in any kind of state to be able to help was another story.
“Renzo?”
“Yeah,” Renzo said, laughing. “How the fuck are you, man?”
“Busy. Making coin. Keeping the hustle alive. Shit, it’s been … a year or more since I last talked to you. How the hell are things?”
“Crazy.”
Understatement.
“I know that life,” Tuck replied.
Highly doubt it, man.
“No, I mean … crazy as in bad,” Renzo muttered, staring out the window. “I need some help. Can you do that—help me, I mean? Just a few things. You know I’m good for it, Tuck.”
“Wait, are you in New York, or—”
“No, I’m heading for Vegas right now, actually.”
On the other end of the line, Tuck quieted for a second. Renzo waited the man out as he watched the trees passing them on the back roads. Lucia was smart, still staying off the highway. They really needed to get rid of this truck, though. If the guy back at the motel had been talking to the police and trying to keep them there until the cops could show up, he had no doubt he also described the truck, plus likely gave the stolen license plate number.
They had to get rid of it.
Now.
“When you get to Vegas, give me a call and I will see what strings I can pull,” Tuck finally said.
Renzo nodded even though his friend couldn’t see it. “Great, thanks. Anything you can do for me right now, though? I’m in Nebraska—I need to get rid of this ride I’m in, and take something else. How good are your contacts, huh? You always used to have a whole phone full of people that could get anything done for a price, right? Don’t tell me that’s changed, Tuck.”
His friend chuckled quietly. “Getting right to the point, huh?”
“I’m in a fucking spot, man. Don’t fault me.”
Putting it mildly, really.
“It might take me a bit,” Tuck said, “but I am sure I could pull something together. Are you good to wait, or nah?”
Renzo passed Lucia a look, but she was focused on the road ahead of them. He was grateful for her distraction. In the backseat, Diego was still sitting with his sour face firmly in place. At least, he’d stopped whining. That felt like one battle won, for now. Renzo could deal with his bad mood later.
“I will see what I can do,” Tuck muttered. “But so I know, how opposed are you to taking a bus?”
“Like a Greyhound?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Renzo wasn’t about to be fucking picky, but that wasn’t the problem he had with a bus. “I’ll need a fucking ID to get a ticket, man.” Not to mention, Lucia, too. Diego wouldn’t need one if he was traveling with them, though. “Which is something I don’t have right now.”
Tuck sucked in air through his teeth. “I might be able to pull some strings there, too. Like I said, just need some time. If I get you a ticket, can you get on the bus, Ren?”
“Yeah, man.”
“Okay, I’ll call you back when I get one—”
“Three,” Renzo said quickly. “I need three tickets.”
Tuck whistled low under his breath. “Jesus, what are you doing, man?”
Renzo could only laugh. “Right now, trying to get to Vegas.”
“What did you leave behind, then?”
“Maybe it’s better you don’t know, Tuck.”
His friend made a noise, but finally muttered, “Yeah, probably not. Listen, we’ll talk more when you get here, and get some shit settled. Hang tight, stay out of trouble for a bit, and I will get you tickets for that bus.”
Great.
“Thanks.”
A quick goodbye later, and Renzo was staring at the blank phone in his hands. Lucia was still quiet in the driver’s seat, so he decided to be the first to break the silence.
“We’ll get it figured out,” he said.
She passed him a look. “Will we?”
Well, they didn’t really have a choice, did they?
It was this, or go back.
And he wasn’t fucking going back.
Not now.
“Tuck will get us what we need,” Renzo said.
Lucia looked his way. “Interesting name.”
“His name is Tucker—everybody always called him Tuck, though.”
“Huh.”
Yeah, that was one way to describe Tuck.
A simple huh.
FIVE
Renzo managed to keep a hold on their bags as he hailed a cab at the same time. The noise of the Greyhound station made Diego press tighter against the back of Lucia’s legs. His small arms wrapped around her knees, and he was determined not to let go. Lucia might have laughed if she wasn’t so damn tired. She understood the boy’s desire to hide away from the noise. She wanted to do the exact same thing.
