Chapter 12 #2
I glanced up at the closest TV, but a commercial was on, the subtitles offering no clues to which teams had been playing.
I listened, waiting for Vero to feed me an answer—she was always betting on some sports game or another—but the volume on my earbuds was suddenly too low.
I could barely make out her frantic reply over all the other voices in the bar. “Whatever you … don’t … Maryland.”
“Maryland,” I said confidently.
Vero shouted a swear. Ramón shook his head. I followed his glance to the screen and quickly discovered why as the game came back on.
Theo’s grin quirked higher as all my blood rushed to my face.
“I know absolutely nothing about basketball,” I admitted. The truth was usually the best way to get away with lying anyway. I extended a hand. “I’m Susan.” Vero snorted, but my mother’s name was easy for me to remember and just common enough to be forgettable.
“Theo,” he said, reaching across the bar.
Ramón watched as Theo and I shook hands, but Theo didn’t seem to notice.
He pulled a flyer from a cardboard box on the shelf behind him and slid it toward me.
“We’re having a special—fifty-cent wings,” he said, tapping the coupon.
My gaze drifted past him to the logo on the box.
It was a black-and-white printer with a dollar sign coming out of it, the same one I’d seen on the box of flyers Jackson had delivered to Ava the day before.
That could explain what Jackson had been doing here earlier. Maybe he’d only been delivering flyers. It was possible Ben hadn’t spilled the beans after all.
Theo leaned on his elbows, bringing his face closer to hear me over the din. “Tell me, Susan. If you’re not into sports, what are you doing in a sports bar alone on a Saturday night?”
“Would you believe I only came here for a drink?”
“If you only came here for a drink, you should at least make it count.” He frowned at the pale excuse for a beer in my glass.
“What would you have picked?” I asked.
“None of that watered-down diet crap. I would have gone for the Johnnie Walker Blue.”
Ramón snorted. “Sure you would. If she was buying.” He chased the insult with a long swig of his beer.
Theo cut his eyes at him. “Are you suggesting I can’t afford it?”
Ramón spared him an indifferent glance. “I’m suggesting you probably didn’t roll up to this gig in a Maserati, so maybe lay off the lady’s beverage choices while she’s in here paying your rent.”
Vero groaned. “Tell me Ramón did not just say that.”
Javi sidled to the bar and claimed the stool beside me. “Sounds like the guy’s trying to compensate for something.”
Theo glared at him. “What’s your problem?”
“No problem,” Javi said. “I just think you talk a big game for a guy who’s probably got nothing to show for it.”
Theo’s eyes narrowed at each of them in turn. “What are you two assholes driving? I don’t see either of you ordering from the top shelf.”
Ramón pulled a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them onto the bar.
Theo eyed the Chevy logo. He studied Ramón, as if he was searching for a tell. For all Theo knew, those keys could unlock a souped-up vintage Camaro instead of the old white repair van I knew they belonged to. Ramón’s poker face gave nothing away.
Theo reached under the bar for his own keys. He held them up, showing off the shiny BMW logo on the fob. “Can your Chevy compete with three hundred and eighty-two ponies?”
Javi and Ramón exchanged a look.
“She’s got what counts under the hood,” Ramón said. “If you want to put your money where your mouth is, I know a place.”
What was he doing? Drawing Theo to a remote location under the guise of an illegal street race was not in the plan.
Theo glanced at the clock like he was actually considering it.
The two men locked eyes for a long moment before a long-legged brunette bombshell in low-riding shorts and an even lower-riding tank top rushed the bar.
“Hey, what’s a girl got to do to get served around here?
” She planted herself in front of Theo, folded her arms over the wooden bar top, and leaned toward him, giving him a better view of her cleavage.
Theo was too busy playing chicken with Ramón to notice her.
“Hello?” She knocked on the bar. “Earth to Theo.”
“Yeah, Sophia. What can I get you?” he asked her impatiently.
Ramón gritted his teeth at the interruption as the woman placed her order. He looked at her askance. His eyes widened a fraction, and he shifted sideways on his stool, angling his face away from her.
