Jennings stepped forward and stood behind Sonya, further blocking Lloyd’s access to Roger.
“Go get yourself cleaned up,” he said over his shoulder to the injured man, who now had blood running down his chin.
“Lloyd, nothing happened!” Sonya cried, stepping forward to cup his face in her hands.
At first he fought the contact, but eventually gave in.
“Why did he stay at your house then?” he asked, still tense and ready to lash out.
Sonya sighed and glanced at Jack, and then over her shoulder to Jennings.
“Let’s go outside and talk,” she said, nodding toward the door and taking one of his clenched fists in her hand.
He looked at her for a moment; he let his hand relax in hers, twining his fingers with hers and nodded.
They silently left the room, heading for the exit of the building.
“Lloyd is fucking Sonya?” Jack asked as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, standing up from his chair with a bewildered expression on his face. “That little, skinny punk? What the hell does she see in him?”
“You really aren’t that bright, are you?” Jennings asked, shaking his head. “Don’t under estimate Lloyd. He’s as crazy, if not crazier, than she is. They’re both deadly and you’ve just pissed them both off. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now.” He chuckled.
“How was I supposed to know?” Jack reasoned, dragging his hands through his hair. “No one told me!”
Jennings shook his head again. “Some things aren’t meant to be shared without cause or thought. Sonya and Lloyd’s previous relationship was mutually intense, but they split – I wasn’t sure they were back together until now. She didn’t even know he was coming with us, but apparently they wasted no time taking up where they’d left off.”
“I still don’t see why I wasn’t warned!” Jack yelled. “That bitch already stabbed me in the balls, and now I have to worry about her psycho boyfriend as well? This is bullshit!”
“Calm down,” Jennings said, and smiled. “They won’t kill you – at least not until I’m done with you.”
“Then what?” Jack asked. “I’m on their unofficial ‘hit list’.”
Jennings looked at the younger man for a few moments; he opened his mouth to speak, but Jack beat him to it.
“Fuck it! I’m not scared of them,” he ranted. “I’ll kill them first. They better stay the hell away from me.”
Jennings sighed. “You really do need to calm down. They might not do anything to you at all, but I can never be sure with them. Just watch your back and try to steer clear of them. Do your job, stick with Roger, and more than likely, you’ll be fine.”
“Most than likely?” Jack asked with a laugh. “Oh, I’ll be fine. They better not fuck with me.”
He stormed out of the meeting room, just as Roger was coming back in.
“Hey, watch it!” Roger exclaimed when Jack bumped into him and almost knocked him over in his rush to get through the narrow doorway.
Jack didn’t respond; he headed for the factory’s exit.
Roger looked at Jennings with an expression of confusion.
“What’s up his ass?” he asked. “He’s the one who caused this mess.”
“He’s mad because we didn’t tell him about Lloyd and Sonya,” Jennings said. “I also warned him that they might be angry with him.”
“Shit,” Roger breathed. “Is he scared?”
Jennings chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know. I think he is, but I think he’s also dumb enough to do something stupid, thinking he’s protecting himself, and will anger them further. I really don’t think he understands what those two are capable of.”
Roger sighed. “Do you think he’ll get what’s coming before the job?”
“No,” Jennings said. “But after, your guess is as good as mine.”
~ * ~
Sonya stood beside her car, still holding hands with Lloyd. She looked down at their linked fingers and sighed. Glancing up at Lloyd, who was watching her every move like a predator would its prey, she smiled slightly.
“Nothing happened between me and Roger,” she said softly, looking him directly in the eyes. “I swear.”
His jaw clenched and his eyes traveled over her beautiful face, looking for any signs of a lie.
“Why did he stay then?” he ground out. “He’s never stayed at your place before, so why now?”
She sighed and looked at their hands again.
“I was having a rough night and I asked him to stay,” she said. “He slept on the couch.”
She felt his hand tighten around hers and looked up at him.
He looked down at her and noted the unshed tears pooling in her green eyes.
“Why were you having a rough night and why didn’t you call me?” he asked with a voice full of disbelief, anger, and pain. “I would have come and stayed with you.”
She half-smiled and tears slid down her cheeks.
“I know you would have,” she said, and used her free hand to cup the side of his face. “Everything started at the meeting, when we decided to harvest the children…”
Lloyd nodded. “Jennings told me about that. Roger didn’t want to do it, right?”
She nodded. “I tried to find out why, but Jack interrupted. I told Roger to call me, so we could talk about what was bothering him. He decided to come over to talk and when he got there…”
Lloyd growled as she scrunched up her face in a pained expression and more tears fell.
“What happened?” he almost yelled. “Did he hurt you?! I’m going to kill the bastard!”
He tried to pull away and head for the building, but she wouldn’t let go of his hand.
“No, he didn’t hurt me,” she whispered. “He helped me.”
Lloyd froze and turned back to her, squeezing her hand in reassurance.
“What happened?” he asked, shaking off her hand and wrapping his arms around her. “Please tell me, babe, I’m going insane. I still can’t believe you didn’t call me.”
She shuddered and relaxed against his chest, closing her eyes.
“When he got to my house, I was asleep and having a bad dream,” she whispered. “He woke me up and made sure I talked it out.”
