Page 84 of Bazooka
Wagner looked up from his phone. “Luz, can you please start from the beginning?”
We were sitting in theroom, drinking coffee and eating a blueberry pie that Dakotah had baked. It made every sense to invite them here since Bazooka and I were now boyfriends, so…su casa mi casaor whatever.
Dotty gave me a reassuring smile as I told the story from the beginning. I started with the corpse in John Smith’s boudoir, my chat with Chief Bibb, and the time Bazooka and I’d spent in the park. I also told them how I met my assailants again—this time under different circumstances.
“Luz, that’s awful,” Dotty said, covering my hand with his. “I can’t believe you had to face those bastards again.”
“I’m glad it happened, Dot. It gave me closure, I guess. I wanted them to know they are going to suffer for what they did to me.”
“Still, you’ve got some balls on you,” Alain mused, gazing into the distance. “I wish I were that brave.”
Alain’s biggest wish was to become a bodyguard one day. Sadly, he had the constitution for it, but not the stomach.
Wagner was the only one who wasn’t drinking coffee, because he said the cup looked dirty. I didn’t bother with giving himanother one, simply because it wasn’t true. And he was smirking at me. I didn’t like that.
“So, how is it going with you and…”
“My boyfriend?” I finished instead of him.
Alain gasped. “You two are boyfriends now?”
I shrugged, looking at my cuticles. “I mean, what else would you call it? We’re living together. Sleeping in the same bed. And we did stuff… sexual stuff.”
Dakotah choked on his coffee. “Nooo. What stuff?”
I could feel myself blushing, which was a rare occurrence since I generally had no shame.
“A gentleman never tells,” I stated. “But let’s just say that now I know what his cum tastes like.”
A collective groan told me I was oversharing.
“So, he’s not straight anymore?” Alain asked me the silliest question in the world.
“Pfft. He was never straight,” I explained. “He onlythoughthe was straight. But that was before he met me.”
Wagner looked at me in a way that made me feel sorry for myself.
“Does he know that, Luz? That he’s not straight anymore, and that you two are boyfriends?”
“Well, if he doesn’t, then he’s an idiot,” I said, frowning. “And I wish he would stop working so hard. This Mendoza case is bothering him… why does that name sound so familiar?”
“Because I mentioned it to you,” Dakotah said, cutting himself another slice of pie. “Don’t you remember? Gio Mendoza hired me to bake him a cake for his wedding. Then he cancelled the wedding at the last minute but paid me anyway. Double.”
Now it was my turn to gasp. “You’re baking cakes for gun smugglers now?”
Dakotah chuckled. “Gio Mendoza is not a gun smuggler. He’s a businessman.”
“And who told you that?”
“Himself.”
“Bazooka is after Rio Mendoza,” I mused. “Your guy is called Gio Mendoza. They must be brothers. Sorry, but you’re probably working for a criminal, Dotty.”
“I baked him a cake. Once.”
Right. It was another fruitless discussion in the making, so I gave up.
After my friends left, I texted Baz. He left for work while I was still sleeping, but he left a note for me on the fridge.
