I shook my head.
“So how’re you gonna take care of it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ll figure something out.”
His eyes flashed.
“Something that requires another trip to the bank machine?”
I winced because I felt the question in my gut. I felt it for two reasons. One: Eddie asked it and it hurt that his asking it, and this whole conversation, meant he knew my Dad was a bum. Two: because there was nothing left in the machine. Whatever it was I did to fix this mess would probably require me taking a trip to the Stripper Boutique and buying a g-string and pasties, which truly was not a happy thought.
“Jet,” Eddie said and I stopped thinking my unhappy thoughts and looked at him.
His face wasn’t pissed off anymore. His eyes were different. That difference communicated itself to me in physical ways, reminding me of his proximity and also reminding me that he was hot.
“That wasn’t fair,” I told him.
He didn’t answer.
I carried on, “It’s none of your business. None of this is any of your business.”
“I’m making it my business.” He told me, “Fair warning, Jet, I’m making you my business.”
I felt a flutter in several areas of my body simultaneously. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that but I was sure it scared the heck out of me.
“Don’t worry about it, Eddie,” I said, wanting to make a move, get away from Eddie (far away from Eddie) and find my Dad and sort this out. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What if you can’t?” he asked.
“I can.”
“What do you do if you can’t?” he repeated.
“I can.”
I mean, I did have years of sorting out all my family members’ problems. It wasn’t just Mom’s breakdown after Dad left. It wasn’t just her stroke. It wasn’t just giving Dad cash and a place to crash every time he rolled into town. It wasn’t just letting Lottie cry on my shoulder, both close up and long distance, when some guy walked all over her heart. It was everything. In my life, “Who you gonna call?” was not answered with, “Ghostbusters”. It was answered with, “Jet”.
Eddie didn’t know that, of course, and I wasn’t going to tell him; but still.
“I’m guessing any problem with Slick is a problem you can’t take care of,” Eddie said.
“I’ll deal with it.”
“Jet.”
“I’ll deal with it! It’s what I do! Okay? I deal with things. I’ll find some way to deal with this too!” I shouted.
Yeesh.
After my outburst, he watched me for a beat and I saw his eyes change again. This time, they grew warm. I was finding I wasn’t really very good with Eddie’s warm eyes on me. It did funny things to my thought processes.
His hand came up and he ran his knuckles down my jaw.
“Don’t do that,” I said, pulling my face away.
“Chiquita, when you get done this afternoon, I’m picking you up and taking you to my house. I’m making a pitcher of margaritas, getting you shit-faced and you’re finally gonna talk to me.”
I stared at him in total shock.
“About what?” I asked, trying not to sound terrified.
“About anything.”
It was panic time. How it didn’t kick in earlier, I’d never know. I was beginning to feel weak in the knees and funny in the belly.
Eddie went on. “We can start with why you’re workin’ at Smithie’s and we’ll move on to why you wanted me to think you didn’t like Mexicans.”
Um, no way in hell.
“I can’t,” I said.
“Why not?” he asked.
“I just can’t. I have things to do.”
“What things?”
I stared at him for a second. “Just… things.”
He ignored me.
“I’ll be here at three to pick you up.”
I shook my head.
It registered at that inopportune moment that I could smell him, he smelled really nice and I liked it. It also registered that I liked to feel the heat from his body and the way it brushed against mine. Furthermore, I also liked that warm look in his eye.
I liked a lot of things about Eddie.
No, I liked everything about Eddie.
Dear Lord.
I took a shaky breath. I noticed Eddie was watching me. I had to admit, I liked that too.
“Jet, three o’clock,” Eddie said.
“I like how you smell,” I told him; just blurted it out, like a crazy person.
Once my idiotic comment was uttered, panic started to slice through the Eddie Daze but he saw it and put his right hand up on a shelf on the other side of me, by my hip, trapping me.
