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The sound of tattoo guns buzzing fills the air but does nothing to tamp down the whimpers and shrieks of pain coming from someone getting work done. The woman Raina pointed out has a bald head with a snowflake tattooed over her entire scalp. She shifts in her seat as she continues to etch a design into some poor guy's skin.
Raina looks at Angel and tells him what's going on. “Owen got into some shit, and I need to leave town for a few days.”
Angel raises an eyebrow before glancing over his shoulder at the woman working on the piece. “How bad is it?”
I take over the conversation this time. “Lorenzo's looking for him. I have a place for Raina to hide out until we hear back from Owen. We're hoping I'm just being overprotective–”
“When you say Lorenzo,” he interjects, “you mean Lorenzo Carlyle? The lunatic who runs most of the shady businesses out of Colwood?”
I nod slowly.
“Fuck.” He huffs and looks over his shoulder again. “Last time Ren went on a rampage, he set somebody's restaurant on fire. You think he'll come here?”
I shrug. “The only reason he has to come here is to look for Raina. That's only if he's not finished with Owen. We're hoping Lorenzo keeps Owen in his sights, but we're playing it safe. If anyone comes around here looking for her, just tell them we left town. I'll have Raina call to check in and let you know when she'll be back.”
“And you're going to be with her the whole time, right?” Angel asks.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Take care of yourself, Raina. As soon as everything settles down, you can pick up your lessons with Avery to get your apprenticeship started.”
I thank her boss as we leave to grab a few supplies before heading back to her apartment to install the security items that I hope are there already. Unfortunately, when we get there, Drew’s standing in the lobby sorting through packages.
The minute he sees me, his face falls and he takes a step away from the pile of boxes.
“There’s only one delivery here for Raina,” he says with his eyes darting from me to the floor. The tremble in his voice and hands as he reaches for the package tells me that I don’t need to have another conversation about respecting Raina’s boundaries.
“Thank you,” I tell him as he hands me the box.
Raina walks directly to her apartment, ignoring Drew to his disappointment. After one last look at him, I follow Raina inside. There isn’t much time to lose as I open the package from the locksmith and get the equipment out. There are six cameras and nearly a dozen motion sensors.
The instructions are simple as I tell Raina where to place the motion sensors while I install the cameras. It doesn’t take long for us to set everything up and link it to an app on her phone.
“We have to stop at my place before we head to the cabin. I’ll try to get a hold of Owen while we’re there and see if there’s an update from last night.”
Raina moves her living room window up and down, testing the motion sensors in the security app with a smile.
“Thank you, Daddy. You’ve done so much to keep me safe.”
I wink at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m always going to do that. Let’s go so we can keep it that way.”
We get out of her apartment building without running into Drew, and it makes me wonder how much I have to convince Raina to never come back here. She belongs to me, with me, and shouldn’t be living on her own. Tasting her lips against mine is a feeling I never want to forget. We can’t go back to whatever our relationship was before last night.
My mind can barely focus on the tasks because I can’t get the memory of her touch out of my head. The movement of someone standing in front of my door quickly brings me back to the reality of our situation.
“Get down,” I tell Raina. “Out of sight, baby girl.”
She slides down into the front seat as I pull up to my house and stop alongside the curb. I won’t pull into the driveway just in case I need to get her out of here. The stranger doesn’t look like he’s here to sell me anything or question my relationship with a religious deity.
I get out of the car and stand at the edge of my property. The orange haze scattering across the late afternoon sky tells me night will come shortly. Every line separating my property from my neighbors draws my attention to make sure there isn’t a breach in the fencing or gates.
The grass needs mowing as it grows between the grid of the wide slate path leading to a short staircase of large stones I picked as steps. The dark gray and blue stones complement the light cream wooden panels that cover the front of the house. The trim is navy blue to tie in with the path, and it’s a home I’ve worked too hard to afford for a stranger to make me uncomfortable being there.
“Can I help you?” I ask the man who turns to square his stance as if he’s ready to charge at me. He’ll have to get a running head start to reach me from nearly 30 feet away. At least anything he does isn’t going to take me by surprise.
“Call me Chuck. I need to talk to you about your partner, Owen Olsen,” he replies. His black hair looks like ink. The handlebar mustache doesn’t give off an air of hospitality, and the leather vest with metal spikes around the bottom emphasizes his menacing gaze.
“Last time I spoke to Owen was last night. He’s in the hospital, and I don’t have much else to say other than that,” I tell Chuck, who I’m not sure is giving me his actual name.
