Colorado 03 Lady Luck (24 page)

That wasn’t a good opening.

She finished it. “What’s going on, Ty?”

He didn’t speak. She held his eyes. He still
didn’t speak. This went on a long time.

Then she dropped her head at the same time
her shoulders sagged. Defeat.

She was giving up on him.

No, strike that, she was giving up
on
them.

Two weeks ago, sitting in his cell wondering
who he’d walk out to, he would never have guessed he’d walk out to
a them. But he did. Lexie knew it. So did he. He hadn’t had her
pussy yet but she gave him all the rest. He’d pushed it away. But
right then, he knew she was giving him another shot. If he wanted
it, he’d have it all.

And, him not taking that shot, she was
giving up on them and his silence and distrust was forcing her to
do that.

And, fuck him, he couldn’t take it.

“You know Tate?” he asked, her head shot up
and her light flashed, hope so bright it blinded him.

There it was. She was giving him another
shot and she wanted him to take it.

And so did he.

So he took it.

“Yeah,” she said quietly.

“He’s a bounty hunter.”

“Okay,” she whispered slowly.

“Used to be a cop.”

She didn’t reply.

“For the Carnal PD.”

He watched her body go still.

He kept talking. “His captain, Arnie Fuller,
now Chief of Police, was an asshole. Tate didn’t like workin’ for
an asshole. Fuller was also on the take. Tate liked workin’ for a
cop on the take a lot less than workin’ for an asshole. He quit and
became a fugitive apprehension agent.”

She nodded slowly.

“Fuller likes to play poker.”

Her eyes flared but she remained silent.

“He likes it but he’s not good at it.”

He watched her swallow.

“He’s also got a lot of opinions he don’t
mind sharin’.”

When he said no more, she prompted
carefully. “And those would be…?”

He answered immediately. “He likes a
certain kinda people. Only that kind.
His
kind. Which means other kinds, like gays,
liberals, hippies, he don’t like. He also don’t like color. Top of
the heap he don’t like is color.”

She closed her eyes slowly then opened them
and locked hers with his.

“Fuller’s got a brother,” he told her.

She pressed her lips together.

Walker continued, “Cut from the same cloth,
Fuller and his brother.”

She stopped pressing her lips together and
he saw her clench her teeth.

He kept going. “Fuller’s brother is a cop in
LA.”

She closed her eyes slowly again but this
time she dropped her head, reached out a hand, took a step back,
her hand hit island and she leaned into it. Then she sucked in
another breath, lifted her head, opened her eyes and caught
his.

He went on, “Don’t know yet why. Just know
the California Fuller had a problem. His brother offered me up as a
solution.”

“Ty,” she whispered.

“Got his boys in on it. Recruited outside
help. I didn’t have a prayer.”

“How?” she asked quietly still leaning into
a hand, this news weighing on her. He could see the weight. She was
barely holding up.

“There are about three clean cops in the
Carnal Police Department that’s how.”

“But… California? You said you’d never been
there.”

“My word against theirs. Rowdy Crabtree made
a statement that he heard me talkin’ in Bubba’s about hitting a
game in LA over Labor Day weekend. Witnesses in LA corroborated I
sat that game.”

“So?” she asked, pulling herself straight,
expending effort to do it, having that effort to give because she
was getting pissed.

Getting pissed for him.

“So, cop says I headed to LA, I headed to
LA. Cop buys witnesses, pulls in favors or extorts statements, they
got witnesses.”

“LA isn’t an hour away, Ty,” she told him
something he knew. “You can’t pop over there, commit a crime and
pop back no matter what witnesses say.”

“
Yeah, you’re right, Lex,” he replied. “But
see, over Labor Day weekend, I hooked up with pussy named Misty.
Hot snatch, all over me, she didn’t let me up for air for three
days. It wasn’t the first time I had her, we were on and off. I
liked what I got from her but knew she was trouble. Like it or not,
Lexie, pussy can be trouble and it can be the worst kind. She’s the
worst kind. Thought I had it under control. She let me in, I took
what she gave, I didn’t give back shit except as many orgasms as
she could squeeze outta me. Had no fuckin’ clue she was also
bangin’ someone else. Now she’s married to Chace Keaton.
Detective
Chace Keaton, Carnal
PD.”

