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  I blinked and looked up.

  Mace was standing over me, looking down, face rock-hard. He must have ascertained I was okay because he moved around my body and advanced on Vince.

  I laid there a beat, breathing hard and feeling weird as the sudden relief that I wasn’t alone tore through my body.

  Okay, so I learned my lesson.

  God didn’t deal with the piddly-ass stuff, God kicked in when shit was important.

  Good to know.

  I got up shaky and realized we were not only not alone. We were really not alone.

  People where forming from shadows. Darius came forward and so did Lee. Hank came from behind me. Willie Moses, the police officer that came to Eddie’s house what seemed ages ago, also materialized, this time, in plain-clothes.

  Eddie was also there. By the time I’d scanned the scene, he already had Vince cuffed and pressed against the hood of the car exactly as Vince had pressed me (except for obvious differences).

  A squad car, driven by Willie’s partner Brian, quietly swung in next to Vince’s car.

  “Holy crap,” I whispered.

  It was like the Justice League of Super Heroes but instead it was the Justice League of Hot Guys.

  My heart was still racing and I was still panting and I felt strangely super-cold.

  I stood there staring at them all, stunned immobile, except for the trembling.

  Eddie looked at me, yanked Vince from the car and shoved him toward Willie, turning away from him and not looking back.

  Then he came to me.

  He got close, blocking everyone from view and his hands went to my jeans. I didn’t move, maybe didn’t even breathe as he buttoned then zipped them up and did the buckle, his eyes looking into mine the whole time.

  “You okay?” he asked when he was done.

  I nodded.

  It was a lie. I was seriously full of shit. I wasn’t okay. I was terrified.

  “I’d be more assured if you’d breathe,” Eddie said.

  I let out of a gush of air.

  He closed his eyes, put his forehead to mine, then opened them.

  “Better,” he murmured.

  “Takin’ him to the station,” Willie called.

  Eddie turned and nodded. Willie walked away, talking to Vince and Brian had the backdoor of the squad car open.

  It was over.

  Dear Lord, it was finally over.

  I didn’t know what to do, laugh out loud or burst out crying.

  I didn’t have a chance to decide.

  Lee got close.

  Eddie turned to Lee, his face changing, registering anger, as in, a lot of anger.

  Okay, maybe it wasn’t over.

  “You and me got to have words,” Eddie said.

  Uh-oh. Words with Eddie.

  Eek!

  “It was under control,” Lee returned.

  I looked from one to the other in confusion. Confusion was good, I was embracing confusion, it made the super-cold and the trembling go away.

  Darius, Hank and Mace also got close, but I think they got close in case Lee and Eddie came to blows.

  “Hombre, he shouldn’t’ve got his hands on her and he definitely shouldn’t’ve got her pants unzipped,” Eddie said in Scary Eddie voice.

  Maybe Eddie wasn’t feeling anger, maybe it was something else a few notches above anger.

  “He went from two counts of kidnapping to two counts of kidnapping and attempted rape with her pants unzipped,” Lee answered, calm as you please.

  I blinked.

  Um… pardon me?

  “Pardon?” I whispered.

  Eddie moved about an inch, but it was a frightening inch. He ignored me and his body and face now registered out-and-out hostility, but his voice was still quiet.

  “Yeah? That okay with you? You all right with that?”

  “Darius was here the whole time,” Lee said.

  “Fuck, Lee. You used my woman as bait!” Eddie shouted.

  Eek!

  The w-word with an even more scary b-word.

  “What are you talking about?” I said.

  Lee turned to me and Eddie pulled a hand through his hair. “I slipped a tracking device in your jeans today at the hospital and Vance told Lottie the plan at Eddie’s place. Mace had found Vince and we knew he was watching you. Lottie went out unprotected with her own device. Vince took the bait. Now, it’s done.”

  At his words, a red film covered my eyes.

