Page 81 of Rune
“That’s all right. I have a cousin who is good at this kinda shit.”
“The same buddy who gave you my address?”
“That’s him. He can scour any local traffic cameras, see if he can spot these guys.”
“I don’t think you’re going to be lucky enough to catch someone with their real license plates again,” she said, shooting me a playful smirk.
“Probably not. But Junior is very good at what he does, so we’ll get to the bottom of this eventually. Get you out of danger.”
Suddenly, I didn’t feel like there was a big rush. Yes, I wanted her safe. But she was safe at the clubhouse with me. And finding these fucks meant she wouldn’t need to stay with me any longer. I mean, I wasn’t going to drag my feet to keep her captive. ButI also wasn’t planning on dropping everything to get to Junior’s place again.
“I’m going to need to text my girls and try to figure out a work schedule today. See if I can give myself a little window. Eventually, I’m sure I could do most of my work one-handed, but I can’t show up at clients’ houses with my face looking like this.”
“Yeah, that’s probably smart. There is makeup that could probably cover the bruises, but there’s nothing that can be done about the swelling. And giving your ribs a few days will make a big difference too. Sweeping or vacuuming when you’re bruised like that.”
“Ugh. I can’t imagine.”
“You could give your crew part of the truth. People are more likely to be willing to change their schedules and help out if they know you’re not just flexing your boss muscle but that you’re actually hurt. Tell them you fell down the steps in the middle of the night, bruised your ribs, and broke your hand. People want to help when bad shit happens.”
“That’s not a bad idea. We all figured out a way to cover for one of the other girls when she was in an accident. She wasn’t even hurt; we just knew she was traumatized by it.”
“See? It’ll all shake out. And then you can just focus on healing.”
At the clubhouse.
With me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Carmen
“What’s wrong with your camera?” Sofia asked as I held a finger over it on the video call.
“Alright. Listen. I don’t want you to freak out,” I told her. I’d been dodging her video call requests all day as I did nothing but lounge around in Rune’s room, watching TV shows, eating the food he brought me, and taking more naps than I had in my entire life. But it was the end of the night, and I knew she was going to get suspicious if I refused another call. We were sisters who lived together all our lives. There was no ‘I look like crap’ excuse that could work. We saw each other at our worst all the time.
“What’s wrong?” On the screen, Sofia sat up straighter and paused the TV playing in the background.
“I just want to warn you so you don’t think the worst.” I was going to give her the same half-truth I gave all my employees earlier as we worked out who could pick up my slack while I recovered. I didn’t love lying to my sister. But everything she knew about Rune and my connection with him was a lie. What was one more little fib?
“What’s going on?”
“I fell down the stairs,” I told her. “And I’m a little busted-up.”
“What? Oh, my God. Are you okay? Let me see.”
I moved my finger away and watched Sofia’s eyes go wide and her mouth slack before she tried to school her face into a mask of neutrality. “It’s… not that bad.”
Even in the little rectangle in the corner, it was pretty bad. “It is. But thanks for lying to me.”
“Did you get checked out?”
Not by a real professional. “Yeah. This is the worst of it,” I said, flashing my brace.
“Did you break your hand?”
“Yeah. And bruised my ribs a little. Twisted my ankle. I’m a walking bruise right now. But I’m okay. So don’t go panicking.”
“Those stairs have always been a hazard. I can’t tell you how many times I nearly went down on them. They’re so narrow. God, was Rune with you?”
