Page 54 of Make Me Sin (Bad Habit 2)
Eric shoots a glance in the direction I just came from. “I wanted to surprise you, so I stopped by your shop instead of calling. Trina said you were here.” He pauses, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “Surprise.”
I feel an explanation is in order. “I didn’t know they were coming. They just showed up about five minutes ago when I was getting ready to leave. You know how Nico is.”
Eric’s dealt with Nico’s overprotectiveness of Kat before. There was an ugly scene during which Eric and his partner were called to deal with some paparazzi who showed up at her house when she and Nico were first dating. And the night Nico’s brother abducted Kat, Eric was part of the squad who found her.
“Yeah, I know how Nico is. What I don’t know is why A.J.’s here.” He gazes long and hard at my face. His voice drops. “Or maybe I do.”
My face flushes. “He’s the best man, Eric.”
“Since when does the best man go dress shopping with the bridesmaids?”
There’s an awful pleading tone in my voice that I hate, but I’m desperate to keep this civil. There’s nothing more embarrassing than couples arguing in public, and I’m still trying to spare Eric’s feelings. “Kat and Nico hired some froufrou wedding planner who insisted on having the guys involved in the whole process. I know it’s crazy, but it’s not my fault—”
Eric steps closer. “You want me to believe this was the wedding planner’s idea? Like that Neanderthal would take orders from a woman? Do you even know anything about him, Chloe?” His voice rises, and I know it’s on purpose. He wants what he’s saying to carry into the other room. “Did you know he’s been arrested eight times?”
He nods at the look of shock on my face. “That’s right! For everything from misdemeanor battery to felony assault with a firearm! He’s dangerous, Chloe. He’s—”
“You pulled his record?”
“Yeah, so?”
His defiant, defensive tone makes heat blaze up my neck. My desire to keep things civil goes up in smoke.
“So my father is one of this town’s best criminal defense attorneys. And he’s talked a lot about his cases over the years, so I happen to know that police officers don’t have access to a citizen’s criminal record at the touch of a button. You have to formally request it through the Criminal Offender Record Information unit of the Department of Justice, and it’s on a need-to-know basis.” I pause, trying to get my breathing under control. “What exactly was your legal need to know, Officer Cox?”
He looks at me with steam coming out of his ears. “You’re defending that loser?” he hisses.
“Actually what I’m doing is trying to find out if I’ve completely misjudged a person I thought was trustworthy.”
This is the wrong thing to say. Eric goes from merely indignant to thermonuclear in two seconds flat. He grabs my arm and shouts, “You’re talking about me being trustworthy? Me? This from the girl who called her boyfriend by some whoring, violent criminal’s name while he was trying to make love to her?”
To my left comes A.J.’s voice, deadly soft. “Take your hand off her, or I’ll break it.”
Eric turns his head. I follow his gaze. There stands A.J., all six foot six of him, legs spread, shoulders back, bristling. What I see in his eyes could make Freddy Krueger run screaming in terror.
Eric drops his hand from my arm, and turns to face A.J. He rests his right hand on his gun. “That’s the second time you’ve threatened me.”
“It’s the second time you’ve deserved it.”
“Why don’t you mind your own goddamn business?”
“She is my business.”
It hangs there between them, a lit stick of dynamite with a very short fuse.
Nico walks up, eyeing A.J. and Eric. His glance flicks to me. “What’s goin’ on, kids?”
No one answers. The tension is so thick I could cut it with a knife.
Nico casually says, “Officer Cox, good to see you. Actually this is great timin’, because I’ve been meanin’ to call you about this charity concert I wanna put together. I was hopin’ I could get the support of the LAPD . . . you got a minute?”
I’ve never seen Eric so angry. Cords stand out on his neck. A pulse throbs in his temple. His left hand is curled to a fist, and it’s shaking. Nico eases between him and A.J., and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“C’mon, Eric. Let’s take a walk.”
I know Eric likes Nico, and respects him, too. But I can see the struggle Eric goes through as he decides whether or not to allow Nico to steer him away from the cliff he’s about to sail over.
Finally, he relents. He curses, turns away, and lets Nico lead him out the front door. When they’re gone, I exhale and press my hands over my pounding heart.
