Fight or Flight (19 page)

Sasquatch wasn’t as easily overpowered. He landed a strike to Jay’s gut that sent him stumbling back several steps, and then chaos errupted. Everyone was fighting. Most were anti-Jay, though a few seemed to be striving to break it up. Others apparently decided to take the opportunity to pick fights with one another over something entirely unrelated. It looked like a bar brawl, minus the bar. And Jay was at the center of it.

If she’d stopped to think about it for even
half a second, Em probably wouldn’t have plowed right into a mob of angry men, but she didn’t. The
only
thought running through Em’s mind was that she needed to find Jay. Being as small as she was, she easily squeezed through the insanity. Bodies wrestled, fists and elbows flew, and shouts echoed all around her.

Even the girl she’d seen hanging around earlier was involved, her long blonde braid swinging wildly as she grabbed ahold of some of the smaller guys and pulled them apart, clearly trying to break things up.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” She grunted, giving one good yank to the back of a gray flannel shirt, pulling him off of his prey and tearing it in the process. “Get. Off!”

“You bitch!” He whirled around and struck out at her.

The girl moved with a grace Em was certain she’d never possess, easily dodging out of the way. There wasn’t a chance in hell of her actually taking him, but she was doing a damn good job of avoiding the jerk. This obviously wasn’t her first fight. Skirting the perimeter of his strike zone, she backed into a short, stocky, dark haired guy drawing his attention from the bloody heap he’d just finished pummeling into the ground. The girl didn’t even spare him a glance—her eyes still trained on her opponent—but Em did, and he did not look happy. She was about to find herself surrounded and not even her impressive maneuvering could steer her clear of them both.

Despite the alarms going off in her head, screaming at her to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, to run and hide like the good little
useless coward
she knew she was, Em couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let this girl be attacked for trying to help, and there was no way she could abandon Jay. He was still mixed up in the insanity somewhere. Rushing forward, she shoved him back, blocking his path before he could tackle the distracted blonde. For a moment, he looked stunned by her sudden appearance, but he couldn’t have been any more stunned than Em. Then he charged. Fear threated to paralyze her, but she forced it down. Calling on her one and only, tried and true defensive maneuver, she pulled up her knee as soon as he was close enough. It hit its mark and the charging boar went down hard on the concrete, groaning and writhing on his back while trying to avoid being trampled by the others.

Em allowed herself a moment to appreciate what she’d never imagined she could do, before turning to find the girl behind her still finishing off her opponent.
Weaker sex my ass,
Em thought triumphantly, watching the jerk stumble away to go nurse his injured pride—and possibly broken nose from the look of it.

It wasn’t time to celebrate yet, though. She still hadn’t found Jay.

“Break it up, dumbass!” The crazy chick was jumping right back into the fray, dragging yet another guy out of what looked like had become a sort of dog pile/ mosh pit.

A flash of blue eyes caught Em’s attention from somewhere underneath the mass of thrashing bodies.

“Jay! Get off!” Em found herself just as crazy as the other girl, pushing, shoving, and pulling her way toward the bottom of the pile. “Move!”

Most of the guys they actually managed to pull from the mob backed away when they saw the girls trying to get through, not looking even the slightest bit interested in taking a swing at
them.
Chivalry lives
, Em thought cynically as she tugged on yet another jacket.

Her arms were starting to ache from the sheer force it was taking to dislodge some of those guys, when a car horn blared over the madness bringing everything to an abrupt stop.

“Hey, any of you knuckleheads actually looking for some work today?” Someone shouted from the cab of a pickup truck, and—like they were the magic words—everyone broke apart.

Jay hustled over to her side, looking shocked and maybe a little bit angry to see her there. His lower lip was bleeding and the shadow of a bruise was starting to form on his cheek, but otherwise, Em was relieved to see that he looked all right.

“What the hell are you doing?” Oh yeah, he was definitely angry. “I told you to
stay put
. Whatever happens.”

“Well, she couldn’t dig you out all on her own.” Em waved idly toward the other girl still standing beside her, glancing briefly in her directly. It was the first good look Em had gotten at the blonde, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Al?”

“Hey, you’re the one from the warehouse.” Al smiled at her.
Actually
smiled
. After everything that had just happened. This girl was definitely cracked.

“You two know each other?” Jay looked baffled, but at least he didn’t sound angry anymore.

“She saved my ass a few weeks ago.” Al offered by way of explanation.

Em grinned at Jay, his continuing surprise only slightly insulting. She wasn’t about to tell him the rest of the story.
Oh, yeah, I tripped over her while trying to be stealthy and then she showed me where the nearest door was.
That didn’t sound half as impressive as ‘saving someone’s ass’.

“I need five today.” The guy stood in the door of his truck, overlooking the crowd. Then he started pointing. “You, you, you,
you and . . .” When his finger landed on Jay, Em’s heart tripped over itself. “You.”

Jay only smiled. This was what he wanted, after all. Em was surprised to find just how much
she’d been secretly hoping he’d fail. The guy in the truck looked nice enough, though, and he was taking four other guys with him. Four guys who had just tried to kick his ass, but still, at least it was something.

“I gotta go. Don’t
worry, this will be good for us.” He glanced back and forth between Em and Al for a moment and then grinned. “Why don’t you two hang out this afternoon and I’ll split whatever I make with you when I get back?”

“
You hiring your girl a babysitter?” Al scoffed and Em would have been offended if she hadn’t been thinking the exact same thing.

