Rock Chick 02 Rescue (31 page)

“Not smart, shootin’ at a cop’s girlfriend,” Darius remarked.

Yes, it was the guy who shot at me.

And there it was again, someone cal ing me Eddie’s girlfriend.

Dear Lord.

“Whatever it was, it was worth twenty large. That’s al I know.” Darius said.

Twenty large?

Holy cow.

I’d probably shoot someone if they stole something from me that was worth twenty thousand dol ars.

Wel , probably not, but I’d consider it.

“Slick stil in the picture?” Eddie went on.

“Slick’s taken to ground. Slick’s got the DPD and Nightingale Investigations al over his ass. Slick ain’t showin’ his face for a good long time. Thirty K or no.” Final y, a piece of good news.

“Where does Marcus stand in this?” Eddie continued.

“He’s cut Vince loose. Either that, or lose Daisy. Ain’t no way he’s losin’ Daisy,” Darius answered.

I was shocked.

What happened to war?

Not, of course, that I
wanted
war.

“Vince

is

renegade?”

Eddie

asked,

sounding

incredulous.

“Vince is on a mission and Vince is on his own.” I didn’t take this as good news.

“That’s too bad, I wanted Marcus tied to this,” Eddie said.

Eddie didn’t take it as good news either, but for a far scarier reason.

Darius laughed.

“You’l have to nail him some other way, Ed. Word is, Daisy likes Jet, and Marcus wants Daisy happy. You know how it is.”

No answer and a long moment of silence.

“She worth this?” Darius asked quietly.

“Jet?” Eddie asked in return.

“Yeah,” Darius said.

I opened the door and did it as loudly as I could, then walked to the bathroom.

I didn’t want to hear Eddie’s answer and I didn’t think I could close the door without them knowing I was listening.

It was while in the bathroom that I realized I had no underwear on.

Wonderful.

I made noise in the bathroom, banging stuff around and turning on the sink. Then I went back to the bedroom, my eyes avoiding the living room. I stood there wondering what to do, then I dug in my bag, grabbed a pair of jeans and yanked them on.

Then I walked out into the living room, pul ing my hair out of my face.

I looked to Eddie, then to Darius. Both of them were standing in the living room, both of them were watching me.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

I stopped next to Eddie. His arm went around my neck and he pul ed me into his side.

“We wake you?” he asked softly, looking down at me, his arm stil wrapped around my neck.

I shook my head and then stopped and stared at him. He must have worked out his anger earlier, his eyes were back to warm and tender.

I slipped into a mini-daze and murmured, “Felt you gone.”

His eyelids lowered a bit and his mouth relaxed.

“Go back to bed, I’l be there in a minute,” he said.

I gave a nod, put my hand to his stomach to push away but Darius broke in.

“I’m outta here. Be in touch.”

I looked at him, he was talking to Eddie but looking at me, his face was blank but his eyes were assessing.

Eddie told me he was a drug dealer and he talked casual y about ordering people’s deaths. I felt something very sad about that because I had this weird feeling he was a nice guy. I had a feeling that this wasn’t who he was but who he had to be.

Darius left, doing some kind of hand gesture to Eddie and not saying a word to me.

Eddie locked up after him and he and I walked back into the bedroom. He’d put on his t-shirt and jeans to talk to Darius. He took them off in the dark.

I took off my jeans, left on the sweater and got into bed.

Eddie joined me, his hands coming under the sweater and whipping it off.

“I’m cold,” I said to him.

He tucked me into him, front-to-front.

“You won’t be for long.”

He held me awhile and he was right.

I was nearly asleep, don’t ask me how, probably the warmth from Eddie’s body and something to do with his arms wrapped around me.

Then Eddie spoke and made me jerk awake.

“How much did you hear?”

Damn.

Caught.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “A lot?”

Eddie didn’t say anything.

“It was wrong to listen,” I said by way of apology.

“I would have listened,” he told me.

I couldn’t help it, I smiled against his neck.

“You’re going to have to explain to me about Darius,” I whispered.

Eddie didn’t hesitate.

“When we were kids, we were close. He was a good guy, a little wild, less wild than Lee and me.” From what I learned that night, I thought it would be difficult to be
more
wild than Eddie.

Eddie kept talking. “His Dad was murdered and he and his family had it rough. He took a road that seemed easy at the time, quick money and a way to work out his shit. That road became harder but he’d chosen the path and, now, refuses to look back.”

“That sounds very sad.”

And it did.

Eddie made no comment. Being Darius’s friend through it al , he knew just how sad it was.

“Why was he here in the middle of the night?” I asked.

Eddie paused, as if wondering whether it was safe to share. Then he spoke. “We work together sometimes, when it’s mutual y beneficial, but we keep it quiet. The Department wants him taken out and they aren’t too happy with our relationship. I’m Vice and not tremendously popular with the brothers.”

“It’s not safe,” I concluded.

“No. It’s not safe.”

“For either of you?”

“No.”

“But you’re working together now?”

He didn’t answer.

“For me?”

He didn’t answer.

“I think you might be a little scary,” I told him.

He turned to his back and pul ed me into his side.

“Don’t listen to my aunts. I’m not nearly as scary as they want me to be.”

He was wrong.

He was terrifying.

The alarm went off, Eddie touched a button and rol ed out of bed.

I snuggled into the pil ow.

He wrapped a hand around my wrist and pul ed me out of bed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, half asleep, half pissed off and halfway across the room.

“Time to shower, then time to find bad guys,” Eddie replied.

Shower?

I was stil waking up when he picked me up and put me under the hot water. I looked up at him in disbelief, blinking as the water came down on me when he joined me and pul ed the shower curtain around us.

“Something to learn about me,” I told him, “I’m a Snooze Button Girl.”

