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I reached for the beer and took a sip before handing it back to him. “Ignorant assholes,” I muttered. I glanced at him and softly said, “The shed looks great, Matias. Thank you.”
He nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t help but wonder if he didn’t like praise because he felt he didn’t deserve it or he just wasn’t used to hearing it.
“Where’d you learn to fix stuff like that?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Worked construction here and there when I was a kid.”
“When you were a kid?” I asked. “How old?”
Another shrug. “Cruz was around five so I guess I was fifteen.”
Strange that it would be his brother’s age that he’d remember when it came to something like that, but I didn’t comment on it.
“But you don’t work in construction now?” I offered. “Elliot says you and Cruz work in security.”
He nodded his head once. I bit back a sigh. So much for thinking we’d passed that unseen barrier that kept him so damn quiet. I returned my attention to the shed. “Can I ask you something?” I murmured. I hadn’t intended to bring the issue up, but it was something that had been stewing in my brain ever since Elliot had said Matias and his younger brother worked in the security industry.
I took Matias’s silence as a yes. “Do you know how Declan is doing?”
When Matias didn’t answer me, I turned to look at him. His eyes were on me. “He’s home from the hospital,” he said. “He’s expected to make a full recovery.”
The relief that went through me was instantaneous.
“How do you know him?” Matias asked.
I held out my hand for the beer. Matias instantly gave it to me. “You first,” I said.
“He’s friends with our boss. Mine and Cruz’s.”
I thought back to the night Blake had attacked my family. “So Declan asked your boss for Cruz to keep Elliot safe after he was attacked in his office?” I asked.
Matias nodded.
“And that was why Cruz got close to Elliot? Their meeting at the Halloween charity event Elliot had organized wasn’t a coincidence?”
Another nod.
“Why not you?”
“Why not me what?” Matias asked.
“Why weren’t you the one who was supposed to get close to my son?” Even as I asked the question, I felt queasy. What kind of clusterfuck would it have been if Matias had been the one involved in a physical relationship with my son? Thankfully, I wasn’t at all attracted to Cruz, but obviously the same wasn’t true when it came to Matias. It hurt my brain too much to even think about.
“I’m not much of a people person,” he said simply. I would have laughed if he hadn’t been completely serious. “Cruz handles the front-end stuff on our jobs… I stay behind the scenes. I prefer the shadows.” Matias finished off the beer and then began twirling the bottle between his palms. The nervous gesture surprised me.
“What?” I asked softly.
“We didn’t know you were the target,” he murmured, sidestepping my original question completely. “If we had, I would have gotten inside sooner… before that fucker touched your kid—Ryan. Before he touched Ryan.”
I could see his body beginning to vibrate with tension and I instinctively knew what it would lead to. I wasn’t afraid of Matias’s rage, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to have to resort to physical methods to expel the built-up emotion. I covered his hands with one of mine, forcing him to stop toying with the bottle, which he’d stopped rolling and had been squeezing between his fingers instead. No doubt it wouldn’t have taken much effort on his part to shatter the thing.
Thankfully, Matias eased his grip on the bottle when I touched him.
“You got to us in time, Matias. That’s all I care about.”
Matias let out a deep breath that seemed to reverberate throughout his entire body. His hands relaxed slightly beneath mine. I figured it was the best I was going to get.
“Cruz said that fucker stole some money from some of your clients and that’s why Elliot was attacked.”
I nodded and pulled my hand away, since I was now the one dealing with emotions I wasn’t fond of. “Blake stole the money from a guy who was using my company to launder it. The guys thought Elliot had taken the cash, so they threatened him. Declan Barretti got wind of it and I guess that’s where you guys came in. Elliot isn’t exactly trusting of cops, especially Declan. Runs in the family,” I admitted.
“Why didn’t you guys trust Declan?” Matias asked.
I shook my head because it was a topic I had no interest in discussing.
“Sam,” Matias said gently.
Too damn gently.
“Because he’s the reason Elliot’s father is dead.”
Chapter 11
Matias
I should've been happy to have the topic of conversation be off of me but hearing the raw pain in Sam's voice had me wishing I hadn't asked the question in the first place. It was another one of those moments where I wished Cruz was there to guide me on what not to say. I'd met Declan Barretti a few times and had always considered him a good guy, but there was no doubting the certainty in Sam's voice.
