CHAPTER TWELVE

           LUCY STUFFED A PIECE OF RED VELVET BIRTHDAY CAKE IN HER MOUTH AS SHE WEAVED THROUGH ALL THE CHILDREN OUTSIDE. The woman let out a scoff as she passed Dean Boland trying to get into the bounce house with mismatched socks. His giddy smile made her roll her eyes and Beth mimicked her when she caught her eyes.

"I don't know how you do it." muttered Lucy as she leaned against the picnic table. "Seeing him so happy like that after what he's done."

The entire backyard was covered in balloons and decorated tables filled with all sorts of food. There had been a very nice return policy at their local store so this was what they'd come up with after Dean had promised Kenny a large birthday party.

"Wait ... are you eating cake?" questioned Beth, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes?" Lucy tilted her head to the side. "Was I not supposed to?"

"No," groaned Beth with her eyes closed before she shot a worried glance towards her son standing by all the presents. "we haven't even sung 'Happy Birthday' yet."

"Don't worry," shrugged Lucy with a grin. "I didn't get Kenny's cake, I ate the one Ruby brought."

"No one has eaten cake yet."

"I thought I deserved it after getting clocked in the face."

The strawberry blonde's eyes flickered towards the darkened spot on her friends forehead. Though, she had put a lot of concealer on it there was almost no mistaking the dark purple spots underneath it. The cut had closed but was scabbed over, something she couldn't hide with makeup. "That shouldn't have happened and now he's going to owe us more in assault damages."

"That's not a real thing." uttered Lucy as she rolled her lower lip between her teeth. "And I doubt he's going to be happy about the fact we lost him."

"He had a gun to us?" Beth whispered, peering around to see if anyone was listening. "He attacked you. What were we supposed to do?"

Lucy shrugged because she honestly did not know. There hadn't been anything else they could have done. He was armed and they weren't. They were defenceless against a gun and she doubted she could have done anything to stop him after he'd hit her in the face.

"I'll call him tonight." whispered Beth. "He owes us money."

"Kenny!" Annie shrieked over all the playing children as she ambled down the steps of the home with a massive birthday cake in her hands, Sadie hot on her heels. "Happy Birthday!"

Beth plastered on a bright smile as her son skipped towards her with a similar expression. Lucy took a few steps back and stood at the edge of the table as kids came running over to get a look at the cake. Dean, a little red in the face, almost wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders before deciding against it. 

"Hi auntie, Lucy." Sadie nudged her shoulder against her arm and grinned up at her. "Look, I got the stitches removed. They said that you probably won't even know they were there to begin with."

Lucy grabbed her hand and inspected her own work with a proud smile. "Well, they do say i'm the best."

The eleven year old stood between her and her mother as the song Happy Birthday began to echo through the backyard. Kenny glanced around happily, though a slight blush had crept onto his cheeks and he opted to look at his soccer cake instead.

"Make a wish, honey." Beth kissed the top of his head.

"I wish that daddy could live at home again."

Silence fell over the group and the brunette frowned at the child.

"Okay? Anything else?" tried Annie, cheerfully.

"Blow out the candles, baby." ushered Beth instead after sharing a quick glance with her husband whom she had thrown out the house two weeks prior. "Good job!"

Lucy pursed her lips and glanced towards the backdoor when she saw movement from the corner of her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him dressed clad in black. He wore a button down, something she hadn't seen on him before and black denim jeans. His hands were clasped behind his back and his eyes were already on her.

"Excuse me." uttered Beth.

But Lucy was already pushing away from the crowd and called, "I got it."

His brows pulled together as she brisked past him and into the home with him hot on her heels. Lucy did not stop until she was inside the bedroom and closed the door behind them. "How did you get inside?"

"The door was open." 

"There's children here, maybe you shouldn't -"

The brunette winched when he took a hold of her chin and lifted her head up towards his. His eyes were dark and she wanted to shrink away from him. He was so close she could smell the mint on his breath, they were practically chest to chest. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

Lucy blinked up at him, confused. "Nothing?"

His grip tightened as he squeezed her chin. "Don't play with me."

"I'm not." she uttered, her own hand wrapped around his wrist to feel somewhat in control of herself. "It was just an accident. He was scared."