He smiled down at me, reached around and grabbed the soap.

What he didn’t do was respond.

I turned my back on him, the best way to hide my naked body.

Why were men so okay with nudity? It wasn’t fair.

Of course, Eddie had a great body, he certainly had nothing to hide. If I had Eddie’s body, I’d probably wander around naked al the time. Not that I had a bad body, I had curves in al the right places. They were curvier a few months ago, when I had time to eat.

“I real y don’t like you,” I said to the showerhead.

His soapy hands came around my middle, he pressed his body against my back and his mouth found my neck.

“Something I
have
learned about you, you’re grouchy in the morning.”

“I’m not grouchy in the morning,” I grouched.

His hands at my middle separated. One went to cup my breast, the other to cup between my legs.

“No, you’re grouchy al the time,” he said this like it was amusing.

I was only half paying attention. I was more interested in what his hands were doing. His fingers on one hand did a rol on my nipple as his other fingers pressed deep.

It felt nice.

My head fel back on his shoulder.

“I’ve also learned how to make you sweet,” he murmured against my cheek.

I had to admit, he’d
definitely
learned that.

I turned my head and ran my tongue down his neck.

I tasted water and Eddie, and I didn’t feel grouchy anymore.

* * * * *

I couldn’t find his coffee maker, in fact, I couldn’t find much of anything.

I went back to the bathroom, knocked on a door that was already opened and entered at Eddie’s cal . He was standing at the sink, wearing jeans and nothing else, shaving.

“I can’t find your coffee maker,” I said.

His eyes slid to me.

“I don’t have one.”

I stared.

Everyone had a coffee maker. This was America.

Even more, Eddie was a cop. Everyone knew cops drank lots of coffee and ate donuts.

I looked at Eddie’s rock-hard abs.

Okay, so maybe Eddie didn’t eat donuts.

I shook off my surprise.

“I can’t find your kettle or any instant,” I tried.

“I don’t have a kettle or instant coffee.” I kept staring.

“What do you do for coffee?”

His eyes went back to the mirror.

“I go to Fortnum’s.”

“Wel then, what do
I
do for coffee, like, right now?” I asked.

“Get ready for work?” he suggested.

I put on The Glare.

“You need a woman,” I told him, trying to be uppity and throw some attitude.

It wasn’t a smart thing to do.

His eyes came back to me and his expression turned my bones to water.

Eek!

I left the bathroom.

I slapped on minimal makeup, put on jeans and a v-necked, scarlet-red, long-sleeved t-shirt that Mom bought me and yes, you guessed it, it was skintight. I blew my hair dry and pul ed it back in a ponytail holder. Because I felt in the mood, I put on a pair of kick-butt, high-heeled, tan boots and a belt so wide, it strained the limits of my belt loops.

Eddie pul ed on a long-sleeved, white, thermal t-shirt, his jeans, boots and belt, took his gun and cuffs from the drawer in the bedside table and clipped them to the belt on his jeans. His final touch was to grab his badge from the his jeans. His final touch was to grab his badge from the dresser and hook it on his belt.

I picked up my purse and we rol ed out the backdoor.

We were halfway across the yard when I noticed Eddie scanning. My stomach clenched and I started scanning too, looking for heads peering over Eddie’s tal fence. He unlocked the garage and we were in the truck, waiting for the garage door to open, Eddie watching it through his rearview mirror, al the while fishing in his pocket. Then he held out a set of keys to me.

“Keys to the house,” was al he said.

I took them. My stomach clenched again and he started the truck. He was about to put the truck in gear when I put my hand on his forearm. He didn’t move his hand, but his eyes came to mine.

There were a lot of things to say.

“Thank you” being the biggest one on the list, but the words weren’t good enough.

“I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass” was another one that was way up there.

I knew I should say something, anything, but I didn’t know what to say.

“I don’t know what to say,” I said.

His eyebrows came up.

I took my hand from his arm and looked away.

“
Chiquita
, is this about the keys?” he asked.

“It’s about everything,” I told the window.

Silence.

“Hey,” he said quietly and I looked at him.

His eyes were serious.

“I’m guessin’ you feel you owe me big just about now.” I nodded.

He smiled slowly. First the dimple, then his lips curved, then his white teeth came out.

I narrowed my eyes at him, turned away, did my seatbelt and crossed my arms on my chest. “I
really
don’t like you,” I said.

He laughed.

“I’m not joking.”

“You’re so ful of shit.” But he said it like it was a good thing.

Wonderful.

* * * * *

Jane and Tex were behind the coffee counter. They both looked up when we arrived and Tex opened his mouth to boom but I got there first.

“Eddie doesn’t have a coffee maker. Coffee! Now! No lip!” I snapped.

I went directly behind the counter and stared at Tex as he banged around the espresso machine, making me a strong Americano at the same time he made Eddie a cappuccino.

The whole time, he was grinning.

I handed Eddie the cappuccino that Tex gave me, sloshed milk into my Americano and took a sip without stirring it.

I looked at Tex. He was stil grinning.

“What’s funny?”

“You, Loopy Loo.” His eyes moved to Eddie, “Sorry Chavez, but she’s a lot more fun when people are shootin’

at her.”

“You’re a nut,” I told him.

“That I am, darlin’,” he replied, unperturbed, and turned to the first customer.

Eddie backed me into the counter behind the espresso machine.

“Gotta go,” he said, his arms sliding around me, one hand stil holding the cup.

My hands were between us and it was either wind them around him or spil coffee over both of us. As coffee was a life force at that moment, I wound my arms around him.

His eyes had that warm and tender look.

“After work, we’l go shoppin’ for a coffee maker,” he said.

Dear Lord.

Shopping with Eddie for a coffee maker.