Concealed - A Hiding From Love Novel #2 (30 page)

Alexis is smiling now, one hand over her mouth. Some people might say she’s actually laughing at me. I won’t confirm that.

“What?” I ask petulantly.

She stops laughing. “Nothing. I just love you. That’s all.”

I look at her, and the room warms up about ten degrees. She leans over and kisses me on the cheek.

“Remember, tell me when the doubts are gone.”

I nod then look down at my plate again, unsure what to do, because I can’t say it yet. I wish like hell I could, but it sticks in my throat every time. The doubts are weaker, but they aren’t gone.

She squares her shoulders like she’s going into battle. “Okay, you need to get back to work and I need to go hassle Beth so she’ll take us to meet Juan.”

“Babe?” I stop her as she stands and looks down at me. “I’m trying. I really am.”

“I know. It’s okay.” She gives me a brilliant, gorgeous smile. “And I know I’m up against a lot. I brought it on myself. I can serve the time. Just remember, nothing and no
one
can get in the way of my love for you. Not ever again.”

Alexis

Perdonado y olvidado.

Forgive and forget.

E
VEN
though I know Beth’s going to be difficult about it, I also think Gabe’s right. Juan may really be rehabilitated and a great guy, but I want him to know Beth’s got family behind her. And having a six foot one muscle-bound soldier as part of that package won’t hurt.

I stop by her house the next day on my way home from class. She’s out in the yard digging up plants.

“What the heck are you doing?” I ask, since I’ve never seen her touch a plant before.

“Juan wants flowers for the halfway house garden so I’m going to give him some of these to transplant.”

“And your landlord’s okay with you stealing his plants?” I’m skeptical.

“Like he’ll ever notice,” she scoffs. “He hasn’t even been over here in six months.”

“So when are you going over there again? To see Juan, I mean.”

“Well, this afternoon now that I’ve dug all these up. They won’t live long if we don’t get them back in the ground.”

I take the opportunity the fates have thrown in my path. “Can I come along?” I’m as casual as possible.

She stops digging and sets her spade down as she stands and wipes her hands off on her jeans. “Really? You want to see Juan?”

I lean down and pick up a flower that’s fallen off of one plant. “Yeah, I’d like to see him again, and Gabe wants to come along too.”

She scowls. “Oh, I get it. You two want to second-guess me and see if you think he’s all right. Since he’s been in prison and everything, you can’t believe he’s not out to what? Con me? Abuse me? God, you two are such hypocrites.”

“Beth. Stop it. We both care about you, and we want to meet the guy you’re spending all your time with. Is that so wrong? Didn’t you want to meet Gabe when he first came to town? Don’t you want to make sure the people I spend time with are good to me?”

She sighs as she kneels back down and starts digging again. “Fine. But you promise not to go in there with guns blazing? He doesn’t need all that negativity right now. He needs people who’ll believe in him and help him out.”

“Of course,” I kneel next to her and hold the top of the plant while she digs around the base and lifts it out. “Beth. We aren’t trying to sabotage you or him. We only want to make sure you’re okay. It’s out of love.”

She looks at me for a minute. “I know. Everyone will always expect the worst of him though, and it makes me so sad, because he’s wonderful, Lex. Really wonderful.”

I put my arm around her shoulders and give a squeeze. “Well, look at it this way. You’re giving me and Gabe a common goal. That’s got to be a good thing. Which reminds me – you’ve been in touch with him this whole time and never told me?”

Beth is suddenly fascinated with a plant a few feet away and she shimmies over to start messing with it, her back to me now.

“Beth…” I say in a warning tone.

“La la la la…” she chants like a two-year-old trying to ignore her mother.

I roll my eyes. “We will talk about this, you know. Sooner or later. You can’t ignore me forever.”

I hear her mutter, “You want to make a bet?”

“So when should we come pick you up to go to the halfway house?”

“Well, I guess we have to wait for Gabe to get off work, so five thirty?”

“See you then.”

Gabe meets me at Beth’s after he gets off of work and we all head over to the halfway house in the truck. I’m sandwiched between him and Beth, and the energy coming off of both of them is intense. I keep my head down, trying to ignore the sparks that are flying from Beth and the testosterone rolling around Gabe like he’s getting ready to go shoot insurgents outside of our cave.

We pull up to a big ranch house on a quiet street. It’s obviously institutional but not in bad shape. This area was once an upper income residential neighborhood, but it’s now full of big houses that have been split into multi-units, or are being used for other things like this halfway house. We park on the street and Beth sends a text before she gets out of the truck and leads us around the back of the house to a small patio.

There’re a couple of beat-up metal picnic tables on the patio. They’re both chained to the concrete and have old tin cans full of cigarette butts and ashes on them. Just as we round the corner, a guy in a white t-shirt and jeans comes out the back door. He’s a touch shorter than Gabe, and lean but really muscular. His dark hair is cut short, and I see a small gold chain around his neck with a medallion on it. My sister walks to him quickly and hugs him. He says something to her quietly and she answers. I see his eyes dart over her shoulder to look at us. I can tell he recognizes me and he pales a little before his gaze moves to Gabe and hardens.

Beth takes his hand and leads him over to us. She’s glowing, but he looks very unsure.

“Juan, you remember my sister, Alexis, don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s nice to see you.” He holds out his hand very formally and shakes, his eyes not really meeting mine.

“And this is Lex’s boyfriend, Gabe.”

