Ch. 18 – Rico
R ico hit his brakes and took a hard right onto the side road up to The Rose and Thorn. Another Sunday, another unwanted trip to Yucca Hills.
But Theo had texted him last night saying it was an emergency. So, he’d skipped the gym again to take the 45-minute drive back to his hometown . . . again. And, of course, his mother had found out—he strongly suspected Hue of snitching— and had invited (ahem, insisted) he stay for dinner. Which meant he’d be stuck in Yucca Hills all day . . .again.
Rico scowled at the rows of twisted grapevines surrounding both sides of the road. Worst part was, he hadn’t heard a peep from the beautiful Jacklyn. Had she received his gift? He’d been forced to flirt shamelessly with Velma just to get a peek at Jax’s visitor form. The station’s 61-year-old receptionist was newly divorced and desperate to Eat, Pray, Love her way into his pants. The form had included Jax’s address. He’d then paid gobs of money to a messenger service to deliver the store-wrapped present right to her doorstep. No generic Amazon box for his gorgeous little porcupine.
What if she’d put in a fake address on the form? Rico imagined a huge, hairy dude named Burt holding up the pink tennis dress in confusion. Maybe she’d missed the note and didn’t know who it was from?
Why else wouldn’t she have called or texted?
The winery loomed at the crest of the hill. Rico pulled into the lot and parked his Ford Explorer next to Hue’s POS work truck. After checking his hair in the review mirror, he made his way into the winery.
“I’m here,” he announced. “What’s the big emergency?”
Three grinning faces turned to greet him from the tasting bar.
“She got you sooooooo good,” Hue crowed. “I think I’m gonna print out this story and frame it.”
Sully raised an eyebrow. “Did you really send her a skanky tennis dress?”
“You got exactly what you deserved as far as I’m concerned.” Theo folded his arms over his chest.
A handful of razor blades suddenly went on the tumble-dry setting in Rico’s stomach. Had someone said tennis dress?
“What are you talking about?” he managed.
“Here’s my favorite part.” Hue held out his phone and read off the screen. “Rico Torres is a brilliant reporter and handsome, too. He made sure to point out these two crucial facts within minutes of my arrival. Did I know, for example, that he was the fourth-youngest reporter to ever work at Channel 7 News? Or that an unofficial Twitter poll designated him the hottest reporter in Southern California? These two achievements seemed to hold equal weight in his estimation.”
Hue burst into a long, guffawing laugh. Even Theo chuckled. Humiliation and confusion burned through every cell of Rico’s body.
Sully finally took pity on him. “Jax published a story about you in the East County Caller . There is some nicer stuff in the middle of the article, but, um . . .” His eyes flicked away, and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “She wasn’t exactly impressed with your attitude . . . or the tennis dress.”
“That was flirting!” Rico yanked his phone from his pocket. “It was a compliment. She would look gorgeous in that dress, and I was supporting her athletic hobby.”
“Jax doesn’t play tennis anymore,” Theo said. “You would have known that if you’d actually learned anything about her.”
Rico pulled up the East County Caller . There it was. Second story under a missive about a 300-pound pig named Mr. Cookies who’d been found wandering downtown. He read Jax’s headline.
Rico Torres, Hometown Hero, Wants You to Know He’s Hot Sh**
Rico slumped against a table with a groan, like he’d been skewered with a sword. How could Jax have done this to him? She’d been enthusiastic about helping him put the sewage story together. They’d made a great team, and he’d felt serious chemistry between them. That hadn’t been a delusion . . . had it?
Theo cleared his throat. “You done wallowing, or do you need a few minutes? ’Cause, there is a reason I asked you all here again.”
Oh, Rico wasn’t done wallowing. Not even close. He was going to wallow until the cows came home, put on their sweatpants, and fell asleep on the couch in front of a Below Decks marathon. But Rico knew how to suck in the pain. He knew how to smile at the world even with his stomach in shreds.
“She’s obviously just playing hard to get.” He almost managed a tone of levity. “I’ll just have to turn the charm up a little higher.”
Sully gave him a quizzical look. “That’s not what I got from the article . . . like, at all.”
Hue wafted his phone in front of his face and inhaled deeply. “Let’s see, I’m getting hints of not-if-you-were-the-last-guy-on-earth and, hmmmm . . . a strong aftertaste of go-die-in-a-ditch.”
