"Hector."
He was never so glad to see a friendly face.
"What in the hell happened to you?"
Lex chuckled softly, so glad to be where he was. "That is a very long story."
"You do realize you just rode in on the underground railroad, right?"
Lex hadn't known it had a name, but yeah, he was kind of figuring that out. "Can you call Will's father?"
He really needed to see a friendlier face. Not that Hector's wasn't friendly, but he knew the senator a lot better than he knew Hector and Will.
"Why don't we get you settled in the house first?"
Lex took the hand Hector held out to him then carefully slid from the car. "I'm walking a little slow today."
"Would it be easier on you if I carried you?"
"You can't car—whoa!" he exclaimed when he was swung up into Hector's arms. "I guess you can."
Lex held tight to Hector as the much larger man carried him into the house. Teresa was waiting in the living room with Will when they walked in. Hector carried him over to the couch and gently set him down.
"Hey, Will."
Will sat down on the couch next to him. "What are you doing here?" He winced when he looked at Lex's face then slowly looked him over. "What happened?"
"My life turned into a nightmare."
That felt like the understatement of the year.
Hector lowered himself down into a chair across from Lex, clasped his hands together, and dangled them between his knees. "You want to expand on that statement a little? Maybe tell us what we're up again?"
"His name is Robert Carson, or at least that's the name he gave my doctor."
"Who is he?" Will asked.
"I don't know." Lex swallowed hard. "Until he attacked me in my apartment, I'd never seen him before. At least, I don't think I had. Hell, for all I know, I could have…" Lex sucked in a breath as a memory slid into his head. "I have seen him before. He tried to pick me up in a bar."
"You met him in a bar?"
Lex nodded. "I was having a drink when the bartender brought over a drink. I had him return it, but the guy came over to my table anyway. He started going on about how he knew what I was after and he could give it to me. I tried to tell him I was waiting for someone. He seemed to think I was waiting for him. If it hadn't been for Tony—"
"Tony?"
Lex smiled. "Tony Garza. He saved me from this asshole. I had told him that I was waiting for someone. Tony showed up out of nowhere and pretended that I was waiting for him. After that, we went out to dinner and…well…" Despite the bruises on his face, Lex was pretty sure his skin was flushing red. "He spent the night and we started to get to know each other over the next couple of weeks."
"Tony Garza?" Hector asked. "Could his name have been Antonio Garza?"
Lex's eyebrows snapped together. "Yes, why?"
"Where does Tony live?"
Lex felt like such a slut. He dropped his eyes from Hector's inquisitive gaze. "We never got around to talking about that, but I know he had to fly in to see me."
"What does Tony do for a living?"
Lex frowned as he glanced up at Hector once again. "What's with all the questions? Tony didn't do this if that's what you're thinking."
