Devil’s in the Details (72 page)

I patted my friend on the back, "Good thing Victoria and I had a hearty life talk this morning." I glanced at the ring on my right hand, running my thumb over it, "The only thing I have to worry about is making you godmother to one of our little ones."

I looked up at Stacy, grinning at me like she had won the lottery, "About fucking time." She tilted her head towards Victoria and Dani rushing off to the bar, "Just don't make me maid of honor, I'm not spending your wedding day following you around and helping you pee in whatever fluffy ruffly dress you wear." She shook her head and picked up the shot in front of her. "And so it begins." She then turned to me, "Can you call a cab for me later? The boyfriend bailed on me. I intend to get tipsy and ignore him for the weekend."

I chuckled, moving to sit in the booth, "I can." I waved down a waitress for a large pitcher of water, catching Victoria and Dani slam down shots that had them both cringing and gagging. I blew out a breath, "Even if I end up regretting tonight."

One hour into being at the bar and Victoria and Dani were hammered, Stacy was buzzed and I was entranced at the three lady debacle in front of me. Stacy was leaning on Dani, sipping on a long island ice tea, as Dani told another story about Victoria and her stealing ashtrays from the White House.

Dani squinted at me, holding up a glass with a fingers worth of whiskey in it, "So, I tell the uppity Professor here, hey! Let's steal some shit from Lincoln's bedroom." She giggled, poking Victoria in the arm, "She protested, as she normally does with every fun idea I have."

Victoria frowned, sipping down what had to be her third Manhattan aside from the handful of shots that would have laid out any normal human. "You have really, really, really bad ideas that aren't fun. Nope." She shook her head, making me giggle when she made herself dizzy.

Dani scowled, "Shush it. It was a good idea. I got us those super sweet ashtrays and that coffee mug you hide in the back of your cabinet in fear that if you use it, the secret service will raid your house." She laughed, slurring her words trying to say secret service, only to have it come out sounding like shecret shervise.

I laughed as Victoria shoved Dani into Stacy, making Stacy spill some of her long island iced tea down her shirt. "You sailors are sloppy ass sailors!" Stacy wiped at her shirt, moving to stand up, "I gotta pee, move it you boat queens!"

Victoria and Dani stumbled out of the booth, freeing Stacy to stumble to her feet before weaving and wobbling to the bathroom. The two very drunk women flopped back into the booth, Dani slapping Victoria’s bruised hand and shouting, "Shots! More shots!"

Victoria yelped from the pain and shoved Dani back, "Sit down you cow." She frowned, her eyes heavy with alcohol, "You know what was another bad idea of yours? Colombia." She held up her purple hand, "You could have chimed in when that giant fucker popped out of the bedroom. I had to hit him five times before he dropped, five more after I broke his junkie nose to keep him down." Victoria closed her eyes, shaking her head, mumbling, "I hate Colombia. It’s so goddamn hot there."

I felt my smile fade as I leaned closer, staring at Victoria as she mumbled, "Even the Colombian doctors are junkies, trying to give me Vicodin for this hand." She slid down the booth, reaching for her glass when Dani grabbed her under the arm, lifting her up. "I should've taken them all out."

I glanced at Dani and caught a look in her eyes that betrayed her drunkenness, "Up Professor, no passing out. We still have shots to do." She struggled getting Victoria up, waving the waitress over for more shots. "It's your favorite, Irish car bombs."

Victoria groaned, "Fuck Ireland too. That stupid bitch and her stupid bathtub, getting in my brain before I got hers all over my hands."

I felt my stomach twist into knots, Victoria's mumblings were drunken, yes, but there was a harsh truth behind what she was saying. From my years as a nurse and being a college lush, I knew that alcohol was the greatest truth serum in the world. Loose lips always sunk ships.

I went for Victoria, glaring at Dani, "I think she's had enough."

Dani chuckled, smirking at me, "She hasn’t had enough until she's forgotten, until we both have forgotten." She waved me back, "It's our brand of medicine." She tapped at her head messily, with a sad look on her face, "There's so much that needs to be forgotten." She shook her head, reaching for the shots the waitress set down. "I wish I could tell you, Alex, but then there wouldn't be enough whiskey in the world to repent for our sins."

She nudged Victoria, who was starting to pass out, handing her the full pint glass of Guinness and the small shot of whiskey, "Up Commander! Up to the bow of the ship! Full steam ahead!" Dani then boomed out, "Non sibi sed patriae!"

Victoria’s eyes shot open, her body sitting up straight as she tried to focus hazy, drunken eyes on the world spinning around her, "Non sibi sed patriae!" She then dropped the shot in to the pint glass, and chugged as much of it back as she could before gagging and slamming the glass back on the counter. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and promptly passed out. Her head dropping to her chest as she slumped back into the booth.

I sighed hard, getting up to start the process of removing my dead drunk girlfriend. "Victoria, we need to get you home."

Victoria mumbled, still passed out. I looked over at Dani, laughing and shaking her head, "Hard to fathom I once watched her outdrink a group of marines in a bar in Tunisia." She then sucked in a breath, looking right in my eyes, with glossy foggy green ones, "Dear God, I hope I can save you both." She then smiled weakly and laid her head on the table, passing out in two ragged breaths.

"Fuck." I groaned, I now had two piss drunk women to wrangle into the car. I also was incredibly frustrated about what both of them said. The stupid cloak and dagger dialogue weaseling its way back into my life. I went to flag down one of the bouncers when Stacy popped around the corner, she looked far better than she did when she went to the bathroom, telling me she probably threw up most of what she drank.

"Did I miss something?"

