9
“Put him there.” Cress points to the recliner. “What happened?” She sounds more panicked than she looks as Rafe helps me through the garage.
“You’re supposed to be at work,” I choke out. There’s definitely something wrong.
“It’s a damn good thing I’m not,” she snaps at me, her voice full of rage, but I can hear the concern there, deep underneath all of our shared trauma.
She kneels down in front of me as I sink uncomfortably into the chair, all frizzy curls and tight worried features.
Her lips push into a frown that I recognize well as she starts to examine my face.
“It’s my chest,” I say, attempting to lift my arms but she slaps them away.
“Stop it,” she warns and the laugh that bubbles up from me is caked in pain. “Get this off him.” Rafe moves closer to help me out of the dirty black t-shirt. “You need a hospital.” The gasp that leaves her makes me look down at myself.
There’s a massive bruise across the expanse of my chest that’s forming into an even uglier welt in the shape of the iron bar that caused it. “That explains the pain.”
“You’re an idiot,” she hisses, “you need an x-ray.”
“Ain’t going to happen.” I stare down at her, hoping that she’ll keep yelling at me.
“You could have punctured something, you stupid, reckless fucker,” she mumbles, her eyes wide.
“Do what you can here,” I tell her, trying not to laugh and she scowls at me. “Cress.”
“There’s nothing I can do if it’s a fracture,” she warns.
“Is it life-threatening?” Rafe asks, her eyes never leave mine as she shakes her head.
“Okay,” I grunt as I push from the chair. “I’m going to bed.”
As I’m about to walk toward the house, the Skyline rips into the gravel driveway and both Murphy and Birdie are charging toward me with wide eyes.
“Fuck,” Birdie huffs.
“Here.” I pull the tape and the piece of car interior out of my pocket sluggishly and hand it to Murphy who stares at the bruise on my chest. “And that,” I point to the open door of the car and he turns to see the knife with a small nod.
“You can’t just go to bed!” Cress storms after me as I start to walk gingerly away. The stairs look like their own form of hell, but I get up them and inside.
“I am.”
“What if you’re bleeding internally? We’d have no idea. You need to see a doctor!” Cress continues to argue as we wander through the house. The door to my room is off the living room, and the second I enter her voice stills, her footsteps stop, and I know that it’s the one place she won’t come.
“You’re a nurse.” I turn to her, frozen in the doorway. Our chests brush together, the heat that comes off her is vicious but it’s also intoxicating. I missed it and it makes me want to say stupid shit to her just to watch her blush like I used to. “Am I going to die if I sleep?”
“Maybe,” she says tightly.
“Are you going to kill me in my sleep?” I rephrase my question.
“I’d be honored.” She narrows her eyes.
“Cress, is it going to kill me?” I ask her again, stepping back only for her to retreat and create space between us. I deserve that.
“If we’re lucky,” she growls at me.
I chuckle and the pain explodes again.
“Birdie cleaned the guest room,” I tell her and she swallows tightly. “So if you’re done stomping around and screaming at the people trying to help you?”
“Alright,” Cress sighs and stares down at her hands. I turn back to my bed and try to talk myself into getting into it. “Fine.”
When I look back over at the door, she’s gone.
2011
Koa smiles at me, it’s so bright it lights up the space as his brow raises.
Trouble, that’s what that look means. We stand in the alley, shadowed by the two massive office buildings and watch the unaware idiot park his Mercedes in the street.
He’s busy with the roses and chocolates in his arms and doesn’t even notice us watching him.
“I fucking love Valentine’s Day,” Koa chuckles.
It’s one of the easiest days of the year to lift keys to sell to the Westfall family. People are so busy screwing each other and pretending like today means more than any other day that they don’t even notice rats like us scurrying around beneath their feet.
“He’ll be gone a while. There’s no rush.” I tell him as he surges forward before the guy is in through the apartment doors.
“I wanna get home to Cress,” he says, and it stings.
“And I don’t want to get caught.”
His eyes narrow at me but the smile remains.
“Fine,” he clips and relaxes his step until the guy is done chatting with the doorman and disappears inside.
Koa flips his hood over his dark curls and slips out first. I wait a minute, just like normal, before joining him as he pops the lock on the driver’s side door.
“Oh, we are cashing in tonight! Look what she found us.” Koa is vibrating as he checks the license plate.
He’s talking about Cress. It’s a game he plays with her and it’s unfair.
She should fucking know what she’s involved in, but Koa wants to protect her.
He calls it a competition but it’s just a way for him to get his hands on s-tier cars.
She has a photographic memory and on her walks to campus she collects plate numbers of the fanciest cars she can spot, thinking that Koa is stealing change from them.
He brings her home a quarter for every car we steal and strip.
She doesn’t have a clue who he really is, and I hate him for those secrets.
Everyday I tow the line between telling her the truth, and every day Koa gives me a reason not to in the form of risking our lives. Keep her safe from this. From him.
“Idiot left it unlocked.” Koa pulls open the door and bangs his hand on the roof before slipping inside. I mess around with the trunk sensor before getting into the passenger seat.
“Should be fine,” I say.
“Should be?” Koa laughs.
“Drive fast.” The engine rumbles to life and we both hold our breath for the alarm but nothing comes. Koa lays his foot into the gas and it purrs beneath us, the sound of two hundred thousand dollars of luxury parts all working in perfect unison.
