AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m leaving,” the angry customer shouted at them as he moved to go. “But I’ll be back! With reinforcements!”
The bell jingled as he left.
“Reinforcements?” Marisol echoed, glaring at the door he’d practically run through. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Elena shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Do you know that guy?” Her friend gave her a look full of concern. “Because he sure as hell acted like he knew you.”
“I have no idea who that was,” she promised with a shake of her head. The man was honestly a total stranger. She didn’t know what that look was about, but she was sure they’d never met. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
“I feel like I’ve seen him before,” Ricky told them, his brow furrowed in thought. He walked around the counter to look out the front windows. “I can’t place where, but he looked familiar.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Marisol asked, looking at her. “That was intense.”
“I’m fine,” Elena answered, pretending she wasn’t quite so shaken up over the frightening encounter. It wasn’t the first time a customer had gotten aggressive, but it was the first time she’dpersonally been the target. The look in his eyes had been unnerving. It scared her more than she’d like to admit.
“I’ve got it!” Ricky announced with a snap of his fingers. He moved back up to the counter, a look of triumph on his face. “It took me a minute, but I remember where I’ve seen him.”
“Where?” both women asked in unison.
“He’s with that church group from Topeka. The ones that protest everything.”
“Ewww.” Marisol wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“I thought they’d moved on already.” Elena hadn’t seen them annoying people at the garage, so she’d assumed they’d left town.
“Apparently not,” her brother informed the girls with a frown. “He was with the group that was protesting just down the block earlier last week. They got in my way when I was running shit down to Flying Taco Two.”
“Great,” Marisol groaned, leaning against the counter with a slump. “Do you think he’ll be back?”
“With reinforcements?” Elena added as she recalled his parting shot. The possibility of it made her stomach turn.
This was the last thing Medina’s needed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“You’re staying over tonight, right?” Vinyl asked, his lips teasing the back of Elena’s neck. The moment he’d seen her slipping into the records room, he knew he couldn’t let the opportunity slip by. Her place was with them, and he wasn’t above using his kisses to convince her. She’d only been out of their bed for one night, but it was one night too many.
“Yeah,” she nodded, her curly bun wobbling in his face as he crowded behind her. She slid the filing cabinet closed and turned around. “I’ve already packed a bag. We just need to swing by my place to grab it.”
Vinyl pulled her into his arms, relaxing a little at the knowledge she was coming home with him and the guys. It was where she belonged.
“Hopefully you packed for more than just one night,” he groaned as he hugged her close. She was so damned squeezable he didn’t want to let go.
“I packed for two,” she told him, leaning back to look at him.
“Wh—” Vinyl was hushed by Elena’s finger over his lips.
“I’m not saying I won’t stay longer,” she continued with a look, “but let’s play it by ear, okay? Who knows…you could be sick of me by then.”
“Nebber,” he mumbled, his lips moving around the finger she’d used to shush him.
She snorted and dropped her hand with an eyeroll.
“It doesn’t make sense to haul a whole suitcase over to your place when I still need to go home every now and then to check on the girls anyways.”
Vinyl couldn’t help but smile thinking about the blue-haired lesbian couple that Elena referred to as “the girls”. The pair was a riot, and while they might be pushing ninety years old, they didn’t act a day over seventy-five. After their porch had been fixed, they’d talked Tanner and Pax into taking them on a short ride. The memory made him chuckle. The girls had been whoopin’ and hollerin’ so much he’d worried their dentures were going to fly right out of their mouths.
