Page 63 of Hurricane Love
Cody nodded sharply, glanced around erratically once more, then muttered, “Sorry ‘bout this, man,” before darting toward the back door, crashing into something on his way out and leaving as suddenly as he’d arrived. After a beat of silence, Diego took a deep breath and headed in that direction. Wylie followed hot on his heels. They scanned the back lot for any sign of Cody or anyone else, then Diego closed and locked the door behind them.
“Holy shit,” Wylie uttered.
“You okay?” Diego approached and grabbed his arms, rubbing his goose-pimpled skin as if to warm him up. He was shaking, he realized, and not from the cold.
“Yeah, just, what the hell? Cody?”
“Not his finest moment,” Diego agreed.
“And a gun? Where did he even get it?”
“I don’t know.” Diego seemed more disappointed than angry. “We need to call Frank and the cops, file a report, give a statement.”
“Yeah,” Wylie said, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. All he’d wanted was make out with his boyfriend–sorry, his casual friend whom he loved and adored–and eat a fucking sandwich. He was still trembling with unspent adrenaline when Diego pulled him into his arms to rub his back and whisper words of comfort.
“You’re okay. We’re both okay. And it’s over now. All right, sweetheart?” Diego said soothingly.
“Yeah, I know. He just…came out of nowhere. He pointed a gun at you, Diego.” Tears brimmed in his eyes. That shit had been scary as fuck.
“Not a great way to end the night.”
“How are you so calm about this?” Wylie asked, pulling away to stare at the man in astonishment.
Diego shrugged. “Guess I learned how to deal with that sort of thing in prison. How to de-escalate or else get ready to fight back. Seemed easier in this situation to give him what he wanted.”
“You didn’t want to fight him?” Wylie asked.
“I didn’t want him to pull that trigger.”
“Yeah.” It could have gone very badly, indeed. The fact that Diego seemed hardly even fazed by the threat to his life was a reality check as to just how different their lives had been up until that point. “You saved my life,” Wylie said, and he wasn’t even exaggerating. Diego gave him a skeptical look, so Wylie continued, “You did. You fucking handled that shit. I was about to run my mouth and get us both killed.”
“I don’t think Cody would have shot us,” Diego said mildly, giving the man way too much credit.
“He might’ve. He looked pretty high.”
“Yeah. What a dumbass.”
“Are you going to identify him?” He knew the two of them had been tight at one point, but he didn’t know how deep that loyalty ran.
“I have to. He threatened someone I love.”
Wylie blinked, broken apart by the tenderness in his eyes and his delivery, like it was common knowledge. What was Wylie supposed to do with that? Words of affirmation and life-saving acts of heroism were his love languages. Diego had rendered him speechless, yet again.
Diego grabbed his shaky hand and brought it to his lips. “Come on. Let’s get this over with and then we can go home.”
CHAPTER 14
DIEGO
It wasanother few hours before they were able to leave for the night, having to give their testimony to the police and Frank, too, since Frank had a lot of questions once he learned it was Cody Wallace under the mask.
Were he and Diego still friends? Had they kept in touch? Had Diego known about this robbery in advance?
The last one hit hard, as if this was some kind of inside job. Diego tried to remain calm while answering his uncle’s questions, but it still rankled that he thought Diego might pull some shit like this, again.
“With all due respect, sir, there is no way in hell Diego had any part in this,” Wylie said. “We were both caught completely off guard, and honestly, it was terrifying. I’m glad Diego was here because he probably saved both our lives.”
Diego wasn’t sure he deservedallthe credit, since their past ties were probably what lured Cody to the pit in the first place, but thankfully, Frank seemed to back off the idea that Diego was somehow involved once he saw the surveillance footage–the true fear in their eyes at being held at gunpoint.