She had never traveled on a Greyhound bus before, and if she could help it, she wouldn’t use another one again. Cramped, hot, and uncomfortable, it just wasn’t for her. She swore people didn’t understand the concept of personal space, either.
“It’s all right,” Lucia said, reaching back to pat Diego on the top of his head when he squeezed her legs tighter. “We’ll be somewhere quiet soon.”
Hopefully somewhere with a shower, bed, and food. All things they needed to feel like real, live humans. And despite how tired she was, Lucia couldn’t help but feel relieved as she watched the sign across the street light up in bright colors—making a rainbow-like streak of prisms shoot up into the inky sky. She only had to glance down the street to see the same thing over and over again. Bright signs. Huge buildings crawling up toward the sky.
They couldn’t see the stars in Vegas, either.
But they were here.
Really here.
That one thing they thought might not happen had finally come true. Here they were.
“That’s a sweet sight.”
The voice that came far too close to Lucia’s right gained her attention. She turned to find a white-haired lady with a face weathered from years gone past and a life well lived smiling down at Diego who was still holding tight to Lucia’s legs. The older woman gave Lucia a smile, too.
“Your son is very well behaved,” the woman told her. “And loves his mom, like all good boys, it seems.”
Lucia laughed. “Thank you, but—”
She was about to say Diego wasn’t her son, but she didn’t get the chance. Finally, Renzo caught the attention of the cabs driving past the stopping lane. One pulled in quick, and Renzo stepped forward to open the back door. With a nod in her direction, he helped her to get everything in the back of the car before she scooped Diego up, and sat in the back with him. Renzo slipped in with them in the back, muttering an address to the driver who barely even spoke to them except to wave a card reader, if they needed it.
They had been driving down unfamiliar streets with lights that were bright enough to make a person think it was daytime when Renzo spoke for the first time.
“We’re going to meet up with my friend first, see what he has for us, and then we’ll get everything else figured out from there,” he said.
Lucia nodded. “Okay.”
She had a lot of questions even though she chose to keep them quiet. Like who exactly was this friend, how did Renzo know him, and could they trust him? What was going to happen now that they were here?
Instead of asking those things, she simply kept quiet. She trusted Renzo, and that’s what mattered. Nothing else factored into it at all if they had a place to sleep, the ability to take care of Diego, and food to eat. The rest, they would figure out in due time.
“Just keep Diego close when we get there,” Renzo said, passing her a look. “And stay quiet until everything is figured out. I didn’t explain very much about … all of it.”
“What would have happened if you did explain it all?”
Renzo arched a brow, and turned to watch the scenery pass them by again. “I’m not interested in finding out.”
Yeah.
She figured.
• • •
“Here to see Tucker,” Renzo said to the guy manning the door of a small restaurant that was as empty on the outside as it was on the inside. She suspected the place was closed, but that seemed strange considering Vegas never closed anything at night. It was the city that never slept, after all. “He’s expecting me—Renzo.”
As big as a barrel, the guy narrowed his gaze on Renzo, and then at the people standing right behind him. Lucia and Diego. She shifted in her jogging shoes, holding a little bit tighter to Diego as the man looked him over as well. It took Renzo clearing his throat to bring the man’s stare back to him.
“Well?”
Stepping aside to open the door, the man replied, “Tuck’s in the back working. He’s got shipments coming in tonight, so mind your fucking business when you’re in there, huh?”
Renzo nodded, and passed a look back at Lucia. “Understood.”
“Good. Follow the back hall as far as it can go, and then turn right. You’ll hear Tuck talking by then; follow his voice.”
“Thanks.”
Renzo gestured at Lucia to follow him, and she stayed close at his back as they stepped into the business. Despite the main floor of the restaurant being dark, the back hallway was lit up. Once they neared the end, they didn’t even have to turn right before they could hear a man’s voice traveling over the rustle of … something.
