Page 34 of Harbor

“I saw Ma,” Rose replied just as fast. “She came around bitching about you—saying you hurt her, and took Diego.”

Renzo stared hard at the window. “Neither of those things are untrue.”

Rose sucked in a sharp breath. “But what happened?”

“A lot of shit,” Renzo muttered, “and all that’s important is that she threatened to take Diego away from me, and I couldn’t let her do that. I’m sorry I worried you—that I didn’t call when I left, or sooner than now. We’re fine, I promise. Once I get some shit straightened out, I will wire you whatever you need to get you through, okay?”

“I don’t give a shit about money, Ren! I care about you.”

“Hey, everything okay?”

Renzo glanced over his shoulder to see Lucia leaning out of the bedroom doorway. Little Diego poked his head out by her legs, too. He nodded. “Everything is fine, Lucia.”

She nodded, and headed back in the room.

“She’s there, too?” his sister asked.

Renzo chuckled. “Yeah, she’s here, too.”

Rose made a noise under her breath. “God, you scared the shit out of me, Ren.”

“Sorry.”

That’s all he could do.

Keep saying sorry.

“Well, where are you?”

Renzo watched the bright lights out the window. Despite it being daylight, Vegas remained lit up like fucking Fort Knox, it seemed. “That’s not important right now, all right? I just wanted to make sure you were good, that you knew we were good too, and that you knew I would take care of whatever you needed once I got—”

“I told you—”

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t care about the fucking money. But I do. I care that you’re able to keep going to school, and doing something with yourself, okay? That’s the end of it.”

Rose sighed heavily. “Well … could I talk to Diego?”

Renzo laughed. “He’d love that, Rose.”

SEVEN

It was the shifting on the bed that made Lucia’s eyes fly wide. She wasn’t used to sleeping with other people, but more often than not, Diego slipped into bed with her and Renzo. She never found it strange to be tucked into Renzo’s warmth throughout the night. If anything, she slept better that way. His arms would lock tight around her waist, pull her in close, and sleep came faster than it ever had before.

But Diego had gotten into the habit of climbing directly in between them when he woke up during the night. Once he slipped under the blankets, he didn’t make another noise until the morning.

Lucia turned in the bed to find Diego had rolled over onto Renzo’s side of the bed. He’d taken three-quarters of the blankets with him, too. The sight of the kid in his Batman pajamas with his leg hooked over the mound of blankets like he was determined to keep them right there with him would have been a cute picture, if Lucia wasn’t so fucking confused about where Renzo was at the moment.

Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Lucia rolled to her back on the bed, and listened to the hotel room. The quiet thumps from up above told her someone was still awake and walking around. The faint flickering of lights behind the dark curtains said Vegas was still alive and well. It took her a second to recognize the late time staring back at her from the bedside table where the clock rested.

3AM.

Way too fucking early.

Lucia waited another minute, waiting to see if Renzo had simply gone to the bathroom and was now making his way back to the bedroom, but she heard nothing. Convinced Diego was going to stay right where he was, she carefully got out of the bed, and went in search of Renzo. Closing the bedroom door behind her, the first thing she noticed was the fact that the patio door had been slid open a couple of inches, and left just like that.

A quick check told her Renzo wasn’t out there. Or at least, not anymore. His pack of cigarettes and lighter still rested on the patio table, safe from any possible rain under the small enclave roof overhead. It wasn’t cold outside, and if anything, leaving the door open had allowed a bit of air to circulate in the warm hotel room. Which helped to keep it at a decent temperature. Still, Lucia closed the door and the curtains, too, blocking out the bright lights of a sign across the road advertising a live show with dinner.

Turning around, Lucia finally noticed the bit of light spilling out under the crack of the bathroom door. Closed up tight, she hadn’t really paid it much mind before. There wasn’t any noise coming from the bathroom—no water running, and no clanging of items, but she had been the one to turn the light off before going to bed. So, it had to be Renzo who turned it back on.