Overexposed

Ch. 17 Paciencia y Fe

"They balance each other out," Chloe said softly. "Just hope she's okay."

Dia waved away her concern. "She's okay. She's strong that girl. And she's not here, so that's a good sign." She reached out her hand to pat Chloe's. "And you? How do you fit in with Happy?"

She snorted a bit, shrugging a shoulder. "I honestly don't know," she said on a sad laugh. "I just keep waiting for him to dump me. Move on to some newer, younger, hotter girl."

"You're smart. A challenge. That's why he likes you so much," she stated, patting her thigh. "And he's not young anymore, mija. He's too old for those little putas, too smart. They can't keep up with him, entertain him, not like you. He's going to keep you for as long as he can."

"I hope so," she murmured, wiping at her eyes. "If I ever see him again."

"You will. You will see him again, and I will see my Marcus again. You'll see. They'll come for us," she assured her confidently. "Paciencia y fe. Patience and faith. That's all we need right now, mija. Its all going to be okay."

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Happy was covered in blood. It'd been awhile since he got to use his interrogating skills on someone, and he'd gone all out on the motherfucker who had been knocked out in his attempt to kidnap Angela. Squeezed him for every bit of information he could before cutting out his tongue and dismembering him piece by piece. His arms were sore, hands sticky with blood, but he was pleased with the information he'd managed to get. Locations, names, numbers, everything.

"You done?" Juice asked from his seat at the rusted table in the corner. His laptop was open, illuminating his face in a blue light. He'd sat quietly through the whole thing, his fingers flying over his keyboard as he verified every bit of information the man had given them. Happy was surprised Juice could stomach the torture he'd just witnessed, but he'd been good. Hadn't said a word or thrown up like Happy thought he'd might.

He nodded in response. "Yeah. You get all that?"

"Yeah. It all checks out. The warehouse is registered to the Lin family under Lin's Mom's maiden name but spelled differently so it doesn't come up on searches," he explained, still clicking around. At Happy's eyebrow raise, he shrugged. "Looked up the family tree before this shit. Wanted to make sure the names were familiar."

Happy would never admit how impressed he was with Juice's computer skills. "Good," he replied. Juice let out a long breath, rubbing at his eyes for a moment before muttering something under his breath and shaking his head. Happy narrowed his eyes at him. "You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, I'm good," he insisted, cracking his knuckles, his thumb rubbing over his wedding ring.

"The blood gettin' to ya?"

Juice scowled at him and shook his head. "No, no. Fucker deserved all that shit for what he tried to do to my wife. We coulda lost the twins. I coulda lost her. Feels good to see him get what's comin' to him."

Now, Happy understood; Juice was going through what had happened earlier, dwelling on it. "Didn't happen. Kid held her own 'n' you protected her. You should be proud."

He nodded, swallowing hard. "I am proud."

"Then stop thinkin' about the other shit. The kid is fine and those monsters inside a her are fine too. Stop stressin' and find my girl," he said nodding to the computer.

Juice smirked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Your girl, huh?"

"Shut up."

"No, no, its cool. The Tacoma Killer and the Killer Nurse. Its cute," he commented on a shrug. Happy reached out a blood-soaked hand out to smack him in the face only to have him duck. "Don't touch me! Stop! That's fuckin' gross!"