Page 88 of Loco

That sounded good. We were going to my apartment tonight. Now that he’d brought it up, I couldn’t wait to have our own place. As we straightened up from leaning on his bike, his eyes fell on something over my shoulder behind me. I felt him tense, and then he moved lightning fast, stepping around me so that I was sandwiched between him and his bike.

“What—” I peered over his shoulder and gasped with fear.

Leslie stood there, and she was pointing a gun at us. I glanced toward the restaurant. It had grown dark outside, and I could clearly see the patrons inside, but I doubted that they could see us. No one would come to help or call the police.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Leslie,” Loco said in a strangely calm tone. “Right now nothing has happened. We can all go home and pretend this never took place.”

I could tell by her slightly wild expression though that it wouldn’t be that easy.

“You were supposed to be mine!” Leslie screamed, waving the gun as she spoke. “Now move! I’m tired of all these whores getting in my way!”

Her comment made it clear that I was her intended target. She was clearly obsessed with Loco, and I felt sorry for her. Obsessed people weren’t of sound mind, and were dangerous and unpredictable. And Leslie had that desperate look in her eyes that revealed she’d been pushed too far. A flashback dragged me back to the night that Stuart had broken into my apartment, of the vile things he’d said to me and then our violent confrontation.

If I hadn’t killed him I wouldn’t be here, and now the man I loved was in danger of losing his life to protect me. I couldn’t let him do that. “Loco—” I tried to get around him, but he threw out his arm to stop me.

“What are you going to do? Kill every woman I’ve fucked?” he asked her in a gruff tone. “You’re sick and need help.”

My eyes rounded with incredulity at Loco’s taunt. What was he doing? Pissing off a woman with a gun was not a good idea!

Leslie let out a shocked gasp. Until then her gaze had been on me, but now her angry eyes shifted away from me and focused on Loco, which I was sure had been his intention. I tried again to move around him, but he kept his arm firmly in place.

Even if I had been successful in getting him out of the way, what would I have done?

“You think I’m going to let you kill the woman I love?”

It got deathly quiet after his words. No one came to or left the restaurant. The parking lot was dark except for the inadequate yellow lighting from the street lamps. Traffic going past the restaurant was sporadic. I suddenly wished that the others had waited for us.

The war waging behind Leslie’s eyes revealed that a gamut of emotions was rushing through her and spiraling out of control. Desperation, anger, and finally regret settled on her anguished features. The look in her eyes cleared slowly, as if the answer to her problem had suddenly come to light. What I saw reflected in her eyes terrified me.

“You love her?” Her tone was flat with hopelessness. “I had hoped by eliminating the competition that I’d have a better chance, that I’d be enough for you. But I can see now that there’s only one way this can end.”

Oh, God, this didn’t sound good. I clenched Loco’s arm.

“It’s only fair that no one gets to have you.”

“No!” I screamed as I realized what she was going to do. Loco stood there, fearless and unmoving, like a stone pillar, as if he could take a bullet at this close range and survive.

Tears ran down my cheeks at the helpless situation that we’d found ourselves in.

There was no time to react. Once Leslie’s words were out, she took careful, deadly aim.

Epilogue

Three months later…

Millie

We’d found a house. A small three-bedroom, two-bath place right outside of Vegas. It was an older, adobe-style home, ideal for the dry, desert surroundings we were living in. It had probably been an orangey brown at one time, but someone had painted it chalky white. Loco liked it because of the location, which was close to his clubhouse. I liked it because it had character and wasn’t in a subdivision.

The windows were old and probably original to the house, and had an unusual feature in that there were shutters on the inside. Because of that, I’d decided not to hang curtains. Doorways and entranceways into rooms were arched, including the front door. There was a patio with a border wall of about four feet on three sides that would be a good spot for cooking out. I could picture Loco and me sitting out there while enjoying a drink and taking in the sunset in the evenings.

Signing a rent to own contract, we’d moved in four days prior with the help of all of Loco’s brothers. Not that Loco had a lot of stuff to move, but I’d owned everything in my apartment. I’d purposely taken the week off so I could unpack and get settled in, and with the help of V, Lissa, Lulu, Raven, and Holly, I’d done just that. JoJo had wanted to help too but she was pregnant with her third child and couldn’t do any heavy lifting.

I stood there in the small living room and observed how homey it looked now that everything was in place. I had to smile at the bright green, yellow, and purple pillows on the sofa, a housewarming gift from V. She’d also hung a beautiful sun catcher in the window over the sink in the kitchen.

I felt a presence come up behind me, and then a muscular arm wrap around my upper body.

“You happy?” Loco asked as he pulled me against him.

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