CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

          IT HAD BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE THE BRUNETTE HAD GOTTEN TO HIS APARTMENT AFTER THE MURDER AND SHE THOUGHT SHE MIGHT BE OVERSTEPPING IT A BIT. Though he had said that she was welcome to stay for as long as she wanted, this was his home that he shared with his son every weekend and she was still occupying his bed while he slept on the couch. And that wasn't fair.

Marcus would come over on Friday and she didn't know if he wanted her there when he did. He never said anything about it.

Besides, she was running out of clean clothes to wear and she'd have to face her apartment eventually. If she was ever able to step foot inside again, she had no idea. Lucy had kept her attention on the news every evening but there was never a mention of a missing landlord, which was perhaps a good thing. It meant that they weren't investigating anything.

Lucy had called in sick from work and said she had a bad case of the flu to avoid confrontation which they easily believed. It was the same lie she had told her friends when they had continued to call and text her. 

Rio had left her to her own vices as he went to run some errands that morning and the sun was already beginning to set. The woman sat on the couch in her pyjamas as she lazily scrolled through his tv channels with a steaming mug of tea in front of her.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced down as her screen lit up to see a picture of Annie.

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek and answered, putting it on speaker as she continued to scroll through channels until she found something worth watching.

"Hi, Annie." she muttered, eyes glued to the screen.

"Thank god you answered." said Annie, and she could almost hear the grin on her face. "You're never going to guess what we did last night!"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me right now."

"We robbed Fine'n Frugal again." At this Lucy did avert her gaze from the tv and raised a single brow as if her friend could see. "I know what you're thinking right now but it was the only way get gang friend off our backs. You know how he threatened to kill Beth, right?"

"What are you talking about it?" frowned Lucy as she picked up the phone and took it off speaker to press it to her ear as if she would hear it better that way. "What do you mean get him off your backs?"

"Well," began Annie. "we know he launders money through the store, right? And people go to jail for that so we had to give the feds a reason to look. He's so going to get busted! I have the news on do you have the news on? I'm sure they're going to announce it any minute now."

"Annie - I" Lucy was at a loss for words as she flipped through channels to get to their local news station which now only showed the weatherman. "I don't know what to say."

And she really didn't know what to say but all she felt was dread as she listened to her friend ramble on on the other end of the line. 

"Can you believe that we're finally going to be free of him!"

"You don't even know if it worked." 

And she hoped it hadn't. Fuck she really, really hoped it hadn't. Lucy glanced around the apartment momentarily and her eyes fell on the picture of Rio with his son, smiling brightly at the camera and her heart ached at the thought of him not coming home. 

"Holy shit!" shrieked Annie and Lucy winched as she pulled the phone away. "Look! There he is! They got him! It actually worked!"

Her breath caught in her throat as she watched the screen, Rio's familiar face lit up the room and her mouth fell open. He was in handcuffs, brows pulled together with a glare on his face. He was wearing the same thing he left in that morning and she turned on the volume. 

"This evening, following the robbery of an Ashwood area Fine'n Frugal. Local authorities working with the FBI say the men laundered money through several small businesses in Wayne County, including the Fine'n Frugal chain." the news anchor spoke quickly, or that might have been her perception of it as she tried to take in all the information. "According to the local authorities, they were able to charge the defendants after a tip left by robbers led investigators to the gang's illegal activity. They were arrested this morning. More on this story as it develops."

"Ahhh, he's so going to jail." said Annie smugly and before she knew it Lucy had ended the call as her eyes followed Rio across the screen as he was led to a car with his hands cuffed.

The news anchor changed the subject to a case of violence on the other end of town and she turned the tv off, cascading her in a silence she found uncomfortable.

"Shit, shit, shit." she muttered as she jumped off the couch, feeling the scabs on the bottom of her feet scream at her as she rushed to grab her duffel bag from the closet. 

