Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
In the two months since Lee had shown up on her doorstep shot and Cayden had broken his parole, Trixie had been a shell of herself.
She felt numb. She worked, she ate, she slept, and then she repeated the next day.
Christmas was next week, but there was no holiday spirit to be found within her.
If Peggy didn’t stop by with food, she wouldn’t have even bothered with that.
Jeff had taken it upon himself to come to the shop late at night to verify that Trixie was in her apartment instead of tinkering in the bay.
Her employees stopped talking to her because she stopped talking back. Business was down, but the truth was that was likely more to do with Trixie than the news of the theft. Their Black Friday sales last month were the lowest they’d ever been since her abuelo had opened their doors.
Roughly a week after Cayden had stolen the Spyder, a manila envelope was found locked in her Firebird.
When she reviewed the security tapes, she saw a small glitch and then the envelope’s appearance.
Why exactly had she hired Cayden to be a security consultant if he was just going to prove her security was useless regardless of the expensive upgrades?
Inside the envelope was a written note in Cayden’s handwriting.
Keep this and my heart safe for me, C.
It was his criminal informant agreement signed by the District Attorney and the Police Commissioner. Even knowing that Cayden was working on the right side of the law did not bring her any satisfaction or closure or even comfort. She still felt…empty.
Trixie remembered the months following Marco’s murder.
She’d been sad, but she’d been functional.
When Papá had passed, Abuelo had distracted her with cars and her birthday trip.
She’d tried to do the same after Abuelo’s death, but she had really only made it through that dark time by leaning on Jeff, Peggy, and Greg.
Maybe it was because Cayden wasn’t gone, and he was just…not here. Maybe that was why she couldn’t stand their helicoptering. So why wasn’t working on her cars helping? Why couldn’t she remember something as simple as how to change a gasket?
Insurance was still fighting her on the Spyder theft. She honestly didn’t care if they paid her. She just wanted the police out of her parking lot.
Last Tuesday was so slow she sent her employees home and closed shop.
They didn’t want to be there anymore than Trixie wanted them there.
She was useless to the point of beyond pathetic.
When had she become so reliant on a man to be functional?
How had Cayden become so important to her in four short months?
Trixie meandered around the showroom for a while. Someone had meagerly decorated, but nothing like they usually had up.
She still hadn’t figured out how Cayden had bypassed the security system without using his employee access codes. L and S also didn’t have an answer. They still called daily to assure her they were working on updating their system. Not that Trixie cared.
Trixie needed to make some decisions soon.
Business couldn’t go on this way. She couldn’t go on this way.
It had been two months. Lee and Cayden had never told her how long their partnership to take down Carver would take.
Cayden could be gone another two months.
Or like Lee, he could be gone two years.
Tears ran down her cheeks, surprising her. She thought she’d cried herself out long ago.
Romero’s didn’t deserve to suffer because she didn’t have her shit together. Everyone thought she was feeling guilty over Cayden’s betrayal. They had no idea how terrified she felt every day, not knowing if he was dead or alive, or where he was, or what he was doing, or who he was with.
He’d made his decision to help Lee. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t allow herself or her business to suffer because of that decision.
Trixie ran a finger over the sales counter, feeling the coat of dust that had never been there before. Her employees were no longer putting in their full effort because she wasn’t. Could she really blame them? How could she ask from them more than she’d been doing herself?
She would do more. She would do better.
Starting now.
First, Trixie ordered a pizza for delivery. She hadn’t eaten since… Well, she couldn’t remember since when, so it was probably a good idea to get some food in her. Next, she went to the janitor’s closet. Her cleaning staff had always been immaculate in their work…until recently.
For the next several hours, Trixie scrubbed, swept, shined, scraped, and buffed the showroom area.
She set up the rest of the Christmas decorations, including their pre-decorated tree, mistletoe, garland, and window clings to make it look like they were frosted and it was snowing outside.
It was after midnight by the time she finished, and Trixie was exhausted to the point of her eyes blurring.