He fucks around with the modded GPS on the dashboard for a moment before taking my advice and rolls the Mercedes from its parking spot with ease before opening it up completely.
He’s right, Westfall is going to fucking love this thing, and because it’s double what we need to bring in tonight, we don’t have to go back out. We can go home.
When he turns in the opposite direction I eye him. “Gotta pick up something for Cress. It’s Valentine’s Day.”
“She’s already going to be pissed we’re late for dinner. What's the point?” I say, but really I’m angry that he’s about to get us into more trouble. It’s not about Cress. It’s about the adrenaline rush.
“I need an apology to make her forget we’re late for dinner,” he says, taking the corner too tight and the back end of the car whips out narrowly missing a line of parked cars.
“Where the hell are we going?” I ask him.
“Anywhere we want in this.” It’s as cryptic as the smile on his face as he rips through the gated community. The massive house at the end of the street is dark and Koa hits the garage door opener watching it crawl up and allow us inside.
“Holy shit,” I inhale at the sight of it. “Is that…”
“A fucking Cuda…” Koa’s laugh is breathless like he’s just as surprised as I am to find it parked and dusty.
“It’s a tragedy,” I hiss, climbing from the car as he throws it in park. “Doesn’t look like it even leaves the garage.”
“You think it’ll start?” He asks me as he gets out of the Mercedes.
“Maybe.” I mindlessly pop the hood and take in the engine. It’s in rough shape but looks like it’s maintained just enough to keep it from rotting out the bottom of the Plymouth.
“Get it running, we’re taking it with us,” he says, jogging toward the door of the garage that leads into the house. “Hurry.”
“Koa!” I call out to him but he’s gone into the darkness.
I stick my hand into the junk, making sure that everything vital is connected.
I check the oil quickly and it’s clean, full, and recently changed.
Alright. I look around frantically. Hotwiring a car like this isn’t hard, but it’s confusing and I could fuck it up.
This is Koa’s area of expertise, but my eyes land on the tools and I smile like an idiot.
Hanging on the peg board against the back wall is a set of original keys.
I grab them and slide into the driver's seat, whispering a quick prayer before pushing the keys into the ignition. When the Cuda rattles to life it’s a miracle.
I climb out and run around to check the tires before doing another once over under the hood as Koa clambers back into the garage, shoving some things into his pockets.
“It lives!” He claps loudly and runs his eyes over it.
“Here.” He chucks the keys to the Mercedes at me without taking his gaze off the Cuda.
I catch them, a little pissed off that he’s just taking the car, but I swallow it and walk toward the driver's door. “Take that to Westfall and get your ass home. Birdie’s going to flip when she sees this thing.”
I nod, the resentment stirring violently.
“Take the back roads, it’s going to be loud and you don’t want to draw attention,” I warn him, but he brushes me off as he climbs inside.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Riggs.” He revs the engine with a smile on his face and peels out of the garage the second I hit the opener for him.
PRESENT DAY
“Fuck,” I groan, making the mistake of palming my chest in a sleepy grip as I stretch awake.
I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck as I roll out of bed.
The bruises on my chest are deep purple, staining my tattooed skin with hints of red where blood blisters beneath the surface.
Everything is on fire and every single move I make burns through me.
I reach for my phone, checking the time.
Even half dead my body wakes me up before the sun.
Standing I give my muscles a chance to adjust to the damage that’s been inflicted on them.
I can’t be bothered with a shirt but I grab the grey zip up on my chair and gingerly pull it over my sore skin as I walk toward the open door.
I pause seeing her sitting on the couch eating a piece of toast and just take the moment of peace to remind myself of who she is, to this family. To Koa… To me.
Her hair is pulled up into a messy bun and it shows off the chain that holds the necklace Koa stole that night.
An oval ring of diamonds that Cress didn’t even question when he gave it to her.
I grind my teeth together, I can still hear her excitement over it.
I drove across the city, dropping off the Mercedes only to get sent back out for more because it didn’t matter how much it was worth. We owed Westfall two cars that night.
The Cuda, even in rough shape, would have covered it but Koa took it back to the garage, to Birdie. Who was even more excited about the old muscle car than Cress was her necklace. His girls, his family, his garage.
I groan, trying to stay quiet but she turns to look at me with a serious look on her face as her eyes scan over my practically naked torso.
“You lived,” she says after she finishes chewing.
“Unfortunately for you, I did.” I give her a smile that she groans at.
“Are you breathing alright?” is her next question; Cress first, nurse second.
“Yeah, it hurts like a bitch but lungs are getting air,” I tell her and start across the living room to the kitchen. “You still wear that?” I point to the necklace around her neck and she looks down at it like I’ve offended her.
“He gave it to me… that's all I have left of him.” She sounds sad and the words he stole it almost leave my lips, but I inhale a small, slow breath.
“You have Birdie,” I remind her. “She probably could have used a little more female attention. Now she’s a fucking animal.” Just like Koa always wanted.
“Birdie is fine,” Cress tells me, pulling her baby pink cardigan over her chest. “We talked.”
“At least you’re talking to someone.” I pour myself a coffee.
“You don’t deserve that mercy, Riggs.” Cress spits, and before I can argue with her, she’s gone. It feels like it’s never going to get better and most mornings I just miss the kids we used to be.