  Luckily, I was there to tell you, scary or not, Lee was going to get a dose of Jet’s Newfound Attitude.

  “You used my sister as bait!” I shouted, took my life in my hands for the second time that night, and shoved his shoulder.

  Eddie grabbed my wrist and pulled my back to his chest, wrapping my arm around my waist at the front.

  “I had her tracked, Lee. She was covered. Willie had her,” Eddie ignored me and (selfishly, if you asked me) kept on his own subject.

  “Willie was five minutes late,” Lee said.

  I struggled against Eddie’s hold.

  “You used my sister as bait?” I shouted again, feeling, for the first time in my life, that attention should be centered on me.

  Lee’s eyes turned to me.

  “I was covering your sister.”

  Oh.

  Well then.

  That was something.

  I stopped struggling.

  “It’s over,” Darius finally spoke. “What’s it matter how it’s done? Everyone’s breathin’. Quit fuckin’ fightin’,” he said this as if he’d had a lot of practice stopping Eddie and Lee from fighting.

  Eddie and Lee stared at each other.

  I waited, tense.

  Hmm.

  They didn’t look like they were ready to stop fighting.

  Yeesh. Men.

  “I made chilli,” I blurted out.

  Everyone looked at me and, after a second, Eddie’s arm around me relaxed.

  “If everyone at Eddie’s hasn’t hoovered through it, there should be some left,” I carried on.

  I was trying to diffuse the situation.

  It wasn’t working.

  “Gotta go,” Darius said, looking ready to fade back in the shadows.

  I turned to him. “There’s plenty.”

  I saw a white flash of teeth, then he was gone.

  See, I was right. Darius was a good guy.

  I gave Hank a look communicating without words that life definitely held shades of gray.

  Hank just winked at me.

  Whatever.

  I turned and Eddie’s arm stayed around me but slid around my back.

  I looked up at him.

  “Eddie, stop fighting with Lee. Let’s go to the hospital and check on Dad and then let’s go home.”

  I tried to use a sweet, coaxing voice but Eddie didn’t feel in the mood to be sweet-talked and coaxed.

  “You wouldn’t have allowed Indy to be put in that position,” Eddie said to Lee, pushing the point.

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t,” Lee replied. “Indy would have put herself in it. And, two days ago, when we knew Vince had aligned himself with Slick and we wanted to offer this choice to Jet, you wouldn’t allow it but I’m guessin’ she would’ve took it.”

  I twisted around to look at Lee, my eyes nearly popping out of my head.

  What he said surprised me. What surprised me more was that he was right, I would have taken it.

  “I would have preferred you to know,” Lee told me.

  Wow. That was huge. It was even kind of earth-shattering, not only that I would have taken it but that he thought I would.

  “Thank you,” I said and meant it.

  At that, Eddie was done. He moved, grabbing my hand and taking me with him.

  Guess I was done too.

  “Don’t forget the chilli!” I called back to Lee, Hank and Mace.

  They’d formed a huddle and turned their heads to look at me, all of them gave me the chin lift and grinned.

&n
bsp; Eddie walked me away, far away, to where he’d parked the truck. He helped me in the passenger side and then he got in the driver’s side.

  He turned to me before he started the truck.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  I nodded and smiled.

  “It’s over,” I told him, feeling almost giddy and thinking now was the appropriate time to either burst into laughter or tears, or both.

  Wrong again.

  All of a sudden, he yanked me across the seat, twisting me and pulling me into his lap. His arms went around me, tight, and his face went to my neck.

  “Fucking hell,” he muttered.

  He was right, it was the F-word Moment to end all F-word Moments.

  “You can say that again,” I said to him.

  His head came up and his hand went through my hair, his fingers curled around the back of my head and he kissed me. It wasn’t deep, passionate, full-on tongue, it was sweet and soft and really nice.

  “I would have taken Lee up on the offer,” I told him after he lifted his head.

  “I know, that’s why I didn’t let him give it to you.”

