Page 52 of Sundowners
“You okay?” I said to Creed, but he was locked in a stare with the bearded guy.
“Yeah.” He turned to me. “You should call your uncle. Let him know they’re headed toward the Boardwalk.”
“Let me see if I can get a hold of him.” I stepped away and pulled out my phone, but Creed was barely paying attention.
“I’ll be back,” he said, and at first I thought he was talking to me, but then the bearded guy nodded. He seemed surprised to see Creed. There was a shocked expression of recognition on his face.
“We’ll be here.”
Creed took me by the arm just as my uncle answered.
“Rey, dude, those guys were just here…The Blue Lagoon…I’m here with Creed…yes, my tetanus shots are up to date. What? Fuck you. Go do your job, they’re headed to the Boardwalk. Yeah, bite me, Dicknaldo.” I hung up and shoved my phone in my pocket. Creed was pulling me at top speed down the street. “What are you doing?”
“I want to get you to your car and then I want you to go home.”
“Creed, whoa. Slow down.” We were at the municipal lot already, and I was nearly panting. “Just so you know, I’ve got a black belt in Kajukenbo. I’m not helpless, okay?”
He stared at me as if there was something he really needed to say…but he remained silent. Which was getting old. I sighed. “Let me take you home. Please. Those guys are still out there.”
“There’s something I need to do first.” His eyes were wide, and he looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Again.
“What? What’s wrong, Creed?”
He took my hands and exhaled. “The guy in the band? I know him. From my old life.”
His expression implored me not to ask questions, to just trust him, but I asked questions for a living.
“Creed, it’s okay, whatever it is—”
“I have to go. Please. Go home so I know you’re safe. I’ll…I’ll call you.”
I pulled myself up to my full height, yanked my hands out of his, and glared at him. “I fucking hate being dismissed. If you’ve got shit going on, fine. I get it. But don’t fucking dismiss me as if I can’t handle whatever it is. Call me or not, do whatever the fuck you want.”
I was pissed now. If I had one character flaw that had caused me more headaches in my life than I could count, it was my fucking temper and the fact that I would snap anytime I felt like people thought I was incompetent. My family, the fucking cops when I was a teenager, even Basajuan. I could handle my business, and my business needed to get the fuck out of here before I said anything I couldn’t take back.
“You can handle whatever you put your mind to.” Creed stepped back from me and his gaze dropped to the ground. “Forgive me, Roman. I have to go.”
And he was gone. Like, really fuckingfastgone.
I was vibrating as I climbed into my car. It took me a couple of tries to stick my seat belt buckle in. I cursed so loud, I attracted attention from a couple walking past my car.Oh, it’s just me fighting with my seat belt like a little kid.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I started the car and put it in reverse, but instead of driving home, I went to the Boardwalk—because I wasn’t about to let the guy I was falling for tell me what to do.
17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Creed
Back inside the bar,I found a dark corner and tried to pull myself together.
Cross was here. Alive. And he had another guy with him who I could tell knew The Way.
How had he survived the mutiny? How was it that I hadn’t run into him before now? Bloody Brilliant was popular, and people all over town had recommended I go see them, but I hadn’t ever caught one of their sets as they mostly played nights I was at work.
As I watched his band play, with him on acoustic guitar, I was taken back to the night it all went wrong.
