Mess Me Up
Page 30

Mostly because he’d also heard that there’d been a murder and that Izzy was involved in it. I just so happened to get tight with her right around the same time.
Since Slate had no other way to investigate the problem, he’d made assumptions that I was the reason his sister was involved in whatever she was involved in instead of her finding trouble on her own, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
But, being the nice person that I was, I’d decided to come in early for my shift to inform her brother about what was going on.
I snorted. “From what I understand, Izzy is the only one. Unless y’all are hiding one from her that she doesn’t know about.”
Slate’s mouth kicked up at the corner.
“Yeah.” He grinned then, but it quickly fell off his face. “Is my sister okay?”
I thought about that, then decided to fully explain everything, starting with how we met.
I ended it with how she’d found the photos in Senator Antilles’s house.
By the time I was finished explaining, his fists were clenched on his knees, and he was staring at me furiously.
“She was supposed to live with me after she was injured. She hated being back with our parents,” he murmured, sounding sick to his stomach. “My fiancée and I had a pool house, and we were going to put her out there. Right before my fiancée was murdered, and I went off the rails, I introduced her to Rodrigo. I’d met the motherfucker during an investigation and thought he and Izzy would hit it off. Then I went down for murder, and I found out that he’d started abusing my sister. It was the worst feeling in the world to know that I couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it. My world was imploding all around me, and I could only sit there and witness it.”
The idea of losing Izzy was something that made my breath stall in my chest. The idea of knowing that someone I loved was being abused, and I could do nothing to stop it was a special kind of torture. The idea of that person being Izzy set something inside of me on fire.
I’d had to control myself when it came to her ex, Rodrigo.
But the more that I learned about him, the more that I realized what an asshole he really was. I mean taking advantage of a woman who’d lost her child was bad enough, but abusing her on top of that? Yeah, that didn’t sit well with me.
I clenched my own fists.
“You and she make a good pair then, both of you knowing what it feels like to lose a child,” he murmured into my darkness.
I blinked, seeing him staring at me with his own demons in his eyes.
“Take care of her,” he ordered. “I don’t want to have to break out of this prison, it might make your friend the Warden look bad, but I’d do it to protect my sister.”
I found myself grinning.
“You think you could?” I questioned curiously.
He nodded. “I know I could.”
My lips twitched. “You ride?”
His head tilted. “Motorcycles?”
I nodded.
“I had one before I moved into my new home.” He gestured to the world around him. “But I told Izzy to sell it to help pay for my mortgage.”
Now was not the time to tell him that he most likely still owned that bike.
But, I couldn’t let him think that his sister had not been struggling to make sure he had a life to return to when he got out.
“Uhh, about that.”
Chapter 17
I’m a fucker upper. I fuck things up. That’s what I do.
-Izzy to Rome
Izzy
Today was visitation day with Slate, and I couldn’t wait to go talk to him.
I had so much I wanted to tell him, and it was like a bubbling pot inside my chest.
My happiness about where I found myself was palpable.
I’d even ran by my Abuela’s house and gotten a few of Slate’s favorite cookies.
The guard usually allowed Slate to sit in the very corner, away from the farthest guard, meaning I might get a chance to slip him the cookies.
If I did get the chance, then I’d give them to him.
Usually they didn’t care. Most of the time it was the inmates around him that I had to be careful of since you weren’t allowed to give any prisoners food and drink.
But, like I said, Slate was loved by the guards, and if I didn’t get a chance to give them to him during the visitation, then I’d slip the cookies to the guard, and they’d find a way to get it to him.
Against the rules, but what-the-fuck-ever.
“Good morning, ma’am,” the guard, Cosby Johnson, said. “How are you?”
I grinned. “I’m great, Cosby. How’s the new baby?”
Cosby grinned. “Little rascal is a whole forty-five pounds. When I got that Golden Retriever for my wife, I had no clue that he was going to grow so fast.”
I snorted. “Goldens don’t get that big. But they do grow fast from what I understand.”
Cosby skipped over the box of cookies, did a cursory glance in my purse, and then handed it back to me.
I wasn’t sure why they even bothered at this point. I could’ve hidden any number of things in there, and he wouldn’t have found them.
Again, that likely had a lot to do with my brother.
“Have a nice chat,” he said, waving me through the line.
I smiled at him and moved out of the way for the next person to be checked—which was a lot more thoroughly than I had been—and headed for my usual seat.
Once everyone was checked in, they’d bring the inmates in.
Until then, I busied myself on my phone, studying up on my driving laws.
Today I was getting a driving lesson.
I wanted to make sure I was prepared.
I was nervous as hell and, honestly, questioning whether or not this was the best idea.
Maybe I was just not meant to drive. Maybe, if I drove, I’d have an accident and die.
I was so focused on my thoughts that I hadn’t been paying attention to the inmates coming into the room until Slate dropped down in front of me, scaring the absolute crap out of me.
“Boo!”
Slate’s grinning face had me reeling.
I screeched, then reached forward and punched him in the arm.
“Slate, you bastard. You know I don’t like that!” I growled.
Slate’s grin was unrepentant.
“The last time you freaked out over nothing, you were pregnant,” he teased.
He looked immediately sorry that he’d brought it up.
I narrowed my eyes. “Shut up. And I’m not mad. You’re allowed to mention her.”
His lips twitched. “Sit down and stop making a scene. You know how I hate the attention.”
I rolled my eyes and started with my first bit of good news.
“He’s going to teach me to drive.” I smiled. “And then, once I’m good at it, I’m going to go take the test.”
His eyes narrowed.
“So... I heard that you’ve been paying my mortgage,” he drawled.
I blinked innocently. “Isn’t that what I was supposed to do?”
His eyes narrowed. “What you were supposed to do was sell my Harley, and then use that money to pay off my mortgage each month. I’ve heard that you’ve been paying my mortgage out of your own pocket.”
I opened my mouth and closed it, suspicion filtering through my mind.
“How do you know that?” I hedged.
There was no use in lying. Slate always could tell when I was and didn’t hold any punches when he knew it.
“I was told by your man.” He paused. “And before you get all mad and shit, you shouldn’t. He was just trying to get me to like him.”
I snorted loudly. “Did it work?”
His eyes went hard. “If he protects you, I’ll love him.”
I felt something inside of my chest soften at knowing that my brother would make an effort to get along with him.
“And since you owe me now, you need to do me a favor,” he ordered.
My brows rose. “What’s that?”
“Drive Vanessa’s car,” he demanded. “I bought it for her, and it’s paid in full. So, use it. Drive it. It’s just sitting there. In fact, you can have it. I loved that car and wanted Vanessa to drive it, but no one is using it now. It may not have the newest technology anymore and probably will need a tune-up because it hasn’t been driven, or even started, since I’ve been in here, but it’s a good, solid car. It’ll be perfect for you.”