Page 83 of Rock Chick Rescue

“I have to agree with that,chiquita,” he murmured.

“I-I…don’t think I can fix this, Eddie,” I stammered against his chest, admitting out loud what I’d been thinking for days, burrowing closer and wrapping my arms around him. “I keep trying to think of a way out, but I can’t.”

“Let me handle it,” Eddie stated.

My head came back and I looked up at him. “How’re you gonna do that?”

Then I looked around me and realized he hadn’t answered my previous question, so I pulled back a bit and Eddie’s hand fell away from my hair to wrap around my back.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I was lookin’ for Ray.”

Not good.

“Why?” I pushed.

“A variety of reasons,” he answered.

Now Eddie was being vague.

“Those would be?” I prompted.

He lifted his hand and placed it on my cheek, his thumb wiping my tears away. Then he ran his knuckles down my other cheek on the same errand. He watched his hand work and then his eyes came to mine.

“There’s this girl, see. I wanna get to know her, not to mention do other things with her. Until this mess is sorted out, gettin’ what I want is more of a challenge than I normally like. So, I’m gonna sort it out.”

I felt a thrill race through my belly.

“But, don’t you have a job?”

“They let me go my own way.”

The Denver Police Department didn’t let Eddie go his own way. Indy told me that Eddie just went his own way and then put up with the consequences.

“Let me do this for you,chiquita.” His voice was soft.

“It’s a family problem, I can’t ask you…” I stopped as it hit me. “What’s Lee doing here?”

We both looked over Eddie’s shoulder. Lee and Indy were two houses down on the other side of Bear and Lavonne’s, both with hands on their hips, and it didn’t look like a loving conversation.

Eddie looked back at me. “Lee’s workin’ a connected job for some clients. I pulled him in the Ray search.”

My eyes bugged out. “I can’t afford Lee!”

“You don’t have to afford Lee. He’smi hermanoand Indy’s your friend and his woman. This is a freebie.”

“I can’t—”

“Would you stop saying ‘I can’t?’” he asked.

“Well, I can’t,” I pointed out.

“You can, Jet. These are your friends. Do you think they’re out here for thrills?”

I looked back over Eddie’s shoulder and took in Ally and Tex. Ally and the black guy were leaning on the Mustang and talking. Tex was obviously impatient and scowling back and forth between Indy and Lee and Eddie and me like he was watching an annoying tennis match.

My heart clenched and I got that strange pleasant feeling, like the one that kept coming at me during my Eddie Date.

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