“Hey there, pretty lady,” he said, flashing her a grin.
Selena returned his smile as he closed the door behind her. “Hey yourself, big guy. What’s this place all about? A new custom car franchise?”
He laughed. “No. I have something new in mind. I’m diversifying my portfolio, I guess you could say.”
“Well, color me impressed,” she said and meant it.
She looked around the lobby area. There were two doors that led to small offices and another that appeared to lead to the warehouse itself. Besides a counter like the kind a receptionist would sit behind, there were a few chairs for customers, some fake potted plants, and the usual office equipment. The clang and rattle of heavy machinery echoed from the back of the building, and she caught the smell of some kind of sharp chemical odor that made her nose tingle. What the heck were they making in there?
“You going to give me a tour of the place or what?” she asked.
He gave her a sheepish look. “It’s not exactly ready for the public yet. It’s a mess back there, and I wouldn’t want you getting all dirty walking around. How about a rain check?”
Something twinged inside her, and for a moment, Selena wondered if her friend was hiding something from her. But she quickly shook off the sensation. Ernesto was one of her best friends.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s sit down.”
She followed him across the lobby into the bigger of the two offices. It had a desk with a computer and not much else, unless you counted the expensive-looking leather couch.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” he asked as they took a seat. “It sounded important.”
She forgot about the stuff Ernesto might or might not be hiding from her and let out a sigh. “I got in a fight with some Locos today.”
Ernesto sat up straighter, his dark eyes narrowing. “What? Tell me who the hell it was. Did they hurt you?”
Selena shook her head. “I was out driving around, looking for one of my students. I found him over on Ferguson, hanging out with a group of Locos on that empty lot by the liquor store.”
Ernesto gave her a pleading look. “Please tell me you didn’t confront them by yourself? I told you to stop doing that, remember? Or at least to call me first, so I can confront them with you.”
“It’s not like I was planning to confront them. I was just going to talk to Ruben and get him to leave with me. But one of the girls there recognized me as the teacher involved in Pablo’s shooting, and it pretty much went downhill from there.”
“Did they hurt you?” he asked again.
“No,” she said. “In fact, it’s kind of the other way around. I’m not sure you’re going to believe this, but I came really close to killing some of them, and it’s freaking me out.”
Ernesto did a double take. “No way. You’re a tough woman and always have been, but there’s no way in hell you’d ever come close to killing someone. It’s just not in you.”
She stared down at her hands clasped in her lap. “Maybe before that shooting in my classroom,” she said softly. “Ever since then, it’s like I’m on the edge of losing control every minute of the day. I can feel the anger bubbling right below the surface, fighting to get out. And it got out today in that empty lot. I can’t explain what happened. One second, the lead gangbanger was about to hit me, and the next, I’m punching him out and throwing guys all over the place. The details are mostly a blur, but I hurt them. There was a point, as they were all running away, when I swear I wanted to chase them down and kill them. It took everything in me not to go after them.” She lifted her head to look at Ernesto. “It scared the hell out of me.”
Even now, the memory made her so furious, she felt like punching a wall. Her hands started to tremble, and she clenched them more tightly together.
Ernesto reached out and covered her hands with his, giving them a gentle squeeze. “Sometimes, when we get put into impossible situations, we do what’s necessary to survive. Those gangbangers were going to hurt you, maybe kill you. There was something inside you that stopped them. That part of you—the anger and violence—might be scary, but it kept you safe.”
She gave him a small smile. “While I’m glad I didn’t get hurt today, I still didn’t like losing control like that. I don’t want to do it ever again.”
“I know,” he said. “But the thing you have to remember is that while you might have thought about killing them, you didn’t. You did what you had to do, then you let them go. That’s what you need to focus on. In the end, you’re still you.”
When he said it like that, she believed him. She only hoped he was right. Leaning forward, she hugged him tightly. She still didn’t know how she’d gotten so lucky to have someone like Ernesto in her life. If she couldn’t have her brother, Ernesto was the next best thing.
A loud clanging noise from the back of the warehouse jarred her out of the moment, and she pulled back with a frown. “Maybe you should check and make sure nothing’s wrong. It sounds like something is falling apart back there.”
He frowned, wincing as the clanking in the warehouse came again. “You’re probably right. You want to come over for dinner tonight so we can talk some more?”
She smiled and got to her feet. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to take a rain check on that. I’m Becca’s wingwoman tonight. She has a blind date and doesn’t want to meet him alone. Jayden is coming, too, so it’s not all bad.”
Ernesto lifted a brow as he stood. “Seeing this guy two nights in a row. Sounds serious. Do I need to have a talk with him and see what his intentions are?”
She took a swing at his arm, but he skipped back out of reach. “Don’t you dare say a word to him! Yes, I’m seeing him two nights in a row. And yes, it’s serious. He’s the nicest guy I’ve met in a long time, so don’t mess it up.”