Lloyd smoothed the hair on the back of her head with one hand, comforting her.
“What were you dreaming about?” he asked gently, sensing she needed the encouragement to continue.
“The night my brother died.”
“Oh, babe,” he said, squeezing her tighter. They’d talked about her brother only once, and that was a long time ago, but he still remembered the frigid pain in her voice as she’d shared her trauma with him. “Did it help?”
She nodded and sniffled. “Yes. After, we ate pizza and he told me why he didn’t want to harvest the children.”
“Oh, man,” he groaned. “Pizza too! Now I’m really gonna have to kill him!”
Sonya giggled, and Lloyd smiled, knowing a little humor and teasing would cheer her up.
She pulled back slightly and brushed tears from her cheeks, looking up at him.
“The pizza was cold though, so you wouldn’t have liked it.”
He sighed dramatically. “Okay, then I’ll just beat the fuck out of him.”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him.
“After we ate, I asked him to stay and sleep on the couch,” she said. “I knew I didn’t want to be alone, and I knew he didn’t, even though he wouldn’t admit it.” She paused and looked up at Lloyd. “Roger is like a brother to me – there’s nothing between us. I love you!”
He brushed a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb and tucked a couple of loose strands of hair behind her ear. Bending forward, he kissed her lips gently.
“I love you, too,” he breathed against her lips.
She closed her eyes and sighed.
He sighed as well and pressed his forehead against hers.
“So, why didn’t he want to take the kids?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the banging of the factory door, as it opened, distracted them both; they pulled away from each other slightly, and turned their heads to see Jack storming out of the building.
“That fucking bastard,” Lloyd growled. “I could gut him like a pig for starting all this shit – for upsetting you and making me hit Roger. I don’t like this douche bag. Where did Jennings find him?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but we can’t do anything until the job’s done – we’ll need him.”
“We?” Lloyd asked, glancing at her and smirking. “Why do I have a feeling you already have plans for the bastard?”
She smiled sweetly and said, “Because I do.”
Lloyd laughed.
~ * ~
Jack didn’t know where the ‘psycho love birds’ were, until he heard Lloyd laugh. A chill of fear slid from his neck, down his spine as he jumped, but he realized they were snuggling by Sonya’s car and he calmed down. He’d be damned if he was going to be afraid of them, he decided, and extended the plan he had in mind to pay Sonya back for the stabbing to include Lloyd as well.
He ignored the couple and walked briskly over to his car.
He was reaching for the door handle when he heard the door of the building open again; Roger and Jennings stepped out, chatting amiably.
“Wait up a second, Jack,” Roger called, breaking away from his conversation with Jennings to rush out into the parking lot.
Jack waited, and even though he tried, he couldn’t keep his eyes from darting over to where Sonya and Lloyd were – they seemed to be engrossed with each other and weren’t paying any attention to him at all.
“Hey, thanks for waiting,” Roger said, catching his breath after his brisk jog. “You okay?”
Jack nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“Well, you do seem kinda pissed and upset about Sonya and Lloyd,” Roger said and shrugged.
“I’m fine,” Jack snapped. “Do you want anything, or can I go?”
Roger blinked a couple of times at the harsh response.
“No, that’s all I wanted – have a good night,” he said and backed away a few steps before turning and heading toward Lloyd and Sonya.
Jack opened the driver’s door of his car, got in, slammed the door shut, and started the engine; he peeled out of the parking lot, heading toward home.
~ * ~
“Everything cool now?” Roger asked as he approached the hugging couple.
“Yeah,” Lloyd said, freeing one of his arms so he could hold out his hand to Roger, who reached forward and shook it. “Sorry about punching you.”
Roger shrugged and let go of Lloyd’s hand.
“It’s no big deal,” he said and smiled. “I really hate that this even happened. I would never do that to you, and besides, Sonya’s like a little sister to me. I’d be just as pissed if I thought someone was using or hurting her.”
“Thanks, man,” Lloyd said, wrapping his arm around Sonya again.
Silence stretched between them as Sonya and Lloyd watched Roger.
“Where did Jennings go?” he asked, looking anywhere but at them.
“Home,” Sonya asked and giggled. “Why are you so nervous?”
“Um…er…you guys aren’t going to…” he paused, cleared his throat, and looked at them. “You guys aren’t going to kill Jack, are you? Because we need him for the job.”
Lloyd and Sonya looked at each other, then back at Roger; they were both grinning.
Sonya giggled. “Let’s put it this way… He’ll pay his debt.”
Lloyd snickered.
Roger shook his head.
“I don’t even want to know,” he said and laughed. “I’m taking off to get some sleep. You two have a nice night.”
“You too,” Lloyd called as Roger walked away, heading for his truck.
“Do you think he’ll tell Jack?” Sonya asked.
“Does it matter?” Lloyd asked, looking down at her upturned face. “If he doesn’t know it’s coming, the guy is stupider than I already believe him to be, and I really don’t see how that’s possible.”
Sonya laughed. “I suppose I should head home and get some sleep.” She sighed. “I have to figure out how to befriend this woman and ‘infiltrate’ the family.”
