Page 56 of Loving Lizzy

“What if she’s in some kind of trouble? We might be saving her,” he insisted.

Saint chuckled, “She’s probably suffering from a financial loss without your business keeping her entire food truck afloat.”

Leo shook his head. “You can work on the taco truck departure on your own time. Matthew, any news on José or Ragu?”

“Ragu spent the night in a cheap motel room in Portland two weeks ago. Then he disappeared. We’ll have the latest photo ID of him tomorrow by the team meeting. José’s mother died from cirrhosis of the liver six months ago. The kid attempted to apply for state help and social services. They didn’t receive any assistance until the last couple of months before her death. They lost their house, and the state buried his mom. The neighbors said he came home after the funeral, changed, and left the residence and no one’s seen him since. A month before his mother died, the bank records show they closed the account. The last balance in the account showed one hundred and three dollars and fifty-two cents.”

The team remained silent, all of them worried about the teen who saved Kassie at the hospital. Leo paused, “Let’s keep this info from Kassie for now. I don’t want her stressed with everything else going on.”

The team turned expectantly to Michael. Chase took the lead and broke the ice.

“We usually meet around lunch once a week and go over any updates for our families since we watch over one another. It’s a time to shoot the shit without our women and kids around. Now that you and Lizzy live here, it’ll make it easier for you to join us. I doubt you’ll carry the same caseload here as you did in Seattle. I’ll give you the schedule and you can plan your day around your patients at the hospital and the ones in town. You aren’t expected to give your life story, however, the guys asked about an update on Lizzy.”

Michael cleared his throat. Completely unprepared to talk about the woman he loved after he decimated the demolition room. “Ugh, Lizzy experienced a rough night last night. She slept most of the day.”

Shadow placed his elbows on the table and dangled his bottle of beer between his fingers. “Can we help you in any way? We’re available for grocery runs, meal drop offs, or if you want a break. Caregiving is tough and you gotta find your own outlet. You really tore our set up to shit and we’re happy it helped. You’ll need another way to handle things. You can join us for PT.”

“I appreciate it. It felt good to hit something. When can I help you clean up the mess?” Michael relaxed and sipped his beer.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Ivan’s punishing a group of his slackers. He ordered them to find the furniture and dishes. We set it up and now he’ll make them clean up. We came up with the idea and discussed it amongst ourselves when he visited. He insisted on us allowing him to punish his men.” Leo chewed a bite of his steak.

“Do you ever wonder what they do or not do to get punished?”

The team chuckled good naturedly.

Leo stood from the table once his men finished their meals. “We don’t ask. It works for both teams. Matthew did an extensive deep dive and can’t find anything showing Victoria or Ivan affiliated with anything illegal. Their businesses appear on the up and up. They’ve saved our asses more than once and we prefer to keep things the way they are.”

Chase stood and yanked his head in the direction Leo started to walk, indicating for Michael to follow. The rest of the men stood and began to clear the items from the table. He stood and walked alongside his friend. They went through the team’s training room and into the locker room. Leo stopped in front of the lockers. “It occurred to us you’ve never set foot in the facility, and we wanted you to know you have a place here with us.” He tapped on the locker behind him, and Michael noticed the plaque on the door with his name in bold letters.

“You only use me as a backup. You didn’t need to give me a locker,” he told the two men in surprise.

Leo’s jaw tightened as he stared at Michael. “I understand your reasoning, and I apologize for the last few months. When we rescued Ash and Whiskey, things started getting crazy here. Then Catherine’s pregnancy took me by surprise. When the sledding accident occurred, you wasted no time getting to our kids and even helping with Whiskey while Chase comforted Em and made the calls. You even helped with Melody while I dealt with Catherine and her bleeding. Now, you’re settled, and we want you to know you’re a part of our family. We’ve got your back. Welcome home, brother.” He lightly punched his arm and took his leave.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Victoria sat down on the couch and patted Lizzy’s knee. “I know you’re worried about eating after the horrible night you experienced. At least suck the ice thingy.”

Lizzy reached out for the treat. Nothing else appealed to her. Victoria ripped the package with her perfectly manicured nails filed into daggers. Her nose crinkled as she took the frozen stick daintily and passed it to her.

Lizzy immediately stuck it in her mouth and moaned. It quenched her thirst. She decided to take things slow, not wanting a repeat of nausea and mayhem like the night before. Except the part where Michael held her in his arms. She watched Victoria’s lip curl in disgust over the banana popsicle’s ability to make anyone feel better.

“Victoria, you need to try one. I can tell you’ve never experienced the cool bliss of a banana popsicle. It’s the best flavor.”

“No, thank you, luv. I don’t see the appeal of those ridiculously sticky things.” She watched her suck on the stick.

“Really, try one. You aren’t chicken, are you?” She dared the beautiful, yet scary woman.

“Don’t be silly,” she scoffed.

“Here you go.” Carol placed one in Victoria’s hand. “Don’t even try to protest with me. Ever since you made me go out on these dates, I’ve got every bachelor within a twenty-mile radius ringing my phone or stopping me at the grocery store. They’re all searching for a woman to make them meals, wash their clothes and clean their house. Owen’s date might’ve come with an application. He asked if I enjoyed cooking and how I sorted my laundry.”

Victoria laughed as she ripped open the wrapper and glanced at Lizzy to duplicate her action on eating a popsicle. She popped the end in her mouth and started to suck. Her eyes grew large and round the longer she tasted it.

Carol sat in the chair across from her and gave her a self-satisfied smirk. “Maddie, Joe, and Ivan will stop by in a few minutes. Edie is already on her way.”

“I didn’t mean to cause you to drop your schedules today.” Lizzy pulled her blanket higher.

“Maddie and Joe volunteered to pick up the kids from school, Samantha and Whiskey stayed in New York a few extra nights and Catherine’s holding down the fort at the hospital. Ivan’s coming to pick up Victoria,” Carol accounted for everyone’s whereabouts except for Michael’s, and she wondered what type of meeting he kept attending.

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