Unsteady (The Torqued Trilogy Book 1) (33 page)

He sighs and steadies himself against the shelves. I notice then his hands are shaking. Maybe he’s had too much coffee lately. “Okay, well let’s think about it. Do you think he’ll come after you or is he all talk?”

I try to think about it, the possibility if he’ll actually come after me and my answer is yes. Ben would. It’s in his nature to see it until… the end.

“Yes. I don’t doubt for a minute that he will come after me. Ben sees my leaving as a slap in his face. There is no way he is going to let me go without a fight.”

“Okay. Well then, after work today, you and I are going to go to the sheriff’s office and report that Ben violated the restraining order.”

“Do you think they will do anything? I mean it’s not like he broke the order or anything. He just called me.”

Ben rolls his eyes and looks at me with a frustrated glare. “It’s a no contact order, Lenny. Yes, he broke it and yes, they will do something about it. Just promise that we will go and report it this afternoon.”

“I promise.”

“Good. Oh, and I don’t want you going anywhere outside of the garage or the house without someone with you. Until we know something about what’s going on with Ben, I don’t want you alone. Got that?”

Warmth spreads in my chest and I can’t help but smile at him. This is what it feels like to be cared for. This is what it having a family is like. “Okay.”

We both head back to the shop, which is busy and there is not time to screw around without falling behind.

THE DAY HAS gone by so quickly and before I realize it, it’s already afternoon. I know I need to talk to Red and apologize for being late, but I haven’t had the time yet today.

When I finally get a minute to grab a quick drink, I see Red for the first time today.

To my left, I can hear Rawley and Daniel talking and then Rawley shoves Daniel. “Fuck off, Daniel. Get out of my face today!”

Daniel stands there for a minute looking at Rawley but makes the decision to turn and walk away. Probably one of the few good decisions Daniel has made in his life.

Well, it’s clear everyone is in a bad mood today. Maybe it has something to do with the thunderstorm heading our way; it’s got everyone all amped up. I do wonder what went down with Rawley and his harem, and I can honestly say I think a little differently about him knowing he’s so… well, as Raven would put it, slutty.

I decide this time is as good as any to head over and apologize. I need to talk to Red before I chicken out and not say anything at all.

Right when I get to the stall, the crowbar in his hand drops to the ground as it slips off and jams into the engine block.

“Motherfucker!” he curses, jumping back and holding his hand for a brief moment.

Bloody knuckles and bloodshot eyes confirm a couple of things. One, Red has a temper far beyond what I’ve seen, and two, he didn’t get much sleep last night. I want to ask him if everything’s okay but I know the answer. He’s probably upset about me stopping our kiss last night.

“Hey, sorry I was late this morning.”

Red stops what he’s doing but doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t even look at me. He just turns and walks away. Seriously? He’s just going to ignore me?

“Reddington!” I call after him.

His body tenses at me calling him Reddington, but he keeps walking away toward the coffee machine inside the office, so I follow him. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he’s purposely trying to piss me off. And you know, I take the bait because I turn into an idiot around him all of the time.

I look around, making sure Mia and Raven aren’t in here before I say, “Look, if you’re worried about last night, don’t be. I get that it meant nothing.” I try to keep my voice from shaking around him. “That’s why I left when I did to stop it before we went too far.”

“What?” He whirls to face me, outraged, and spits the word out in a hiss.

“That’s why I left.” Numbly, I turn my gaze to his.

His eyes narrow and I’m reminded of the kiss and the heat from it while I’m under his gaze. “Okay….”

“It’s just you know, we got caught up in the moment and I assumed it didn’t mean anything to you either.”

To you either? That implies I thought it didn’t mean anything and that’s a crock of shit. It did mean something to me. It meant the world to be kissed like that.

He cuts me off immediately, his finger in my face as he steps closer and anger pulsing in his dark eyes. “Stop thinking you know anything about me,” he says, aggravation clear in his tone.

I swallow hard, anger and humiliation washing over me that I’m actually standing here with him trying to act like it meant nothing.

Red doesn’t budge, aggression hardening his features as he pours himself a coffee. As beautiful as Red is, this—the angry side—is a sight to behold. Hell, it is damn near fascinating to me.

He narrows his eyes into slits when he turns to me. “So let me get this straight. You think me kissing you last night meant nothing to me, which is okay with you, because it also meant nothing to you?” he repeats with contempt, pressing me to answer him.

No!

I lift a brow, challenging him. “Yes.”

He steps right in my face, standing directly in front of me. My breathing spikes, like it always does around him. “Believe what you want, then.” His expression clouds with anger. “But know this… I haven’t been with a woman since my wife died.” He pauses, waiting for me to look at him, as if to let that last bit sink in.

I gasp because it does. It sinks down to my gut and confirms my theory that anything between us is a bad idea. Crossing my arms over my chest defiantly, I stare at the parking lot to see Mia returning to the office. I feel like a complete asshole when I see her coming, like I shouldn’t be in here arguing with her son over a kiss that obviously meant something to the both of us.

