“What’d I say about trying to save Darius?”
“What? I just asked him to the barbeque.”
“You’re a nut,” he said.
I put a hand on a hip. “Excuse me?”
Lee shook his head. “Nope, not gonna happen. I’m not biting. We are not fighting today. No matter how far you push it.”
I’m so sure. Like I wanted to fight.
I got up on my toes and kissed him, giving him a quick peck and then grabbed the keys out of his hand.
“What was that?” he asked.
“A kiss good-bye,” I told him.
He took two steps forward and I took two steps back, slamming into a wall. His hands went to my ass and pulled me against him and he kissed me breathless.
“That was a kiss good-bye,” he said.
I took in a shaky breath.
It sure was.
* * * * *
Ally and Tex were behind the coffee counter at Fortnum’s when I got there. There were six people waiting in line and three people who’d already ordered and were waiting for their coffee. Every chair and couch had someone’s ass in it, all of them drinking coffee.
Motley Crue was blaring “Girls Girls Girls” from the CD player.
I looked at my watch, it was ten to eight. We’d only been open for twenty minutes.
Apparently people would pay to have a guy who looked like a serial killer serve them coffee.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“Get your butt behind this counter, woman! Does it look like there’s nothin’ to do and you have time to stand around gawkin’?” Tex boomed.
I walked around the counter, saw Annie, the blonde, helmet-head lady who yelled at me during the Rosie riot. She was staring at her cup with a reverence normally only befitting the unveiling of front row tickets. She looked up at me.
“Where do you find these guys?” she breathed.
“Luck,” I said and got to work
We were so busy, for hours I thought of nothing but coffee, milk, syrup and all the money that was being shoved into my cash register. We’d never been this busy, even with Rosie. We had good crowds, but this was crazy.
By ten thirty, the crowd had died down. Duke came in and manned the book counter which was also seeing business. We had a goodly number of folks sitting, reading and enjoying their coffee.
“Are we still ticked at each other?” Ally finally had the chance to ask me.
“Well, since you being pissed at me went hand in hand with me being pissed at Lee… and since Lee and I are no longer on a break… then no, we aren’t ticked at each other.”
Ally grinned. “Good.”
That’s the way it was with best friends. You got mad, you got over it.
I turned to Tex. “But you’re a traitor and I’m not talking to you ever again,” I told him.
“You get number seven last night?” he asked.
I stared at him, not knowing what in the hell he was talking about.
Then it dawned on me.
Orgasm number seven.
Yikes.
Maybe I did share too much information with Tex last night.
Since I got number seven last night and number eight that morning, I didn’t answer.
It must have shown on my face because Tex let out a booming laugh then said, “You have no reason to be mad and I don’t wanna hear about it.”
“What’s he talking about?” Ally asked.
I turned to her. “Orgasms.” Her eyes got round. “Never mind. Do you know when you can take a pregnancy test?”
Now her eyes were about to pop out of her head. “No way.”
“I don’t know. I f**ked up, I forgot to take my pills for a couple of days.”
“No way!” Ally shouted and a couple customers looked up.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I said.
“This is great,” she said. “I’m calling Mom.”
“No! Don’t call Kitty Sue! Don’t call anyone. This is not great. I don’t want a baby. Well, maybe I want a baby… maybe I want Lee’s baby… but not now. He hasn’t even seen all my underwear!”
“You aren’t getting any younger,” Ally said.
Dear Lord.
“Just answer my question,” I said.
“What question?”
“Pregnancy test.”
“I think you have to miss a period. I’ll run down to Walgreen’s and look at one.”
Then off she went, luckily Walgreen’s was only a few blocks away.
“Tex, can you make me a skinny vanilla latte, please?” I asked.
“So you’re talkin’ to me again?” he asked.
“Just make me one!”
“Who’re you? The Man?”
“No, I’m The Woman who wants a vanilla latte!”
“Fine. Jeez. I’ll make you a latte. I’ll make it decaf so you’ll calm down.”
“If you make it decaf, you’re fired,” I said.
“Caffeine may not be good for the baby,” Tex replied.
That’s when I screamed, full-on-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street-scream-your-lungs-out.
The customers jumped and stared.
The bells over the door went. I stopped screaming and saw Eddie coming into the store.
He didn’t look happy.
In fact, he looked scary unhappy.
His mirrored shades were off and his dark eyes were intense.
My frustration at my crazy, f**ked up life went out the window and I walked up to him.
“You okay?” he asked.
I felt my stomach pitch. He wasn’t talking about me screaming.
By the look of him, I was assuming something happened to someone I loved. Seeing as I was a cop’s daughter, this moment was always in the back of my mind. For me, especially coming from Eddie, it could be anyone, Lee, Dad, Malcolm, Hank or dozens of other guys who were friends of mine or Dad’s.
I opened my mouth to answer and I heard then saw the Ducati. It stopped in front of the store, Lee pushed down the stand and swung his leg off. He came inside.
His mouth was tight, his eyes were blank, his expression was grim.
He looked at me, then at Eddie, then back to me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“What the f**k is going on!” I shouted.
“She needs caffeine.” Tex said, handing me my latte.
Lee came closer to me, both he and Eddie were less than a foot away, crowding me in. Tex was still beside me and Duke had wandered over, feeling the vibe, and was standing close behind me.
Bad news was coming.
“Cherry Blackwell’s car exploded this morning,” Lee said.