20 - Lauren
Lauren
“Okay, what’s going on here?” I asked, stepping into the bay and trying to sound as calm as possible.
I may as well have stepped into a freezer with the cold hostility casing the room.
I could tell from the tension that they were on the verge of breaking out into an actual physical fight.
Callum stood close by, his body primed to jump in if he needed to.
Despite the occasional bickering they’d done over the course of this project so far, it’d never looked this serious before. Rafe turned to face me, his eyes uncharacteristically full of emotions that I couldn’t pin down but neither of the two men seemed willing to answer me.
“I’m serious. Someone tell me what happened,” I demanded with more authority in my voice this time.
When Brock spoke next, he didn’t respond to me. His words and glare were fixed on Rafe. “I want you off of my site. Now.”
Rafe’s jaw ticked. “I’m not about to beg for scraps, Lawson. You want me gone, I’m gone.”
He grabbed his toolkit and started to move towards the door but I stopped him with a solid hand to the chest, blocking his path.
“Not like this,” I told him. He avoided eye contact, his gaze skirting off to the side.
I now felt desperate to know the truth, especially if things were so bad that Brock was willing to kick Rafe off the site.
Had he not once been the one fighting to keep him on the crew when I wanted to send him packing?
Brock, too, avoided looking at me, his back straight like he was still expecting Rafe to be a threat if he let his guard down for even a moment. I couldn’t understand what went wrong. Just a few days ago, everything had felt damn near perfect.
I looked at Callum helplessly. His brows were drawn together, his hands on his hips and head lowered.
“The big boss called Brock this morning. He reported a formal complaint filed against Rafe for this project,” he said. Even Callum sounded different to his usual charming, happy self. He sounded…defeated.
“A formal complaint about what?” I asked, genuinely perplexed. “And from who?”
There were only three people who were capable of filing a complaint against anyone on the crew.
Callum hesitated. “Apparently someone called in to complain that he stole from you.”
The bombshell landed like a nuke. It felt like my head was suddenly submerged underwater, the shock of what he just said rendering me temporarily speechless. I turned to Rafe now, moving my hand from his chest to his arm and clutching it tightly. “I swear that I didn’t report anything.”
What Callum didn’t have to add was that something like this would not only affect Rafe’s job with Cornerstone, but his parole too. The fragile silence in the room testified to the fact that everyone here recognized that.
Rafe finally looked at me now, his face a blank mask except for those expressive eyes. They hardened, two blue pools of simmering rage.
“I know you had nothing to do with it. It was him.” He spat the word like it was venom, like he couldn’t even bring himself to say Brock’s name.
Brock clenched a fist but Rafe wasn’t letting up.
Instead, he turned the full-force of his anger to the foreman.
“You’re obviously jealous about me and Lauren, aren’t you?
You know exactly what’s going on here and you can’t fucking stand it.
You’ve been wanting me off this site since the renovation started. ”
“Watch yourself, Merrick,” Brock growled.
“Oh but it’s not just jealousy, is it? Working with an ex-con is evidently not good for your white-bread, American Boy image. Would’ve been nice not to be a bitch about it, though,” Rafe said recklessly.
The tension bubbled over from a roiling boil to a violent eruption of testosterone and frustration.
Brock lunged at Rafe. Callum was quick as a whip, immediately jumping in to restrain Brock and only someone with his quiet but raw strength would’ve been able to hold him back.
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do the same with Rafe if he really decided to go for Brock, but I did my best to wedge myself between them so that he’d have to get through me first and thank God, he thought better of it.
Brock fought against Callum’s grip, eventually shoving him off. But something in him had snapped. He pulled away with a snarl, then pointed an accusing finger at Rafe, his usual calm exterior cracked beyond recognition.
“I had every fucking opportunity to throw you under the bus!” he yelled.
“Every fucking opportunity! You think I was obligated to be nice about you in those weekly meetings with your parole officer? He was looking for a reason to book you again. And I stuck my neck out for you every time! But I wanted to give you a shot. I vouched for you again and again and this is the thanks I get?”
He sounded almost wounded in his anger, and I understood that this wasn’t about ego. Brock felt affronted. He was a man who took his integrity very seriously, and for Rafe to have essentially spat on it with his accusation was enough to drive him insane.
And truthfully, I knew that Brock wouldn’t do something like that. Even in his jealousy, he never struck me as the insecure or petty type.
Rafe swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. I could feel his body deflate beneath my hands as he reluctantly listened to what Brock had to say. And he wasn’t done.
Brock threw his hands up in exasperation.
“I don’t give a shit about what happens in your personal life, Merrick.
But what I do care about is what you bring to my worksite every single day you’re on my crew.
How am I supposed to trust my third guy when you won’t even be honest with me about what’s really going on? ”
“They’re after me again, okay!” Rafe shouted.
That took even me aback. My hand slowly dropped from his arm.
Callum’s body was lightly touching mine where we stood between them, together forming a barricade of sorts.
That touch continued to anchor me like it always did.
