Center Courtship (40 page)

I reluctantly turned around from Elsu's body heat and filled out the paper that was placed before me.

“Ma'am, for what it's worth I'm sorry,” said the detective.

I forced a smile and wrapped my arms around Elsu's stomach. A third set of headlights pulled into the space across from us and I was happy to see Max had come. I went to him and hugged him out of gratitude. He pushed me aside and stormed up to Elsu.

“You promised! I asked you to do ONE thing, asshole! ONE!” He was inches from Elsu. Max didn't stand a chance when it came to physical stature against Elsu. He was 5'9” and 155 pounds soaking wet. His anger seemed to be blinding him to this obvious difference.

“She was safe when I left. I tried to get her to take Millard, but she wouldn't do it!”

“SHE IS RIGHT FUCKING HERE!” I yelled. “Millard, can you please take me home? Max, do whatever you need to do, and stop trying to control my life! Elsu, I could say the same thing to you!” I was passed being pissed now.

“Fine, but this is the final straw, Mae,” said Max. “I have a family of my own to take care of. I can't be running out to rescue you every time you get in trouble. You keep telling me you're all grown up, but I'm starting to wonder. I need to know you're safe. I was hoping Elsu would be different than Bart.”

I stepped between Elsu and Max before Elsu had a chance to lunge. “I can't believe you would even stoop so low as to compare them!”

I walked towards the Escalade where Millard met me and opened the door. “Max, I need a lawyer. Do you have anyone you could suggest?” I knew that would piss him off. Being a lawyer was his passion. Suggesting I'd want anyone besides him was a pretty low blow, even by my standards. I prayed I could guilt him into snapping out of this funk he was in and do what he knew he should. As much as I hated to admit it, I really needed him. I stepped into the car and scooted over for Elsu to get in. He didn't. I looked through the window and saw he was taking a walk around the truck, taking in the damage. I could see the anger rising in his face even from the distance that separated us. Max joined him and looked at the remains as well. When they
came together at the tailgate I could see they were talking. Millard stepped closer to the two in preparation for any impending scuffles. Thankfully there were none. They started pointing around the garage in different directions, I assumed it was to locate cameras. They talked for a little longer and I was surprised when they shook hands and parted ways.

Elsu slid in beside me and smiled at me. “Your brother's cool.”

I rolled my eyes. I was so confused. “What?”

“We don't get along, but we have a singular goal. Burying whoever did this.”

“I'm telling you who did this!” I said.

“I know. But let's wait till we have the evidence before we start throwing blame around.”

I scooted into his side and rested my head on his chest. “Thank you for coming back,” I said finally.

“Why didn't you call me? You called everyone else, apparently.”

“I called a tow truck, the cops and a lawyer. You were busy,” I said.

“Next time, I'm the first person you call.”

“Please tell me there won't be a next time,” I said as I grabbed his arm and wrapped it around my shoulder.

“Promise,” he whispered into my head.

After the murder of Little José, I felt like I was living in a kaleidoscope where everything around me was just a jumble of changing images, but I wasn't the one turning the looking glass. Back at the apartment building, we went to Elsu's apartment first to pick up Phil. I still couldn't believe this handsome man was now going to be a somewhat permanent fixture in my life. I also couldn't believe the feelings I always imagined I'd have for him in my schoolgirl fantasies were nothing compared to what I was beginning to feel for Elsu.

We got to my apartment and when I walked in, I hardly recognized it. Every inch of it sparkled from top to bottom. The furniture in my living area had been rearranged into what I had to admit was a much better set-up. I stepped to the kitchen and saw the counters had been scrubbed down, the sink was scoured and when I opened the refrigerator, not only had the beers been put in order on the door, the shelves were filled with real food!

“What's the opposite of a tornado?” I asked as I looked around in disbelief.

“The opposite of a tornado is Magdalena.”

“Wow!” I said as I went to the bathroom and flipped on the light. The counter was cleared, and the stain that was on the bathtub floor when I moved in that I had finally given up hope on ever getting clean, was gone. “No wonder you didn't want to lose her!”

