Page 82 of Mine to Keep

Hey bud, how you doing? Listen, I had a pipe burst at my house, are you good, can I come by Tuesday instead?

Motherfucker.

“What do I say?” Greg looked at all of us.

“What can you say?” Angel sighed. “Can he make it Tuesday morning?”

Greg asked and sure enough, Lenny sent back a thumbs-up.

“Gabe, why don’t you go home and get some rest? Ask Shep to come in for a few hours. Angel was gonna head out to sit in his car for the night, but the two of us will be fine for a while.”

“You sure? What if Lenny is lying?”

I glanced at Greg, but he was still battling with the news we’d laid on him. “We’ll be good. Take your car; we have Angel’s here. When Shep gets here he can chill outside.”

Gabe nodded, grabbed his things, and left.

Monday was a long-ass day.Matt was pissed that I’d been stuck here longer than I’d anticipated, but he understood. He’d be working with JJ all day and promised he’d stay put. He had to get to work on Tuesday, so Gabe had promised to drive him to work and pick him up. Of course, I made Matt promise not to leave the building under any circumstances until one of us got there.

I hoped that by the time Matt was done with work, this would be put to bed.

Shep and Angel kept swapping who sat in the car. It was boring as hell, and I missed Matt.

By Tuesday morning I wanted to scratch my skin off. I liked cats, but they were everywhere I turned—I couldn’t even go to the bathroom alone.

I was just finishing a cup of coffee when Greg rushed over.

“Lenny said he’s on his way.”

“Finally.” I placed the mug in the sink and texted Shep, who was in the car, to stay alert.

Angel stood in front of Greg. “As soon as he knocks on that door, you answer it how you always do. He gets spooked and runs, that means I gotta run…I hate fucking running, Greg.”

“I…yeah, okay.”

“Good boy.” He patted Greg’s cheek and moved to the spot at the opening of the hallway by the door.

Lenny wouldn’t be able to see him there, and that was the entire point of this. I had to hope Lenny wasn’t on to us at all.

I was in the kitchen. Greg had an open concept, so when he and Lenny rounded the corner, Angel would be behind them, and I would be in front of them. Shep would likely walk up after Lenny entered the building.

The apartment was silent except for the occasional cat scampering by. My phone vibrated, and I saw it was Shep.

Someone’s coming up. Black pants and shirt, hoodie and ball cap.

“He’s on his way up,” I said out loud for Greg and Angel to hear.

It was cooler out, so the outfit didn’t surprise me, but it was odd. My thoughts were derailed at the knock on the door.

Greg looked at me, and I nodded. He was out of sight to get the door, but I knew Angel had eyes on him.

“Thank you for…oh, where’s Lenny?” Greg asked and I froze. It wasn’t Lenny.

“He’s busy.” It was a female voice, soft-spoken, maybe familiar, but honestly I was shit at voices.

“I see.”

“You look good,” she said.

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