When I glanced over at Javi, he was covering the side of his face, too. He began to pivot, as if intending to sneak away.
Sophia caught sight of him. She tipped her head, gasping as she got a better look at his face.
“Oh my god! Javi! It is you!” He winced as she threw her arms around him. “Ramón came by my place earlier, but he didn’t mention you were in town! We should go out sometime and catch up. Unless you’re on house arrest, too,” she teased him.
“Who’s that?” Vero asked urgently. “I thought I heard—” I disconnected the call, instinct telling me it would be a bad idea to let her hear any more.
Theo watched from behind the bar, frowning at all four of us in turn, as if he was suddenly putting the pieces together.
He and Ramón locked eyes.
Theo set down the glass he was filling and backed slowly away from the taps. If I had any doubt before that Ben had spilled the beans, they were gone. Theo knew exactly who we were and why we were here now.
He bolted, walking fast toward a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY.
Ramón rose from his seat, but Javi was closer.
Javi launched from his stool, throwing Sophia off him in his rush to give chase.
His stool flew backward into a server carrying a round of drinks.
The server’s tray went flying, beer and broken glass spraying a group of frighteningly large men seated behind us.
They rose from their table, beer dripping down their faces.
Sophia shook shards of glass from her running shoes. She grabbed a napkin from the bar and wiped at the beer on her shorts. “Jesus, Javier! What the hell is wrong with you?”
One of the men called Javi a clumsy asshole. Every head in the bar craned toward us as the man shoved him backward into another table. Chair legs screeched as the second group of angry patrons rolled up their sleeves and stood, trapping Javi in the middle.
Theo disappeared down the hall and the staff door closed behind him. Ramón swore. He helped the server to his feet and slapped a few bills into his hand, not bothering to count them. Then he hauled me off my stool. “Time to get out of here.”
“We can’t just leave! We didn’t find out what kind of car Theo’s—”
Ramón tucked me behind him as one of the men threw a punch.
Javi ducked to avoid it, and the man’s fist connected with someone else’s jaw.
All hell broke loose. Ramón hustled me toward the exit, shielding us both with his upraised arm as the fistfight spread like a virus through the bar.
“Get Vero out of here,” he said to me. “And do not say a word to her about any of what you just saw.”
I didn’t have time to ask exactly what it was I just saw before Ramón got dragged into the fight.
Glass shattered. Tables toppled sideways.
Someone shouted at a server to call the cops.
I didn’t stick around to see what happened after that.
I made a run for the door, my heart thumping wildly when I finally made it through to the other side and the sounds of the riot quieted behind me.
I raced across the parking lot, panicking when I didn’t see Vero in the van. I called her name, nearly jumping out of my skin as she ran up behind me.
“Found it!” She bent over her knees, struggling to catch her breath.
“You were supposed to stay out of sight! There was a fight in the bar and we need to go. The cops are on their way, and you can’t be here!”
“A fight?! We can’t leave Javi and Ramón in there. They might murder my alibi!”
“Theo’s hiding in the back. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” I hoped that was true as I shoved her into the passenger seat. A siren was already wailing in the distance.
I got into the van. Vero tossed me the keys. “At least I found Theo’s car,” she said as I peeled out of the lot.
“How? There must have been at least ten BMWs back there.”
“But only one with the kind of horsepower Theo was crowing about.”
“Did you get his plate number?”
She held up Ramón’s cell. “Consider it handled. We should have no problem finding Theo now, and … Oh no,” she whispered. I glanced over and saw her frowning at Ramón’s phone.
“Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “Javi has his cell with him. He can call me when they get out of there, and I’ll go back to pick them up.
” Assuming they didn’t spend the night in the hospital or in jail.
I couldn’t worry about that now. “The only thing we should be worrying about is getting you home before your curfew.”
“That might be a problem.” Vero looked like she might be sick as she showed me the screen. “Ramón just got a text from my mom. Officer Oates just showed up for Mass at St. Pete’s, and she’s there looking for me.”