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Once we get to the bottom of the stairs, I expect the group of leather vests to be staring me down.
Except there’s no one.
Not even Haley.
It’s eerie how quiet it is down here. I wander across the room and lean over the wooden bar top. “Haley?” I question.
“What!” Her voice comes from far away, and I hear a sink turn off and then her shoes pad across the floor. “Oh, hi there. Hi, Lilah.” She smiles down at her. I decide I like her, even with her semi-frosty attitude towards me. If she is nice to Lilah, she’s a good person in my book.
“Hi, um, I was wondering if we can maybe get something to eat? I can always do it myself, too. That way you don’t have to keep cooking for me.”
She waves me off. “It’s my job. I’ll put together something for you guys. Shouldn’t take too long.”
“Lilah wants to play hide and seek, so we’ll be back in a bit.”
She’s already returned to the kitchen, so we wander towards the door and head outside. The sky is cloudy today, maybe even a little hazy from some fires I heard the guys talking about yesterday evening. It gives the sky a dangerous glow that stirs something in my belly. I’m not used to the fires, being from Ohio then Mexico. This is new.
“Okay, Mom. You count. I’ll hide.” She’s already off.
“Not too far.” I close my eyes and start counting to ten. Once I’m finished, I crack open my eyes and see her hiding underneath the picnic bench. Not an inch of the bench is hiding her, but she still curls in a ball and hides her face beneath her hands. “Wow, I wonder where Lilah went.”
I make a big production of looking around the yard for a few minutes then jump in front of her and shout. “Found you!”
She lets out a squeak as she jolts in place.
“Come on, goofy. Let’s go get something to eat.” I pull her out from underneath the table and lift her into my arms.
“No! Your turn to hide. I’ll count!” She wiggles, attempting to slide through the bottom of my arms.
Shit. “Okay, okay.” I drop her on the bench. “One time. You count, I’ll go hide.”
“Okay!”
I speed off towards the building. I can hide on the side and she probably won’t even try to look there. I listen as Lilah continues counting, stumbling over number four and five and have to slap my hand over my mouth so she can’t hear me chuckle.
As I near the side of the building, deep voices filter towards me. I pass the room we were in last night, and although the door is closed, I can hear them clearly through the cracked open window. I tip toe past, not at all interested in what they have to say.
Until I hear his name.
Santiago.
I stop in my tracks, the gravel underneath my sandals sliding and creating more noise than I wanted. I squat down, wincing and waiting for the door to burst open. When it doesn’t, I stand up and press my ear closer to the window.
Yeah, I’m fucking sly.
“…Santiago.” Someone says. It’s hard to decipher the difference in their voices when I can’t see their faces.
“I’ll fuckin’ kill him.” That’s definitely Aziel.
“Too risky. We need to come up with a plan.”
“What was risky was bringing her here. She’s a fucking liability.”
“Fuck off.” Aziel growls.
“No, you fuck off. He knows that she’s here. Do you know what that means for us? He’s not playing around. She means something to him. this isn’t some Jessie we’re talking about.”
“No, she’s definitely not a fucking Jessie.” That sounded like the blonde guy. West?