  Wow, that was kinda earth-shattering too.

  Regardless, I pulled out the glare.

  He shook his head, completely unaffected by the glare.

  I didn’t push it, now wasn’t the time to argue, especially with an outstanding issue at hand.

  I put my hands to his shoulders, the fingers of one fiddling with the neckline of his t-shirt.

  “Um… there’s a slight problem,” I said.

  Eddie stilled.

  “You are joking, right?”

  Hmm.

  Oh well, nothing for it…

  “I kinda stole your Mom’s car,” I said.

  His hand at my hair slid down my back and he pulled me deep into him.

  “I think she’ll forgive you,” he told me.

  That was a relief.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The Empty Space Where My Bag Used to Be

  The alarm went off, Eddie touched a button and rolled out of bed.

  I snuggled into the pillow figuring Eddie would give me a reprieve. I mean, I did just survive the most traumatic two weeks of my life, culminating in being kidnapped and nearly raped.

  Eddie’s hand wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me out of bed.

  “Eddie!” I said while being dragged across the room, “I deserve at least one snooze button hit. I was kidnapped and nearly raped last night.”

  He stopped, I bumped into him and looked up.

  Um… eek!

  “We don’t joke about that either,” he said.

  “I wasn’t joking,” I told him.

  His hands went to the t-shirt I was wearing, then up and then it was gone.

  “You’ll feel better after the shower.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  * * * * *

  I went back to bed after the shower and Eddie went to work.

  When I finally woke up and stumbled into the bathroom, I realized after I looked into the mirror that Trixie’s new hairdo did have a weakness; you didn’t sleep on it after it got wet.

  One word: scary.

  I pulled the bandage off my temple to see the graze had scabbed over. I wet my hair, picked up the discarded t-shirt on the way back to the bedroom, put it on and stared at my bag on the floor. Somewhere along the line, it had exploded. There hadn’t been a whole lot of time to keep things tidy.

  Therefore, I tidied.

  First, I called Fortnum’s and told them I’d be in late, or maybe not at all.

  Then, I stripped the bed, found the stairs off the kitchen that led to the basement and stuffed the sheets in the laundry. I found some more sheets and made the bed, then I cleaned the house.

  The whole time I was thinking.

  The night before, Eddie took me to the station to talk to Detective Marker and make my statement so they could press charges. Then he took me for a quick visit to Dad who was still asleep and his condition was unchanged. Then we went to Eddie’s and Eddie had chilli while everyone put me under the microscope.

  Once they’d ascertained that I was okay and not under imminent threat of suffering nervous collapse, they all went home. Eddie gave me a t-shirt and we went to bed.

  Now, it was over and I was safe. Slick and Vince were locked up and Dad was hanging in there.

  Over.

  Safe.

  Back to Just Jet.

  It actually didn’t take a lot of thought to make my decision, it was easy.

  I got dressed, put on some makeup and pulled my hair in a ponytail. I called Lottie to pick me up, packed my bag and all my junk from the kitchen and cleaned out the coffee maker.

  Lottie showed up in her rental and took me back to my apartment.

  “You okay?” she asked on the way home, sliding her eyes to me.

  “I’d be more okay if everyone would quit asking me if I was okay,” I told her.

  “We care,” she sounded kind of pissy.

  I sighed.

  “I’m okay.”

  “What’s with all the stuff? You moving back home?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “It’s over.”

  “What’s over?” she asked.

  I looked out the side window.

  “All of it.”

  “Jet…”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Jet…”

  I turned to her, “I said, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  She gave me a glare.

  “You’re a pain in the ass, you now that?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “I know.”

  * * * * *

  We lugged my stuff up the stairs.

  I avoided a Mom Talk (even though I could tell she really wanted one) by putting in a load of laundry and hightailing it back out.

  I got in my car for the first time in two weeks and started it. It purred like a kitten.

