He got closer and his voice dropped to a whisper.
“Babe, watching you these past months has been like watching a flower bloom. Don’t disappoint us.”
Then he was gone.
I stood and stared in the space he’d been occupying.
“Um… hello?” Tod said to me, drawing out the “hello”.
I snapped to and stared at them all. They were all looking at me.
“Mace was just here,” I said.
“He was?” Indy asked looking around.
I couldn’t believe they hadn’t seen him but I ignored that as there were slightly more pressing things at hand.
I told them all what he said.
They all continued to stare at me.
“We gotta go,” I declared.
They looked at each other.
“We ain’t gonna go, Sugar. He’s right, finish what you start,” Daisy said.
Lottie was watching me, then a slow smile spread on her face.
“I couldn’t put my finger on it but it’s true. You are a flower. I thought it was the hair but it isn’t the hair, it’s you.”
My sister.
“Pu-lease,” I muttered and rolled my eyes.
She just nodded, looking all happy in the face of certain danger.
My eyes moved to Indy. “What the hell did he mean, watching me these past months has been like watching a flower bloom? Who talks like that? And, anyway, he barely comes into Fortnum’s.”
“Um, I kinda forgot to tell you.” Indy was shifting uncomfortably and it worried me.
“What?” I asked.
“Lee has surveillance on Fortnum’s, cameras and bugs, twenty-four seven. He put it in when I was going through my drama and never took it out. The boys at the office watch for security purposes and… um, for kicks.”
I stared at her.
“You’re joking,” I breathed, at the same time silently asking God to make Indy tell me she was joking.
She shook her head.
I knew it was selfish, but I really wished God would pay more attention to me.
I was processing this, thinking about all that went down at Fortnum’s, Eddie Torture, me running and hiding from Eddie, Dad’s serenade, Lottie and me wrestling.
“Holy crap,” I breathed.
Indy bit her lip.
Daisy tensed.
“We got the high sign,” Daisy whispered.
I didn’t have time to worry about being on show, nearly every day, for the Wild Bunch.
It was confrontation time.
We all shuffled around mentally preparing.
“Everybody got their stun guns?” Tod asked.
“I can’t wait to get my hands on Dad,” Lottie said.
“Let’s rock,” Indy said.
Dear Lord.
* * * * *
We walked down the back hall and Shirleen was standing in it.
“They’re on a bathroom break. Ray’s at the table, get in there,” she said.
Daisy nodded and everyone stepped aside to let me go first.
I looked at Shirleen.
“Thank you,” I told her, and there was a lot of feeling in it.
She turned her eyes to me and her face was gentle. “Child, you got nothin’ to thank me for. You get a chance to do a good deed, you do it. That way, when you need a good deed done, it’ll come back to you. Karma.”
I wasn’t certain I wanted to have a discussion about karma at that particular moment and luckily Shirleen didn’t wait for my comment, she stepped aside.
I walked into another dark, smoky, sweat-smelly room.
Dad was alone, sitting at the table, looking dirtier and far more worn down than he had a week ago.
“Dad,” I called.
He looked up, his eyes grew bright and my heart clutched.
Then he caught sight of my carefully closed face, the brightness died and he stood up.
“Princess Jet,” he said, then his gaze went beyond me and his eyes grew bright again, “Lottie!”
He looked like he was going to go for her but her body language didn’t invite approach.
I spoke. “You gotta get out of town, Dad. This has got to stop. Mom’s in a safe house and I’m staying with Eddie because it’s too dangerous to be at home. Eddie’s sorting things out but the more trouble you cause, the harder that’s going to be for him. You have to go.”
I sounded calm, cool and collected.
Inside, I was anything but. I wanted to start bawling. I wanted to stuff him in a car and go on the run with him. I wanted to get him to a Gambler’s Anonymous meeting. I wanted to put my arms around him and have him dance me around, singing Paul McCartney songs. I wanted to ask him why he left Mom, Lottie and me. I wanted to know why he was a bum.
Instead, I stood and stared at him.
“I’m gonna sort it out, Princess Jet. I’m workin’ on it.”
“You aren’t going to sort it out gambling and stealing. Someone shot at me and someone else wants to rape me.”
His lips pressed together.
“That’s not gonna happen, Jet, I’ve got my eye out for Fratelli.”
“Yeah, right,” Lottie mumbled.
I looked over my shoulder at her. She was standing, one foot out, arms crossed on her chest, face angry. The rest of the posse stood behind Lottie, their eyes not on Dad, but on me. Tod gave me an encouraging smile and winked.
I looked back to Dad and saw him try his smooth-it-over smile.
“You girls gotta give me some time. I’ll hit it big and I’ll take you to the French Riviera.”
Without hesitation, Lottie said, “We’ve heard that before.”
She was right, we had. We’d heard it a lot. I’d just never known what he thought he was going to hit big.
Dad’s face got tight and he threw Lottie an angry look.
“Dad… ” I started.
“Give me time!” he yelled and both of us jumped.
Dad was a good ole boy, he didn’t yell. Ever.