Lexie sucked in a sharp breath.

Walker finished it. “She was my alibi. The
only person I saw the whole weekend. When I offered her up, they
talked to her, she said I’d lied about bein’ with her but also
shared I told her I was hitting a game in LA. Can’t prove it was
her but there were prints found at the scene in LA. Someone had to
lift mine. Not hard, Bubba’s, Pop’s garage, coulda got them
anywhere. But she was here, in this house, for three days and she’s
a cunt and that weekend she was a cunt sent on a mission.”

“That’s why,” she whispered and he knew what
she meant. That was why he knew pussy came with a chain.

“That’s why,” he confirmed.

She stared at him.

Then she stated, “You’re going after
them.”

“Fuck yeah,” he replied immediately.

She took her hand from the counter and
straightened her shoulders and Walker thought this was an
interesting reaction. He thought she’d bolt. He thought he’d see
disappointment.

She wasn’t giving him that.

“What are you going to do?” she asked and he
shook his head.

“Can’t keep you clean, you know.”

He watched her and he could see it working
behind her eyes he just didn’t know what it was. He felt his body
was tense. He was preparing to do what he had to do. Stay still and
let her walk out of his life or go after her if she tried.

“So, as you do this business, someone finds
out and asks questions, you’re paying me fifty thousand dollars to
cover for you,” she said.

He pulled in breath.

Then he gave her what she needed and what he
needed to give her.

“Your money is in my safe upstairs in the
bedroom. Part of the reason I had to sit a game is to make sure I
covered you as well as my business. Right now, you take the
diamonds, I go get you the money, you pack your shit, you go and I
let you. I can see what I’m doin’ don’t sit well with you. You’ve
already had that kinda shit in your life, too much, kept yourself
clean, I’m gettin’ you dirty. This is your chance to stay clean.
Take it and go.”

She held his gaze and asked, “How is this
getting me dirty?”

“Lexie, it comes down to it, I’ll be askin’
you to lie to cops.”

“Ty, it comes down to it, I’ll be lying to
dirty cops and everyone knows a double negative is a positive.”

At her words, Walker felt his lungs seize,
so bad, he couldn’t breathe or speak.

He battled for oxygen as he watched her look
around the kitchen, over her shoulder, taking in her
surroundings.

Then she whispered, “Life interrupted.”

“What?” he asked quietly.

Her eyes came back to him.

“You were what? Thirty years old?
Thirty-one? You had a job. A house. Friends. And just because
you’re a half-black man who won a poker game, they took all that
away for five years? Then when you get out, they follow you for
days and show up at your door on a Sunday morning just to give you
shit?”

The air came back into his lungs and it did
this because her voice was getting louder and shriller. She was
working herself up.

She was not getting pissed.

She just
was
pissed.

For him.

“Baby –” he started.

She leaned toward him and her eyes
narrowed. “That is not cool, Ty. That is
not
cool.” Then she slapped her hand hard on the
counter of the island and shouted, “
I do not believe this
shit!
”

Oh fuck. She was off.

He moved toward her but she stepped back,
lifting up a hand.

“
No,” she shook her head, “head’s up, you
don’t know this about me yet but when I get mad, it’s good to keep
a distance and I’m… fucking…
mad.
I
mean,
what
the fuck?
”

She yelled this still backing up as he
advanced thinking she was wrong. She got mad the other night. He’d
learned then distance was good when Lexie went off. He just wasn’t
going to give it to her now because then, she was pissed
at
him, now she was pissed
for
him.