“Just forget it,” Red grumbles, slamming the door behind him as he leaves the office.

Well, that went horribly.

IN THE LATE afternoon, after avoiding Red all day, we’re working in a neutral silence when we hear a crash at the end of the shop. I turn my head just as Red takes off toward where Tyler and Colt’s stall are at the far left.

My eyes scan the shop landing on Tyler’s stall to see him on the ground, blood pouring from the side of his face.

Immediately, I panic, as do Colt, Daniel, and Rawley, as we rush over to him. He shakes violently, his body convulsing in jerked movements. We surround Tyler and I yell to Red, “Should I call 911?”

He shakes his head, all his focus on Tyler. He’s completely in control as he tries to keep his head from repeatedly hitting the concrete floor. “No, he has epilepsy. He probably forgot to take his medicine this morning.”

It seems like the seizure goes on forever when in reality it’s a minute or two. Finally, Tyler goes limp on the ground, blood still flowing from a cut on his head.

“He hit his head on the car,” Daniel points out, having seen the whole thing, his voice trembling as he stares down at Tyler with wide eyes. “It was really weird. He was just standing there staring at the car and passed out.”

“He suffers from grand mal seizures. He’s on medication that controls them but this happens when he forgets to take it.” Red reaches beside him for a shop towel and holds it to Tyler’s head as he lays limp with his head supported in Red’s lap. “He’ll be fine. It’s nothing to worry about.” And then he nods to me. “Can you go get my mom and tell her what happened? We need to get him into the office to lay down for a minute.”

Nodding, I take off running, only to run into both Mia and Raven as they’re rushing out of the office. “What the hell happened?” Raven asks, trying to appear like she’s not worried about Tyler, but the way her eyes widen and her breathing halts, she’s panicking seeing her fuck buddy lying on the ground bleeding.

“Apparently he had a seizure,” I tell her as we rush back over to Red.

Red takes another towel and wipes the side of Tyler’s face where blood from his mouth has trickled down his cheek. “He probably bit his tongue.” He looks at his mom next to me. “Can you grab the first-aid kit? He’s got a pretty bad gash on his forehead.”

Raven leaves to get it. When she returns, she takes over making sure the cut it okay. “Should we take him to the hospital?” Raven asks, kneeling down to their level and touching the side of Tyler’s face tenderly as she applies gauze to the cut.

It takes Tyler around ten minutes to come back around, his face pale, his expression one of confusion as Colt teases him lightly while handing him a bottle of water. He drinks it slowly and notices his tongue is bleeding. He spits blood on the floor, away from us.

“Fuck, I’m a mess.” Taking a towel beside him, Tyler covers his lap where his jeans are wet. I can’t imagine this is easy on him. Here we are all staring at him as he sits propped against his toolbox, urine-soaked jeans and bleeding.

“Why don’t you go upstairs?” Red suggests to Tyler, keeping his hand on his shoulder as he sits next to him on the floor. We were going to move him to the office, but decided against it when he began to come around.

Tyler stares blankly at him, and then shakes his head slowly. “No, I’m fine. I gotta….” He looks around and clearly doesn’t even remember what he was working on.

“Tyler, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but we both know you’re not fine.” Red waves to the cars. “Besides, I can’t have you around all this equipment after you’ve just had a seizure. Just go upstairs and rest.”

“I’ll take him upstairs,” Raven suggests, stepping forward

Tyler shakes his head immediately. “No.”

Red nods to his sister and then helps Tyler up. “Let Raven take you home. Go rest.”

Raven steps forward, her arm around Tyler’s waist. They exchange a passing glance. The first one in public I’ve seen yet. He breathes in deeply at her touch, leaning into her side as if he’s glad she’s here right now. Thankfully, Red doesn’t notice the intimacy of it.

It takes them twenty minutes to get him up the stairs. While they’re doing that, I pick up the tools that scattered around Tyler’s stall when he fell.

“You okay?” Red asks when he returns and sees me trying to make sense of what I just saw.

“I’m fine. That’s just… scary.” I push Tyler’s tool cart out of the way and beside his toolbox. “And I didn’t even know he had epilepsy.”

Red nods, taking the work order Tyler had and looking it over. “He didn’t want anyone to know. The only reason I know is because it happened once when we were younger.”

“Why would he hide it though? It’s not a big deal.”

“To
you
it’s not,” Red points out and turns his attention toward the car Tyler was in the middle of. He was replacing an engine in an old Chevy Blazer and still hadn’t got the engine out. “To him he’s vulnerable when he has them. He has absolutely no control over anything. I mean, he pissed himself right there. Do you think any man would feel comfortable with that?”

“Well, no.”

Rawley approaches, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans, his guitar in hand. “I need to take off early. Like now.”

I’m in disbelief at the audacity of him to think that would even be an option after what just went down with Tyler’s seizure. I look to Red, waiting on his reaction.

Red’s jaw flexes, as do the muscles in his forearms as he looks at me, and then Rawley. “Why’s that?”