Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
It had been a long time since Joey had encountered such a fervent fan.
He had forgotten how intense, to the point of aggressive, they could be.
Back in the day, he would have basked in the adoration and posed for as many pictures as they wanted.
While life seemed quiet and peaceful now, the noise and chaos from the past still roared like a thousand speeding race cars in his head.
Joey’s phone buzzed on his couch, where he had thrown it with his jacket when he’d returned to his apartment earlier.
He had let the avid admirer rattle him and break his calm, controlled facade.
After calling in sick, he paced his apartment, trying to calm the panic, reasoning through his fight or flight response to the situation.
Most attendees wouldn’t take notice, but Lydia would, and who knew if the person belonging to the large shoe print might have also been lurking.
That shortened his timeline to share his story with Lydia, if it wasn’t already too late.
Knowing her attention to detail, she probably already had a dossier on him with colored tabs and sticky notes. He would find out soon enough.
He grabbed his phone as it continued to vibrate, absentmindedly looking at the alert about movement on the perimeter.
It was probably the volunteers bringing their cashboxes to him to lock up in the garage safe.
Lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed it had gotten dark.
He threw on a clean pair of overalls and rushed downstairs.
As each person came by, Joey greeted them with an attempt at his usual laid-back persona.
Scrolling through the internet looking for any sign that his story had hit the news, another alert from his security system flashed on the screen.
It had been twenty minutes since the last box had been handed over, yet Lydia’s was still missing.
He felt a sense of relief that she was ok.
After closing the small vault, he switched apps on his phone to the surveillance feed from the cameras around the building.
Toggling through the views, the lanterns on the side door only showed a silhouette with light bouncing toward the far side of the garage.
He illuminated the floodlights on the roof from his phone.
On his screen, he saw Lydia, clutching her cashbox, shielding her eyes from the glare, but she didn’t slow down.
Then came the man following her, who froze like an animal facing a speeding car.
When the shock wore off, he ran to catch up with her.
“Hey, I was talking to you!” Joey heard the burly man shout through his speaker. The scratchy voice was oddly familiar.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Lydia picked up her pace, and Joey had to switch to another camera view to keep up.
“You’ve been teasing me all day, ya little hussy. It’s time to pay up.”
“Security threw you out hours ago. How did you get back on site?”
“I have my ways.” Her aggressor rubbed his fingers on one hand together. It was a common enough gesture for money, but combined with the accent of home, Joey felt a chill run through him.
Fuck! Not now. Not here. Joey zoomed in to examine the man’s face more closely.
“You are going to regret this,” Lydia stated, digging into her pocket and facing the trespasser.
“The lady told you to leave her alone.” Opening the side door, Joey took a step in front of Lydia.
“Why don’t you go back where you belong, kid?” Emilio Perez, Joey’s former mentor, flashed a menacing smile.
“I’m not going anywhere unless she tells me to.” Joey looked to Lydia, who was still pointing a small can towards the other man.
“I’m just having a little fun. You always did take things so seriously, Joey.”
“Get out of here and leave her alone.” He folded his arms across his chest, blocking Emilio’s view of Lydia.
“Like you’re going to stop me from getting what I want. You never had it in you, and you still don’t.” The words pierced Joey harder than he’d like to admit.
“I’m not the man you remember. I won’t fail to protect the people I care about ever again.”
“What the hell, Joey? I could have handled this, and I don’t need you pretending I can’t.” Lydia scolded. She put her box in the garage and stomped off into the night.
“Looks like you let her down anyway. Funny how history repeats itself.” Leaning against the wall, Emilio acted like they were just having a friendly chat.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to catch up.”
“I have nothing to say to you that I haven’t already said.”
“And when the anniversary of the accident comes next week? You’re going to keep your mouth shut, right? You owe me that much.”
“I don’t owe you a fucking thing. I know what you did, even though I don’t have proof. And you’re the one who's going to have to live with that on your conscience.”
“Yeah, I’ll cry about it on my yacht.”
“You goddamn son-of-a-bitch!” Rage pulsed through Joey as his hand closed around Emilio’s throat and pinned him to the wall.
“Tsk, tsk, Joey. You’re going to get yourself kicked out of this cushy setup you’ve got.”
“How the hell did you find me anyway?” He dropped his grip and stepped back.
“Don’t you know by now? I’ve got friends in high and low places.
People see things and help me out. For instance, a man who didn’t want the press to pursue him like the rabid animals they are would share with me his latest project, so I didn’t accidentally tell anyone his location.
” Emilio jabbed a finger into Joey’s chest to emphasize his point, reiterating all of Joey’s fears from the past.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Joey lied, keeping his body relaxed and maintaining direct eye contact. He wasn’t going to let Emilio have the upper hand ever again. His days of hiding were over.
“Heh, like you could ever be content with driving some old lady around and fixing her car. Although that Studebaker you restored was a beauty.” Of course, Emilio had to stick it to Joey, that he’d been in his space so easily.
But it obviously wasn’t recently, since he didn’t seem to know about the new security measures.
“It’s time for you to leave. For good this time. I have plenty of pictures and videos of you from this evening if you should be brave enough to show your face around here again.” Joey marched towards Emilio, forcing the man backward towards the parking lot.
“You’ll regret this. Mark my words.” Flashlights and gruff shouts sounded as the festival security personnel wrangled Emilio to the ground with his arms behind him.
From beyond the melee, Gladys and Remy waved to him.
Thankful for this family having his back, he signaled his gratitude with a salute before turning back toward the garage.
“Lydia!” he called out, hands cupped around his mouth, loud enough that even people in the next town could hear him.
He didn’t actually expect a response, but the flicker of a phone going dark in the pumpkin patch was enough to put him in the right direction.
Being on the receiving end of Lydia’s fury was not how he had hoped this would go, but letting her brood about his betrayal wouldn’t help his case.