He pul ed back, just an inch, and he stared at me, his eyes intense, something strange there, almost like surprise.
I stared back. We were both breathing heavily.
Final y he muttered, “Jesus.”
He could say that again.
I felt hot, everywhere, and I was pretty certain my stomach had evacuated my body.
“I should have broke in last night, woke you up, fucked you until you couldn’t breathe. I thought about it. I should have fuckin’ done it.”
Oh my God.
He said this like he was talking to himself, stil , I heard it and it flipped me out.
“Vance –” I whispered.
“Save it,” he cut me off. “Tonight. Six thirty.” Then the tractor beam switched off, his chin lifted, he kissed my forehead and he said, “Wear something nice.” He let me go but his hand wrapped around mine. The warmth of his hand in mine, the strength I felt there, the intimacy of the gesture took me off guard.
Okay, so we’d necked, groped, laid in my bed (of al places) and talked. I’d held him at gunpoint and he’d beat me at wrestling. Even though this had al passed between us, his holding my hand made a statement that went beyond the cat and mouse game we seemed to be playing since we laid eyes on each other.
I didn’t know if you held hands with a woman you intended to sleep with and then leave which Crowe had a reputation for doing. He saw, he conquered, he left.
Furthermore I had no girlfriends to ask. I didn’t expect this was a topic of conversation that either Zip or Heavy would be delighted to get into with me.
Though, if I were to guess, my answer would be no.
I didn’t know what to do with this and I was struggling to process it when he turned us to the door and in the window to the room that faced the hal we saw several kids (and I could swear May as wel ) quickly move away. We heard movement and giggling and then nothing.
“God dammit,” I muttered under my breath.
Vance just looked down at me wearing his arrogant, shit-eating grin.
And al of a sudden I had new things to worry about. This made my list include my soon to be fucking by Vance Crowe; everyone at King’s hearing about our make out session; what it meant that Vance held my hand; and the fact that I had absolutely nothing “nice” to wear on our date.
* * * * *
Later that afternoon I cornered Roam and Sniff. Roam was looking at me funny. Sniff was grinning.
“Hey Law,” Sniff said.
I pushed his shoulder and then swung my gaze between the both of them. “I got a favor to ask you two.”
“Anything Law,” Sniff said immediately.
“Depends on what it is,” Roam said cautiously.
I sat down on the arm of the chair that Sniff was sitting in.
“You hear anyone talking about going out at night –” I started.
“We ain’t snitchin’,” Roam broke in.
I shook my head. “I don’t want you to snitch. I want you to tel them it’s a bad idea. Talk them out of it. They’l listen to you.”
“They’d listen to Park,” Sniff put in.
I turned to Sniff. “Now they’l listen to you.” Sniff looked like he didn’t believe me and he threw a glance at Roam.
“Like it or not,” I said, “Park left you something. You two have been around longer than most, been on the street longer than most and seen a lot more than most, including finding Park and knowing the Nightingale Boys. You can ignore that, use it the wrong way or use it the right way. I’m asking you to do the right thing. That’s it. Now it’s your choice.”
They both looked at me and didn’t give anything away. I waited for something, anything, but they gave me nothing so I gave up.
“Al right, I said my piece.” I got up from the chair, preparing to go but Roam stopped me from leaving.
“Law,” he cal ed.
I looked down at him. He and Sniff exchanged another glance and he hesitated like he didn’t know what to say or didn’t want to say what came next.
“Yeah?” I prompted.
Roam took a breath. “Careful of Crowe.”
Sniff looked at his feet.
“Sorry?”
Roam got up and looked down on me. Sniff got up too but he was inching away.
“He’s a player,” Roam told me. “Heard about you two.
Everyone’s talking about it. He’s movin’ in fast.” I could tel he was uncomfortable, so was I, so I cut in.
“Roam, don’t worry about me. It’s not –”
“He’s a player,” Roam interrupted me.
