Page 67 of Sundowners
“Yes, you do,” the guy said, and then he backed up and looked at Rey, who was thoroughly perplexed by this situation. “Tell you what, I see Creed, I’ll tell him you came by. I see him, I’ll tell him what you said.”
“Thank you,” I answered, and I meant it. I needed Creed to know. I had this sick feeling that something would happen, and I’d never get the chance to tell him myself.
“You okay?” Rey whispered to me, elbowing me when I didn’t answer him right away.
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
Rey gave the guy his card, which he looked at carefully and made a show of tucking into his chest pocket. He winked at Rey as we backed up.
“Nice to meet you, Officer Cabral. Be seeing you.”
Rey grabbed my arm and started speed-walking toward the Explorer, muttering, “Weird weird weird. I’m tired of fucking weird. Wasn’t that weird?”
“What’s not weird in this town lately?” I asked, thinking that ever since I’d returned from Spain, my life had been one strange scenario after another. Then I chuckled. “I do think he was hitting on you, though.”
“See? I knew it. Weird, though, right? I mean, I don’t usually go for the big burly, bearded type, but fuck, that guy was throwing off some heat.”
I burst out laughing as Rey adjusted the waistband of his pants.
“What’s the matter, Tito? You having a little trouble with your sidearm?”
He punched me in the stomach and then ran for the car as I cursed him out.
I don’t know why I felt better admitting all that to a guy that was basically a stranger, but I had an idea that somehow, it made a difference.
21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Creed
“You hear all that, buttercup?”
I was still rubbing my chest. “Yeah, I did.”
He came after me. The damn kid came after me. He was breaking my heart and making me the happiest man on earth. Well, vampire. Hippie, whatever.
“You need to hit that, I swear to the Goddess,” Mark said. “And that uncle of his.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a little handcuff action with Officer Cabral.” Cross and Mark slapped hands together.
“You two are awful.”
“Come on, Creed. You can’t tell me that cop’s not fine, man.”
I shook my head. “Reynaldo is an upstanding guy and he’s protective of his family. That’s what I know.” And I couldn’t see anyone past Roman anyway.
I was in love with a goddamned grad student.
“All right, whatcha got for us?”
I grinned. “An address. Those guys are idiots. Coming for me at work was a bold and foolish enterprise. I caught up to them and followed them to a house off of East Cliff. The place was empty except for the four of them and a damn TV and video game console. The idiots are drinking beer and playing first-person-shooter games when they’re not out terrorizing the neighborhood.”
“Sounds good. Let’s roll.”
Mark had a truck they used to haul a trailer around with their equipment, and we drove it the few minutes it took to get to the house. We parked down the street and from two houses away, we could hear them shouting and carrying on.
We approached the house on foot, and I was about to direct them to the separate entrances when Cross pulled me to a stop.
