Rock Chick 02 Rescue (52 page)

I dropped down and snuggled into him.

He wouldn’t be seeing any of my smile but where I’d be (that was, away from him and al his friends), I probably wouldn’t be smiling much anyway.

I could hear the ring tone from his phone. He dislodged me, leaned down, grabbed his jeans and pul ed the cel out of the back pocket. He came back, brought me to him again and flipped the phone open one-handed.

“Yeah?”

He listened for a bit then I felt his body tense.

I came up on my elbow to look at him and his gaze locked on mine.

“You’re shittin’ me,” he said into the phone.

He listened more and then he took his arm from around me and wiped his eyes.

“Right. Yeah. Later.” Then he flipped the phone shut and threw it on the nightstand.

“What?”

He looked at me.

“They found Fratel i dead in his cel . Someone broke his neck.”

I sucked in breath.

“Dear Lord,” I said on an exhale.

His arms came around me and he rol ed into me so we were both on our sides, front-to-front. “You okay?” he asked.

“How did that happen?”

“They don’t know. They’re investigating. He wasn’t in lock up, he was in a private cel . I made arrangements, I figured Marcus would renege on the deal.”

“Do you think he did?”

Eddie gave a single shoulder shrug.

“I don’t believe it,” I said and I didn’t. I didn’t want Vince dead. Maybe, if I was honest with myself, roughed up a bit, but not dead.

“Are
you
okay?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter to me. It’s just one more piece of shit washed away.”

But… Eddie was one of the good guys.

I stared.

Then I said, “Homicide is a bad thing.”

He rol ed me to my back, coming over me, his body mostly pressed against mine.

“Yeah,” he said.

“The worst thing,” I told him.

His hands slid into the hair on either side of my head.

“You aren’t okay.”

“I don’t care about Vince. He told me he was going to rape me with a broken bottle.”

Eddie’s eyes changed, instead of partial y wary and partial y resigned, they became active, as in,
scary
active.

“He said that?”

I nodded.

I nodded.

“Then I real y don’t give a shit that he’s dead.”

“But you’re a cop!”

“So?”

“Hank says you guys are the good guys, you play by the right set of rules and homicide is wrong, no matter who does it or why.”

He did a lip touch and then rol ed again, taking me with him so that I was on top.

“Hank’s a different kind of cop than me. Some dickhead makes my woman’s life a living hel and threatens to rape her with a broken bottle, I’m not fuckin’ losin’ sleep over the fact he isn’t breathin’ anymore.”

“So, Hank plays by the rules and you see shades of gray,” I said.

His body moved with laughter.

“Hank plays by the rules,” he repeated this like it was funny.

“He doesn’t?”

“
Chiquita
, Hank’s got a rule book and I bet he studies it, but he’s also got a lot of shit scratched out and a fuck of a lot of notes in the margin.”

Hmm.

“Oh,” I said.

See, I was right. Hank was a scary good guy.

“Let’s talk about what Vince said to you.” I sighed and pressed my face in his neck and shoved my arms around him.

“Let’s not.”

“You got to talk about it.”

“Why? It’s over. You deal. You move on. I’m fine, everyone I love is fine, except Dad and there’s hope he’l be fine too. Vince was a jerk. Now he’s dead. The end.” Eddie’s arms tightened around me and he said some stuff softly in Spanish.

My head came back up.

“What? I didn’t catch any of that.”

He did another rol , him getting on top again.

Then, he said, “You don’t wanna talk? We won’t talk.” Then he kissed me.

Then, for the next hour, there were some words muttered, but you couldn’t real y cal them talking.

* * * * *

It was Saturday. Saturday meant there wasn’t even the need for the snooze button.

I nestled my bottom into his groin and started to drift back to sleep.

Then I heard Eddie say, “Wake up,
Cariña
, time for our talk.”

Shit, hel and damn.

“I want to sleep more,” I said.

“After our talk and after I make love to you, then you can sleep. First, the talk.”

