Page 8 of Loco

I quickly got to my feet, distancing myself from the men, stunned by the beat down Loco was raining down on Russ. It wasn’t a fair fight. Loco had fifty pounds of pure muscle on him, but that didn’t seem to stop him from pounding Russ in the face until he was half-unconscious. Russ got in a few hits, but they were weak and just bounced off Loco’s hard torso.

At one-point Loco straddled Russ, pulled him up by the shirt front and asked him with a snarl if his name was Russ. Russ could only nod, his response gaining him more hits from Loco.

A whimper pulled my attention to the doorway where Helen was frozen, her trembling body barely supported by her cane. Tears rolled down her wrinkled cheeks. I glanced back at Loco and realized that he wasn’t letting up. The anger he was emitting was completely disproportionate to what the situation called for, and I wondered if he had a personal vendetta against Russ.

Without a thought for my own safety, I went over to him. “Loco! Loco, stop!” I managed to catch his fist in mid-air, gaining his attention. He was breathing hard. The look in his wild eyes frightened me. Gone was the man that I’d met at the pool, the friendly, teasing, and overly confident one. This man I didn’t know.

He seemed to pull himself together.

“I told you to get in the fucking house,” he snapped between pants. As soon as I touched him I felt the muscles in his arm relax against my hold. The charged energy surrounding him evaporated with his every breath. “Do it now, Millie. I have business with this asshole.”

Oh. So him showing up at Helen’s wasn’t a coincidence. Our eyes remained connected as I slowly released his arm. Russ’ groan drew my gaze back down to him. He was conscious and bloody, but his injuries didn’t appear to be life threatening. It was probably worse than it looked. Maybe a broken nose. Definitely a split lip and bruising around one eye. I met Loco’s eyes again, seeing annoyance in them because I wasn’t doing what he wanted me to.

Satisfied that he wasn’t going to kill Russ, I turned and walked back to where Helen was standing, seeing a look of relief on her face that the fighting had stopped. “Come inside with me, Helen.” I took her gently by the arm.

“Are you hurt, dear?”

I shook my head.

“I’m sorry about my grandson. He used to be a good boy.”

I walked her to her chair and settled her in it. “Are you hurt?” Remembering what I’d walked in on, I asked, “Are you hurt anywhere?” I looked her over carefully, glad to see there were no injuries that indicated that Russ had hit her.

“No, dear.” A small yet sad smile spread across her lips. “Russ would never hurt me.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. My first thought was to ask her why she’d been on the floor when I’d first come in, but I didn’t want to put her on the spot.

“Your friend won’t hurt my grandson, will he?”

Loco had already hurt Russ. I knew that Helen’s eyesight was poor, even with glasses. Her question revealed that she hadn’t been able to see the condition Russ was in after Loco had finished pounding on him. I didn’t want to lie to her, but the truth was that I really didn’t know what Loco’s intentions were for her grandson. He’d said that he had business with him. Judging from the way he’d beat on Russ, it had to be bad.

“He might teach him a lesson,” I hedged.

Her light chuckle caught me unaware. “Russ could do with a good lesson or two. That’s his problem, he didn’t have a man’s influence growing up. He was spoiled and always got his way. I tried to warn my daughter, but he was the baby and she wouldn’t listen. Now we’re all paying for his choices.” She gave me a regretful look. “It’s not the first time he’s come here for money. But how he acted with you . . . I’m so ashamed.”

I patted her on the back of the hand. “Don’t be, Helen. I’ve known men like your grandson before. And I’m fine.” I took a deep breath. “Let me go take care of Owen, okay?” Her nod sent me to the bathroom where his litter box was kept.

I couldn’t get the image of Loco going after Russ out of my head, and again I wondered why he had come here in the first place. I’d never run into him at Helen’s house before. Of course, I hadn’t seen Russ before today either, and I’d been going there for a year. I supposed I’d find out soon enough what was going on.

I quickly scooped out Owen’s biodegradable litter and dropped it into the toilet. I added some fresh litter and then washed my hands. As I was drying them, I caught a glimpse of my appearance in the mirror over the sink and frowned. I was a mess! My hair, which had been pulled back into a ponytail, was hanging half down and framing my face. Looking closer, I noticed a scratch on my cheek. I turned sideways and saw the damage that had been done to my shirt. Just a small tear at the neckline, and it was stretched out of shape where Russ had pulled at it. It could have been worse.

I heard the screen door open and close, and then the muted sounds of someone talking. I left the bathroom to see who’d come in, worried that Russ had returned, brought up short when Loco suddenly appeared in my way. My eyes rounded at the wild look of him. It was hot, in a scary, crude kind of way, his eyes narrowed on me like a predator. His brisk strides didn’t slow down, and I found myself walking backwards back into the bathroom. I caught my breath when my back came up against the vanity.

“What—”

He stopped just inches away from me, not touching me, but threatening just the same. “What are you doing here, Millie?” His tone was suspicious, and it was hard to read the closed-off look on his hard face. What was he worried about?

His closeness unnerved me, and not in a good way. The man in front of me now wasn’t the seriously hot man that I’d met that afternoon at the pool. He was still seriously hot, but also scary and dangerous, and my heartrate picked up speed. I was trapped in the small room, and Loco’s larger-than-life presence filled the space.

He was trying to intimidate me, for what I didn’t know, but I didn’t like it.

“Step back.” I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from adding please.

He stepped closer and ground out, “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

As if sensing my nervousness, Loco took one step closer, close enough that I could smell the mixture of sweat and blood on him. Except for his busted and bleeding knuckles, there was no evidence that he’d just been in a brawl, however brief it had been. When I didn’t respond right away I could see his frustration mounting by the tightening of his jaw.

“Millie.”

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