Page 97 of Accidentally in Bloom

“Thank you…?” he teased.

“Thank you, boyfriend.” She laughed, and there wasn’t a better sound in the entire world. “I’ve got to go. See you tonight?”

“Couldn’t keep me away.”

They hung up, and Gray had to stop himself from ending with “I love you.” If he didn’t tell her soon, he was gonna burst.

First things first, though. Whatever happened at the auction tonight, whatever the future would be between him and Rose, Lenny would finally leave the Parkers the hell alone, even if Gray had to risk everything. He’d stop by a familiar grease stain and tell him to stand the fuck down.

Fifteen minutes later, Gray pulled up to the dingy, yellow house that was all too familiar to him. The memories of getting his haul of pills and cocaine as a drug dealer in high school flooded back.

Lenny ran a debt collection business but hadn’t upgraded himself, which made Gray wonder how desperate he might be to deliver this large deal on Frank’s estate.

Gray weighed whether he should go in or not. He was flirting with disaster today, that was for damn sure. He got out and surveyed the houses around him. Everything was the same since the last time he’d been there. Dirt was etched into every surface, and broken appliances and toys were scattered throughout the yards.

He wondered if Lenny would even recognize him now; grown up, filled out, no hollow red rings around his eyes. He had to do this; he had to figure out what the hell was going on.

He knew that Rose would hate that he was getting involved, but sometimes you just had to do things for people you loved. He stopped on the sidewalk as the irony hit him. Maybe this is why his dad always fucking meddled. Because he loved him.

Ugh, no time for feelings right now. Gray took a deep breath and walked up the crumbling cement stairs. He hoped this wouldn’t go south. That Lenny still remembered him.

And that Lenny wouldn’t shoot him.

He knocked hard on the door. “Lenny, open up.” He pounded again, this time letting anger come through.

“I’m comin’, I’m comin.” He heard a man hack and spit before he got to the door. Gray heard several locks flip, and the door opened, a screen still separating them.

Lenny’s eyes narrowed in recognition. “Why you at my house before fuckin dawn, man?” Gray could smell Lenny from where he stood. He looked like death warmed over with his long greasy, balding hair and several teeth missing.

“I need to talk to you about a friend of mine you’re fucking with.”

“She hot?” Lenny scratched his protruding belly under his stained white shirt.

“Can you come out here?” Gray was never going back into that house again.

“Gimme a minute.” Lenny let the door slam and came back out with a hoodie on.

“Why the fuck are you being so hard on Frank Parker’s girls? They're just trying to do what’s right, and it takes time to find three hundred grand.”

Lenny lit up a cigarette. “It’s between them and the IRS. I'm just the muscle.”

“Just the muscle? Bullshit. I have never seen anybody’s business be padlocked because they were a little late in paying their taxes.”

“Well,” Lenny sent him an oily smile, “that was just a present from me to you.”

“A present? You’re just screwing with Bloom because of me? Because of what happened twenty years ago?”

“Yep,” Lenny snorted, so proud of himself.

When Gray was caught dealing in high school, his parents forced him to give up the name of his supplier. He’d always been waiting for how Lenny would get him back.

Lenny didn’t have significant criminal charges, just a few weeks of jail time because he was smart enough to cover his tracks. But Gray had always felt it would come back to haunt him, and he had least expected it to hurt the woman he loved.

“The fuck, man?” Gray pushed off the railing he’d been leaning on and shoved at Lenny.

“Now, now. Don't want to get the law involved. Again. You know what they do to rats.” Lenny eyed him with a scowl.

“Don’t fuck with them. Fuck with me.”

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