Rock Chick 02 Rescue (19 page)

Eddie took a step closer, eyes glittering.

“Me first,” he said, looking down on me.

“I was visiting some friends,” I answered and it wasn’t entirely a lie.

Eddie’s eyes narrowed.

“So, this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that your Dad’s been spending the night here?” Eddie asked.

Dear Lord, how did he know that?

I decided not to ask and not to answer. Instead I thought maybe I should try being vague; I hadn’t tried that tactic before.

“Um…” I mumbled.

I saw his jaw clench and I was pretty sure he was about to yel .

Count vague out.

“It’s my Dad, Eddie,” I said quietly.

Then (I swear I couldn’t help it), tears fil ed my eyes.

Maybe I could have control ed myself, but Eddie’s hand wrapped around the back of my head and he pul ed my face into his chest.

He smel ed good, he felt hard and strong and, being held against his chest like that, I could pretend he was the only thing in the world. I felt safe, maybe for the first time in my life, definitely for the first time since I was fourteen. So, I grabbed onto the material of his t-shirt at his sides and let the tears flow.

“I take it you know about Marcus and the extra fifteen K?” Eddie asked.

I didn’t know how he knew about that either but I was crying so hard, I didn’t have the voice to ask so I nodded my head.

He said something in Spanish and his other arm wrapped around me, but he kept his hand in my hair, my head held to his chest.

When I got myself somewhat together, I said, “My life sucks.”

His arm around me tightened.

“I have to agree with that,
Chiquita
,” he murmured.

“I… I… don’t think I can fix this, Eddie,” I stammered against his chest, admitting out loud what I’d been thinking for days, burrowing closer and wrapping my arms around him. “I keep trying to think of a way out, but I can’t.”

“Let me handle it,” Eddie said.

My head came back and I looked up at him.

“How’re you gonna do that?”

Then I looked around me and realized he hadn’t answered my previous question so I pul ed back a bit and Eddie’s hand fel from my hair to wrap around my back.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I was lookin’ for Ray.”

Not good.

“Why?” I asked.

“A variety of reasons,” he answered.

Now Eddie was being vague.

“Those would be?”

He lifted his hand and placed it on my cheek, his thumb wiping my tears away. Then he ran his knuckles down my other cheek on the same errand. He watched his hand work and then his eyes came to mine.

“There’s this girl, see, I wanna get to know her, not to mention do other things with her. Until this mess is sorted out, gettin’ what I want is more of a chal enge than I normal y like. So, I’m gonna sort it out.”

I felt a thril race through my bel y.

“But, don’t you have a job?”

“They let me go my own way.”

The Denver Police Department didn’t let Eddie go his own way. Indy told me that Eddie just went his own way and then put up with the consequences.

“Let me do this for you,
Chiquita
.” His voice was soft.

“It’s a family problem, I can’t ask you…” I stopped as it hit me, “What’s Lee doing here?”

We both looked over Eddie’s shoulder. Lee and Indy were two houses down on the other side of Bear and Lavonne’s, both with hands on their hips and it didn’t look like a loving conversation.

Eddie looked back at me.

“Lee’s workin’ a connected job for some clients. I pul ed him in the Ray search.”

My eyes bugged out. “I can’t afford Lee!”

“You don’t have to afford Lee. He’s
mi hermano
and Indy’s your friend and his woman, this is a freebie.” Indy’s your friend and his woman, this is a freebie.”

“I can’t…”

“Would you stop saying ‘I can’t’?” he said.

“Wel , I can’t,” I pointed out.

“You can, Jet. These are your friends. Do you think they’re out here for thril s?”

I looked back over Eddie’s shoulder and took in Al y and Tex. Al y and the black guy were leaning on the Mustang and talking. Tex was obviously impatient and scowling back and forth between Indy and Lee and Eddie and me like he was watching an annoying tennis match.

My heart clenched and I got that strange pleasant feeling, like the one that kept coming at me during my Eddie Date.

“I think they’re
partially
out here for thril s,” I tried to cover up how moved I was by this show of support.