“Roam –”
“He’s a player,” he repeated. “Everybody knows it. He wants a piece of your ass.”
“Roam!”
“That’s al he wants.”
“I think I know what I’m doing,” I said, even though I didn’t but I stil could not believe I was getting a talking to from a fifteen year old boy. So he had more earth-shattering life experiences than your average adult.
Stil .
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Roam finished and before I could say anything he and Sniff moved away.
I watched them go and I was trying to get my mind around what just happened when I heard an exclamation from across the room.
“Sugar, I just love that sweater! Where’d you get it?” I turned to look at the front door and Indy, Jet, Roxie, Daisy and a beautiful brunette who looked like a female version of Lee Nightingale were standing there. Daisy was addressing Clarice who was wearing a big, fluffy pink sweater.
“Stole it,” Clarice declared boldly to Daisy.
Daisy didn’t even blink. “Okay then, where did you steal it?” Then she turned to Indy. “Gotta get me one of those. It’d g o perfect with my new pink cowboy boots.” She turned back to Clarice. “You steal another one, darlin’, my size is medium.”
“Daisy!” Jet exclaimed.
“What?” Daisy asked.
Clarice stared at her like she’d dropped to earth from another galaxy. I walked up to them.
“Hey Jules,” Indy said when I arrived.
“Hi. Um…” I didn’t know what to say.
Roxie smiled at me. “Thought we’d pop by, say hi.”
“I’m Al y Nightingale.” The brunette offered her hand and I shook it not surprised by her last name.
“Hey,” I said to her then turned to Daisy. “Sorry about this but you probably shouldn’t encourage the kids to steal. We try to talk them out of that kind of thing.” Daisy looked at me for a beat then turned to Clarice.
“What’s your name, Sugar?”
“Clarice,” Clarice told her.
“Wel , I’m Daisy. You go back to that shop, you let me know and I’l meet you there. You have a cel ?” Clarice nodded.
“Give it to me, I’l program in my number,” Daisy told her.
I stared, so did Indy, Roxie, Jet and Al y.
Street tough Clarice, looking a little dazed, gave Daisy her cel and the whole time Daisy punched in numbers, she talked. “We won’t steal anything, we’l just browse. Then maybe go get a coffee. You drink coffee, Sugar?”
“Um…” Clarice mumbled.
“I’l get you a soda. That pink real y suits your coloring.
You got flair,” Daisy went on.
Clarice continued to stare and only blinked when Daisy handed her back her phone.
Then Daisy turned to me obviously ready to move on, she asked, “You got a place to talk?”
I nodded thinking maybe this was the weirdest day in my life. “Sure,” I said.
“What’s goin’ on?” May trundled up to us looking amongst the hot chicks and being clear she wanted in on the ground floor of any new event that rocked my life.
I introduced her. “May, this is Daisy, Al y, Roxie, Indy and Jet. Guys, this is May, she’s a volunteer here.” They al did their greetings and Daisy repeated, “We gotta talk, girl. You got somewhere private?”
“Blue room’s stil open,” May put in imm
ediately and I added May to the top of my ever growing mental list of people I wanted to murder.
“Wel , what are we waitin’ for?” Daisy asked and then shoved forward like she owned the place and knew exactly where she was going. May pushed up next to her and we al fol owed.
When we got to the blue room, May closed the door behind us and this time everyone settled into a seat like they were going to spend the day doing girlie talk in a counseling room at a shelter for runaways. Daisy, Al y and Roxie sat on the couch, Indy, Jet and May pul ed chairs around to face it. Daisy patted the arm of the couch next to her and, with no other option (like running, screaming, from the room, which I wanted to do but thought might be rude), I sat on it.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We just came to see how you’re doing,” Indy answered.
“You okay?”
I looked at her confused, not knowing what she was real y asking. “Yeah,” I said.
“We heard about last night… and, um, the night before,” Jet put in.
I switched my gaze to Jet. “What’d you hear?”
