Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
GYPSY
Ipushed that stupid van to go faster than it had ever gone before, driving like a bat out of hell all the way to Alpha Omega Investigations.
By the time I pulled into a parking spot out front, the engine was gurgling and sputtering unnaturally.
Ignoring the fact that I’d probably just killed the damn thing, I jumped out and ran toward the office.
Charging in like a crazed bull, I threw the glass doors wide and rushed to the reception desk.
“Is Marco here?”
Roxanne’s eyes went round. “Good lord, girl! What’s gotten into you?”
“Marco, Rox. Is he here? I need to see him. Now.”
“What’s going on?”
I spun around at the sound of Lincoln’s voice and found him and Marco coming out of his office. The moment Marco spotted me, I saw his whole frame go on red alert.
“Gypsy? What happened?”
Rushing toward him, I slapped my palms against his solid chest and fisted the material of his shirt in my hands, whispering, “Marco, he was in my house.”
“Who was in your house?”
“Malachi Black!” I shrieked. “I got home from running errands and he was in my house.”
“Fuckin’ shit,” Lincoln hissed, but I was too busy watching a fire spark and rage to life in Marco’s eyes.
“Come on. Let’s take this into my office.
” When Marco just continued to stand there and stare, Lincoln clapped him on his shoulder and urged, “Come on, brother. Let’s get your girl in here so she can have some privacy, yeah? ”
That snapped him out of it. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me into Lincoln’s office and closed the door behind us.
“Take a seat, Gypsy,” Linc offered, rounding his desk and sitting behind it.
I took one of the two chairs in front of him, and Marco took the second.
I hadn’t realized my whole body was shaking like a leaf until Marco pulled my chair close enough to his that he could clasp my trembling hands in his.
“Calm, girasol,” he said softly. “Just breathe. You’re safe now, baby. Breathe.”
I did what he said, working hard to calm myself down.
A minute later, he reached up to cup my jaw, rubbing his thumb over my cheekbone. “Better?”
Pulling in one last fortifying breath, I nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay now.”
Xander had shown up while I was getting a hold of myself, and once I was ready to talk, I looked up at all three of them.
“All right, sweetheart,” Lincoln started. “Tell us what happened.”
I recounted everything from the moment I entered my house to Malachi trying to give me an envelope of cash to his threat right before he left, making sure I didn’t spare a single detail.
Marco’s hold on my hands grew tighter and more secure with each passing minute, offering me unwavering support as I talked.
“My friend’s gotten mixed up with him,” I added at the end. Looking over to Xander, I stated, “It’s McKenna. I’m not sure how, and I don’t believe for a second that she’d do anything illegal, but I think… I think he’s beating her up.”
“Fuck,” Xander clipped, lifting a hand and dragging it through his hair.
“You know her?” Lincoln asked him.
“Sweet girl,” he replied. “Quiet. Kinda shy. Doesn’t belong in a place like Pink Palace.”
“I have to protect her,” I murmured. “I promised I’d look after her, but….”
“You can’t work there anymore, baby,” Marco said with absolute finality.
“I know,” I admitted, not even bothering to argue. After what had happened earlier, I knew there was no way I could go back there. “But she’s all alone.” I squeezed Marco’s hands so hard in desperation I felt the knuckles crack. “I have to help her somehow. I can’t just leave her—”
“Xander’ll stay on,” Lincoln announced. “He’s seen some things while working there that we want to explore further, but now he’ll stay with the added job of lookin’ after your girl.” He turned to Xander and asked, “That work for you?” and received a nod in return.
“And we’re not gonna let anything happen to you, either,” Linc promised, leaning forward to meet my gaze head on. “What happened today will never happen again. You have my word.”
For the first time in the past hour, I felt a sense of relief I hadn’t thought possible since the day I’d sent Marco away from the hospital.
Asking for help was one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I trusted these men completely. I knew they’d do everything in their power to keep their promises.
My cell started ringing from my purse while the guys spoke strategy, and I pulled it out to see the main number for the high school flashing across the screen.
I answered and brought the phone to my ear, “Hello?”
“Ms. Bradbury? This is Principal Stevens at Hope Valley High School. I’m calling about Rhodes.”
And in the blink of an eye, that relief disappeared, and the day went from bad to worse. “What happened? Is he okay?”
“I’m afraid I’ll need you to come down to the office, Ms. Bradbury. Rhodes has been in a fight.”
It had been fifteen minutes since I got the call from the high school.
Fourteen minutes since Marco took my keys and announced that he’d be driving me.
And thirteen minutes since I’d said a single word, unable to speak past the rage threatening to boil over in my belly.
Now we were sitting in the school office, waiting to be called in to see the principal like a couple of unruly teenagers.
“You didn’t have to come,” I said quietly, looking at Marco from the corner of my eye. I saw his jaw work from side to side and quickly continued before he could get the wrong idea. “I mean, you didn’t have to, but I’m glad you did. I… I don’t think I could do this without you.”
My honesty caught him off guard, and it took a few seconds for him to get over the shock of it.
Once he did, his big hand landed on top of mine and gave it a squeeze.
