Harley looked at King in the driver’s seat. His profile was set in stone and his lips were in a straight line.
“King, baby, it was bound to happen. You stood up to a cartel boss when a lot of other men would have said nothing. But it’s his world, we all just live in it, you know? There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I wanted to smash his fucking face into the doorframe. I let you down.”
“Please,” she guffawed. “Save your strength. You still have to deal with meeting my crazy parents. Talk about feeling helpless. When my dad starts giving you the third degree and I can’t cuss him out, now that will be helpless.”
“So you’re saying that if I survive your father, we’ll be even?”
“Not that I’m trying to get even, but if it will make you feel better, then, yes.”
“Harley, it wouldn’t matter so much if it was someone else. I love you. When I fail to slay a dragon for you, I know I’ve let you down.”
“Getting yourself killed would be letting me down. Antonio Wayne is doing what he thinks is right to protect the cartel’s interests, even if he is being an ass about it. If I had to guess, I’d say Tony was right.”
“About what?”
“About Antonio Wayne never passing up a chance to bust balls. The MC club’s the same way. I’ve seen them come to blows over some macho insult, but let an outsider come in and say the same shit to a brother and they’ll put him in the ground. I saw the look on your face when you talked to Antonio Wayne. If looks could kill…need I say more?”
Silence reigned as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. “I hate dropping you off. I hate being away from you, Harley. This is crazy.” He parked, then leaned over and slid his fingers into her hair to pull her in for a long, slow kiss. “Have my babies and stay at home. I think Midas misses you when you’re at work.”
“You and that monkey are both crazy.”
“Just think about it. You could work with me.”
“Oh…I get it now: I’d be a hitwoman-housewife who can talk to the animals. I could ‘wear’ the baby in one of those wrap things while I pick off cartel enemies with my machine gun.”
“I prefer a Glock, myself, but if a machine gun is what you want, then consider it yours. We could be together 24/7 and you’d still be a badass, independent woman. Far be it from me to marginalize all that sexy confidence and independence that only adds to your appeal.”
“You are too kind.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before she jumped from the SUV and headed toward the hospital entrance.
“I love you, woman!” he shouted after her through the open car window as the hospital lobby’s automatic doors opened.
“Oh, keeper of the wild beasts, my heart belongs to you and your crazy monkey.” She placed her hand over her heart dramatically as she walked backwards, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“He’s our crazy monkey. What’s mine is yours, baby!”
She’d done the impossible: pulled him out of a terrible mood and made him laugh -- just one more reason to love her. King shook his head as he drove home. He needed to get back to the business at hand: figuring out what that wife-beating asshole Bobby Brooks was afraid of.
“A fuckin’ dyke. In our fuckin’ family! All you need is a real man and you’ll forget all about wantin’ women.” The burly man was drunk and belligerent as he lurched toward her. He stumbled and took her with him as he collided with the wall. With her pinned by his massive frame, he grabbed Blue’s shoulder for support. His other hand landed ‘accidentally’ on her breast, and he gave the perky, firm flesh a hard squeeze before she could pull away. “Y’see, now, a woman’s gonna take tits like these for granted. A real man will make you glad you’ve got ‘em.” His eyes grew flat and hard as his hand started moving south down her flat stomach.
“Get away from her!” Blue’s mother cried. She was in a heap on the floor, her hands slipping as she struggled to rise to her feet in a growing puddle of blood. “She’s still a child. You’re her uncle, for God’s sake!”
The ache in Blue’s chest wasn’t from fear or the hard impact with the wall. It was from watching her mother crawl toward her in an effort to save her.
“I’m not a child anymore, Mami. I’m sixteen,” she declared as she stared coldly up at him, “and I’m going to kill him.”
“That’s right. Yer six-fuckin’-teen now,” he muttered, licking his lips. “And yer not gonna fuckin’ do anything,” he said, leaning in close so his foul breath wafted over her face and made her want to gag.
Blue swatted his hand away and straightened her spine with renewed determination. No one was ever going to touch her without her permission – and nobody got away with hurting her mother. As his stubborn fingertips returned and grazed her pubic bone, she gripped the knife and stabbed in a vicious upward thrust between his third and fourth ribs. He dropped like a stage puppet that had had its strings cut.
Her mother had tried to warn her about bigotry, but she never thought she’d find it within her own family. And she certainly never expected her uncle to try to show her the error of her lesbian ways. Evidently blood really wasn’t thicker than water after all. But there sure was a lot of it.
“Earth to Blue…Earth to Blue…” Amber waved her hand back and forth in front of her lover’s face. “Are you even here?”
“Always for you, beautiful.” Her blue eyes transformed from emptiness to fierce protectiveness. “Sorry, I was just off in my own thoughts.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Amber asked, concerned.
“No. I want to find that poor girl. She’s made so many mistakes. She deserves another chance. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she gets it.”
“So this isn’t about staying on the Ramirez brothers’ good side?”
“Not at all. But don’t worry, sugar; you’ve got nothing to worry about or even be jealous about.” Blue twirled a strand of Amber’s hair around her finger and gave her a heated look. “Because you are my good girl.”
Amber blushed furiously as she thought about exactly what it meant to be Blue’s ‘good girl’. “I better be,” Amber flipped her hair over her shoulder in jest. “I’d hate to have to beat her ass after we rescue her.”
“You’re so damn cute and it’s got nothing to do with your looks.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should. I don’t pass them out lightly. But no more joking about Kat. I know you didn’t mean anything by it, but I won’t make light of someone else’s agony – neither should you.”
“You’re right; I’m sorry. Are you going to kill the man who took her?”
“I’m sure as hell going to try.”