Mixed Company
“My dad will kill me if he finds out I drank his beer.”
Leonardo set the bottle on the table and plopped down next to me. “Relax.” He wrapped an ice pack around my ankle and ran his fingers up and down my leg.
I should have called Ryan to pick me up.
“Thanks for the ride, but I’m exhausted. I need to rest.”
Judging by his undaunted expression, he didn’t take the hint.
“And I have a boyfriend.”
Leonardo chugged his beer, leaned over, and pressed his body on top of mine. “You don’t act like a girl who has a boyfriend.”
“What the fuck? Get off me, pig!”
He scoffed at my rejection. “I’ll make you feel better.” He pushed my hair back and licked my ear.
“Back off, asshole. You’re hurting me.”
At that moment, all the lights went off in the house. The digital display on my dad’s desk went black. The storm had knocked out the power.
“Nice timing.” He cupped my breasts.
I tried to slap him in the face, but he caught my hand.
My cell phone rang.
I tried to shove him off.
“No seas mala.” He held my wrists down and sucked on my neck.
A loud knock came from the front door.
Leonardo covered my mouth.
The knock came again.
I bit down on his hand until he let go. “Come in!”
The door opened. “Carter? It’s me. Are you all right?” A flashlight cut through the darkness.
“In here, Ryan.”
When Leonardo heard Ryan’s deep voice, he rolled off me and sat up like nothing was wrong. “Keep your mouth shut,” he whispered. I didn’t need to see his face to know it was a threat.
“I tried to call,” Ryan said. “The power is out on the whole block. Whose car is in the driveway?” He stepped into the room and shined a flashlight on the couch.
Ryan shined the flashlight across my swollen ankle, then up to my heaving chest, then to my panic-ridden face. Then he shined it on Leonardo. “What the fuck did you do to my girlfriend?” Then the flashlight dropped and the primal sound of fists on flesh echoed through the room.
Oh, shit. I crawled on the floor and then got to my feet, using the edge of the table for leverage. The coffee table slammed into the wall in the living room. I hopped over to the door and pressed the police button on the alarm box.
“Ryan, are you okay?”
He didn’t answer.
“The cops are on their way. Ryan?”
A rush of panic swept over me when I considered the alarm button might not work because the power was out. I crawled to get my cell out of my purse. The guys were still wrestling and swearing at each other. I needed someone to get between them.
“The police are coming. Get out of here, Leonardo.” I found my phone and started to dial 911, but thought better of it. Leonardo deserved an ass kicking, but I didn’t want Ryan to get into trouble. Another crash. I had to call Boris.
He picked up on the first ring. “I need your help.” I heard the tinny sound of glass ornaments shattering when the Christmas tree went down. “I’m at Dad’s. Please hurry.”
I hopped into the living room. “Ryan?” I used the light from my cell as a flashlight.
“Stay back, Carter,” Ryan said. I could see in the faint light from the window he had Leonardo in a headlock.
Sirens were nearing the house; I had activated the alarm after all.
I tugged on Ryan’s arm to loosen his grip. “Don’t hurt him. Everything’s okay.”
Leonardo struggled to get free, but Ryan had him good. “Give me my bag and I’ll go.”
“Fuck you, loser,” Ryan said.
“Give me my fucking bag!” Leonardo shouted.
“Okay, okay.” I found his gym bag on the floor and started to toss it his way, then stopped. Why was he so worried about what I assumed were his sweaty gym clothes? I unzipped the bag and shined my cell phone light on the contents: a bounty of neatly portioned baggies of weed and coke, at least twenty rubber band bankrolls, and a small black gun.
Oh, shit. “Let him go, Ryan. Now. Do it before the cops get here.”
“Are you crazy, Carter?”
“Trust me.” I startled even myself with the harshness of my tone. The image of Playboy’s vicious order to clean up my mess came to mind. I pushed the nightmare away, hopped to the front door, and opened it.