I held my breath and waited to see if he’d pull it away, and when he didn’t, I slowly flipped mine over so they were palm to palm and laced our fingers together.
For the first time in two weeks, I felt like I’d been pieced back together, and I knew it was all because of this man.
There was no denying it anymore, not even to myself. I was in love with Marco. I needed him. And I could only pray that he’d give me a chance to explain and, hopefully, forgive me.
“Christ,” he grunted a couple minutes later, breaking the silence. “Feels like déjà vu, sitting in here. I half expect to go in there and have him tell me I’m suspended.”
My attempt to hold back my laughter resulted in a loud snort that made the pinched-face assistant behind the desk look up with a scowl before she announced, “Principal Stevens will see you now.”
And just like that, we were called in to face the music.
I’d kept my mouth shut the entire way home, stewing over that meeting.
When I’d first walked in, Principal Stevens had been taken aback.
It was obvious that when he’d called Ms. Bradbury earlier, he thought he was speaking with Rhodes’s mother.
We’d gone in circles for several minutes; him insisting he needed to speak with a legal guardian, and me laughing sarcastically while informing him that if he could manage to locate one to please let me know where they were since I had no damn idea myself.
He finally relented—none too happily—and spoke with me about what Rhodes’s punishment would be for starting a fight on school property.
A five-day suspension, effective immediately.
I was so pissed off my hands were shaking as Marco drove us back to my house.
The silence that filled his car was so thick with hostility that I thought I might choke on it.
All my attempts to keep my cool burned to ash as soon as we walked through the front door. The tension that had been brewing between me and my brother for the past two weeks finally came to a head, and I snapped, slamming my purse down on the kitchen counter before whirling around on Rhodes.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I shouted, bracing my hands on my hips. “Fighting in school? Have you lost your mind?”
Rhodes’s face held that same apathetic expression he’d been wearing for days now as he declared, “I’m not doing this in front of him.”
“Oh, yes you damn well are.” I seethed. “Marco sat through the same meeting I did, taking time out of his day to come down and handle your screwup, so you most certainly will do this, and you’ll do it right freaking now! Why did you get into a fight?”
“It’s not a big deal,” he said, continuing to grunt his answers.
I felt like I was looking at a stranger. Sure, Rhodes could be a bit broody at times, but he wasn’t disrespectful, and he’d never been violent.
“Obviously it is! Rhodes, this isn’t you. You don’t go around punching kids, so something must have happened.” Lowering my voice, I took a step toward him and pleaded. “Something’s going on with you. Talk to me. Let me help.”
At that, my brother lost his cool completely.
“You wanna know what my problem is?” he snapped, his voice rising with every word.
“My problem’s him!” he shouted, jabbing his finger at Marco.
I turned to take in Marco’s shell-shocked expression as Rhodes continued.
“My problem is assholes like him coming into our lives and making promises they can’t keep!
” He turned his attention from me and looked straight at Marco.
“I told you, man. I told you she’d push you away, and you fucking promised you’d fight.
But what did you do? First sign of trouble, you fucking bailed! ”
I wanted to admonish him for his language, but at that very moment, I was too stunned by the anguish on my brother’s face to move, let alone speak.
Rhodes’s eyes rimmed red with emotion as he continued pouring out all the pain he’d been suffering through the past two weeks, and the sight of it brought tears to my own eyes.
“You made her happy. For the first time in years, she was actually happy. Then you just took it all away. But not just from her. You took it from all of us!”
Moving to him, I reached out and tried to touch him, my throat raw as I croaked, “Rhodes, honey—”
“No!” he barked, taking a step back. “He needs to leave. He’s gonna do it anyway, so it needs to be now before the others get home. I can deal with it, but I don’t want them getting their hopes up that he’s coming back, because we both know he’s not.”
“Sweetheart, please,” I tried. “It’s not what you think. If you’d just listen—”
“I have been listening, Gypsy! That’s the problem!
I’ve listened to you crying in your room every night for the past two weeks!
You wanna know why I’ve been acting so different lately?
That’s why! So yeah, when that stupid asshole at school made a bullshit comment about his dad stuffing dollar bills in my sister’s G-string, I lost control and punched him.
And you know what? I’d do it again, because the little shit deserved it! ”
By the time Rhodes finished, his chest was rising and falling with each wild, ragged breath he pulled in.
Everything he’d just let out, every single word, was like a million tiny cuts to my skin that left me bleeding out.
I’d never in my life felt the pain I was feeling right then, knowing just how much Rhodes was dealing with.
I wanted to take it away. I wanted to take all of it away.
Unfortunately, I was the one who’d caused it.
And I had to try and make it right by giving him the truth.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I whispered, the tears I’d been holding back finally breaking free and pouring down my cheeks. “Rhodes, honey, you can’t blame Marco for any of this. It’s all on me. I was the one who pushed him away.”
“And he let you!”
A sob wrenched from my chest. “Please, sweetie, you have to listen to me.”
He shook his head violently. “No. I don’t need to listen to anything. I already know the truth.”
Then he turned and stomped down the hall, slamming his bedroom door behind him.