“I brought her with me from Arizona, if that tells you anything.”

I walked into my bedroom and was equally as impressed. My bed was made, the nightstand was wiped down and the spider webs in the corners of the room were gone. “WOW!” I couldn't stop repeating myself. I opened my closet door and noticed it hadn't been touched, but how could I be upset?
Wow!

“I may not want to give her back!” I said as I walked to Elsu.

“You can't have her, she's mine. But I'll share. I didn't tell her to do this, but I'm not surprised she did. She's crazy with cleaning.”

Elsu followed me from my bedroom to the living room. “I might have a job for her at the garage,” I said honestly, as I thought of the showroom. I was then quickly reminded of Little José and the fact that he was gone. Elsu wrapped his arms around me.

“It will be ok, Mae. We'll figure it all out, I promise.” He kissed my forehead and I hoped my guardian angels knew how much they were needed.

I eyed Phil who was trying to blend into the wall. Our show of affection was probably making him uncomfortable. “Let me get you a blanket and a pillow,” I said as I reluctantly let go of Elsu and went to the linen closet to grab some supplies. Even the closet was rearranged.

“Here you go, I have a new toothbrush in my bathroom, if you'd like it. There are towels and washcloths in there if you want to take a shower.”

“Thank you, Mae. I'd appreciate that toothbrush.”

Colette and Arnold always mocked my coupons, now I had an extra toothbrush to give Phil Handler because of them. I still couldn't believe he was going to be sleeping one room away from me. I went and retrieved the toothbrush and laid out a fresh towel and washcloth for him. Phil took my cue and went to get ready for the night. When I returned to my living area, I found Elsu sitting on my couch. “Where is your uncle?” I asked as I sat down next to him.

“I have no idea. I only have two beds in my apartment right now. One for Millard and one for me. I haven't had time to get another one. The couch folds out, but it's a mess. I didn't look in the bedrooms when we picked up Phil. Could he be sleeping with Magdalena?”

“I doubt it, it's just a single bed.”

“I refuse to picture those two sleeping together, let alone in a single bed.” He shivered.

“Sleep with me,” I said it before I could even register what was coming out of my mouth.

“I don't think that would be a good idea, Mae.”

“I have a queen sized bed, it's nothing huge, but we should both fit. Just keep your clothes on. I'll keep mine on, I can even sleep on top of the covers so we're not next to each other. You need a good night's sleep, you won't get it anywhere else.”

Elsu sighed, realizing I was correct. “I don't know.”

“Unless you don't want to sleep with me,” I teased.

“You have no idea how badly I want to sleep with you, Mae. But doing it so I can't touch you is not how I envisioned our first time.”

“I didn't say you couldn't touch me. Just no sex.”

He hissed at me, and rubbed his neck. “Ok, let me go back upstairs real quick and tell Millard the plan and get ready for bed. I'll be back down in a few minutes.” He rose from the couch and gave me a quick kiss before he left my apartment.

I could hear the shower running in the bathroom and knew I'd have to wait for Phil to get done. Having one bathroom really stunk when you had three million visitors.

“Miss Mae?” I heard a quiet Hispanic voice whisper from behind me. I turned to see Magdalena standing in the doorway to the bedroom hallway.

“Magdalena! Thank you so much for cleaning! I feel so bad that you did all this! I will pay you for your time!” I stood and walked to the woman who I had only met briefly before.

“I was worried with all the commotion that you were displeased. I was bored, so I cleaned. I still have your closet to do and I had a question about something that is in my closet.”

“Your closet? There shouldn't be anything in there, maybe a winter coat or two.” I followed her into her room and found she had added new bedding to her bed, a small TV sat on the dresser atop a pretty doily that wasn't there before. She really knew how to shop quickly!

She opened her closet and I saw a few new clothes on hangers and some shoeboxes on the top shelf. I felt sick to my stomach thinking of how she had lost everything in that fire, too. Magdalena stooped down and pulled a cardboard box from the back corner and handed it to me. My heart dropped. It was all of my files from the trial against Bart. I had completely forgotten I even had them, let alone where they were.

