Page 28 of Help Me Remember
Over the third man’s shoulder, I saw a fourth appear, walking past his friend and toward the living room without even glancing at me. He was dressed as casually as the rest, but he moved with purpose and a confidence that told me instantly this was the man in charge.
“Eric, isn’t it?” I heard a voice ask from the living room. There was a rasp to it as if he’d just smoked a pack of cigarettes in two hours, but his cadence was smooth and in control.
“Yeah, wanna tell me why you just broke into my apartment?” Eric asked, and for a moment, I was impressed with how calm and annoyed he sounded. “And why you had to use Ryan to get in? Thanks for that, by the way, Ryan! And yes, I can see you trying to hide in the hallway.”
“I said I’m sorry,” I heard Ryan mutter, and I could tell he wasn’t stepping into the apartment. However wrong Eric had been about what Ryan was or wasn’t capable of, I at least had to admit the man sounded ashamed. His shame was useless to Eric and me, but maybe there had been some hope for him before.
“Yeah, that doesn’t help me very much right now,” Eric said, dryly echoing my thoughts.
“Ryan did like he was told, which is what we expected. Just like he was doing before you and your friend interrupted him,” the leader said. “We’ve got nothing but respect for you and what you do. We’ve got no problems who you help…by stitching them up, not by getting in the way of business. Now, you’ve been living here long enough to know how things work around here, and you should know better than to get in the way of what we do.”
“That wasn’t—” I began with a growl, but the man in front of me waved his gun in an obvious warning.
“Look,” I heard Eric begin, clearing his throat roughly. It was clear to me he was nervous and trying to settle the situation peacefully. “I don’t keep track of who’s doing what around here. We saw someone in trouble and decided to step in. Mr. Reyes is an old man.”
“And behind on payments,” the man said, and I could perfectly picture the sneer on his face. “Doing good things is fine, but there’s a limit.”
“Okay, well, I understand that now,” Eric said slowly, probably choosing his words carefully. “I didn’t realize the three of them were with anyone specifically. It wouldn’t be the first time a few guys decided to rob someone. They didn’t even tell us what they were doing. They just attacked.”
“I never said my boys were smart,” the man said with a snort. “But them getting their asses handed to them, that’s new. What kind of people are you spending your time with?”
“Uh…” Eric began, and I sighed.
“Me!” I barked, ignoring the second warning of the gun waving through the air.
The man snorted. “In your bedroom, Eric? I guess we’re learning new things about you tonight.”
“It’s not like that,” I heard Eric mutter.
“Still, I want to look at the man who managed to beat the shit out of three of my guys without taking a scratch,” the man said, then called louder, “Bring him in.”
The man with the gun gestured toward the doors that led through the bathroom and into the living room. I rolled my eyes as he gave his gun extra emphasis, as if I hadn’t seen the weapon already. I didn’t know if all thugs with guns were like this, but this one clearly thought he needed to keep making a point.
With a sigh, I walked through the bathroom and into the living room, careful not to make any sudden movements, so I didn’t startle the idiot behind me. I turned to face the man who’d been speaking the whole time, who hadn’t moved even when I entered the room, keeping his eyes on Eric. I looked at Eric to make sure he was in one piece, finding him sitting rigidly on the couch, a hand clasped on each knee as he glanced between me and this stranger. There was a bead of sweat on his brow, but his gaze was steady, and I didn’t see him trembling.
The man who led the thugs was watching him carefully, his hands shoved into a pair of dirty, scuffed jeans. His shirt and boots were just as dirty and well-used, and there was a smear of something dark that I thought might be grease under his jaw. There were dark circles under his eyes, but those eyes were sharp as he looked over Eric before slowly turning to me. There was a sharpness to him, maybe it was the slightly prominent brow or the hook in his nose, but his dark eyes reminded me of a bird of prey as they swept from my feet up to my face.
Yet when his eyes reached my face, his expression shifted from dispassionate analysis to alarm. His shoulders immediately went rigid, and I would swear he had to fight to resist the urge to step away from me.
“Riley?” he barked, gesturing sharply at the man behind me. “We were told you were dead.”
Caution.
It was the first time I could say that the distant but authoritative voice in my head had spoken clearly. Whatever was going on here, I could feel the absolute necessity to play along. This would mark the second time a complete stranger recognized me, but it was a wariness, hinting at fatal missteps that spoke to me this time rather than simple caution.
“Apparently not,” I said dryly, ignoring the way Eric glanced between the two of us like a cat watching a tennis match.
“That was what I was told,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “Gabriel told us all as much.”
I gestured to myself. “Apparently not.”
He grimaced, now tapping his jawline. “What the hell are you doing here? And bothering my boys?”
Danger was practically screaming through my head as I weighed his words. I had no idea who he was or who this Gabriel was, but apparently, everyone involved thought I was dead. It was also apparent that whoever I was to them was someone of importance and quite possibly someone this man deferred to. Yet, unlike him and one of the other grunts I’d heard, I didn’t have the faint accent I assumed ran through the rest of what Eric had previously called Los Muertos.
There was still a good chance I could get us through this in one piece, and I only hoped that both luck and my wits were on my side.
I gestured toward Eric. “Like he told you, we didn’t know they were yours. It was dark, and they didn’t announce themselves.”