Page 18 of Property of Rio

“Whose? Gage’s? Of course, I have his, Rafe!”

He closes his eyes and I imagine him counting to ten before he answers, “Lopez’s, Issy.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. You can check my phone if you need to, Rafe,” I reply.

I’ve never been someone who feels they have to hide their phone from outsiders. While in retrospect, I don’t expect Rafe to do the same since I’m sure there are messages I shouldn’t see, I suspect they probably have burner phones from them. Still, I trust him so I’m not worried about what he might see.

“Why did y’all stop seeing each other?” he asks, walking back to the bathroom, where I’m now brushing out my hair.

“Um, shit, let me think,” I stammer. “It was him who broke things off, Rafe. I don’t think he was someone who would’ve been around forever or anything because he liked to ride motorcycles, but we had fun while it lasted. He’d come and watch me race when he could, but he lives in Arizona. Since I didn’t want him to lose time at work, I told him it wasn’t necessary. Then one day, he said something strange before he told me this wasn’t working out for him.”

“What did he say that you found odd?” Rafe probes, staring intently at me.

“He said, ‘It didn’t work anyway,’ or something like that. Why? What do you think he meant?”

While Miguel wasn’t the love of my life, he was fun, and even though I know our few times together weren’t really anything towrite home about, not like I instinctively know it’ll be with me and Rafe, it still hurt for a little while when he broke up with me.

TEN

Rafe

My mind whirls at her comment about what Miguel said to her when he ended things. My instinct says that maybe he was aware of what Mike’s plans were for Issy, even though he isn’t part of the club, and when he found out that the Mojave Devils still had their sights set on Issy, he broke it off. I don’t really know and won’t until I reach out to him.

“I’m not sure, Issy. Will you give me his number so I can give him a call?” I ask, watching her brush out her hair.

Even though I gave her shit about her face mask, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. She usually doesn’t wear a lot of makeup when she’s working with the horses, just when she’s running a race. As I watch her finish up her routine, which is definitely more involved than mine, I flash back to when we were little kids and how she was all knees and elbows. While she’s just a few inches over five feet tall, she carries herself with so much confidence that she appears much taller.

“I can do that, or you can just look in my contacts,” she replies, putting more gunk on her face. After she puts her stuff away, she turns to me with a shooing motion, causing me to chuckle. “I take it you want me to move.”

“Yeah, I’m ready for bed, Rafe. It’s been a long day and I’m ready to crawl between the sheets and relax. Plus, I wanna know what’s happening with Gage.”

“Let me grab a shower, Issy, and I’ll tell you what I’m able, okay?”

“That’s fine. I’ll go get us something to drink since your shower won’t be anywhere near as long as my bath was,” she proposes.

“You don’t normally take long ones either, but I see this afternoon was an exception,” I tease. I can still smell the floral shit she used in the bath while she soaked in Epsom salts which are in the container on the tub rim.

“Well, yeah, I mean, I’m limited on what I’m allowed to do,” she retorts. “So, no riding, no taking care of stuff around here, Constance will not let me cook. What else was I supposed to do? If you hadn’t come home, I probably would’ve read.”

“Go get us drinks, Issy. I’ll be out shortly.”

With Issy nestled against my side, I kiss her temple, knowing I have to be content with this for the time being.

At least she’s in my arms,I muse.

“So, Gage apparently found out he has a teenage sister,” I start, “and as far as all the shit he pulled with regard to you, it wasbecause the Mojave Devils have been jonesing for you for a very long time. Specifically, Mike Lopez, whose road name is Four. Gage was told that they’d sell his sister to the highest bidder if he didn’t help them abduct you.”

“Oh, my God!” she exclaims, her eyes wide and bewildered. “So, he didn’t want to do it? He didn’t suddenly turn into an asshole?”

“Well, heisan asshole for not coming to me when he was contacted. I trusted him with your safety, Issy. He may not be a patched member of the Kings, but we’ve been friends a very long time and he’s more than a hangaround, y’know? He should have come to me when they talked to him. Because you’re involved, we would’ve handled the situation. Now, he’s beat to hell and back…”

She gasps, interrupting me and asks, “Did… did y’all hurt him?”

Not yet,my mind whispers.

“No, we found him, well, Pokey found him when he used his debit card. Not gonna lie, I planned on giving him a beatdown, but he’s definitely not in a position for additional fists to his face or body.” I snicker at the look on her face which is equal parts horrified and gleeful.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have been too angry, Rafe. Hediddrug me and beat on me then tie me up,” she states, huffing.

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