“Show me,” he said.

I stared at him. I thought of ignoring his request but decided against it. He’d push it and I’d end up doing it anyway.

Indy had the stun guns and tasers in her car, the only thing I had was the pepper spray in my purse. I opened my bag and barely got it out when Eddie’s hand came out and smacked against mine, sending the pepper spray flying and skittering down the sidewalk.

“Hey!” I snapped, my head coming up and I pul ed out a genuine glare.

“What do you do now?” he asked and came in close.

I was getting mad, he was making me look like a fool. I knew he was doing it to make a point, but stil .

No, wait. Doing a quick emotional scan I realized I was already mad.

“Wel ?” he snapped, leaning in.

I wrapped the strap of my bag over my shoulder and planted both my hands on my hips, a Double Diva Threat.

“That wasn’t fair. You’re Eddie, I wasn’t ready…”

“You aren’t gonna be ready when this shit goes down either.”

I leaned into him too.

“I’ve been doing al right so far.”

“You’ve been lucky so far.”

Al right, enough.

I threw my hands out, getting nose to nose, and I yel ed in his face.

“Yeah? well , final y! For the first f**king time in my f**king life, I’ve been lucky and I’m gonna ride that wave.

What I’m not gonna do is f**king sit in a house with the f**king blinds pul ed and the f**king doors locked and wait for other people to solve my f**king problems, the whole time scared out of my f**king mind.”

Yeesh.

That was a lot of f-words but the moment warranted it.

“You need to be smart,” he said, not moving out of the space I invaded.

“I need to get control of my life and I’m going to get it and I don’t care how. You might not like it but that’s the way it is.”

“You put yourself out there, I can’t keep you safe.” I stared.

Then, I swear I couldn’t help it, I laughed. And something else I couldn’t help, since I was so close to Eddie, I leaned into him and when I did, I wrapped my arms around his middle and put my forehead to his chest. It was either that or fal over with the hilarity of it al .

“This shit isn’t f**kin’ funny,” Eddie said to the top of my head. His hands were on his hips, he wasn’t touching me and he wasn’t happy.

I looked up at him, my arms stil wrapped around him, my body pressed against his.

“Eddie, don’t you get it?” I asked softly, stil smiling, “I’ve never felt safe in my whole life. Never. Until now.” Something flickered in his eyes but he didn’t move.

I pressed closer and tilted my head back further.

“Three months ago, if this happened to me, I’d have sat in a house with the blinds closed, the doors locked and been scared out of my mind.”

He hesitated a moment, then I felt his body relax and his hand came up to where my jaw met my neck, the pad of his thumb against my cheekbone.

“You’re so ful of shit, Chiquita,” he said quietly but the scary had gone out of the quiet. He was looking in my eyes, the glitter in his melting and I knew I’d won.

Final y, I’d won an argument with Eddie.

I felt like dancing around, instead I gave him a squeeze.

“Am not,” I said.

“You would have been as hel -bent to risk your neck and solve your Dad’s problems, you just wouldn’t have had some crazy Rock Chick to get you in trouble while she’s tryin’ to watch your back.”

“Indy’s not a crazy Rock Chick.”

“And Indy isn’t the only one watchin’ your back.” I smiled at him. I knew what he meant because that warm feeling was in my bel y again, but I decided, and for the life of me I didn’t know why, to tease him and maybe, just a little bit, flirt.

So I cocked my head and said, “I know. Al y’s watching it too.”

Wow. Flirting worked.

His eyes went liquid, my bel y fluttered, his other arm went around me and his thumb came under my chin and tilted my head back even further.

“Al y is a crazy Rock Chick,” he said.

I couldn’t help it, I let out a little giggle.

He watched me for a beat, then his face got serious. “I don’t like what you’re doin’, I don’t agree with it and if I can, I’l stop it.”

Wonderful

I didn’t like that he didn’t like it but I nodded anyway.

We were at an impasse and we both knew it.

“This your way of tryin’ to prove to me you’re boring? If it is, I should warn you, it real y isn’t workin’.” I shook my head then tried again to use the truth and said, “Eddie, trust me, I am boring.” The dimple came out.

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m not.”

“What are you doin’ now?”

“Indy and I are meeting Daisy at the Cruise Room for a drink.”

His eyes flared.

“You are crazy.”

“I’m not.”

We stared at each other again, I was preparing for another battle but to my surprise, he gave in again.

“For Christ’s sake, Chiquita, be careful,” he said.

I snuggled deeper into his body, I didn’t have a choice since his arm went super-tight around me, and I said,

“Okay.”

Chapter Seventeen

Daisy, Indy and Me - The Unholy Trinity We met Daisy in the ultra-cool, art deco Cruise Room of the Oxford Hotel.

Daisy was already sitting in a booth, waiting for us. She was decked out in second-skin denim and rhinestones, the two-buttoned jacket exposing acres of cle**age. The purply-pink neon that had been giving cool ass atmosphere to the Cruise Room for nearly one hundred years was shining in platinum-blonde hair that was so teased and sprayed I figured environmental watch groups had campaigns dedicated to stopping her single-handed destruction of the ozone layer.

We ordered dirty martinis and settled in.

Daisy turned cornflower-blue eyes to me, “Al right, Sugar, tel Auntie Daisy al about it.”

I didn’t hesitate, she knew some of it anyway after my Smithie’s meltdown, so I told her the story of my life, reciting it for the mil ionth time that week. Any hopes I held of quietly going it alone were long since gone.

Halfway through my story, she took my hand and didn’t let go.

When I was done, she squeezed my hand.

For some reason, she asked, “Jet, darlin’, you seen Steel Magnolias?”