Page 61 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
She shook her head. “I can’t. He’s still here.”
“Who ishe?” Cayden demanded. “For that matter, why are you willing to get yourself mixed up in whatever he’s involved in? I assume he’s still alive or did you bury him in the backyard and plan to plant a garden over the body to cover it up?”
“Very graphic, Mr. Russo.” Trixie jumped at Lee’s voice from behind her. He was upright, but looking pale. He leaned his right shoulder almost lazily against the den’s doorframe.Crap! She couldn’t have Lee and Cayden interacting, not until she knew what Lee was mixed up in. “To answer your question, I’msuhermano, her brother.”
Cayden’s eyes narrowed. “You’re Lee?”
Trixie closed her eyes. Damn it! “You need to go?—”
“No,” both of them said at the same time. It was Lee who said, “Come in, Russo. We need to talk.”
Trixie blocked Cayden’s way in. She had to protect Cayden! “No, you don’t understand. He can’t be here?—”
Lee met her eyes evenly. “You want to keep him away so he doesn’t risk his parole. It’s admirable,abeja, but not necessary.”Cayden and Trixie looked at him in surprise and confusion. “Let the poor boy in before you draw your neighbors’ attention, Trix.” To Cayden, he said, “Let’s talk.”
He was her brother? Why hadn’t she just told him that? Cayden wouldn’t have been up all night worrying if he’d known the stranger was her oldest brother Lee. Why the secrecy?
Trixie opened the door wider. Cayden walked in. She touched his hand as he passed. Cayden stiffened but didn’t look down at her. He didn’t know how to react to her right now and feared saying or doing something he’d regret.
She excused herself to put on a pair of pants. He’d noticed she was wearing only his shirt. He’d liked the fact that she’d slept the night with him virtually wrapped around her but didn’t like the fact that her legs and ass were hanging out for all to see. The idea that she’d been unfaithful hadn’t even crossed his mind, even before he knew that her guest was her brother.
Lee was shirtless and in a pair of Cayden’s sweatpants. Cayden’s eyes narrowed at the numerous scars on the man’s torso, along with the large gauze pad taped to his left shoulder. He still had some blood splatter in the crevices of his hard body. What had happened here last night? His dark hair, the same shade as his sister’s, was disheveled and oily.
Trixie came out of the bedroom still in Cayden’s shirt but now she also wore a pair of her jeans. She had another one of his shirts in hand, holding it out to her brother. Apparently, Cayden’s clothing was up for the siblings to just wear at will.
He caught the tightness of Lee’s jaw as he pulled on the shirt. He struggled with the buttons, but eventually managed. Trixiecame into the den with cups of coffee. Cayden accepted his, careful not to touch her hand as he did.
“Gracias,” Lee said when he took his.
The only Spanish Cayden had heard Trixie say was the titles for her family members.Papáfor her father,abuelofor her grandfather,hermanofor a brother… He wondered if she knew more Spanish or just used those as terms of endearment for her family.
Lee gestured for them to sit. He remained standing by the television. “Trix, when you redid the downstairs, did you find a small lockbox inAbuelo’s room?”
“I did,” she nodded, “but I didn’t know what it was or where the key to it was so I put it up inPapá’s room.”
A clatter on the coffee table drew their attention to a small silver key. Wordlessly, Trixie put her coffee cup on the table and then journeyed up the stairs. Cayden assumed she was getting the box. He hadn’t drunk any of his coffee yet. His eyes kept returning suspiciously to her brother.
Jeff had told Cayden that Lee was a former Marine, and Trixie had confirmed that statement. What had happened to him to make him quit military life? Where had he been now? Why had he been shot? Cayden recalled Mrs. Wynn’s description of Lee at Marco’s funeral. Was he homeless? Was he a gangbanger? Lee had a sense of unrest about him. It was a dangerous feeling, and one Cayden knew from experience.
“Why did you come here?” Cayden demanded to know. “I don’t know what you’re involved in and I don’t care. How could you endangerherlike this?”
“I didn’t know she would be here,” was Lee’s answer. “When I last checked in on her, she was living at Romero’s.”
“I still am,” Trixie informed her brother as she reentered the room. Cayden saw the gray box in her hands. “Cayden and I will be moving in here once his parole is up.”
Cayden’s chest tightened at her words. Were they still? They obviously had some things to work through. She’d asked Cayden to trust her, butshehadn’t trustedhim. What did that say about their relationship?
Lee shook his head when Trixie tried to hand him the box. “Go ahead and open it. It’s yours.”
Confused, Trixie made her way back to the couch, sat, and then reached for the key. Rather than watch her as she opened the box, though, Cayden concentrated on Lee’s reaction. He’d called the box Trixie’s, but Cayden suspected that she didn’t know anything about it or its contents.
Her brother watched her, his face emotionless. Cayden got the feeling that that was the guy’s standing expression.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cayden saw Trixie lean forward to put the key back on the table and lift the lid. Lee’s only reaction was to take a sip of coffee. Cayden heard her riffling through the contents.
“I don’t understand,” she finally said. “Why would you tell me not to call the cops if you are a cop?”
Cayden’s head zipped around. He saw her holding up a gold shield. He looked between the siblings, but Lee’s expression hadn’t changed despite Trixie’s accusatory glare.