Lucy had to get out of that apartment as quickly as she could. The woman was pretty sure the feds were going to search his apartment one way or another and she could not be there when they did. How on earth was she going to explain to Turner that she did in fact knew the gang leader outside of her lies. It wouldn't do either of them any good.

This was so fucked up and the anger she felt for her friends was unmatched, despite the fact she could understand their fear of the man. They had messed up every single thing.

The woman had no idea how many hours it had been since he was arrested, the sun was setting and according to the news anchor it had happened in the morning. Lucy didn't know how much time she had to save both of them.

Her phone rang and she was sure it was Annie again, but she ignored it as she shoved clothes into her bag. Lucy did not hear the front door open and close, nor did she hear him stalk towards the bedroom in search of her with a hand to his ribs.

Rio leaned against the door opening and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Going somewhere?"

Lucy almost shrieked as she spun around, lost her footing and fell back against the mattress. Her eyes widened as she met his dark gaze, seeing the bruises form on his tanned skin and the dried blood beside his left eye and the split lip. He looked horrible and she immediately got back to her feet with a grimace.

He was glaring down at her and she didn't know what to say.

"You knew about this?"

Lucy opened her mouth to deny the accusation but he took a long stride towards her and grabbed her chin between his fingers firmly, though, he was careful not to touch the cut.

"Did you?" he shook her head a tad.

"No," she breathed. "I had no idea. I swear."

"Then why're you in such a hurry, huh?" he was pissed and she stood her ground, not averting her gaze away from his own. "Runnin' back to your little girlfriends now that i'm outta the way?"

The woman furrowed her brows and took his wrist as he still held onto her chin. "I didn't know they were going to do this. I just wanted to be out of here in case the feds showed up, wouldn't be very pretty if Turner found me here now would it?"

His eyes narrowed slightly and his eyes dipped towards her lips for a moment. He was searching her face for a lie but he couldn't find one. 

"You're hurt." she stated, concern washing over her face as she took in his injuries. "What happened?"

"Nothin'" he shook his head and lowered his hand as he let go of her.

"Sit," she muttered, turning them around and pushing at his shoulders so he sat down on the bed. Rio watched her way away from the room and he could hear her rummage through the bathroom and she came back with a first aid kit in her hands. "Let me help you."

And Rio let her as she took out a piece of gauze and soaked it in alcohol. Lucy apologised at the sting it might cause but he did not care as he kept his gaze on her face. Her cheeks turned crimson at that and he felt somewhat pleased with himself. 

"What happened to you?" she muttered, wiping dried blood from his cuts. "Did you get into a fight with the feds or something?"

"Yeah," he chuckled dryly. "somethin' like that."

"How did you get out?" she wondered. 

"I have my ways, ma."

Lucy gave him a pointed look at his revelation and his lips quirked into a small smile at that. The woman stood between his knees and she lifted his head by the chin to clean the cut on his lip. 

Her heart thundered within her chest as he reached up to rest his hands against the back of her thighs. He squeezed her flesh through her pyjama bottoms and she bit the inside of her cheek while she briefly met his gaze before glancing back at his lips as she took away the last of the blood.

"You have to stop looking at me like that." she breathed as one of his hands slid upward toward the underside of her ass. 

"Like what?" he licked his lips as he grinned at the woman before him.

"You know exactly what I mean."

"Hmm, do I?" he hummed, eyes hooded as he ran his hands up and down her thighs. Lucy swallowed and dropped the gauze on the floor as he pulled her closer toward him. She grabbed onto his shoulders to steady herself. "Sit, mama."

He tugged on her again and she couldn't help but do so, straddling him on the end of the bed. Their faces were inches apart and he could feel the quick thrum of her heart against his own chest.

He nudged their noses together and before she knew it she had pressed her lips against his own in a searing kiss. 

i'm not leaving ya'll hanging. the next chapter is just pure smut but i didn't want to make this a 5000 word chapter.