My bel y did a curl.

I ignored it.

“But I want to sleep more
now
.”

I was partly trying to avoid the talk, partly trying not to think of Eddie making love to me and partly, I real y did want more sleep.

He moved away and rol ed me onto my back. He was up on his elbow and looking down on me. “Later,” he said.

I threw an arm over my eyes. “I need coffee,” I said.

“Later.”

I wasn’t going to get out of it, I wasn’t going to delay it and I wasn’t going to get more sleep.

I took the arm away and looked at him.

It was a serious look, no attitude, no bul shit.

“I need coffee before we talk.”

He looked at me, registered the seriousness, then rol ed out of bed and pul ed me with him.

I put on one of Eddie’s flannel shirts (thinking I’d steal that too if I could get away with it) and a pair of panties and Eddie tugged on a pair of jeans.

We made coffee.

We used the delicious in-store bakery bread Blanca bought and made toast, breaking the seal on Eddie’s new toaster. We smeared it with real butter (that Blanca also bought) and grape jel y (again, that Blanca bought).

We sat at the dining room table with our coffee and toast. Eddie sat back, his legs out in front of him and his feet crossed at the ankles. It wasn’t a good position because it
was
a good position and it was a new position.

I hadn’t had the opportunity to be around an Eddie who was relaxed, sitting back at his dining room table, wearing was relaxed, sitting back at his dining room table, wearing nothing but jeans. Al I knew was Eddie at Fortnum’s, Eddie Action Man or at most, Eddie lounging on the couch holding me while watching a bal game. Stil , even lounging on the couch, there was something active about him, alert, aware, focused, whatever.

He was focused now but we’d had a lot of sex last night and I’d agreed to talk. Not to mention, I was sitting at his dining room table eating toast and wearing his shirt.

He was focused but laid-back. He looked real y handsome and both were going to make things a lot harder for me.

He took a bite of toast and watched me.

“You’re gettin’ that about-ready-to-bolt look again,” he said when he swal owed and then he took a sip of coffee, al the while, his eyes on me.

“I didn’t real y think you’d be mad that I moved out. I wasn’t real y moved
in
. I was just staying here—” I started but he interrupted.

“You weren’t moved in, we’re not ready for moved in.

Stil , you could have told me and you could have stayed awhile. At least until your sister found a place to stay.”

“Mom gave up the apartment. She and Lottie are moving in with Trixie.”

His eyes didn’t leave me but they became active.

“That was fast. Where are you gonna live?”

“They found me an apartment. I’m quitting Fortnum’s and working at Smithie’s until the Credit Union has an opening.

Then, I’m going back there.”

He stil watched me.

“Prefer it to the other way around, you stay at Fortnum’s and quit Smithie’s.”

“Smithie’s is more money.”

“Then you
are
moving in until you can afford your own place.”

I shook my head.

“It wasn’t an offer,
Chiquita
. I don’t want you workin’ at Smithie’s.”

“Eddie,” I said, putting down my toast, “You don’t have much to say about it.”

His eyes started changing.

Uh-oh.

I leaned back, took a huge breath and then said it, straight out, “I’m breaking up with you.” His eyes finished changing, quick as a flash.

“I’m sorry?” he asked quietly

“I’m breaking up with you,” I repeated.

Not only had his eyes changed but his body wasn’t laid-back anymore. He was stil in the same position but he was back to alert and aware,
very
alert and aware.

“I…” I started, swal owed, then started again, “I want to thank you for al you’ve done for me, I have cookies in my car…”

“I don’t want your fuckin’ cookies.”

Hmm.

Not good.

Eddie liked my cookies. I made the peanut butter and Hershey’s square ones for him especial y.

Hershey’s square ones for him especial y.

“Eddie…”

“What the fuck are you afraid of?” he asked.

I blinked. “Pardon?”

He stared at me a beat then said, “You’re fuckin’

unbelievably clueless.”

