Rock Chick 02 Rescue (14 page)

Tex, Indy and I walked up to Bear’s house, which was a one-storey, cracker box house that had yel ow aluminum siding and a mess of kid’s toys in the front yard. This was tel ing because Bear and Lavonne’s two kids were the same age as me and Lottie and had moved out of the house nearly a decade before.

I knocked on the door and Bear answered. His eyes got big, then they got panicked, then they settled on cagey.

Not good.

“Jet! Shit! Haven’t seen you in ages, girl. How’re you keepin’?”

“Hey Bear.”

He pul ed me into (you guessed it) a bear hug and then let me go. His eyes moved to Indy briefly and then stayed on Tex.

I introduced everyone. Throughout the introductions, Bear pretended to be cordial but he was anything but relaxed.

“What brings you out here?” he asked, not taking his eyes off Tex and not moving from the door.

“Dad’s in town,” I said.

Bear’s eyes final y came to me. “Is he?” Bear lied. He total y knew Dad was in town.

“He’s in trouble, Bear. Can we come in for second and talk?”

Bear didn’t move from his body blockade of the door.

“Wish you could, girl, but Lavonne’s workin’ nights and she gets a little cranky when her beauty sleep’s disturbed.” At last, Bear spoke the truth. Lavonne got cranky when the sun rose, when it set and when the earth revolved around it. Then again, Lavonne had been supporting a ne’er-do-wel for thirty years, albeit a lovable one, that would make me cranky too.

“Do you know anything about Dad?” I asked.

“Un-unh, haven’t heard from Ray in ages,” Bear said.

Back to lying.

Damn.

I sighed, then ran down my latest adventures with Dad, Slick and Slick’s knife.

It was then, Bear looked angry.

“What’re you doin’ workin’ at a titty bar?” Wonderful.

“That isn’t the point.”

“It is the point. You need money?”

Like Bear had money.

Before I could answer, Tex boomed, “Let’s stay focused here, people.”

Bear tensed, stil angry and he glared at Tex.

I moved into Bear’s line of sight. I didn’t need two big, hairy men wrestling amongst a bunch of rusty tricycles. I had to find Dad and then find a Kil er Eddie Date Outfit and make sure my legs had a clean, close shave. I didn’t have time to go off target.

“Bear, I real y need to find Dad.”

Bear looked at me.

“I haven’t heard from Ray. Al right? If I do, I’l cal you.

And I won’t tel Lavonne you’re workin’ at a titty bar. She’d have a shit hemorrhage.”

With that, we had no choice but to say good-bye. Then we trooped back to Indy’s Beetle. We sat in it, me in the back, Indy driving, Tex in the front passenger seat.

We stared at the house.

“Do you think your Dad’s in there?” Indy asked me.

“No, but I think Bear knows where he is,” I said.

“Maybe we should drive around the corner and hang out for awhile, watch the house,” Indy suggested.

“Fuck that. I don’t do stakeouts. I need food. I missed lunch. Let’s rol ,” Tex said in a voice you didn’t want to argue with.

Indy took us to the Einstein’s Bagels on Alameda. Tex got an onion bagel with turkey, sprouts and cream cheese, a bag of chips, a huge cookie and a Rice Krispie treat. Indy and I got Diet Cokes. We sat at a table so Tex could eat.

“You got any more ideas?” Tex asked me, his mouth ful .

I shook my head.

He turned to Indy.

“You were more fun.”

I’d heard snatches of conversation about Indy’s drama, but never the ful story. Since I’d shared my life story, I thought it would only be fair to ask hers. The time was right, Tex had a mountain of food to get through and so I asked.

She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t have anything to hide.

She told me the whole thing, with Tex interjecting every once in awhile. He’d been more than a bit player in her drama. He’d gotten himself shot while protecting her (which explained the sling he wore when I first met him).

They’d only known each other a few weeks longer than I’d known them, which was surprising. I thought they’d known each other for years.

After she was done, I didn’t know what to say. Her story made Slick and his knife seem tame. Then again, she had Lee and his army of hotties backing her up.