Gabe looks at her curiously, and I say, “Ex, Beth. Ex-boyfriend.”

“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes, and Gabe clears his throat as he shoots me a dirty look and holds out his hand to Juan.

“Good to meet you, man.” Juan grasps his hand, and there’s this incredibly awkward pause. I see both of them sizing each other up, and my guess is the grip happening is much firmer than technically necessary. Finally, a look flashes between them and they release each other’s hands, seemingly satisfied for the moment. Some sort of guy thing has passed between them and Gabe visibly relaxes.

“So you want to have a seat?” Juan gestures to the picnic tables.

I smile, “Sure,” as we move to sit down, Juan and Beth on one side, Gabe and me on the other.

Juan immediately picks up the coffee can ashtray and puts it on the other table. “Sorry about this. It’s, uh, not the nicest place to entertain.” He huffs out a bitter laugh.

“It’s fine. Really, the weather’s great. It’s nice to be outside after spending all day in a classroom.”

Juan leans forward with his elbows on the table. He’s quiet, and I see Beth shoot me a look that indicates she and I are going to have to carry this little meet and greet. I look over at Gabe. He’s studying Juan, and I can see him looking at Juan’s tats.

“That’s some nice ink,” Gabe points to Juan’s left arm, where there’s an intricate picture of a young girl’s face on it. It looks like a black and white photo, and it’s so realistic. I hear Beth give a little gasp after Gabe’s remark, and Juan glances over at her.

“It’s okay,
linda.
People are going to ask,” Juan tells my sister very softly. “You told me I have to get used to giving answers. May as well start now.”

Gabe has held his ground, looking at Juan politely but obviously expecting an answer to the question.

“I got it done by a guy down in Mexico. It’s the little girl who was killed in the drive-by I went to Huntsville for.”

He looks at Gabe with a challenge in his eyes. Daring Gabe to say something insulting, I guess. But, as usual, Gabe rises to the occasion and somehow takes a really awkward situation and turns it around.

“Cool, man. They must have some really good artists down there. How many rounds did it take?”

“Shit, like five or six. It went on for days, and I was staying at my
Tia
Lana’s shack on the damn floor, so every night I’d go home with my arm hurting like crazy and then have to sleep on packed dirt wrapped up in one of those stupid Mexican tourist blankets. I’m surprised I didn’t get some sort of damn infection and die from it.”

Juan smiles and Gabe laughs. “Yeah, man, I was so paranoid with my first. I was only seventeen, and I was convinced I was going to do something wrong with it and get sick and die. My mother was really fucking helpful because, of course, I did it without her permission, so when I started panicking about it getting infected, she refused to help me out. Just said, ‘You’re old enough to get one, so you’re old enough to figure out the consequences.’”

“You never told me that story.” I turn to look at Gabe.

“Yeah, babe. There’s all sorts of things I’ve never told you,” he answers as he winks at Juan.

Juan chuckles then mumbles, “I hear that.”

Beth slugs him in the arm and squawks, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“C’mon, Bethy. Leave the poor guy some secrets. Sometimes it’s a little overwhelming to unload them too fast. You’ve got to parcel them out over time, like bad medicine.”

Beth sticks her tongue out at Gabe, and he laughs at her.

Suddenly I’m reminded of a question I’ve had for weeks. “Hey. Tell me about my tattoo. The one you got for me,” I demand, turning to Gabe.

Juan raises an eyebrow and watches Gabe, who actually looks moderately embarrassed.

He shifts in his seat so his left arm is toward Juan before lifting his shirtsleeve to show him the ‘Alexis Forever’ tattoo.

“That’s a helluva scar,
ese
,” Juan comments quietly.

“Afghanistan,” Gabe answers concisely. “Alexis was with me when I got shot.”

Juan’s head whips over to me. “You were in the military?” His voice is heavy with shock.

I laugh. “No, no. Gabe was, and I was a United Nations volunteer. He and I got trapped in a cave for a few days by insurgents and he was shot trying to find a way out.”

I look at Gabe, who is staring at the table, drawing little circles with his index finger. We’re all quiet for a moment before he realizes the ball is back in his court.

He takes a deep breath. “Yeah, so six months later after I got discharged, I went home to California for a few weeks and decided to decorate the scar some. I went to this little place down by the beach in Santa Cruz. Spent the whole day surfing then drank about a fifth of tequila and had Alexis’s name shoved under my skin just like she was.” He laughs, but it’s weak, and everyone can tell it wasn’t a good time he had.

I can’t help but touch him. I rub my hand up and down his back. “I think it’s the most beautiful tattoo I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks, babe,” he whispers.

“Oh!” Beth yelps suddenly. “The flowers! They’re still in the back of the truck. We need to get them so Juan can get them replanted before they start wilting.”

“Sure thing,” Gabe stands up and looks at Juan like he should go along to help.

Juan clears his throat. “Uh, sorry,
ese
. My leash doesn’t extend to the street,” he says as he holds up his leg and points to the ankle bracelet there.

“Oh!” I reply way too brightly. “I’ll help. You two stay here. We’ll be right back.”

I grab Gabe’s hand and nearly sprint toward the front of the house. Once we’re out of sight, I stop and lay my head on Gabe’s shoulder.

“Oh my God, could that get any more uncomfortable? Holy hell. What do you talk about with a guy who’s been in prison for most of his adult life?”

Gabe takes my hand and starts slowly walking again. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard. I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy though.”