Page 142 of Rock Chick Rescue

Wonderful.

I made noise in the bathroom, banging stuff around and turning on the sink. I went back to the bedroom, my eyes avoiding the living room. I stood there wondering what to do, then I dug in my bag, grabbed a pair of jeans and yanked them on.

I walked out into the living room, pulling my hair out of my face.

I looked to Eddie, then to Darius. Both of them were standing in the living room, both of them were watching me.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

I stopped next to Eddie. His arm went around my neck and he pulled me into his side.

“We wake you?” he asked softly, looking down at me, his arm still wrapped around my neck.

I shook my head and then stopped and stared at him. He must have worked out his anger earlier, his eyes were back to warm and tender.

I slipped into a mini-daze and murmured, “Felt you gone.”

His eyelids lowered a bit and his mouth relaxed.

“Go back to bed. I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied.

I gave a nod, put my hand to his stomach to push away but Darius broke in, “I’m outta here. Be in touch.”

I looked at him. He was talking to Eddie but looking at me, his face blank but his eyes were assessing.

Eddie told me he was a drug dealer and he talked casually about ordering people’s deaths. I felt something very sad about that because I had this weird feeling he was a nice guy. I had a feeling that this wasn’t who he was, but who he had to be.

Darius left, doing some kind of hand gesture to Eddie and not saying a word to me.

Eddie locked up after him and he and I walked back into the bedroom. He’d put on his T-shirt and jeans to talk to Darius. He took them off in the dark.

I took off my jeans, left on the sweater and got into bed.

Eddie joined me, his hands coming under the sweater and whipping it off.

“I’m cold,” I said to him.

He tucked me into him, front to front. “You won’t be for long.”

He held me awhile and he was right.

I was nearly asleep. Don’t ask me how. Probably the warmth from Eddie’s body and something to do with his arms wrapped around me.

Then Eddie spoke and made me jerk awake.

“How much did you hear?”

Damn.

Caught.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “A lot?”

Eddie didn’t say anything.

“It was wrong to listen,” I said by way of apology.

“I would have listened,” he told me.

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