I looked up at him, flight on my mind but saw his eyes had gone fluid and he looked so flippin’ sexy, my bones went fluid too. So much so, I had to grab onto the material of his t-shirt at his abdomen to hold myself up.
His head started to come down and, I swear to God, he was gonna kiss me.
“Jet?” It was Indy calling.
I jerked back, hitting the back of my skull on the bookshelf.
When I looked at Eddie, his head was no longer descending, his eyes were closed and I could tell his teeth were clenched again, but he didn’t move away.
“Jet?” Indy called again. Then I heard her say, “Oops! Gosh. Sorry.”
I got up on tiptoe and looked over Eddie’s shoulder and saw Indy and Lee standing at the end of the row.
Lee looked amused. I knew this because he was smiling so much he looked like he was about to burst out laughing.
“Sorry, I wouldn’t interrupt but your Dad’s here,” Indy said.
“Great!” I replied brightly, letting go of Eddie’s shirt and ducking under his arm. “Thanks.”
I got a step away when I was jerked back at the middle. I looked and saw that Eddie had hooked a finger in the belt loop at the back of my jeans.
“Hang on there, Chiquita, I’m comin’ with you. I have a few things I’d like to ask your Dad.”
I looked up to Eddie. I wasn’t sure I wanted Eddie talking to Dad. “He’s just here for donuts.”
Eddie’s eyes locked on mine. “I could eat a donut.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about donuts; he was talking about giving my Dad the same kind of third degree he just gave me.
Eddie jerked again on my belt loop and my shoulder came into contact with his chest. Then he said in my ear, “We aren’t done.”
Eek.
A shiver of electricity, starting at my ear, went through my whole body. I ignored it and ignored him.
We were so done. We had to be done. I didn’t have the energy for this, I didn’t have the time for this and anyway, if I went up in flames of passion, who was going to take care of Mom?
Indy and Lee were walking in front of us; Eddie was beside me, his finger still hooked into my belt loop.
“I don’t wanna hear it,” Eddie said, apparently to Lee because Lee answered.
“Come on, tough it up. I had ten years. You’ve had, what? Two months?”
Eddie didn’t respond.
Indy fell back a bit and into step beside me.
“What are they talking about?” I whispered to her.
“You don’t want to know,” she answered.
It was still a coffee crush when we got to the front, but I saw Dad sitting on the back of one of the couches, eating a chocolate iced, custard filled donut and drinking a latte as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
The minute he saw me, he shouted, “Princess Jet!”
Eddie still had his finger in my belt loop so I couldn’t rush to Dad and warn him to flee.
Instead I just said, “Hey Dad.”
Dad looked to Eddie and saw Eddie’s hand behind my back
“Chavez, looks like you don’t let grass grow.”
“Ray,” Was Eddie’s reply.
Dad’s eyes moved to Indy and he smiled, then to Lee who�
�d come up with us. “Fuckin’ A.” He breathed, the smile dying out of his face and he looked almost panicked. “You’re Lee Nightingale.”
“Yep,” Lee said.
“Fuck,” Dad said.
I found this confusing. I looked from Dad to Lee and opened my mouth to speak when the bell over the front door rang and I heard someone call my name.
I turned and stared.
It was Oscar, my latest ex. We’d broken up about a month before Mom’s stroke. Before that, we’d been together for two years. The break up was by mutual consent (mutual in the sense that I talked Oscar into it) and we’d stayed friends. He helped move Mom and me into our new apartment. He was a good guy and, sometimes, I missed him.
Oscar was about two inches taller than me, had warm, brown eyes, fantastic, thick, dark hair and some acne scars which, lucky for him, only served to make him look more interesting.
I turned to him as he walked to us. He looked upset.
This was not good. Oscar had a short fuse which, upset, could quickly grow into something much harder to control.
“Oscar! What are you doing here?”
“Your Mom called, said some asshole called you a racist. Mamita what is that shit all about? I wanna have a word with him. Who is this fuckwad?”
What did I tell you?
My mother.