I straightened in my chair. “That’s not nice.”

“This is good,” he said.

“What’s good?”

“Us.”

I did a head jerk.

He was right. It was good. That was the point.

I stood up. “I think I should go.”

I started to walk to the bedroom, rethinking stealing his shirt. He was a little harder to break up with than Oscar,
or
Luis and Luis had asked me to marry him. At that juncture, I didn’t think Eddie would appreciate me stealing his clothes.

I got about three steps before my arm was grabbed and Eddie swung me around.

I started talking immediately, I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

“I’m going to go, I’l cal Lottie, she can pick me up.”

“You’re not goin’ anywhere, we’re gonna talk this shit out.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“You fuckin’ better believe there is.”

“Eddie, please. Don’t.”

“
Chiquita
, you’re a pain in the ass, but you aren’t boring, you aren’t normal and you aren’t average. That’s the point. It would be cute that you don’t realize how fuckin’ pretty you are, except you get yourself kissed and end up with your head in other guy’s laps. You bein’ shy is sweet, but the attitude is better…”

“The attitude was al about Slick and Vince and now that they’re gone…”

“The attitude was latent, Slick and Vince and likely Indy and Al y brought it out.”

“Real y, I don’t think…”

His arms came around me and he pul ed me, hard, up against his body and his head tilted down to mine as I looked up.

“Eddie…”

“You aren’t breakin’ up with me and you aren’t leavin’.

We’re gonna finish our toast and coffee and then I’m takin’

you into the bedroom and fuckin’ you so hard that idiot brain of yours won’t think of anything but me movin’ inside you. Then after that, we’re gonna have a normal, average day doing some normal, average shit before some other crisis blows us back into pandemonium.”

“There won’t be another crisis,” I said.

“There’s always another crisis.”

“Eddie, let me go.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

I started panicking. It was a delayed reaction panic but I’d final y realized that this was not going wel .

At al .

“Eddie,
let me go!
” I (kind of) shouted.

His arms tightened and he shook me a bit. “It’s not gonna happen!” he shouted back.

Okay, I was ful -on panic at that point.

“You have to let me go!”

Definitely a shout.

“Why?”

“You just have to.”

Another shake.

“Why?”

I felt tears burn in my throat.

No, this was
seriously
not going wel .

“Jet, talk to me.”

I shook my head and tried to pul away.

He brought me even closer.

“Eddie, let me go!”

“You like me, you don’t want to, but you do and this is total bul shit.”

“I don’t like you!” I yel ed.

“You fucking wel do!” he yel ed back.

I gave a vicious yank and the tears burning my throat started to burn my eyes, I couldn’t swal ow them down and they started flowing.

He caught me again and brought me back.

“Do I have to prove it to you?” His voice was back to quiet and it was far more scary then him shouting.

“I don’t like you.”

Another shake.

I pul ed away again but stood in front of him and shouted,

“I don’t like you! I love you. I’ve loved you since the minute I saw you. God!” I looked to the ceiling and swiped a hand across my face to wipe away the tears, “You’re a good guy, I could tel right off. You’re nice to your friends and they love you. You’re handsome and you stepped up for me, going al out to keep me safe and…and…” I faltered and then ral ied,

“you have a fancy truck!”

For a second he looked shocked, then the warmth came into his eyes and he reached out to me.

I whirled, total y panicked, beyond freaked out, straight to temporary insanity.

What was I thinking, blurting out that I loved him?

Total y temporary insanity.

I started to run but he caught me, swung me around again and walked me back until I was pressed against the wal , his body against mine.

“No!” I screamed, “We can’t have sex against the wal again, I have to go.”

“We’re not havin’ sex against the wal .”

I looked at him and shouldn’t have. The warmth was there but he was also amused, he thought this was funny.

This was anything but funny.

“I have to go.”

“You aren’t goin’ anywhere.”

“Eddie…”

“
Chiquita
, calm down.”