We moved from our position, still close enough to jump in if things continued to escalate, but far enough so that all four of us were able to see one another.
Rafe ran a hand through his hair, and I noticed that it was shaking.
“I know you saw it. The same car parked outside the firehouse everyday, arriving just when I show up for work and leaving just as I clock out. Every. Single. Day.” He closed his eyes briefly, then took a deep breath.
His next words spilled like a confession, his voice wavering in and out of confidence.
“It’s the guys I went to prison for. Or I should say, the ones who put me there.
You all know the story but not the details.
It wasn’t even my idea and I was against it from the get-go. But that didn’t matter, not to Nick.”
I looked at Callum to see my expression mirrored on his face. Brock looked somber, the cracks in his stoic demeanor slowly piecing themselves back together as he listened.
“I was desperate. I was so eager to just find a home somewhere and that was my chance to prove myself. They told me all I had to do was keep watch, I wouldn’t have to actually take anything.
They swore they wouldn’t hurt anyone and I was young and dumb enough to believe them.
There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret what I did.
” My heart ached as I watched Rafe’s face.
I could see that nineteen year-old kid lost and directionless, realizing that he’d been played by the only family he thought he had.
I longed to reach out and hold him, just to ease that pain. But I knew better.
“The condition of my early release was that I snitched.” He looked torn, like he still struggled with what he did even though it was the morally right thing to do. Knowing a little more about the situation, I could see the conflict.
He had a code of loyalty. It was oddly similar to Brock’s, which might be one reason why they butted heads as often as they did.
“The detective offered me the chance to expunge my record if I turned over evidence that implicated Nick and the rest of them. I thought that was the end of it but…” his words choked off. Those eyes found mine. “They got me. They know where I work now and I don’t know what the hell to do about it.”
The ache I felt in my chest earlier sharpened.
He looked at me now with the same terror I’d regarded him with over the last few days. I knew that he was probably scared for his own safety, obviously. But there was an element of fear for someone else.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, wanted to tell him that I was willing to help him get through this but the words evaded me. Callum looked wholly shocked, clearly not expecting Rafe’s admission.
“The day’s over.” Brock’s now placid voice pierced the heavy atmosphere.
He moved to get his things from the nearby worktable.
But even though his voice was calm, it was almost for the worse.
His entire body vibrated with silent fury—I saw it in every movement.
As he passed Rafe, he stopped in his tracks and glared at him.
“I could and probably should beat the hell out of you for bringing this shit to Miss Wolfhaardt’s doorstep.
But you made this mess, so it’s on you to fix it.
Call your parole officer and tell him what’s going on. ”
With that, Brock stalked right out the door.
“Hey, wait,” I called after him but he didn’t even turn around. Rafe hung back just long enough to make sure Brock would be gone before leaving as well. I tried to stop him too but he was even more stubborn than Brock.
“Jackasses,” I mumbled to myself. Callum cleared his throat. “Not you,” I emphasized.
He gave me a small, sad smile of understanding and put his hand on my shoulder. “They’re adults, Miss Lauren. They need to figure this out on their own. We should probably all just sleep on it.”
“You’re not staying?” I asked.
I hated how pathetic I sounded to my own ears. I hated how I’d gotten used to finding comfort and security in all of them through different ways, but especially with Callum, and I hated how I needed him now.
But he shook his head.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he said softly.
I knew what he meant and I knew that it was logical. Everything was so fragile right now that him spending the night with me would only make it worse. And that was the last thing any one of us needed. That aside, I couldn’t even imagine how he was feeling.
They were his friends, at least Brock was.
Even just on a professional level, it must’ve been stressful in its own right to have to worry about the dynamics of his team.
I wanted to ask him how he felt about everything but he didn’t look as though he wanted to talk.
I hoped he knew that I wasn’t just eager to have him here because of what we’d started doing together.
It wasn’t just about sex. It was about more than that and somehow that felt even worse.
“Okay,” I said, my voice even softer.
He gave my shoulder a squeeze and then headed out himself.
Just like that, everything was turned upside down.
The months we’d spent together feeling almost like a family now seemed stuck in limbo.
The easy contentment that had saturated my house was now sucked dry, and not even the good news from the photo shoot was able to distract me from the hollow pit in my stomach.
My body slumped in defeat and I dragged myself up the stairs for a much-needed hot shower.
*
I’d stepped out of my steamed-up bathroom, still dripping wet when a loud series of bangs at my door almost stopped my heart. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around myself, getting ready to call the cops if need be.
It was late and I wasn’t expecting anyone. The knowledge of Rafe’s past "acquaintances" knowing where I lived was still a constant in my mind, though I did feel safer with those new locks installed. I wasn’t going to take any chances.
But then I heard his voice. He was right when he made the assessment a few months back. This place carried acoustics well.
I didn’t bother getting dressed first, not when he sounded so eager to get in, yelling my name. And my first name, at that.
I walked downstairs, water droplets dotting my path on the way and a heart beating out of control.
I hesitated for only a moment before I opened the door to see Brock standing there, looking more disheveled than I’d seen him yet.