Ryan dragged Leonardo to the front door and tossed him into the snow. I whizzed his car keys at him, but kept the gym bag. No way would I toss him a lethal weapon to use on us. I locked the door and then squeezed my arms around my hero. What would have happened if he hadn’t shown up?
The sirens were getting closer. I shined the light on Ryan’s face. Blood oozed from a cut above his eye. My fault. I begged him to go home. “Hurry, Ryan, they’re almost here.” Reluctantly, he agreed. He could get kicked off the football team for fighting. I promised to call as soon as I could to explain everything.
When the patrol car rolled up, I met the officer on the front porch with the hood of my jacket over my head and Leonardo’s felonious gym bag slung over my shoulder. No way could I leave illegal drugs, a small fortune, and a fucking gun in Dad’s house.
Shit. I recognized the cop’s chubby freckled face and bushy black hair—Officer Montgomery. She had busted me drinking last summer and drove me home in her cruiser. “Sorry to bother you, ma’am. I was home alone and the power went out. I kind of freaked out.”
“What made you freak out?”
I pointed to my swollen ankle. “I was running to the kitchen to get a candle and kicked the coffee table.”
The officer ran her flashlight down my leg. “Looks like it might be broken.” She raised the light to my face.
“I know. My grandpa is on his way over to take me to get an x-ray. There he is now.” I pointed to the Cadillac. Jeez. He must have been close by.
“Have we met, miss?”
Oh, shit. “Um, not to my knowledge, officer.”
“You live here with your parents?”
“Yes. They’re visiting relatives in Akron.”
Boris made his way up the sidewalk. The police officer eyed his big body up and down.
“Thanks for getting here so quickly, Gramps. Can you take me to the hospital to get an x-ray?” I pointed to my foot and nodded.
His gaze drifted to the driveway and to the tire tracks in the snow from Leonardo’s car. “Good evening, officer. Thank you for checking on my precious granddaughter.” His coat collar was popped up around his neck to conceal his knife tat, and he had on leather gloves to cover up his prison tats. “Let’s go, dear.”
My dad’s ring tone had been erupting from my cell nonstop for several minutes. He must’ve gotten a call from the alarm company.
The officer held up her hand. “Just a minute. Can I see your ID, young lady?”
I fished my license out of my purse and handed it to the cop. As she examined my info, a knowing smile crept up on her face. “Carter Cook. I didn’t recognize you with your hair covered.” She tapped my license in her hand. “I’ve busted you before. You and your feisty little friend, right?”
Shit. “My mistake, Officer Montgomery.”
“Have you been drinking tonight?”
I felt Boris’s villainous glare bearing down on me.
“No, ma’am. Not a drop. I learned my lesson. Can we go now?”
“A pretty girl like you can get into a lot of trouble drinking in mixed company. You’re lucky we busted up your after-hours pool party last summer.” She glanced at Boris then to me again. “Glad you straightened out. Hope your ankle is okay.”
“Thanks.” I reached up and put my arm around Boris’s shoulder so I could hop to the car, but he was out of patience. As I clutched the gym bag, Boris scooped me up, carried me to the Cadillac like an infant, and dumped me in the passenger seat.
I tucked the gym bag at my feet, and Boris drove away like everything was cool. I forced a smile and waved to the officer, still parked in front of the house filling out her report. She squinted at Boris’s license plate as he rolled away.
“I don’t need an x-ray.” I pulled out my cell. “I have to call Dad.”
Boris drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
“Hi, Dad. I’m fine. The power went out. I accidentally hit the alarm button when I tried to turn on the light…I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I did it until the police showed up…Yes, they just left. Everything’s fine.”
Dad had already turned the car around and was on his way home. I convinced him to get back on the road. Dad was sharp, though. “If the electricity is out, you’ll freeze to death. You’ll have to stay somewhere tonight.”
“Okay, I’ll call around—”
“I’ve already got you covered. When I couldn’t reach you, I called Vladimir. He has a generator. Boris is on his way. You can stay with them until the power comes back on.”
I hung up the phone. Boris looked like he was ready to kill someone. I’m guessing that someone would be me.