Oscar was about two inches tal er 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 cal ed, said some ass**le cal ed you a racist. Mamita what is that shit al about? I wanna have a word with him. Who is this f**kwad?”
What did I tel you?
My mother.
I wanted to run screaming out of the store but my belt loop was pul ed again and again my shoulder came into contact with Eddie’s chest, this time, it stayed there.
“I think I’m the f**kwad,” 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 f**kin’ 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 cal 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 tal er, leaner and had about a half an ounce of body fat, which was clear to see from the skintight 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 yel ing 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 yel ing.
“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 chil .”
Oscar wasn’t done being angry and he turned to me.
“You worry your mother,” he said.
Wonderful.
“Oscar, everything’s under control.”
“Bul shit, 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 f**kin’ 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’l 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, stil 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 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’l talk to him,” he said to Eddie. Then he turned to me.
“I’l 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’l take care of it.” Dad looked at me, “I’l 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 pul ed away from Eddie and went to him.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Sure.” He hugged me, “I’l get this sorted, Princess Jet. Nothin’ to worry about.” He kissed my cheek then his 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.