“I’ll sort it out,” he went on, his face getting red. “You don’t know, you don’t fuckin’ get it. I’m gonna come back, but only when I hit it big. Only when you girls and Nancy can be proud of me, when we can live large, like you deserve.”
His words hit me like he was pelting me with rocks.
I mean really, was he crazy? What kind of fucking nonsense was he on about?
I put both hands on my hips and leaned forward.
“It’s too late! The time to do that was fourteen years ago. You’ve been gone half my life!” I shouted, “We’ve moved on. It’s over! You’ve got to get out of town, Dad, and stay gone. For your own good, but especially for ours.”
He flinched like I’d hit him.
“You don’t mean that Princess Jet.”
I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean a word of it. I wanted him to come back, I wanted to live large with Mom and Lottie and Dad all together again.
But that was a dream and I knew dreams didn’t come true.
Dad taught me that.
I didn’t get time to go back on what I said, soften the blow or finish my point.
It was at that moment, I found out what war felt like.
* * * * *
Looking back, it was surprisingly clear, every bit of it.
You would think that in the middle of bedlam you would lose track, but I remembered every moment in a way I knew I’d never forget.
There was the time when it was just me, Dad, Lottie and the gang standing in the smoky room, Shirleen had closed the door on us.
Then the door was opened and Slick was there, Slick and his friends. Slick had apparently gone to ground and gathered reinforcements; too many, too much for all of us.
He’d also decided that tactically a knife was not the chosen weapon, he went with guns.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, Dad had decided to arm himself as well.
Eddie was right. The stun gun in my purse wasn’t shit when bullets started flyi
ng. It wasn’t like the movies, there were no clever comments to give you the chance to prepare. Slick was done fucking around and that was that.
They fired upon entry and Dad yanked his gun out of his waistband and randomly returned fire shouting, “Girls, get down!”
I threw myself at Lottie and we both went down. I rolled away from the legs charging in the door, taking her with me. We ended faced down and started to crawl, low on our bellies, Lottie moving underneath me. I held most of my body over her.
There was more gunfire, a lot of it, too much. It was so loud it rang in my ears and I could smell the gun powder up my nose.
Then I heard shouts, screams, running footsteps, thuds of flesh against flesh. I saw Lee, running low, snatching up Indy on the go as if she weighed no more than a feather. He turned and they vanished.
I saw Matt, crouched low with Daisy in a fireman’s hold over his shoulder. Then, quick as a flash, they disappeared around the corner of the door.
Then a hand wrapped around my ankle and I was pulled back, my arms let go of Lottie and I rolled, thinking Mace had got to me but it wasn’t Mace, it was Vince.
Just my fucking luck.
He pulled me to my feet, an arm around my waist and started running, me tucked under his arm. I noticed he jumped over a prone Shirleen, lying on her side in the hall.
Fuck!
I didn’t let the surprise at seeing him get to me and I didn’t let my worry for Shirleen break my focus.
This was about life, death and rape. I wanted no part of the second two and the first one was just getting interesting and I wasn’t about to let it go.
I twisted, struggled and screamed at the top of my lungs.
That’s when Mace arrived.
I saw him, Vince saw him and Vince stopped. He jerked me upright and pulled me back against his body, an arm around my rib cage.
“Not another step,” Vince said and I felt the cold against my temple.
Mace froze.
Mace was carrying a gun, held up and pointed at us, left hand to his right wrist, head cocked to the sight of the gun but his eyes shifted to my temple.
My eyes slid there too.
I could see Vince’s gun held to my head.
Wonderful.
Now, at this juncture I had two choices. I could get dragged out of there and hope someone found me and took care of Vince before I got raped and possibly killed. Or I could fight, maybe get killed but at least I wouldn’t spend the last hours of my life being scared out of my mind and violated.
No choice, really.
I brought my head forward, then back with a vicious snap. I cracked my skull against Vince’s chin and for some reason, it didn’t hurt.
The gun fired and I felt the burning pain at my temple.
Now that hurt.
I thought surely I was dead, but my limbs were still taking orders from a brain that was still working and positioned in my skull and I noticed Mace move, fast as lightning.
Vince’s arm around me went slack when he went into defend mode, forgetting me when faced with an aggressor who, one second, was five feet away, the next second, on top of us.
Mace grabbed me and threw me free and since apparently I could run, I did.
I heard a struggle, a grunt of pain but I kept going and didn’t look back.
I went down running, doing a sliding skid on my knees, stopping next to Shirleen. I had time to get my hands on her and noticed she was breathing when a strong arm went around my waist. I was pulled to my feet and redirected.
It was Mace, he was running, half dragging me along with him. I remembered his orders and didn’t try to go back even though I really, really wanted to.
We cleared the bar, running flat out, Mace’s hand in mine, to an SUV. The locks and lights were bleeping as we ran toward it (I found, in a desperate situation I could run in stiletto heels).
He directed me straight to the driver’s side. He picked me up and shoved me through to the passenger side, got in, started the truck and took off without either of us wearing seatbelts.
He drove down Colfax, then swung into an empty parking lot and round the back of some building. He braked, killed the lights and turned to me.
Before I knew what he was doing, his fingers closed on my chin and he gently pulled my face around. It was the dead of night and there were no lights where we were. There was no way he could see but I could tell he was looking.
