It's been several days and Peri has since left to return to NYC, and Rio has been dealing with Beth and her group, he had sent me short messages, but I haven't seen him. I've been working and going home alone.
I decided to take a chance and drop by the bar. He was there, playing pool with Mick, "Hey, mama." he greets me.
"Hi." I replied, sliding onto a stool nearby.
"Can I get you anything?" the bartender asks.
"Just a water, thank you." I mumbled.
I casually sip at it, while watching them play.
Once they finish a game, Rio turns to me, "You play?"
"I know how." I slide off the stool and watch as he sets up a new game.
"Wanna break, Darlin'?" he asks.
"You can." I shrug.
He smirks before leaning over the table. I debate smacking his butt with the stick, but I didn't know how he would react in front Mick. Eh, Imma do it. I hold the stick like a baseball bat and lightly swing it to smack him. He jumps slightly and quickly spins around to face me and Mick, to which I was laughing and Mick was trying not to, "Wanna play games, now, Mama?" he smirks.
"Isn't that what pool is, Papi?" I retort. He nods his head and turns back.
The balls bounce all around the table as he breaks, the striped violet 12 landing in the pocket, meaning I'm solids.
He hit another ball, that just barely missed the pocket.
"Your turn, mama." he announces. I walk around to the cue ball, studying the table before leaning over.
"Need help?" he whispers, moving my hair away from my ear.
I pull the stick back and hit the cue into the 2 ball, sending it flying into the pocket, I raise back up and face him, "I think I got it." I smirk, sliding to the other side of the rectangle table. As long as I don't think too hard about my moves, I can be pretty decent at pool.
Mick stands to the side and watches us play, until the door swings open, causing me to smack the cue ball too hard. Beth strolls over as Rio bends over the table to take his turn.
"Hot tubs." she says.
Rio easily smacks the dark red 15 into the pocket before raising back up, not giving Beth too much attention as she explains her plan.
Rio says something to Mick in Spanish and I instantly regret taking French...
She keeps going telling him how it would be easy to change the books.
"You said I needed a system. This is my system." she finishes.
"Sistema." Mick chuckles, and Rio joins him. Now, that word I can figure out...
Beth quickly gets annoyed and picks up a ball, throwing it at the large sepia tone picture behind me. I quickly duck, dropping the stick and covering my head, taking them away when I hear the ball hit the ground. Rio still ignores her and rushes to my side, looking me over as Mick moves in closer to Beth.
"You good?" he asks. I nod and he helps me stand back up.
"Go ahead and hate it because you didn't think of it." she smirks.
"You threw a ball right by her head, because I ignored you and all you have to say is I'm jealous of your little plan?" he spits.
"Your stupid little car wash is one of the IRS's first targets, right behind coin laundromats. I Googled it. Guess what's not on the list? Hot tubs." she says.
He stares at her for a moment before gently grabbing my hand and begins guiding me to the back, "Pay her, deduct the artwork and get her out of here." he commands.
There was a very small kitchen in the back and he places me on top of the steel countertop, grabbing a clean rag and dumping ice in it and places it on my head.
"It didn't hit me, Rio." I chuckle.
He smirks at me, placing the rag beside me.
"But, it could've." the smirk is replaced with worry.
"But, it didn't. My cat like reflexes saved me." I joke.
"I'm gonna get her back." he states.
"Rio, I'm fine." I sigh.
"It could've hit you."
"But it didn't." I tried to reassure him, placing my hands on his upper arms, "See, no concussion. I'm all good."
He just nods his head, before helping me down from the counter, and guiding me back out, where now only Mick stood.
Rio has made it nearly impossible for me to leave his side. I only left his side to go to work and even then he sent Mick or Eric to come along with me. It's not that I really minded, I just don't think Beth would chuck another pool ball near me while in a flower shop. Nat and Sarah would ask questions and I gave them very vague answers.
And if I wasn't at work I was stuck to Rio's side like glue. I mean I like spending time with him, but this was getting to be a little much. Luckily, he let me wait in the car if he needed to handle anything, until it came to meeting with Beth.
He actually came around and opened the door for me, helping me slide out of the warm car and into the chill Detroit air. I sat as far from Beth as I could on the picnic table, Mick standing to my left, as Rio told her that she would have to wash the cash at her hot tub store...
"But, my system is just for me." she declares.
"Oh, no, no. We're consolidating, since you like throwing pool balls at my girl's head." he growls.
"So, you want me to print and wash?"
"There's a business term for that. What is it?" he asks, looking to Mick.
"Synergy." he answers.
"Synergy! Synergy, that's right. So, same time, yeah?" he face become stone-cold as he looks at her. It's been several days since she threw the ball and he still hasn't let it go. Ugh, my protective man!
"For what?" she asks.
"My cut." he smirks, tapping on the table. He stands up and grabs my hand, guiding me back to the car. I look back to Beth as she still sits there with the boxes of fake money. He has been guiding me around for the past several days, but I can't really say I mind it too much.
"I swear, this guy won't stop." Nat groans, dropping her phone on the counter.
"What happened?" I asked, placing new flowers in the holders.
"I met this guy in the McDonald's drive thru line, right? He worked at the pay window and we talked a little bit while I waited for the line to move up and he seemed great at first so I gave him my number. But, he is a legit freak, Citrine! He called me that same night and we spoke for 20 minutes, correction he spoke. I got maybe 10 words in, max! And he told me so many things that I didn't ever need to know."
"Like what?" I laugh.
"Like, he got married at 18, divorced at 20 and he got divorced because he caught his wife having sex with his cousin and apparently he beat his cousin half to death, most of his family members are Geminis, which says enough anyways. And like he wanted me to come over that night to meet his mom, and I was like 'No, I don't know you like that.' and this dude literally said 'You'll be fine. If my mom was going to kill anyone, it would be my dad.' like what the actual fuck?!"
"Are you serious?" I gasp.
"Dead serious! Like who says that? Like I wasn't worried about his mom killing me. I was worried about him killing me and now he won't stop blowing up my phone. And I blocked the number he called me on, so what? Did he call me on a house phone or something? Who even still owns a house phone?" she rants.
I stood thinking a moment, before my eyes flicker to Mick, who was sitting in the back office.
"Hey, why don't you go get us something from the cafe around the corner? My treat! And grab something for Rio's friend." I say.
"Awww, you're sweet. Always know how to brighten my day." she cheers. I hand her some cash and she set off. I walk into the office and Mick was sitting on the couch with his phone in hand.
"Hey, Mick. What mood would you say you're in?" I ask, sliding onto the edge of my desk.
"Depends. What do you need?" he asks.
"Could you scare someone for Nat? He's basically harassing her." I plead.
"Yeah, alright." he shrugs.
"Really? That easily?" I ask.
"Rio told me to help you with whatever you need." he said, getting up, "Where is this guy?"
"The McDonald's down the street." I point.
"Don't tell Rio I left." he said, leaving the office and out the back door.
Rio and I walk through the empty building with Beth as she showed us the showroom.
"It'll look better when we get the hot tubs and barbecue accessories back in."
"Cool." he says.
"Then I can take a dip." she says.
He nods as he stops walking.
"Care to join me?" she asks, looking up at him. I was shocked by her audacity.
"Nah, those things breed diseases." he shrugs off her suggestive question.
"When does it get to be mine?" she asks.
"When does what get to be yours?" he asked, looking down at her.
"I made all of this happen." she smirks.
"Next time, empty the clip." he shrugs, placing a hand on my back as we exit the building.
"I think I need to give you a hickey or something so she'll stop flirting with you." I comment.
He laughs, nodding his head, "Whatever makes you comfortable, Darlin'."