Page 3 of Cover Up

“Okay,” Felix said, glancing back at Jeremiah who, rolled his eyes behind his thick lenses. “That’s fine.”

Jeremiah reached into a small cabinet at the end of the bar and came up with a water bottle. “Try to get her name and where she lives,” he said. “If I have to call the cops, I want to be able to tell them where to go.”

Felix really didn’t want to get that involved, but Jeremiah was protective over the peace of their community. The least Felix could do was lend him a hand.

He tugged on the woman’s arm, and she followed him down the dark hall and outside. The lights in the back parking lot were a weird, hazy sort of yellow, and along with the weird feeling he got from looking at anyone’s face, it made her seem gaunt and skeletal. But maybe she was just that thin. She looked strung out, and she had an acrid scent clinging to her underneath heavy cigarette smoke that told him she wasn’t deep into just booze that night.

“I’m Felix,” he said, pulling out his phone.

She wolf whistled quietly as she balanced on the backs of her heels. “Hot. You’re really hot.”

“Thanks,” he said with a laugh. “You gonna tell me your name?”

“Soph.”

“Nice to meet you, Soph.”

“Naw,” she said, snapping her fingers in his face. “Never mind. I hate that. It’s Sofia. He calls me Soph.”

“The guy who put that bruise on you?” Felix asked as he ordered the Lyft.

Her face fell, and she wrapped her arms around her middle. “He doesn’t mean to. I mean, he does. He’s a dick. But I just get him so riled up sometimes.”

Felix’s gut clenched and twisted. “Fuck that guy, Sofia.”

She laughed so hard she almost toppled over, and Felix only just managed to catch her. “I did. Thaaa’sss the problem, Fido.”

“Felix.”

She cocked her head. “Felix is a way better name. But it’s for a cat.”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes as he steadied her up near the curb. “Do you know your address?”

Sofia threw her head back, laughing again, though this time, she stayed on her feet. “Yeah. M’staying with my brother. He’s gonna be so mad. He’s a dick too, but he don’t hit me.”

“Thank god for small favors,” Felix muttered. He glanced around, feeling a little surge of anxiety that she might have been followed, but so far, there was no drama.

And a moment later, his phone pinged at the same time as a car pulled up. “Here,” he told her, opening the car door. “Get in, and we can get the address thing figured out.”

“Uhg. I don’t want to go to your house,” Sofia said, leaning on the window of the car.

“Hey, man,” the driver called. “I’m not interested in having some drunk chick puke all over my car.”

“She’s not going to puke,” Felix promised, hoping to god he wasn’t lying. “This is kind of an emergency.” Sofia started to tug at his shirt, and Felix let out a frustrated growl, pushing her off. “Seriously, please sit down.”

“Get your ass out of that car right fuckin’ now!” a voice bellowed a short distance away.

Felix froze, and his fight or flight went with option A as he turned to see a man with a shaved head and wild eyes storming toward them. Felix immediately put himself between the guy and Sofia and shoved her back into the seat. She let out a loud protest, but Felix dropped in after her, shut the door, and it locked.

The guy’s fist connected with the window, and the driver let out a shout. “What the fuck?”

“I will tip you five hundred in cash if you get us the fuck out of here,” Felix told him. Sofia was trying to reach the door handle, but Felix held her with one hand as he dug for his wallet with the other.

“Dude, this is exactly the shit I was trying to avoid!” the driver told him.

“I know, but that dude beat on her.” Felix held his wallet between his teeth and managed to extract a wad of cash. He tossed it up into the passenger seat, ignoring the asshole who was still punching the window. “Seriously. Please.”

The driver looked down, then sighed and hit the gas. The guy started to chase them on foot, but eventually, the driver managed to hit the main road, heading toward Felix’s address, and the raged-out fucker disappeared into the shadows.

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