I wanted to run screaming out of the store but my belt loop was pulled again and again my shoulder came into contact with Eddie’s chest, this time, it stayed there.
“I think I’m the fuckwad,” Eddie said.
Oscar’s eyes moved to Eddie and he saw the way we were standing. I think he misinterpreted it because his temper flared directly to the red zone.
“Get your fuckin’ hands off her!” Oscar shouted and everyone (and there were a lot of people) turned to look.
“Calm down, amigo, we’ve straightened things out,” Eddie replied.
“Oscar, it’s okay,” I said.
Oscar wasn’t listening.
“You don’t call my woman a racist and then straighten things out. And I thought I told you to get your hands off her.”
I forgot to mention, Oscar also had a possessiveness issue. It was one of the reasons we broke up. Not to mention, his confronting Eddie was stupid, anyone could see by looking at the two of them that Eddie could wipe the floor with him. Eddie was taller, leaner and had about a half an ounce of body fat, which was clear to see from the skin-tight white t-shirt he was wearing.
“Your woman?” Eddie asked, his body tensing. He looked down at me. “You seein’ this guy?”
“We broke up,” I said.
“When?” Eddie asked.
“Nine months ago.”
Eddie smiled for the first time that morning and the dimple came out. He turned back to Oscar. “I’d say she wasn’t your woman anymore.”
Oscar leaned forward and started yelling at Eddie in Spanish and Eddie returned fire.
“Stop!” I shouted.
I’d had enough. I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, my car wasn’t working, I’d had a knife to my throat and Eddie just announced that he was making me his business. I couldn’t stand anymore.
Both men quit yelling.
“It’s sorted out, Oscar. It was something stupid I said to make him think it in the first place. But he doesn’t think I’m a racist anymore. Just chill.”
Oscar wasn’t done being angry and he turned to me.
“You worry your mother,” he said.
Wonderful.
“Oscar, everything’s under control.”
“Bullshit, Mamita. Your Mom says—”
“Stop listening to my mother and stop interfering. I can take care of myself.”
He leaned into me. “Yeah? I don’t think so. I got two eyes in my head, don’t I? You’ve lost weight; you look run down and ready to drop. How’re you gonna take care of yourself when you’re so fuckin’ busy takin’ care of—”
“Oscar!” I shouted, “Shut up! And quit talking to my mother.”
He stared at me a beat and then was quiet. The arrow went out of the red zone and dropped down to green. Once it hit green, he looked at me with concern in his eyes.
“Jet, you need someone lookin’ out for you.”
“That would be me,” I told him.
He shook his head and sighed.
“Mi Cielo, you break my heart.”
It was then I knew we were out of danger. Oscar blew quick and blew out just as quickly.
I smiled at him, “Go get a donut.”
“Don’t have time for donuts. I’m late for work as it is.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek, sent Eddie a glare and then took off.
Before I could react, Tex showed up to our little circle.
“Thank Christ for you, Loopy Loo,” He boomed, handing me a cappuccino. “Things were beginnin’ to get borin’ around here.” Then he went back behind the counter.
Everyone was staring at me, Eddie, Lee and Indy.
“Oscar’s a little over-protective,” I said to diffuse the mood.
“I’ll say,” Dad chipped in.
Lee and Indy’s attention switched to Dad but Eddie kept looking at me. His eyes were active again and his hand moved from my waistband to hook an arm around my neck, curling me into him. We were nearly chest-to-chest and I had to splay my hand against his abs to push a bit away from him. His arm tightened, holding me where I was.
His head dipped and he said in my ear, “I’ve just added a couple of things to my list of shit we need to talk about.”
That was not a good thing.
He turned me around, still holding me to his side with his arm around my neck and he looked to Dad.
“Seems we need to have a conversation, Ray.”
Dad looked between Eddie and I, a smile playing on his mouth.
“Jet was held at knife point last night by a guy named Slick. You know anything about that?” Eddie went on.