When I looked at Eddie again I saw the dimple was out.

“I expect you’d be right about that.”

I decided to change the subject. “Who’s the black guy?”

“
Mi otro hermano
. Darius. We al grew up together.”

“He doesn’t come into Fortnum’s. Is he a cop too?” Everyone in Eddie, Lee and Indy’s circle were cops, private investigators or crazy people. Darius didn’t look crazy so I took a wild guess.

“Drug dealer,” Eddie said like he would say “shoe salesman”.

I stared at him.

“Real y?” I breathed.

He nodded.

“Why don’t you bust him?” I asked.

The dimple was back, this time with a ful -fledged smile.

“I don’t
bust
him
because he’s my brother.” Eddie’s arms tightened around me and his head dipped down, “It’s a long story. I’l tel you sometime when we’re not yel in’ at each other, sleepin’ or fending off our nutcase families.” My bel y curled.

“Okay,” was al I could think to say.

He watched me for a beat. “Can I trust you not to go after your Dad?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Does that nod mean I can trust you or you’d rather not lie out loud?”

I couldn’t help it, he figured me out, so I smiled at him.

His eyes warmed.

“I could fal in love with that smile,” he murmured as if he was talking to himself and I wasn’t even there.

My entire body froze.

He felt it, his lips turned up at the corners, then he touched them to mine.

Then he said, “One thing at a time.”

“How did your date go with Eddie?”

Mom had heard the key in the lock and was standing in the middle of the hal way waiting for me after Duke brought me home.

“It was a little… weird,” I said and walked by her and into the house. “I met his Mom.”

“You met his Mom! Oh… my… God. That’s great!” I dropped my purse on the couch and decided to change the subject and not tel her I’d also met most of his family too. She’d start cal ing florists and churches.

“What are you doing out of your chair?” I asked.

She walked in, her left arm dangling useless, her gait unsteady but she looked al right, even though it was getting late in the day.

“I’m feelin’ good. I also did two loads of laundry and cleared the dishwasher.”

I smiled. I couldn’t help it. This was great news.

She smiled back. She knew it was great news.

“Did the mechanic cal about my car?”

“Nope, but you would not believe what happened last night. We had some excitement. The police cal ed up and said there was a flasher in the building. They wanted to know if Trixie and I saw him. We didn’t but we sure as hel went lookin’ for him.”

I started laughing, knowing this was the buzz-up that Eddie arranged and I began to feel a little less stressed out.

I had nearly a thousand dol ars in my purse from tips, Smithie’s generosity and Lavonne’s check. Not to mention, it was payday from both Smithie’s and Fortnum’s. Mom was getting around better and I had friends looking out for me. Eddie was going to figure out what to do about Dad and I’d had some good sleep this week. I was beginning to feel I could take on the world. Or, at least the next week.

Usual y, I was barely able to cope with the next hour.

I laid down for awhile, took a shower and Lenny phoned tel ing me he was my ride.

I swung into Smithie’s on time for the second time in a week.

“Once is a miracle, twice means pigs are flyin’,” Smithie said when he saw me, “You got your shit sorted out?” he asked, putting my apron on the bar with another envelope of tips.

“Not yet but I’m working on it,” I gave him my coat and purse.

Smithie looked at Lenny.

“She’s not five feet away from you the whole night. Got me?”

Lenny nodded.

“Good, now get to work.”

It was Friday and Fridays were always packed at Smithie’s seeing as they were payday. Payday also meant the boys felt generous, which meant decent tips. With two good nights this week and a shift on Saturday, if my car didn’t cost me a fortune to fix, I might even be getting ahead.

Half an hour before closing, I felt a hand on my shoulder and then Lenny materialized by my side.

“No hands, big man,” Lenny said.

I heard Tex’s booming laugh and turned around, dislodging the beefy hand. “He thinks he can take me.” Tex’s voice was amused.

“It’s okay, Lenny. He’s a friend.” Lenny drifted away, his eyes stil on us and I turned to Tex, “What’re you doin’

here?”

