No one laughed.

There was silence and it was heavy.

Then Eddie said, “You f**k it up with her, I won’t hesitate, do you hear what I’m sayin’?”

Ally grabbed my arm and I jumped. The hit man was mostly conscious and staring at us.

“What the f**k?” he slurred.

“Shut up,” I said to the hit man, jiggling the gun at him threateningly and turned to Ally, jerking my head to the door. “Did you hear that?” I stage whispered.

Ally didn’t look happy.

“I heard it.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“Well.” Ally went from looking not happy to looking uncomfortable. Ally rarely looked uncomfortable and I knew I wasn’t going to like what was coming. “The thing is, see…”

“Spit it out!” I snapped.

“Okay, you know about a year ago when Eddie and Lee stopped talking to each other?”

“No, I don’t know. I was avoiding Lee remember? I told you, like, a million times.”

“Well, about a year ago, Eddie and Lee stopped talking to each other.”

“Great, thanks,” I said.

“Anyway,” Ally went on. “Hank told me that Eddie’s had a thing for you for awhile though he’s kept his distance because everyone knew how you felt about Lee and everyone was waiting for Lee to do something about it. It’s been kind of a sticky situation seeing as they’re best friends.”

Dear Lord in Heaven.

Just what I needed, my life to be that much more f**ked up.

“And?” I asked.

“Last year, Eddie lost patience and told Lee if he didn’t take care of business, Eddie would move in.”

Holy crap!

“No way,” I breathed.

Ally nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I asked.

“You were avoiding Lee and Eddie’s hot. I thought if I told you about Eddie you might give up on Lee and I’d never have a niece named after me.”

I looked at the hit man who was watching us closely and told him, “Don’t think in the crazy-ass soap opera that is my life that I’ve forgotten about you. Or you,” I said to Rosie.

I stared them both down and they both settled in. Clearly I was looking like a woman who wanted to be given the excuse to shoot someone.

“How long has Eddie had this thing?” I asked Ally.

Ally shrugged. “According to Hank, it ran parallel with your thing for Lee.”

Holy shit.

“How parallel?”

“Apparently, last year was not the first fight they had over you. Remember when Lee showed up to pick us up from that Haunted House and he had blood on his shirt and we could tell his nose had been bleeding? We saw Eddie later at Andrea’s party and he was shitfaced and his eye was swollen?”

I remembered, kind of. It was my senior year, I was seventeen. Lee had blood on his shirt a lot back then and Eddie was also a brawler. I thought they’d been in a fight against other people (which happened a lot), not with each other.

“Me?” I asked.

“You. That wasn’t the first and obviously not the last,” Ally answered.

I didn’t know what to do with this information. I didn’t even want to know this information.

“I think it’s time to step into Denial Zone,” I told Ally.

“That would be my advice,” Ally replied.

I was thinking that being with Lee I was going to spend a lot of time in Denial Zone.

Lee and Eddie came back in. Body language was not good. Darius was gone.

Without a word to us, they both got on the phone.

Lee called the office for a ride.

Eddie called the station.

When Eddie was done, he said to the couch at large, “You’re under arrest.”

The hit man’s expression didn’t change.

“Me? What’d I do?” Rosie cried, clearly forgetting he was a primo pot farmer and unfortunately that was still an illegal substance.

Eddie stared at him and if looks could burn, Rosie would be scalded. “I’ll think of something.”

Lee was off the phone and looking at Ally.

“Later, we’re gonna talk,” he said to her.

“You gonna offer me a job?” She smiled at him.

Lee was not in a joking mood. His eyes swung to me. “Rosie’s found. Our arrangement is over.”

I was beginning to allow the fact that I’d just seen Scary Darius, the fact that I’d not only tasered but flashed a hit man and the news that Eddie was attracted to me to penetrate my Denial Zone Fortress. Regardless of that, most of the day had been good, some of it real good, and to be honest, I kinda liked being out on the job with Lee. It was fascinating and the last part was a serious rush.

One look at him told me that I should probably not push it.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I need to get to the shop anyway and Marianne wants to meet at The Hornet for drinks tonight.”

Lee expected me to mouth off. At my words, his angry face cracked and a look came in his eyes that gave me the feeling that if we didn’t have an audience, he’d be on me like a rash.

Chapter Twenty

Two Souls Separated in Heaven

“You don’t have to model, I know I want the red,” Lee said.

We were back in the Crossfire, idling in front of Fortnum’s, Chowleena panting on my lap.

Rosie and the hit man had both been arrested. Eddie had the hit man’s gun which probably had been used to fire a bullet into Pepper Rick’s brain. I’d given my billionth statement to the police in a week. Hank had swung by and seemed to be spending a lot of energy trying not to murder me or Ally and wasn’t talking to Lee but seemed to be siding with Eddie in the whole Indy Ride-Along Debate. Eddie was exuding a pissed off vibe that kept everyone at a distance. Finally, Lee’s man Matt came to pick us up and took us to the Crossfire.

I wasn’t following the current conversation so I turned questioningly to Lee.

“First,” he finished his thought.

“What?” I asked.

His hand came out and hooked me around the neck bringing me to him.

“Underwear, garters, stockings,” he murmured against my mouth.

Of course.

I wasn’t surprised Lee chose the red. It wasn’t only racy, red was a power color.

His mouth brushed mine and then he let me go.

“Give me your phone,” he demanded.

I handed it to him. His hand curled around it and he pressed buttons with his thumb.

“Let me know where you are, everywhere you go. I want to know you get there safe. I’ve got things to do and I don’t know where I’ll be. If you can’t get hold of me, I’m programming your phone with the number to the surveillance room. There’s someone there twenty-four-seven and they can always get word to me.”