“Graze,” he said, though I didn’t know how he could determine that in the dark.
Then he muttered, “Fuck.”
He let me go, looked forward, and I got the weird feeling he slipped somewhere else for a moment.
Then he shouted, “Fuck!” And that one word was like a controlled, muted, explosion that I was surprised didn’t shake the windows.
I put my hand to my head, tentatively exploring the wetness there but I could feel it wasn’t that bad. I’d skinned my knees worse.
“I’ve skinned my knees worse,” I told him.
At my words, he turned, his arm went around my waist, he yanked me across the seat and then he kissed me.
Eek!
It was a full-on kiss, tongues and everything. I shouldn’t have responded but I did. Maybe it was the life or death situation, the thrill of being alive, desperate gratitude or maybe it was because it was a great kiss. It was likely all of that and more. I wasn’t going to analyze it, I was going to go with it, then bury it. Deep.
His head came up but he didn’t let me go and stayed firmly in my space.
For my part, I had both hands curled on his neck, just below his ears, and I found I couldn’t let go.
We both sat there, silent, staring at each other in the dark and breathing heavy.
There was something important about that moment for Mace, I felt it, I didn’t entirely get it but I was honored by it.
The only thing I knew was that, for me, it was about him saving my life and me being alive.
Then Mace broke the moment.
“You tell Chavez I kissed you, we’re disappearin’ in Mexico where no one can find us.”
Sweet Jesus.
He said “us”.
I couldn’t blame that on the Smithie’s uniform.
“What was that about?” I whispered.
He was quiet for a beat.
“I’m just glad you got a face left to kiss.”
Hmm.
Guess, for Mace, it was the thrill of me being alive.
Yeesh, men were so weird.
He let me go and I dropped my hands. He yanked his t-shirt out of his jeans, pulled a penknife out of his pocket, cut away the hem and pressed it against my temple. This must have meant he didn’t have tissues in the glove box.
I took over with the pressing, he turned away and buckled up.
I put on my seatbelt too and off we went.
He drove to the parking lot at the Kmart strip mall off Alameda and Broadway by Indy’s house. There was a clutch of vehicles parked haphazardly, close to the entrance off Alameda, all SUVs except for the red Dodge Ram.
I scanned the huddle of people, counting. Lottie was there, her arms wrapped around her middle, standing next to Vance. Indy was being held by Lee. Tod had hold of Daisy. Matt was leaning against one of the SUVs.
No Dad.
Everyone was alive and breathing and I appeared to be the only member of the walking wounded.
Eddie was close to Indy and Lee, pulling a hand through his hair, but when our lights flashed into the lot, his head jerked around. He started walking toward us before Mace had a chance to get close.
Mace swung the truck around, positioning my door close to Eddie and stopped. I didn’t even get a chance to put a hand out when the door swung open, the interior lights went on and Eddie saw me.
“Dios mio,” he said, soft and quiet.
“It’s nothing, just a—”
He didn’t let me finish. He reached around, released the belt, pulled me out of the cab and into his arms which went around
me so tight, I could barely breathe.
“Graze,” I finished on a poof of expelled breath.
He leaned back, took my hand away from my temple and looked at my wound.
“We’re going to the hospital,” he said.
“Eddie, it’s nothing, I just need to clean it and…”
His eyes cut to mine and I quit talking.
“We’re going to the fucking hospital,” he repeated in a voice you just did not argue with, even me, and I seemed to be able to argue with Eddie all the time.
“Okay,” I replied.
He moved away, his arm around me and everyone crowded in.
Tears started falling from Lottie’s eyes, Indy’s face went so pale, it shone in the dark and Tod cursed.
Daisy snapped, “That just cuts it. I’m done fuckin’ around with this business. Sugar, you had it your way now I’m callin’ Marcus. This means war.”
Eddie didn’t break stride, even with the threat of Marcus entering the mix. He ignored her comment and kept on going, straight toward the truck. He bleeped the locks, opened my door and helped me in. Before he closed it, Lee was there.
Eddie looked at him.
“I’ll wanna know how you let this get out of hand,” Eddie said to him and I could tell he was angry and placing blame square on Lee’s shoulders.
A muscle jumped in Lee’s cheek, he gave one nod, accepting blame.
“No,” I said. Eddie started to close the door but I put my foot out to stop it.
“No,” I said again.
“Move your leg, Chiquita.” There was no anger when he addressed me, he was back to using his soft voice.
“You aren’t blaming Lee and you aren’t blaming Mace, you aren’t blaming anyone. Mace told me shit would go down, I told everyone else and we decided to stay. It’s my shit that brought everyone out in the first place. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me.”
Eddie wasn’t listening to me. Eddie was focused.
“Move your leg,” he repeated.
Then I thought about what I said.
“Actually, if there’s anyone to blame, it’s my Dad,” I amended.
Eddie’s eyes cut to me.
“Mi amor, I’m askin’ you, move your leg.”
I scanned the crowd and saw Lottie was standing behind Lee, next to Indy.
“Our Dad is a fucking shithead,” I told her.