Tex wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and threw it on the table. “I gotta go home, play with the cats.” Tex was a kind of nutcase renaissance man: by day a coffee genius, by night a cat sitter. Apparently, he always had dozens of cats coming and going at his house.

According to him, sometimes, if he didn’t like the feel of the cat’s owner, he wouldn’t let them have it back. I didn’t find this surprising, not a lot of people would argue with Tex, even if he was essential y stealing your cat.

We al got up when I noticed Tex tense and look behind me.

I turned and saw two men I’d never seen in my life standing there. They looked like they’d seen the movie
Reservoir Dogs
and decided to base their wardrobe on it.

Both slim, both dark-headed, both wearing black suits, thin black ties and white shirts.

“You lookin’ for Ray McAlister?” The tal er of the two asked Tex.

Oh no.

This just got worse and worse.

Who were
these
guys?

“What’s it to you?” Tex answered, obviously not feeling the need to be gracious and polite.

They looked at each other.

I was closest to them and Tex grabbed hold of my t-shirt and pul ed me backwards to the side and put himself between the bad guys and me.

“There’s no need to get testy, we just asked you a question,” the shorter of the two said to Tex, trying diplomacy.

“Yeah, we’re lookin’ for him. These two are Girl Scouts and he owes them cookie money,” Tex said, not feeling diplomatic.

They looked at each other again.

“I’m not sure we like your attitude,” the tal er man said.

Tex stared at him.

“What’s the deal with you? You got two bodies and one brain?”

It was like Tex
wanted
them to get angry.

If that’s what he wanted, he got it.

The tal er guy stepped closer.

“Fuck you.”

Uh-oh.

“Fuck you back,” Tex said.

Eek!

“Tex,” Indy said, sidling over to me and pul ing me away,

“let’s go.”

The
Reservoir Dogs
men weren’t done with us.

“You find McAlister, tel him Louie and Vince want to talk to him,” the shorter one said.

“You find him, you tel him Tex wants to talk to him, but first, Lee Nightingale wants to talk to him,” Tex said.

They looked at each other again, then they looked at Indy.

“Thought I recognized you,” the tal er one said.

“Get your fuckin’ eyes off her.” Tex got in between them and Indy and me, which put him dangerously close to the tal er guy.

“Back off, old man. And tel Nightingale to keep his fuckin’ nose out of this. Those friends of his too, the wetback cop and the fuckin’ dealer.”

Looking back, perhaps I should maybe have counted to ten.

Then again, until recently, I’d been mild-mannered and boring, so who would have ever guessed I would have lost my mind like I did. Though, words like the “N-word”,

“raghead”, “wetback” and the like always set my teeth on edge, so I guess my reaction to them cal ing Eddie one of those words wasn’t
that
surprising.

I launched myself at the tal guy. I must have taken him off guard because he staggered back and we both went down amongst the tables at Einstein’s.

I landed on top of him and he went “Oof!” and I’m pretty sure I knocked the wind out of him. This was to my good fortune because in any other circumstance, he could have probably kicked my ass.

I took advantage and we were rol ing around, a tangle of limbs. I heard shouting and we rol ed into and upset a bunch of tables. I think Tex got into it with the shorter guy because I heard a scuffle but couldn’t pay that much attention because my guy got his wind back and began to kick my ass.

I heard Indy shout, “Knee him in the nuts!” This sounded like a good plan, I found my opening, and pul ed my knee up with al my strength and connected, solidly.

My guy made a noise that made even me feel sorry for him. I was lifted up by my waist, set on my feet and then I heard Tex shout, “Run!”

We hightailed it to the Beetle and Indy peeled out of the parking lot but we could see a cop car, sirens blaring, approaching the light at the corner of Alameda and Logan.

Indy didn’t even slow down.

We went back to Fortnum’s, which was only a few blocks away. Without a word, we al got out of the car and walked in the store.

Duke and Jane both looked up when we walked in.

Duke’s eyes narrowed. Jane started to smile.

“If anyone asks, we’ve been here al day,” Indy said immediately.

Duke dropped his head in his hand.

“If you want to go with that story, you might want to brush the potato chips out of Jet’s hair,” Jane remarked.

