love them all. And I love you, too.”
Never before had words sounded so sweet, and hearing them from her the first time had me wanting to make love to her all over again. My world stood still as I turned to face her and said, “I love you, too, Sunshine.”
She pressed her lips to mine, and we completely became lost in the moment. Just before we had a chance to get carried away, we both heard Charlie and Hadley arguing next door. With a growl, Olivia got up. As she got dressed, she pouted. “Duty calls.”
She kissed me one last time and headed for the door. Our moments alone were short, but they were enough. I savored every minute I could have with her. Being with her was the only thing that kept me going when things went to shit at the garage. I’d been going in early every day trying to get ahead, but the weekend was just around the corner and I hadn’t made the progress I’d hoped to make. When all the guys started packing up for the night, I decided I’d follow them out. There was nothing on that engine that couldn’t wait until tomorrow, and I needed to touch base with Big Mike.
As soon as I got out to my bike, I gave him a call and was immediately concerned about what he’d found. Turned out that Hanson made a few bad investments. He’d lost a shit load of money, and the pressure was on him to make a quick turnaround. He was desperate, and desperate men do desperate things. Mike was following a lead on one of the men Hanson was dealing with and promised to get back with me when he found out more. After talking to him, I got on my bike and headed home. I’d barely walked into my apartment when I heard a knock at my door. I looked over at the clock and, seeing that it was before seven, I knew it wasn’t Olivia. We’d made plans to go riding over the weekend, so she’d been working late all week trying to get in a few extra hours so she could take a day off. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find Charlie standing there waiting for me.
He stepped into the apartment and said, “You know Sam? The guy that Livie has been feeding at the diner?”
“Yeah?”
“I found out today at school who beat him up,” he told me with worry in his voice.
When he didn’t continue, I prodded him. “You gonna tell me who it was?”
“His name is Isaac Puckett. He’s a real douchebag. He’s always screwing around with folks and acting like he is such a badass. He’s always running his damn mouth about something. Everybody at school hates him, except for a couple of guys who follow him around like he’s some kind of god or something. They do whatever he tells them to do.”
“Sounds like a real winner. How do you know it was him?”
“I usually just stay away from him and his friends, but I overheard them talking in the locker room after PE today. Puckett was bragging about how he and a couple of his friends beat up some homeless guy, and even mentioned using a crowbar on him. He started getting all hyped up and said they should go try and find him tonight so they could beat the shit out of him again. They even mentioned coming by the diner to find him.”
“Shit. How old is this kid?”
“Pretty sure he failed a couple of times. Somebody said he was like nineteen or something, but he’s just a junior,” he explained.
“Any idea where I might find this kid?”
“He’ll be at the weight room for another hour or two. The coach assigned him an extra hour of weightlifting for being late to practice, so he told his crew to meet him at the park around eight tonight.”
“You happen to have a picture of this guy?”
“No, but you don’t need one. He’s almost six-two, but he’s pretty slim. Might weigh a hundred and seventy-five pounds. He’s got black hair with dreads and he always wears a big diamond earring in his ear. And he drives an old beat-up green Jeep.”
“Little tyke, huh?”
“He’s tall, but a pussy without his friends around. He’ll be the only one at the weight room tonight. Are you going after him?”
“Might have a little chat with him,” I admitted.
“Can I go with you?”
“Not a chance, man. Your