“Thank you, Magdalena. I completely forgot about this stuff.”
And now I was remembering again.
“Please, make yourself comfortable here. Mi casa es su casa.” She smiled at my lame attempt to speak her language. It was one of the few things I remembered from high school Spanish class.

I wished her a good night and went out into the living area and saw Phil in his pants. Just…his…pants…arranging the blankets on the couch. I bit my lip as I stared at that chest I had studied for so long in my teen years.
Stop it, Mae!
“Thank you for letting me stay, Mae. I have a taxi coming first thing in the morning to get me. I'll probably be out of your hair before you're up.”

“Not a problem,” I smiled. “Hey, I'm going to go take a shower, can you listen for Elsu? I hate leaving the door unlocked.”

“Sure thing!”

I stole one last look at Phil and retreated to my bedroom where I found the jersey I had purchased at the game and wondered if it would be weird to wear it to bed with Elsu. I'd have to wear a sports bra under it to keep myself from popping out and that wouldn't be comfortable. I grabbed it and a bra anyway, a pair of cut-off sweat shorts, and went to the shower. It felt good to finally clean the day off. It had been a doozy that was for sure. I washed my hair and put it back in a quick braid that wrapped around my neck. I put the shorts on and was quickly reminded of how short that particular pair was. When I put the jersey on, you couldn't see them at all. All I saw were my pasty white legs sticking out like two sticks on a double Popsicle. I decided I could ditch the bra since the jersey fit more snuggly than I thought it would and there was very little chance of anything escaping. I kept the apartment warm so I could get away without a lot of clothes at night. I didn't like covers.

When I opened the door to the bathroom, I saw Elsu and Phil talking in the living room. They both did a double take when they saw me. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, so I shyly walked to my bedroom. I put my dirty clothes in my hamper and looked at the box on my bed.

“What's in the box?” asked Elsu as he stepped up behind me, placing his hands on my hips.

I leaned my head back into him and took a moment to enjoy his closeness. “Old files,” I said as I lifted the lid. “From my trial against Bart. Magdalena found them in her closet. I completely forgot I had them.”

“Hmm, so we should burn them?”

“I don't know, will that make
him
go away, too?” I picked up an envelope marked pictures and opened it. The photographic evidence of my abuse stared at me in glossy color. I should have put them down, stopped looking, thrown the whole lot out the window, but I couldn't. I kept going through them. My broken nose, double black eyes, bruises over most of my body, and broken bones. “What a way to end my day,” I said as I continued to look. I could feel the hands on my waist becoming tighter and tighter as I flipped through the pictures.

Elsu plucked the stack from my hand and threw them into the box. “I can't look at those.” He replaced the lid and tossed the box in the corner. “Damn!”

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“I'm not getting any sleep now.”

“Because of those pictures? It was a long time ago,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as him.

“Not long enough,” he said. He flipped the switch on the wall to turn off the ceiling light, the light on my nightstand was the only thing that illuminated the room. I finally looked at him. He was wearing a pair of blue pajama bottoms and a white tank top undershirt. Those damn shoulders. They were going to be the end of me, I could tell.

I apparently had stared too long because he walked toward me and pulled my chin so I was looking into his glorious eyes. “This is a bad idea, Mae.”

I shook my head. “It's the only way, you need sleep. I'll stay to my side of the bed.”

“Yeah, but I can't promise I can keep my hands off you. Especially in
that
outfit.”

I shivered and I knew I wasn't cold. Did I want him to keep his hands off me? Yes, but for how long could I hold
myself
off.

“I'll sleep on top of the comforter, you sleep under.” I grabbed the spare blanket that Magdalena had so neatly folded
and laid across the bottom of my bed. “This will be enough for me.”

He touched my arm and gently pulled me to him, his body hot against mine. He kissed me forcefully, his hands rubbed against my back, into my hair and down my arms. Our tongues mingled and I could feel his excitement rising between us. I pushed back quickly, glancing down only briefly to see his pants were straining to keep in what appeared to be a monster. “That's what you're doing to me, Mae. I can't help it. Every time I think about you, look at you, that's what happens.”