Tonight was really not his night.
* * *
“Axel? Hello? Hey, are you okay?” Rena heard him breathing into the phone, but it took a second for him to respond. She swore he tried to sound upbeat, but she heard his pain.
“Ja.Rena, I am so sorry. I need to get home. I have a project early in the morning. Can you please stay with J.T. tonight? My talk with Daryl worried me. You need to be careful. I promise I’ll make our date up to you.”
“Sure. It’s okay. I’m with J.T. right now.” She paused because Foley had arrived and handed her a small envelope, what looked like the size of a gift card. He drew J.T. aside, said something, then darted away. “Foley just gave me something.”
“Your valentine.” He sucked in a breath and swore at Sam. “Sorry.”
“Sam is with you?” She narrowed her eyes on her cousin.
J.T. shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve been in here with you all night.”
“Ah,ja.Sam needs a ride somewhere. I will drop him off and am going home.”
“You big liar. He’s taking you home because you can’t drive, isn’t he?”
A large pause. “Now,Liebling, I—”
She disconnected. “You.” She poked her cousin in the chest. “You’re taking me to Axel’s. Right now.”
“Aw, Rena. You should really wait.”
“Wait? I know something happened outside, and that it has to do with me. If Axel is hurt, there will be hell to pay.”
J.T., wise man that he was, cringed. “Why me?” He sighed. “Come on.”
On the drive to Axel’s, she fumed while J.T. was mostly quiet.
“Fine,” he growled. “Look, you need to know. Heller got into a fight. Daryl took off, but Heller ended up fighting Scott and Rabies.”
“Those bullies?” They were Fletcher’s friends. “This is because of me.”
“Maybe. But it’s also because Heller likes to fight,” J.T. told her. “So don’t go borrowing blame. Trust me. Axel Heller is no saint. He’s a good guy, yes. And he’s been crushing on you for months. But he’s not the safest man to be around.”
She pondered that as J.T. turned onto Axel’s street. “Do you think he’d ever hurt me?”
“No, or I never would have let him take you out.”
She thought that was sweet, even if Rena didn’t need a hovering father figure and if J.T. thought he could prevent Axel from doing anything. Her cousin was a big man with a lot of friends, but Axel was Axel.
“He’s made some enemies,” J.T. continued. “I like the guy, but he’s not Mr. Friendly. And he doesn’t hide how he feels about jerks and racists.” At that he smiled. “I hear he left Fletcher’s crew in a world of hurt.”
“And got himself hurt in the process.”
“Well, yeah, but that’s how it goes. When you care for someone, you have no problem putting yourself in harm’s way to protect them. Heller will do what he feels is right to protect you. I like that.”
“I don’t need someone protecting me. I’m not a little girl. I can think and act on my own.”
“I know that. But guys like Rabies don’t care about the law or about doing the right thing. I don’t want to see you hurt. Sure, go to the cops and manage to get a restraining order. You think that will stop him?”
“You’re not making me feel any better.”
“Sorry, but you know what I’m saying is true.”
They pulled into Axel’s driveway, where his truck sat next to Foley’s car.