  Wonderful. Who would have ever thought I’d want my car to be cantankerous?

  I went to the Credit Union and waved to Jody and Amy and knocked on Nicki, the Manager’s, door.

  “Hey Jet!” she said when she saw me, then her eyes got big, “Holy cow! What happened to your head?”

  “Gunshot wound,” I replied as if I suffered one every day and her big eyes nearly popped out of her head.

  I ignored it.

  “Can I talk to you?” I asked.

  We talked. I asked for my job back. She said they didn’t have any positions open. Then she told me she’d give me a call when they did.

  I talked with Jody and Amy for awhile, keeping the subject off my gunshot wound (even though both their eyes kept straying to it) and all my recent travails.

  Then I went to Smithie’s. Smithie was open all day, but his day crew was second string. It wasn’t a nice thing to say but it was an honest thing to say.

  I swung in.

  “Well look who’s here. I hear you got your shit sorted last night,” Smithie said when I walked in.

  I was learning quick that Darius had a big mouth.

  I nodded to him.

  LaTeesha, one of Smithie’s women, was standing in front of him at the bar. Smithie had clothes in the closets of four different women and they didn’t seem to mind sharing. This could be because a little of Smithie went a long way. It also could be that Smithie had a big enough heart to keep them all happy. It could be a bit of both.

  “Hey girlfriend, how’s it goin’?” LaTeesha asked, pulling me into a hug.

  “Much better now, thanks,” I told her and hugged her back.

  When she let go, I turned to Smithie.

  “Can I have my job back?” I asked.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Thought your sister was gonna help out.”

  “I’m sure she is.”

  “Then why do you need two jobs?”

  “I’m quitting Fortnum’s, this pays better.”

  Smithie stared
at me, then he looked at LaTeesha, then back at me.

  “What does your cop boyfriend think of that?”

  “We’re breaking up,” I said.

  Smithie looked back at LaTeesha, she was biting her lip and looking at me.

  “Come a-fuckin’-gain?” Smithie said, his eyes back to me.

  “We’re breaking up.”

  “Breaking, not broken?” Smithie asked.

  “I haven’t told him yet.”

  More looks between Smithie and LaTeesha.

  “You wanna tell LaTeesha about it?” she asked.

  I shook my head but smiled.

  “I just want to know if I can come back to work here.”

  Smithie sighed.

  “Once a Smithie’s girl, always a Smithie’s girl. You want to come back you start Monday night. You don’t want to come back, I don’t fuckin’ care. You’ll always be welcome here, wearin’ an apron or havin’ a drink. Though, I think you should let your sister work for awhile and just have the drink, but what do I fuckin’ know? I also don’t think you should be breakin’ up with a boyfriend who’d put his ass on the line for you.”

  “Smithie,” LaTeesha said softly.

  I ignored him.

  Well, I didn’t really ignore him because I felt his words in my gut but I didn’t let him know that.

  I nodded and said, “I’ll be here at seven on Monday.”

  “Or not, your call,” Smithie returned before he looked away.

  LaTeesha squeezed my arm.

  I left.

  * * * * *

  I went to King Soopers and bought a whole load of stuff, then I dragged it back up to the apartment and went straight into the kitchen, calling a hello to Mom, Lottie and Ada who were all sitting in the living room.

  I pulled the stuff out of the bags and started preparing to bake like a baking fool.

  Mom, Lottie and Ada came into the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” Mom asked.

  “Baking,” I said, opening up the flour with a little more force than it needed so it gave a dusty, white “poof”.

  “Baking?” Mom asked.

  “I can’t afford to buy nice things to say thank you to everyone, so I’m gonna make stuff for them.”

  “That’s nice,” Ada said.

  Lottie leaned a hip against the counter.

  “Mom and I’ve been talking.”

  Wonderful. Mom and Lottie talking. This spelled Disaster for me with a capital “D”.

  “About what?” I asked, though I didn’t want to know.