Rio could see the bruising she was trying to hide clearly through the layers of concealer. It didn't cover much and the scabbed over cut was easily noticeable against her pale complexion. "Tell me."

"He was out cold for awhile." she said, not able to look away from him with his hold on her. "Then he woke up, didn't know where he was and he was scared. Wouldn't you be? Bleeding in a strangers home."

He narrowed his eyes once more and moved them towards her injury. He clenched his molars together and dropped his hand away from her skin. Her chin was red from his grip and he took a step back, resting against the dresser behind him.

"Is he upstairs?" His voice was rough, low.

"He -"

The door burst open and in stalked Beth. "What are you doing here? I'm having a birthday party, there are kids here with their parents." He glared at her and the woman noticed the gun underneath his shirt. "You brought a gun to my house. Of course, you brought a gun."

Rio ignored her and snatched a photograph off of the dresser with disinterest and angry he was interrupted. "This your husband?" 

"Yes," she sighed.

"What does he do?"

"He sells cars." Beth crossed her arms over each other as she gave Lucy a once over to see if she was okay.

"Any good at it?"

"Yeah ... I-" she stuttered. "Why? What does it matter?"

"He don't look to trust worthy to me." he shrugged, putting it back down and facing her with his arms resting on the furniture behind him. He tilted his head slightly and Lucy found herself unable to look away from him, which irked her quite a bit.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Here to pick up my boy." His eyes flickered toward Lucy and he seemed pleased that her eyes were already on him.

"That's hilarious." scoffed Beth. "He's not here. And by the way, when he left, he held us at gunpoint. Hit Lucy in the face with that gun and then stole my car. So i'm gonna need payment for that, too."

"Oh, i'm sorry. What payment?"

"Excuse me?" Beth's eye almost twitched.

Rio licked his lips and huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, you get paid when you do a job. Did you do a job?"

"He left." tried Beth in defence.

"And that's on you." he retorted as he took a step towards her.

Beth raised her voice slightly at the man. "What am I supposed to do? Chain him to a bed?"

"Oh, baby." grinned Rio humourlessly with a shake of his head. "What you think this is? Little League? And you get a trophy just for playing?"

"I tried." argued Beth, standing her ground.

"I don't give a damn if you try. You gotta win, bitch."

"Beth?" Dean wandered into the room, hands resting on his side as he looked at the gang member in alarm. "You okay?"

"Fine, yeah. Fine." she nodded quickly as she looked away from Rio.

The man with the eagle tattoo glanced over his shoulder toward Dean and raked his eyes from top to bottom over the man with a grimace. He let out a huff with distaste and turned around, smacking Dean on the arm. "Cars, huh?"

Lucy watched the scene unfold quietly and watched as Rio left the room, though he stopped at the end of the hall. Dean had stormed up towards Beth and was throwing accusations her way, not that he had any right to and the brunette slipped from the room, closing the door.

"Walk with me." he said, though he did not bother to look at her.

The brunette chewed on the inside of her cheek and glanced around to see if no one saw them before following after him toward the front door. When he rounded the corner, he bumped into Boomer and said politely. "Excuse me."

"Hey ..." began the grocery store manager. "have we met before?"

"No, I don't think so."

"You look so familiar." continued Boomer, narrowing his eyes.

"Get fucked, Leslie." snapped Lucy as she bumped into his shoulder on purpose. "You're not invited to this party, get the hell out of here."

"Alright," he held up his hands and turned on his heels. "Jesus."

Rio let out an amused chuckle and held the front door open for her and she stepped around him and into the fresh air. There were balloons out front too, leading a colourful path up towards the home and he flicked one of them with his fingers. 

"I need you to come back to the warehouse."

"Right now?" she furrowed her brows and he gave her a single nod. "I told you I didn't want to be involved in this anymore. I am out."

"I don't think that's true, ma." His eyes raked over her face with hooded eyes and a lift of his lips. "I don't think you're out at all. Now, if you're interested in making some cash, you'll get in my car and come with me."

Lucy opened her mouth but not a sound came out as she watched him walk down the porch and onto the streets, not waiting for an answer.

do we like where this is going? do we not like where this is going? trying to make this as slow as possible but with the right amount of tension.