“Okay, guys, let’s get serious.” Theo’s smile was gone. He put his elbows on the bar and slumped over them. “I had a major leak in one of my slow drip irrigation lines yesterday. Thank God one of the workers noticed and turned off the water line. It flooded most of an acre, but it could have been much, much worse.”
Rico approached the bar as Theo swallowed and continued. “The roots of the vines got waterlogged. They’re done. I’m going to have to pull them all up and replant the entire acre.”
“Shit,” Hue breathed. “How long does it take for new grape vines to mature?”
“Three years,” Theo answered, his voice tight.
“You don’t think it was an accident, do you?” Rico’s journalistic spidey-sense was ringing like the bells of Notre Dame.
Theo scratched at his stubbled jaw. “Bishop tried to revoke the winery’s land use exemption at the city council meeting earlier this week. He almost snuck it through at the end, but Jax and a couple of friends figured out what was happening and pushed back. Jax wrote about it, and the town is up in arms. The city council members are under a lot of heat. It looks like they may postpone the vote.”
“Damn right they will!” Hue declared. “I saw one of the council members at Buzz + Brew the other day and everyone in the joint looked like they were trying to murder her with their minds. She won’t be voting for that measure if she ever wants to drink a cappuccino without a free shot of saliva in it.”
“And I’m guessing our fearless mayor isn’t happy with all this public attention,” Sully said.
Theo grimaced. His eyes looked hollow, the lines of his forehead a little deeper than Rico remembered even from last week. “The day after the meeting, Bishop came by and doubled his original asking price for the winery.” Theo shrugged. “I told him to get lost in somewhat impolite terms, and then this happens.”
“Bishop’s cronies on the council are getting cold feet about revoking your permit, so now he’s fighting even dirtier.” Hue’s blue eyes flashed with anger. “I’m gonna kill that bastard. I’m gonna twist that greasy little head of his until it pops off his body like a champagne cork.” Janet the basset hound, who Rico hadn’t even noticed at Hue’s feet, stood and produced a hoarse woof .
“Do you really think he’s capable of sabotage?” Sully asked as he leaned down to give Janet a few pats.
“I wouldn’t put anything past that pile of shit and teeth whitener,” Hue answered definitively.
Rico’s mind churned with all this new information. “Bishop has to want The Rose and Thorn for something. We’ve just got to find out what it is and then expose him.” He tapped his fingers across the bar. He’d spent the previous week combing through Bishop’s list of campaign donors. The mayor received bucketloads of money from special interests outside of Yucca Hills. His biggest donor was a 501(3)c called Better Cities America. The group had poured a huge amount into his last re-election campaign. Poring through all the group’s financial reports, Rico had discovered it was a front entirely financed by one company—Porter Development Co. Could it be connected to Bishop’s apparent interest in shutting down The Rose and Thorn?
The only way to find out was to keep digging. If only Diane would let him hire a research assistant. Not that he could even think of requesting anything from her at the moment. When his sewage story had aired, she’d almost thrown the framed photo of her niece that she kept on her desk at his head. The story had been great—possibly the best investigative piece of his career. The plant manager, Jeff Turnbill, had already been suspended without pay and the city was performing a full audit of the plant’s condition. Rico had it on good authority that his name was being bandied around for some top local news awards.
All these accolades seemed to only infuriate his producer more. She might have fired him if the story weren’t continuing to generate headlines. As it was, she’d doubled down on his punishment, sending him on a gauntlet of sickeningly sweet stories. On Friday alone, he’d taped back-to-back segments about Mr. Gonzalez, the county’s teacher of the year, and a cat named Simba reunited with his family after two years on the lam.
“My dad’s a plumber,” Sully spoke up, pulling Rico back into the present conversation. “Theo, if you have pictures of your damaged irrigation system, I can send them to him and see if we can tell whether it was sabotage or not.”
Theo raked his hands through his waves of sandy hair. “The winery’s been doing so well these past few months, but I’m putting every penny of profit into the remodel.” He looked at Hue and Sully. “You guys are lifesavers, doing all the work at cost, but it’s still not cheap. I can’t afford to lose any more of my vineyards.”
Rico reached over the bar and clapped a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “We’re not going to let that happen.” It was time to go nuclear on Bishop. Rico was ready to pick apart Porter Development Co. like a starving man unleashed at an all-you-can-eat buffet. If he had to stay up late into the night or, God forbid, even cut his daily gym sessions in half, he’d do it for Theo.
“Yeah, we’ve all got your back,” Sully added .