Then she suddenly stopped retreating and
planted her hands on her hips. “All pussy doesn’t have chains, Ty.
This Misty bitch was a bitch. We’re not all like that. I assure
you. Okay,” she threw out a hand then planted it right back on her
hip, “we can be pains in the asses. I’ll grant that. But
lying about your
whereabouts?
And doing
it in order to
steal five years of your life?
” She shook her head, her voice loud, sharp,
seriously fucking pissed. “Unh-unh.” She shook her head. “No
way.”

He approached cautiously, got close and
sifted his hands into her hair at either side of her head, holding
it back and resting his forearms lightly on her shoulders, he
dipped his head close.

“Babe, get a handle on it,” he
whispered.

“That’s why you don’t trust me,” she
returned, not whispering, hands still on her hips, body held
tight.

“Uh… yeah,” he confirmed.

She nodded, the movement jerky, taking his
hands with it. “Right. I can see that.”

He felt his mouth twitch.

“Lexie –”

“We’re not all like that, Ty.”

He pressed the pads of his fingers into her
scalp and murmured, “All right, babe, now –”

“And I’m going to prove it to you and I’m
going to prove it to you by not going. You need someone to take
your back during this business, that’s me. I’m not going. I’m
staying right here and giving you what you need.”

He felt his gut clench at the same time that
thing pierced through the left side of his chest.

“All right,” he whispered through a pain
that was exquisite.

She stared into his eyes and kept her hands
on her hips. He stared into hers and watched the wet start to
form.

And there it was again, she was giving him
more because that wet was for him. And it was then he knew how she
felt the day they arrived in Carnal, overwhelmed by something
unexpected, something good, something she never thought she’d have.
He knew how she felt because he felt it, right then, looking into
her eyes, her giving him that, something good, something, after
that mud was flung at him and it stuck, he never thought he’d get a
shot at. And there she was, his hands in her soft, thick hair, her
eyes growing wet, giving it to him.

She fought it and beat it back and she did
this by continuing to throw sass.

“Now, are you gonna go with me to buy
flowers for the deck or what?”

He bent his neck and dropped his forehead to
hers.

Then, his eyes holding hers, he muttered,
“Yeah.”

“I’ll warn you, I’ve never done any
gardening. They’ll all probably die.”

“Whatever,” he replied, fighting a grin.

She looked into his eyes for awhile.

Then she told him. “You need to shower. Do
you need coffee? One of your powder thingies?”

Powder
thingies.

Total goof.

“Coffee.”

She nodded her head, again moving his
hands.

“I’ll fix it while you shower. Travel
mug.”

He closed his eyes and pulled in breath.
Then he moved the lower half of his face and touched his lips to
hers.

Then he let her go and walked to the
stairs.

He was one step up when she called his name.
He looked through the open slats and saw her at the coffeemaker,
her body turned to the side counter, her neck twisted, her eyes on
him.

Then she dropped the bomb.

“FYI, there’s been no one since Ronnie. No
one. For four years. You’ve got a year on me but, I figure, mostly
we’re in the same boat.”

He fought the urge to move to her and drag
her up the stairs to his bed.

Or, saving time and energy, take her to the
couch.

Instead, he asked, “You gave me that, baby,
what you want me to do with it?”

She looked to the coffeemaker and muttered
loudly, “I’ll leave that up to you.”

Fuck.

He knew what he wanted to do with it. He
also knew how he wanted to do it. He also knew he was going to do
what he wanted to do.

But that was not for now. What he wanted to
do would take time.

And control.

He didn’t have any of the last left. And
they had plants to buy.

So he drew breath in through his nose and
walked up the stairs.

Lady Luck Was Feeling Generous

I walked down the stairs behind Ty wondering
what I’d been wondering the last twenty minutes while he took a
shower, shaved and donned another black tee, faded jeans and
boots.

Was I crazy?

Was I stupid?

Was I both?

Or was Lady Luck feeling generous for once
and if I fucked this up, I’d piss her off?

We hit the utility room and Ty opened the
door to the garage, stood clear of it but kept his hand on it, his
long arm extended, keeping it open, he wanted me to precede
him.