She stumbled her way up to her apartment, and was almost there when she realized she’d forgotten her pizza box on the sales counter.
Oops, but she was too tired to go back downstairs.
God, why hadn’t she invested in an elevator by now? There were too many fucking stairs between the first and the second floor. She may have gone overboard with Christmas decor. Guilt certainly was an interesting motivator.
She’d already texted Joey to order coffee and donuts for breakfast delivery for the employees in the morning and to order an apology cake for them for afternoon delivery.
If Joey hadn’t told her it was too much, she would have also placed a lobster dinner order.
According to him, there was apologizing and then there was butt kissing.
Trixie punched in her code for her apartment and opened the door.
She turned on the lights. Stripping off her coveralls, she stumbled her way to the bathroom.
A shower would be heavenly right then, but she wanted sleep and a shower would surely wake her up.
She’d just shower in the morning and change her sheets.
After using the toilet, she exited wearing just her panties and tank.
Her jeans were left unceremoniously on the bathroom floor.
Trixie’s head was down as she massaged a tight muscle on the back of her neck, which was the only reason she told herself later she hadn’t seen him standing by her window. Her feet froze and he took a step towards her.
Shadows were cast across his face, blocking his eyes from her, but she had no hesitation.
Cayden was dressed mostly in black from his leather cut and ripped jeans to his boots.
His t-shirt was red with a cartoon version of Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool looking at comic books while admitting that he had issues.
Black eyeliner outlined under the bottom of his mismatched eyes.
His brunette hair was spiked with green tips, and his trimmed nails were painted black with the exception of his middle fingernails which were green.
She didn’t pause to count how many earrings he was wearing as she ran to him, but he currently had more adorning his face than she’d ever owned in her life.
Cayden caught her up in his arms when she launched herself at him. Trixie clung to him, filled with joy and fear. He felt real, but God, what if she was dreaming? Please, don’t let me be dreaming…
Either she’d spoken out loud or he truly did know her too well. Cayden picked her face off of his shoulder and held it before him. “It’s me, baby. I’m really here.”
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She put her hands over his on her face. “I need you to be. It’s going to kill me if I find out you aren’t actually here.”
He graced her with that wicked smile she’d missed every day he’d been gone. “Come on, Trix. You and I both know your dreams aren’t that creative.” He gestured up and down to his new appearance. “You really think you would ever picture me like this?”
Her laugh was also part sob as she looked him up and down. “What is all this?”
He made a face. “Ignore all of this shit. It’s not who I am, not anymore. This was who I was before you.”
She gave him a knowing look. “You got rid of all this before you met me, and you know it. I take no credit in you having never dyed your hair green.” She raised her hand to the tips. “Damn, those are sharp. How much product are you using?”
He didn’t answer that question, nor did he laugh. Instead, he clarified his own statement. “You’re the reason I never wanted to go back to this.”
Trixie squeezed his hands. “I don’t understand. Why are you back? Where’s Lee? Is he okay? Are you okay? And how many earrings do you have?”
She tipped her head to the side to view his right ear. There were three small hoops, a stud, and four spikes in his right ear. On his left were also three hoops. He had a stud through his nose and two hoops in the corner of his bottom lip.
Cayden’s face fell, making her heart skip before he said, “Lee’s fine.
That man’s…terrifying.” Trixie swallowed nervously, wondering what memory Cayden was remembering to use that word to describe her brother.
She knew he was a former soldier, but she’d never seen her brother in action as a Marine or a cop. He’d always been her gran hermano.
Cayden ran a gentle hand down her cheek.
“We’re not done yet. I can’t tell you what we’re doing or what’s going on.
I don’t even know how much longer it’ll take.
” Trixie’s heart sank. Still, she cradled her face into his touch.
“I need you to be a bit more patient with me, baby. We are making progress, I swear to you. I just…” He lifted her fingertips to his lips.
“I needed to see you. I was losing myself. I needed a reminder what I’m fighting for. ”
Sadness struck her as she realized what Cayden was saying. He had to go back. He wasn’t staying with her. They weren’t going home tonight.