My hand flew to my hair. I’d lost my ponytail holder and so I ran my hands through it. Chips flew out everywhere.

“I’l get the broom,” Indy said.

“You might also want to wipe that… is it cream cheese?

off your shirt too,” Jane suggested.

I stared down at my shirt.

Tex’s hand settled on my head.

“Now that’s more like it, Loopy Loo,” he said.

Dear Lord.

When it seemed the coast was clear and Fortnum’s wasn’t going to be raided by a SWAT team in search of the perps who trashed an Einstein’s Bagels, Indy took me to her house.

She’d given me a gril ing about my wardrobe and decided nothing I had would do. She cal ed Al y into the Kil er Eddie Date Outfit Search. Al y bagged up some of her clothes and accessories and we al descended on Indy’s duplex.

I tried on one hundred thousand outfits before we settled on something. Nice, but not too nice. Sexy, but not obvious.

Cool, but not trying to be cool.

It included Al y’s green, wraparound top that showed a bit of cleavage, was super tight
everywhere
and the sleeves were way long and had a little hole in them that hooked on your thumb. This topped a pair of Indy’s jeans that were faded enough not to look like I was being dressy but also not too grungy. We added a bunch of Indy’s silver bangles on my wrist, worn over the fabric of the top and some big, dangly earrings of Al y’s. The kicker was a pair of strappy green sandals that were so sexy, Smithie would have let me break the color code for shoes at work. These were borrowed from Indy’s next-door neighbor who was Denver’s top drag queen. Luckily, he had smal feet (or I liked to think that way, not that my feet were large).

Al y took me home and, as usual, I was running late. I’d need a decade to prepare myself to be a suitable date to Eddie’s lusciousness. I needed an hour just to get ready for Smithie’s. I had forty-five minutes to get ready for Eddie.

I was in my room, finishing my hair when the buzzer went and panic seized me.

“I’l get it,” Mom shouted.

At the thought of Mom letting Eddie in, panic dissolved into nearly uncontrol ed hysteria.

“Tel him I’m running late,” I shouted back.

“Good girl, keep him waiting,” Mom encouraged.

My mother.

I rushed through the final touches, nearly forgot the bangles and went into a mini-freak out when I couldn’t find a suitable purse. I had a ful mental conversation convincing myself that guys didn’t notice purses when a knock sounded at my door.

“Eddie’s waiting,” Mom shouted through the door, obviously thinking that Eddie’d waited long enough.

“Coming!” I yel ed back.

I got over the purse trauma, grabbed the one I normal y used and rushed to the door when I heard the buzzer go again.

“I’l get it,” Mom shouted, outside my door.

Who in
the hell
?

I walked out and Eddie was lounging in the living room.

Jeans had been a good cal . He looked no different than normal. Long-sleeved, black, thermal tee, worn jeans, black cowboy boots and a black belt with a silver buckle.

No matter how casual he was dressed, he could have been in a magazine.

His eyes changed when he saw me and he came out of his chair.

“Hi,” I said and just stopped myself from slapping my forehead as it came out breathy, like I’d just run a race.

He didn’t say anything, he just smiled.

My insides curled.

“Look who’s here!” Mom cal ed, wheeling in using her foot with Trixie behind her, carrying an overnight bag.

I stared.

Then Trixie started speaking. “I thought to myself, ‘Self?

What are you gonna do on a boring Thursday night?’ and I answered myself, ‘You’re gonna have a sleepover with your good friend Nancy.’ So here I am,” Trixie said, as if she had sleepovers with Mom al the time (which she did not). “You must be Eddie,” She dropped the bag and smiled at Eddie.

Could they
be
more obvious?

Eddie’s smile didn’t falter.

“Eddie, this is my Mom’s best friend Trixie. Trixie, this is, um… Eddie.”

I kinda wished Slick would’ve broken in at that moment and knifed me, such was my desire for someone to kil me and put me out of my misery.

Eddie greeted Trixie and before it could get any more out of hand, I nearly ran across the room and grabbed Eddie’s hand.

“I was running late so we have to go,” I said.