“That you’re one kickass bitch, that’s what we heard. You crazy or somethin’?” Daisy asked, clearly not in the mood to beat around the bush like the other women.
“No,” I said, my eyes narrowing as I looked down at her.
Daisy took my narrowed look and it bounced off her like she was made of Teflon. “Al right, Sugar, I believe you,” she said then giggled and it sounded like tinkly bel s.
“We hear you’re going out with Vance,” Al y put in.
My eyes moved to her. “Not exactly,” I replied.
They al looked disappointed.
“Yes you are,” May threw in. “You had a date with him last night.”
They al perked up.
“You had a date last night with Vance?” Indy asked.
I opened my mouth to say something when Roxie cut in.
“That is so cool! ” Then she leaned toward me. “What’s a date with Vance like?”
“It wasn’t exactly a date,” I told her, feeling weird, mainly because this was weird. “We watched Monday Night Footbal with my uncle and then talked.”
They al looked disappointed again.
“You were necking with him like a teenager in this very room just a couple of hours ago. I saw you my damned self,” May carried on spil ing al my secrets.
I widened my eyes in a “shut up” look at her and noticed the hot chicks had al gone perky again.
“I bet he’s a good kisser,” Al y said.
“I bet he’s a good everything,” Daisy put in. “You get anything else from him?”
Was this real y happening? I didn’t even know these people.
“Um…” I muttered. It wasn’t any of her business but I didn’t want to appear rude.
“Oh come on, share. You’re among friends,” Al y said even though I knew her less than the other four and I didn’t know the other four at al .
I didn’t do girl talk at least I hadn’t real y done it since col ege. I didn’t know where to begin and anyway, it was important to note (again), I didn’t even know these people.
“Maybe you should understand something,” Indy said, watching me closely, “Lee and I are getting married.” I just looked at her. I didn’t know how that information made anything more understandable. “Congratulations,” I said.
“Eddie and I are living together,” Jet put in.
I looked at her guessing she was talking about Eddie Chavez and wondering why she shared this information.
She kept talking. “We met, like, five months ago. Then I had this situation where a loan shark was after my Dad but came after me, then some other guy tried to rape me and then –”
“I’m stil sorry about that, Sugar,” Daisy cut in.
“It wasn’t your fault, Daisy,” Jet assured her, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.
“Stil , he was workin’ for my husband. I feel responsible,” Daisy went on.
“Don’t,” Jet said on a dazzling smile.
I watched this conversation wondering if maybe they were a little crazy when Roxie butted in.
“I’m living with Hank, Lee’s brother. We met each other less than two months ago. I moved from Chicago. My ex was kind of a jerk –”
“Kind of? He was a first class jerk,” Al y threw in. “He was more like a grade A prime asshole.”
Roxie smiled at her. “Yeah, wel , anyway,” she looked back at me, “the point is he kidnapped me and then, after I was rescued, he stalked me. It was a nightmare. Vance was the one who rescued me. Tracked me down and found me handcuffed to a sink in a sleazebag motel in Nebraska.
He was very cool about it, took me to an outlet mal on the way home and everything and I didn’t even have to ask.” I nodded, not knowing what to say, stalking ex-boyfriends, kidnapping, rapists, outlet mal s. It was too bizarre for words.
Indy smiled at me. “We know you know Lee. Wel , Lee, Eddie and Hank, they’re al part of our tribe. Vance is too.
What we’re saying is, you get sucked in by one of the boys, you’re part of our tribe too.”
“We’re the Rock Chick Welcome Wagon,” Al y put in on a grin.
“See, these guys move kind of fast,” Jet added.
“It can make you dizzy,” Roxie said.
“So you need your girls around you,” Indy finished.
I looked to May to see how she was taking al of this and she was smiling at me like a loon. Maybe she was a loon, maybe all of them were loons.
“So, what’s goin’ on with you and Vance? Spil , Sugar.
We’re here for you,” Daisy told me.