The smile left Dad’s face. Indy gasped. Dad’s eyes moved to Lee, back to Eddie and then to me.
“You okay?” Dad asked.
“He didn’t hurt me,” I told him.
“Fuck, Jet,” Dad said, then dropped his head into his hand and wiped his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
“Says you owe him something,” Eddie said.
Dad looked up.
“I’ll talk to him,” he said to Eddie. Then he turned to me. “I’ll talk to him,” he repeated.
“You do that,” Eddie said. “Somethin’ else, Ray. Jet’s involvement in this began and ended last night with her conversation with Slick. Do you get me?”
My whole body tightened and I glared at Eddie.
This was family business, who did he think he was?
But Dad answered Eddie, “Yeah. Yeah. No problem. It’s over. I’ll take care of it.” Dad looked at me, “I’ll take care of it, Jet. I promise.”
“Why don’t you do it now?” Lee suggested.
Dad looked at Lee and fear came in his eyes.
“Now’s a good time.”
He got up and I pulled away from Eddie and went to him.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Sure.” He hugged me, “I’ll get this sorted, Princess Jet. Nothin’ to worry about.” He kissed my cheek then his hand came up as if to touch where he kissed but it dropped away.
“Thanks for the donut.” He said, then, without another word or even a look, he took off.
The minute the door closed behind him, I whirled on Eddie.
I don’t know what came over me. Lack of sleep, maybe. Seeing my Dad like that. Whatever, I let him have it.
“That was family business!” I snapped.
Eddie stared down at me.
“Your family?”
“Mine.”
“Since you’re my business, then that’s my business.”
I gaped at him, mouth open and everything.
I shook myself out of my pissed off stupor and yelled, “Stay out of it!”
“I gave you fair warning, Jet. I’m already in it,” he replied, cool as can be.
I narrowed my eyes and planted my hands on my hips.
“Not anymore. Your role in this scenario has been played.”
He rocked back on his heels and smiled, dimple and all.
“Never seen you angry.”
“This isn’t angry. You haven’t seen angry yet.”
That was a lie. I tended to be a pretty mellow person, all in all. I didn’t get angry often and that was about as angry as I’d ever been.
“Then, considering you’re sexy as hell right now, I’m lookin’ forward to angry.”
His words threw me and it was a miracle I didn’t stagger backward.
Then panic coursed through me and I started to stomp toward the bookshelves when Eddie said to my back, “This is familiar, guess it’s time to hide.”
It was likely a mixture of humiliation and heretofore unknown temper that made me swing around and stomp right back to him. That, and the fact I was seeing red. I guess he really hadn’t “seen angry yet” but then again, neither had I.
I got toe-to-toe with him and yelled in his face, “Leave me and my Dad alone, Eddie Chavez!”
Eddie leaned into me, so close, he was all I could see.
Quietly, he asked, “Is it wrong that I want to kiss you right now?”
I kinda growled, low in my throat, too angry to be freaked out by what he said.
“Dios mio, Cariña, you’re adorable.”
“I’m no longer speaking to you,” I told him.
“Yes you are, three o’clock, then it’s you, me and a pitcher of margaritas,” he responded.
I walked away (well maybe more like flounced), behind the espresso counter and started banging around, completely ignoring him and everyone.
A couple of minutes later, Tex said, surprisingly quiet, “It’s okay, darlin’, he’s gone.”
I looked to Tex and Indy as she came behind the counter.
“What am I gonna do?” I asked.
“Go with it?” Tex suggested.
“Do you want to talk?” Indy asked.
I shook my head.
“Thanks. I need to get my head together. Maybe later,” I told her.
“Anytime Jet, do you know that?” Indy asked.
“Know what?”
“That anytime you need to talk, or need anything, you can call me. Do you know that?”
I felt tears sting my eyes. I nodded and turned away, got back to work and missed the look Indy and Tex exchanged.
Rock Chick Rescue Page 5