“And if something happens to the mayor, then all’s the better.” Hue tensed his large arms, showcasing heavy slabs of muscle along his biceps and shoulders.
Theo gave the redheaded giant a look. “Don’t punch out the mayor, Hue. I mean it.”
“I’m just saying, if a few bricks happen to fall on his head when he’s walking by one of my places, it wouldn’t be such a shame.” Hue smirked. “Accidents happen all the time.”
“We’ll do one better,” Rico said to the men. “We’ll figure out exactly what he’s planning and air his dirty laundry for everyone to see. If he gets run out of town, that’s his fault.”
The guys spent another half hour talking shit about the mayor until Theo announced he needed to check on his vineyards again before getting ready to open the winery. Hue finished his second beer, and the three men made their way to the door.
“Rico, stay back a sec,” Theo said.
Hue gave him a little wave. “Been making friends with that rat I gave you?”
“Sancho and I are doing just fine,” Rico replied. In fact, he was starting to look forward to seeing the furry little creature when he got home from work. He’d even brought Sancho on this trip to Yucca Hills, not wishing to abandon the rat for the entire day.
“By the way.” He narrowed his eyes at Hue. “Did you tell my mom I was in town?”
“Who, me?” Hue was the personification of innocence.
“It was him,” Sully confirmed. “He was crowing about it before you got here.”
Hue grinned at Rico. “I had to use Google Translate, but I think she understood. ”
“You know, I’ve decided I’m actively rooting for that crazy cat lady tenant you’re always bitching about,” Rico said.
“How dare you!” Hue growled. “That woman is the bane of my existence. She’s set up an underground kitten railroad. I know she’s hoarding a bunch of fleabags, but they’re never in her house when I show up for an inspection.” Hue pinned Rico with a hard stare. “The devil doesn’t wear Prada. She wears cat-themed T-shirts!”
“Do you even hear yourself right now?” Sully said, shaking his head.
The two men and the ancient dog left the winery, and Rico made his way back to the bar, where Theo set out the tasting menus.
“If you know anything about this kitten underground railroad, sign me up,” Rico said. “I’ll stash some kittens just to twist Hue’s panties in a bunch.”
Theo didn’t laugh. He pegged Rico with a stare. “I want you to leave Jax alone.”
Rico was taken aback. “What?”
“I know Jax can stand up for herself,” Theo continued. “But still. Leave her alone.”
As long as Rico had known Theo, his best friend had always been easygoing, almost to a fault. Definitely to a fault. Now, though, he stared at Rico with hard eyes.
“Where is this coming from?” Rico asked. Did Theo think he wasn’t good enough for Jax?
Theo didn’t lower his gaze. “Rico, you’re a good guy. Not everyone sees that, but I do. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all your help with this Mayor Bishop thing . . .”
“But?” Rico’s nerves felt stretched tight as violin strings.
“But you don’t treat women right. ”
“What?” Rico croaked. Theo’s words felt like a punch. No. Like a sledgehammer laced with barbed wire. “I would never hurt a woman.”
“Not on purpose, no.” Theo wasn’t giving him a damn inch. “But you do hurt them. You wine them, dine them, bed them. Then cut them loose.”
“That’s not fair.” Rico’s words were a hiss.
Theo’s expression softened. “You’ve got to work through whatever commitment trauma you have. And until you do, stay away from Jax.”
“And if I don’t?” Emotions boiled in Rico’s chest. His ribs enclosed a cauldron of hurt, anger, and betrayal.
“Then you’ll answer to me.” Danger flickered in Theo’s brown eyes.
“Fuck. You.” Rico whirled around and stalked out of the winery. Everything inside of him was on fire. How fucking dare Theo accuse him—HIM!—of hurting women. Rico only ever loved women. He worshipped them like queens in the daylight and transformed them into wild, wicked things in the night. Hell, he’d given womenkind so many orgasms he deserved a lifetime achievement award.
He practically tore the driver’s side door off his SUV and threw himself behind the wheel.
But what about Teresa? a dark voice whispered in his mind. Hadn’t the former intern accused him of personal injury due to heartbreak? Rico gripped the wheel. He’d ghosted Teresa for her own good. And all the other women? It’d never been serious. They’d known that. Sure, some of them had cried after he’d broken things off. A few had thrown things. He’d even been slapped, twice. But they all got over it. He hadn’t actually hurt them . . . right?
Rico turned on the engine and stared blankly out the windshield.
Right?