But first, I really needed to ask Rip about the car, and the other builder, who had been here until an hour ago, had left. He wanted to eat dinner with his family, and I didn’t blame him. I told him to go.

“Rip?” I called out again, this time even louder.

I listened, but there was nothing. Not a ting. Not a voice. Nothing.

Where the hell was he?

Standing up, with a hand going to the base of my spine because it ached from standing all day, I called out even louder and more annoying, “Rippppp?”

My voice echoed in the big, main room, making me smile.

“Rip?” I called out again, but still nothing.

It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to climb up the stairs and check his office and the break room. Then it only took me a couple more minutes to go to my room, but he wasn’t there either. Opening the door and calling out for him in the bathroom still didn’t get me a response.

He wouldn’t have left me here without saying a word.

At least he never had before. He didn’t give me a hug and a kiss goodbye at the end of the day when we were working together, but he never left first. I doubted he’d start now.

Trying to guess where else he would be, I figured maybe he was outside. My lower back tightened up as I headed to the back door and slowly pushed it open, trying to listen for him. The fence and gate around the building kept out people who shouldn’t be hanging around, but if someone really wanted to get over, they could jump the fence. The shop had automatic floodlights and security cameras all around the building that were triggered with any movement after six in the evening.

I’d barely opened the door a crack when I heard his low, low voice. “....that’s not what I’m talking about.”

I hesitated for a second, not sure if I should wait until he got off the phone, but… it was work.

Shutting the door behind me, more quietly than I needed to if I was going to be honest, I followed where his voice was coming from. The lot was mostly empty except for a handful of customers’ cars waiting to be picked up, three clunkers that were on the list for restorations, my car, and his truck.

“Shorty said they brought you up. All I’m tellin’ you is what he said to me, a’ight?” an unfamiliar voice spoke up, making me pause.

He wasn’t alone.

Should I…?

“Why? I paid my way out. I’m out. I’ve been out. There isn’t a reason for any of them to bring me up,” Rip replied, confirming that I hadn’t been imagining his voice to start off.

“Man, I don’t fuckin’ know. I don’t want shit to do with it either. I got a life now. A real life. I got a kid on the way; I don’t want a piece of it,” the unfamiliar man spoke up. “I knew that shit was gonna blow up in their faces. They’re getting desperate, I bet. It ain’t like they got all that many allies.”

“’Course we knew that was gonna happen. They would’ve too if they’d been paying attention. But it doesn’t matter because there’s no way for them to know where the hell I am. None of ’em knew my name. They know yours?”

“Nah. Why would they? S’not like we filled out IRS forms. Shorty’s the only one who kinda knows I’m still around, and that’s only ’cuz he’s the only one who’s got any business with me. I haven’t seen him since we got out. Only reason he called today was to tell me what he heard. Warn us in case somebody tries to hit us up about coming back, I guess.”

There was a tense silence that seemed to last longer than the two seconds it actually did. “I’m not going back.”

“I’m not goin’ back either. I’m done,” the stranger spoke calmly.

Rip sighed loudly enough for me to hear. Then he said, “I’m too old for that shit. Liam’s too old for that shit. I got a good thing going here I’m not about to fuck up, messing around with those fools again.”

“Looks like it,” the stranger answered with a quiet chuckle. “No wonder you were so fuckin’ good at fixin’ shit, man.”

The “uh-huh” made me take a step back. “Fuck, man. I don’t need any kind of shit coming back here.”

“It shouldn’t,” the man tried to assure him. “I don’t know why they mentioned you after this long, but Shorty’ll let me know if anything else comes up.”

“I fucking hope so. Say,“ Rip continued talking, “I was in San Antonio yesterday, but nobody saw me. Even if they did, it doesn’t mean shit.”

There was silence, then, “What the fuck were you doin’ back there?”

Another pause. “Nothing. I was there for a couple hours. Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re sure nobody saw you?”

“I’m sure.”

But I could hear the hitch in Ripley’s voice. It sounded different than usual, just a little, just enough for me to know that there was something big-time off about what he’d said.

Was he lying? Who could have seen him in San Antonio that he didn’t want to see? Or be seen by?

I never wanted to see my family. I wasn’t one to talk, but….

I took two steps back. Then I took a few more that got me to the door. I was quiet opening it, and I was even quieter closing it behind me once I was back inside the building.

Rip had paid himself out of what? What the hell was there to pay yourself out of? And why were they both worried about being found and getting pulled back into something? What was there to get pulled back into? And why didn’t people know his real name? Who didn’t have a real name in the first place? In what situation would it be possible to not have a real name? And he hadn’t wanted himself to be seen in San Antonio?

What the hell had Rip been doing before he’d come here?

I couldn’t even remember walking back to the main room of the building. I couldn’t remember crouching down to sit beside the car we had been working on either. All I knew was that the next time I paid attention, I was there, trying to figure out what Rip was trying to keep from coming back to him.

Had he been in jail? Been running from the law? Had he done something… bad?

I had lied for him before, but my gut had said back then, like it did in that moment, that there was nothing for me to worry about. Nothing that could be bad.

Not that bad, at least.

He didn’t have the most patient temper, but he’d never been remotely violent. His expectations were so high that I couldn’t see him being a cheat. He was rough, but he was mostly fair.

“Luna?” the deep voice I could have recognized anywhere called out from close by.

“I’m here!” I yelled back, getting up to my feet just as I slapped what I hoped was a smile on my mouth.

He was already standing four feet away, a confused expression still on his features when I popped my head up. Then that expression went away and the closest to an easygoing expression I thought he was capable of took over that hard face. “Everything all right?” he asked, coming toward me.

I was still smiling at him as I said, “Yeah. I just got a back cramp.”

He didn’t look like he totally believed me.

Then I decided I needed to change the freaking subject. “There’s some lead that needs to get taken care of, but I was hoping you might handle it? I can do it, but you’ll probably do a better job at it.” I forced a smile. “I’m not saying that to get out of doing it either or suck up, but… I would rather not do it if I don’t have to.”

For as much of a hard-ass as he was, he didn’t look even a little put out by me pretty much trying to worm my way out of doing this. “Show me.”

Luckily, I’d already been crouching right by where the spot was, otherwise… Well, I didn’t know what I would have done, but I would have had to lie better about something. Crouching right next to me, I showed him what I was talking about.

“Yeah,” he confirmed what I already knew. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about it.”

That’s what I had figured. I gave him a little smile even as my heart raced over the words that my brain was still stuck on. Paid his way out. Real name. Too old for some shit.