My eyes settled on her and it struck me immediately that she wasn’t just saying that. I realized with some intuitive clarity that they weren’t here to be nosy and interfering.
They meant al this shit.
I opened my mouth to tel them it was none of their business, to guard my heart like an emotional Rottweiler when, just like I did with Zip blurting out my plan to save al the runaways from drug dealers, I told them everything.
Everything.
From the minute Vance cornered me in the al ey to when he was holding my hand. I held nothing back. I even told them I was a virgin.
When I was done, they were al staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths.
“Shit,” Daisy breathed then swung her head to Roxie, “he moves even faster than Hank.”
“You can say that again,” Roxie replied.
“You’re a virgin?” Al y asked, eyes stil huge.
“I can’t think about that right now,” I said to Al y. “It’s one thing at a time. He told me I should wear something nice. I don’t have anything nice. The only nice thing I have is a dress I wore to a col eague’s wedding two years ago and it’s a summer dress and now it’s November. I can’t wear a summer dress in November. And anyway, I don’t even know what ‘nice’ means.”
“Wel , I can help with that,” Indy announced and looked at Al y. “We’l cal Tod and Stevie.”
“I’l help with the outfit,” Roxie put in and Indy nodded.
“I’l do your makeup,” Jet said on a smile.
“I’l do your hair,” Daisy offered.
“No! ” Indy, Al y and Jet al said in unison, making everyone else jump.
“I’ll do your hair,” Indy declared firmly.
“She gives good hair,” Al y informed me.
“She gives good hair,” Al y informed me.
“You got her outfit,” Daisy complained, “you can’t have her hair too. What am I gonna do?”
“You can take the virgin part,” Indy said.
Daisy’s blue eyes swung to me and they were bright. “Oh yeah. I can do that.”
“Where do you live?” Al y asked.
I wasn’t keeping up and before I could think better of it, I gave them my address. They al got up.
“She’s in the ‘hood,” Indy noted to the group and then looked at me. “I live two
blocks away from you.” I nodded, stil not keeping up.
Then Indy turned to the group again. “Five fifteen, we al meet at Jules’s. Bring what you can,” Indy ordered.
“I’m comin’ too,” May threw in and looked at me, “moral support.”
“Works for me,” Al y replied.
“Me too. See you there,” Roxie said to me.
Then they were gone. May and I stared at the door.
“What just happened?” I asked the door and felt rather than saw May’s eyes on me.
“What just happened was, just like I said, Crowe’s offerin’ you a life. If you’re smart, which I know you are, you’re gonna reach out and grab it.”
Then she was gone too.
Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
You Like Bikes?
“She needs more sparkle,” Daisy announced and I could see her out of the corners of my eyes to which Jet was applying shadow. Daisy had her hands on her hips and she was staring at me assessingly and I could tel she did not like what she saw.
“She doesn’t need any sparkle. She’s going on a date with Vance, not bal room dancing at The Ritz,” Indy returned, standing beside me and holding a curling iron in my hair.
“Tod, she needs sparkle. Every girl needs sparkle. Find some goddamned sparkle, comprende?” Daisy ordered, ignoring Indy.
The gang had descended on my house about five minutes after I arrived home from the Shelter. They came in carrying hangers ful of clothes, curling irons, hairdryers, cosmetics bags stuffed with makeup, accessories and boxes of shoes.
They had two gay men in tow. One, Tod, was a tal , lean, effeminate white man with a brown crew cut. The other, Stevie, was shorter, more butch, handsome and Hispanic.
Tod, they told me, was Denver’s top drag queen, his alter ego known as Burgundy Rose. Stevie, they also told me, was his long-suffering but, nevertheless, obviously loving partner.
“Sparkle,” Tod muttered, digging through piles of clothes, belts, scarves and shoes, “gotcha.”
“I’m not sure about sparkle,” I whispered to Jet.
“Don’t worry,” Jet replied with a smal smile to me then she glanced worriedly at Indy.
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