Page 38 of Enzo
I’m not a kid.
FOURTEEN
Enzo
It wasbad enough that Gray was hanging around. Still, when our next arrival this morning was freaking Vinnie in a fake-ass stolen car, I about lost my shit, particularly when he started confronting Robbie, who was shaking.
“This fucking twink won’t take my money,” Vinnie shouted right in Robbie’s face. The bastard was red-faced, fingers jabbing hard enough to leave bruises.
Robbie flinched back with each poke. His face was white, his eyes wide, and his hands shook so badly his notebook nearly slipped to the floor.
“Vinnie, we don’t mod cars. You wanna sell this as a ‘68, and the cops will track it to here,” Logan said, his voice tight with tension. At least he’d come out of his office after hiding in there all day worrying about Tudor, and Cassidy, and that fucking journalist who was up in his space. He was also in pain, favoring his shoulder where a barrier had dropped on him, but the idiot wouldn’t do anything about it.
“It’s not a ‘68,” Gray blurted from the back. “What is it, a ‘69 that you’ve added a… jeez… what did you do to that poor car?”
Logan shot Gray a look so sharp it could have cut steel, subtly shaking his head to silence him. Gray zipped his lips and backed off, but I didn’t have time to wonder about whatever crap was going on between those two. Robbie was still backed into the corner, his chest rising and falling way too fast.
“I tried to explain to Mr. uh… Vinnie, that it was illegal,” Robbie stammered, voice watery. He glanced at his notebook as if the written words might ground him. “I wrote down what I said. I really tried.”
Vinnie turned to pleading, “Come on, Lo, you owe me one. Rio did it before?—”
“Get out,” Logan snapped.
“Then fuck you!” Vinnie snarled and shoved Robbie in the chest, hard enough to send him stumbling back.
I saw red.
I didn’t think—just moved. I crossed the distance in two strides and stepped between Vinnie and Robbie, planting myself in the way. My body blocked Vinnie, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. Robbie let out a shaky breath behind me, and I wasn’t moving until I knew he was safe. Vinnie was trying to stare around me at Robbie, his eyes wide, and I lost my shit.
“Out,” I growled, voice low and dangerous. My pulse roared in my ears, my muscles vibrating with tension. Vinnie squared up to me, and I let him see it—that if he so much as twitched toward Robbie again, I would flatten him.
I don’t know what Vinnie saw in my face, but whatever it was must’ve been enough, because after a few tense seconds, he turned on his heel, stomped to his fake-ass car, and reversed down the alley with a squeal of tires and a cloud of fumes.
Jamie and Rio had joined us at some point, standing as a wall behind me, ensuring he wouldn’t stand a chance if Vinnie thought about turning back.
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath. I turned back to Robbie, with his glassy eyes, tears barely held back. His chest hitched, his notebook still clenched in his trembling fingers.
I gentled my voice. “C’mon, let’s get you outta here for a minute.”
I led him to the kitchen and Rio pulled out a chair for me, and I tugged Robbie onto my lap to hold him and stroked his back until his breathing started to even out.
“You okay?” I asked.
Robbie leaned back, scrubbed at his face with one hand, and gave a shaky nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” His voice wasn’t convincing, and I didn’t believe him for a second.
“You don’t have to be okay right now,” I said. “You were scared. That’s normal.”
“I thought he was gonna hit me,” Robbie whispered.
“I know,” I said. “I wasn’t moving. I had you.”
Robbie blinked rapidly, a tear slipping free.
“I know,” he whispered, letting me sit there with him for a while until his breathing slowed and he stopped shaking. “I thought he saw me and recognized me.”
I stiffened. “Really?”
“The way he stared at me. I didn’t like it, and he had this look. What if he recognized me?”