“I’m gonna be speakin’ to Indy, get you girls some uniforms just like that for Fortnum’s. We’d al retire in a year.”

Wonderful. At this rate, everyone was going to see me in my Smithie’s uniform.

I pretended I was going to bat him with the tray and he pretended to cower. Then he answered me.

“Chavez cal ed. He’s caught up in something that sounds like jen-you-ine police work. He asked me to pick you up.

Said he’d see you tomorrow.”

I felt an immediate sense of disappointment. Then I felt the need to pretend I didn’t feel disappointed. I smiled brightly at Tex.

“It’l be awhile,” I told him.

“Not like there’s nothin’ to do,” he said and wandered toward the bar, his eyes on the stage.

I worked the end of the shift and helped set up for the next day. I didn’t realize how relieved I was that nothing happened until I handed my cashed out apron to Smithie.

“I must be goin’ fuckin’ crazy. I’m actual y
disappointed
that my joint didn’t descend into pandemonium because of your shit,” Smithie said to me.

“Maybe tomorrow,” I replied.

Smithie gave me a barely there smile, “Get outta here.” Tex was waiting at the door and he escorted me to his bronze El Camino. When we were in and buckled up, Tex took off like a rocket and I felt the g-forces pul ing me back against the seat. George Thorogood was blaring from the eight track.

“What happened to your car?” he yel ed over the music, somehow calmly, as if he wasn’t propel ing us at a mil ion miles an hour to our doom with “Bad to the Bone” as our soundtrack.

I pried my body from the seat.

“It’s at the mechanics,” I yel ed back.

Tex was silent a beat, then he shouted, “I got some money stashed away. If you need it…”

I interrupted him, “No, Tex, I’m fine.”

“Not from where I’m sittin’, woman.”

“Real y,” I said, a little more quietly but loud enough to be heard, “I’l be okay.”

He made a noise that sounded like a snort.

“If you need it, it’s there. That’s al I’m sayin’.” I felt the warm feeling in my bel y again.

He parked in a disabled spot at my apartment building and got out to escort me.

I was at the doors to the building, keying in the security code, feeling Tex standing behind me when I heard a noise and a scuffle. I turned to see Tex go down, hitting the ground with a thud akin to a giant redwood tree fal ing.

I looked up to see Louie and Vince, stil wearing their
Reservoir Dogs
outfits and staring at me. Louie’s face was blank. Vince looked like he wanted to break me in half.

Louie came forward, grabbed my arm and said, “Let’s go. Marcus wants to talk to you.”

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn and double damn.

I should have remembered to keep worrying, because, for me, if it could get worse, it would.

* * * * *

They took me south, to the fancy section of Englewood with the big estates and multi-mil ion dol ar homes.

We turned right, drove down a secluded lane and pul ed to a stop at a house that looked less of a house and more of a castle. They guided me up the walk, Louie on my left, Vince on my right, and we went over a bridge that went over what looked like moat.

Normal y, I would find it funny, a castle with a moat in Denver.

Nothing was funny at that particular moment, however.

We walked in the front door and they walked me down a long, wide hal way that was made of stone with a plush, red carpet runner down the middle of it. Every once in awhile, on the wal , there was a light fashioned to look like a torch.

There were also two ful sets of armor and a bunch of crests and crossed swords on the wal .

We turned right into a big room, then right again into what looked like a den, then left into what was a study.

There was more of the medieval castle décor there with a big, heavily carved desk, leather upholstered chairs and pennants flying from brass rods at the ceiling.

A man stood there. He was younger than I expected the king of the castle to be and very good looking. If I saw him on the street, I’d give him a second glance: tal , dark with serious blue eyes that were, somehow, frightening, like he’d seen it al , done it al and wasn’t scared of any of it.

His eyes moved the length of me and something flickered in them when he took in my Smithie’s uniform. He hid it quickly.

“Take a seat,” he said.

I immediately did as I was told and sat in one of the chairs facing the desk. Louie and Vince stood behind me.