“Em’s more than capable of taking care of herself.” She didn’t know if Jay actually believed that, but it felt nice to hear him say the words. “You tried to help me out back there. I’m just trying to return the favor. That’s all. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it.” Al quickly snapped up the offer. “We’ll be by the Fuff and Fold on Ninth when you’re done.”

Em hadn’t the slightest idea what that was or why they would be there, but Jay just nodded
before pulling Em aside.

“Stick with Al, all right? She’s cool.
Just chill until I get back. I don’t want to think about you guys walking around the city by yourselves. With this many guys, I shouldn’t be more than a few hours at most.”

“We’ll be fine.” Al’s arm dropped over Em’s shoulder before she could respond. “You go bring home the bacon, Pops.”

She winked at Jay and that just sealed the deal. Al was definitely crazy. And funny as hell. Em burst out laughing and Jay smiled warmly at her before pushing his way to the front of the crowd and climbing up into the bed of the pickup.

Despite the others in there with him and those left behind shooting him nasty looks, his eyes stayed glued to hers until they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. Em didn’t even notice Al’s arm around her—which was odd for her—until she used it to steer Em toward the sidewalk.

“We should probably beat it. I’d hate to be here if the macho morons decided to pick back up where they left off. I give up. Let ‘em beat the shit out of each other.”

Em shrugged out from under Al’s arm as politely as possible, which was probably still pretty rude, but Al didn’t say a word. She just kept walking.

“What was all that about back there?”

“Stupid male posturing.”

Male posturing, Em understood, but still . . . “Why did they all go after Jay like that?”

“He got greedy.”

“What do you mean?”

“How much do you know about day laboring?”

No use trying to hide her ignorance now. “Nothing.”

Al only smirked. “Well, they sort of have this unwritten code. They ‘share’ the work. If you get more than a couple of jobs a week, you’re expected to back off. Give others a chance. Jay’s usually been pretty good about sticking to that code, but recently . . .  he got greedy.
Started taking more than his fair share of the work. And he gets a lot of it. He’s younger and in better shape than most of the guys out there. That counts for a lot. A few weeks ago, Jay starts showing up every day, saying he needs the money.” It wasn’t lost on Em that that was precisely when she’d barged into his life. “The other guys took offense at that. Told him to take a hike for a while. Warned him what would happen if he didn’t stay away. Apparently, he’s not a very good listener.”

Em was certain that it wasn’t a risk Jay normally would have taken. He did it for her, and that terrified as much as thrilled her. How could anyone love someone like her so much?

“That’s my fault. He needed the money because he was helping me. And he went back because we needed a place to stay.”

“Bullshit. Jay’s a big boy. He knows the damn rules. Did you know what would happen if he went there today?”

“Of course not.”

“And did you tell him to go? Use your overwhelming physical abilities to force him out
there?”

“No.”

“Then it’s his own damn, stupid fault. But he didn’t look too worse for ware and he got the job, so no harm no foul, right? We’re all cashing in tonight. Though, I wouldn’t recommend trying that particular stunt again.”

“Why do you hang out there? Jay said you never get work.”

“That’s true. This one guy tried to hire me once, but he looked seedy as hell. Even if I was dumb enough to get in the car with him, no way in hell the guys would have let me.”

“Then why?”

“The guys.”

Em shot her a look and Al burst out laughing. “Okay, that came out wrong. It’s not what you think. It’s just . . . It can get dangerous out here sometimes. It never hurts to have a bunch of guys who do manual labor all day as friends. Plus it’s a great place to pick up tips on places to crash. If I’m in between squats, someone usually offers something. But they all respect me. No one
ever expects anything in return and, if they did, they’d sure as shit be disappointed.”

That sounded . . . brilliant. This girl knew what she was doing.

Em trailed Al through midtown and over to Ninth. It was a commercial area with tall brick buildings housing everything from lawyer’s offices to a retail store rocking the hippie/bohemian thrift store feel. It was the kind of place Em would have loved to browse through. Right next door—at the very end of the block—was the Fluff and Fold they were looking for, though Em still had no idea why. Especially, when Al breezed right past it without even glancing through the huge plate glass windows lining the front wall.

Em’s feet stuttered
and came to an abrupt stop as she debated pointing out where they were to Al. She didn’t look lost. In fact, she was plowing ahead without even noticing Em’s absence. When Al turned the corner, Em abandoned the idea entirely in favor of maintaining sight of the girl and rushed to catch up with her.

The alleyway was narrow and littered with
trash, but it was immediately apparent why Al had led her there.

“With it being a twenty four hour laundry mat the dryer vents will run all night.” Al gestured to the series of vents billowing steam into the alley. “Of course, that makes it a hot spot for people looking to stay warm, which makes it a hot spot for police looking to bust people looking to stay warm, but sometimes it’s worth the risk. We’ll just have to hope that no one decides to check.”

The warm rush of air pouring from the vent felt like heaven on Em’s raw, tingling skin. They alternated sticking hands, toes, and other body parts beneath the flow until they were mostly thawed out, and then settled in while the dryer ran its cycle.

Jay never left her alone. Not outside the squat. Not for more than a few minutes, anyway. So sitting there with Al was more than a little outside of Em’s comfort zone. She’d avoided social situations for so long that she feared she’d completely forgotten how to interact with another human being.
Just sitting beside her felt like a strain. A strain Al was apparently impervious to.

She was rooting around in her old, ratty backpack, paying absolutely no attention to Em whatsoever.
Okay, then.
Without realizing it, Em began running her fingers through her hair, trying to work out the knots. A nervous habit she’d developed over the past weeks.

“I think I have something that could help you with that.” Al dug around in her bag for a few more seconds and came out with a comb. “Don’t worry, it’s clean.”