I groaned, grabbing her, "Help me with these two." I shook my head, lifting up the dead log that was Victoria, "These two sailors have drunk themselves to the point of blacking out." I threw her arm over my shoulder and was able to lift her to her feet. Victoria stirred a bit, finding her feet while mumbling. At least she was on her feet, leaning against me and helping me move her from the booth. "Can you grab Dani?"

Stacy gave me a look until I scowled, "Okay! Okay!" She moved over to Dani, slapping her on the face lightly, "Hey, drunky crow. Get up." Dani frowned, slapping Stacy's hand away until Stacy just grabbed her and yanked her out of the booth, catching her in an awkward embrace. "Whoa there red! I have a boyfriend."

Dani mumbled as Stacy shifted her to the same position I had Victoria in. "What the hell happened while I was peeing and barfing?"

I shook my head, hoisting Victoria up more to walk her out of the bar. "They got out of hand and I was stupid enough to let them." I smiled at a few people on the way, shaking my head no when the one bouncer asked if I needed help. I clenched my jaw, throwing the keys to the valet, and looked at Stacy, trying to keep her face away from Dani who was making a strange gurgling snoring noise. "You look more pissed off than one would be when their girlfriend gets shitfaced at a bar. What really happened, Alex?"

I sighed, looking up at the night sky, "I think Victoria lied to me about her trip this week."

Stacy chuckled, "Who would lie about going to Minnesota for a boring ass teachers conference? I mean it's not glamorous, it's a state made for boring things and football."

I closed my eyes, feeling my anger build as my gut started to race to put pieces together. Opening them, I glanced at Victoria's hand around my shoulder, the purple bruise spurring me on. "She started talking about Colombia and beating the hell out of some guy's face." I scanned the edges of her knuckles, seeing all of the signs that the bruise was created by doing that exact thing. The small lacerations, the scrapes, the way the bruise had a distinct impact area, all lead my medical knowledge to tell me the truth. I had seen a million hand injuries like this in my nursing career, all of them from fights or smashing the hand into something while curled into a fist. "I think she lied to me, I think she's been lying to me." I turned to Dani slung over Stacy's arm, "They both have been."

Stacy stared at me wide eyed and blinking, "Why the fuck would Victoria be in Colombia?" She blinked a few more times, her mouth shifting open, "Wait, do you think her and red are drug dealers?" She glanced at Dani drooling on her shoulder, "Like smuggling cocaine up their butt?"

"Stacy, shut up." I glared at her as the BMW was pulled to the curb, "Victoria is not a drug dealer." I shifted the passed out blonde again, moving to the BMW, "But she is something and I think it's time I try to find out."

I heard Stacy whistle under her breath, "Someone's pissed."

I frowned, shoving Victoria into the passenger seat and buckling her in, "I'm not pissed, Stacy. I'm just tired of feeling like I'm on the outside looking in. That there’s a part of Victoria she thinks she has to hide from me." I looked over the top of the headrest at Stacy shoving Dani, less than delicately into the back seat, "She said something tonight that scared me." I straightened up, looking down at Victoria. Her cheeks were a bright red as she slept heavily.

"Did she finally tell you that her and Victoria did indeed dibble dabbled in the Navy?" Stacy slammed the back door close, throwing herself off balance before I grabbed her from falling to the curb. "Shit, I need to call a cab and get some water."

"You do." I steadied her while she pulled out her phone, "Dani said that she hoped to god she could save both Victoria and I." I turned to look at Victoria with her head pressed against the glass.

Stacy blew out a breath, "Red is a weird one. She was telling me some fucked up stories about the war while we waited for you two. Kept talking about a bird who took away her life and turned her best friend into a machine. A cold machine without feelings." Stacy shrugged, "She was at least four shots and two straight vodkas in by then. She kept calling me Casey."

I chewed on my lip, remembering a few things Dani told me about at the formal, a Colonel she and Victoria knew. I also remembered Bill telling me that the military nickname for a Colonel was bird. I swallowed hard, more pieces falling into my lap, begging me to be placed in the overall puzzle I had been trying to sort out for as long as I knew Victoria.

I stared at Stacy until her taxi cab pulled up on the curb, she shook her head, rushing to hug me. "Call me when you get home, so I know you made it in." She winked at me, "If I were you, I'd leave red in the car to sleep it off."

I smiled, "I just might." I shoved her away, "Text me when you get home and thanks for coming out."

Stacy nodded and half ran to the cab, "Tell Victoria I said happy birthday and a bloody Mary is the best morning after cure!" She waved at me, hopping in to the cab.

I waited until the cab was around the corner before climbing into the BMW. Dani was snoring loudly on her side in the back seat and Victoria was still pressed against the window, her face scrunched up, cheeks flushed as her body started its goal of processing the alcohol out of her system as quickly as possible.

I couldn't resist running my hand down her cheek, pushing some of the hair away from her face, "I love you so much, Victoria." I whispered it, "Please don't lie to me." I frowned, starting the car and pulling away from the bar.

The ride home, I began crafting the speech I would give her when she woke up. Ask her for the truth and prepare myself, I would have to ensure that Victoria knew, no matter how bad she thought it was, no secret of hers would chase me away. I loved her with everything I had and if she was hiding something that scared Dani, I needed to know. So I could do my best to protect Victoria.

The thick tomato and pepper smell made my stomach turn, I went to open my eyes to swat away the offending scent, only to see Dani sitting across from me holding out a large full glass of bloody Mary. I swallowed down a few times, coaxing my stomach to settle down and not launch its entire contents everywhere. Closing my eyes, I covered my nose with the pillow in hopes of blocking out the smell, "You're in my bedroom."

"You've always been known for your keen observation skills." Dani's voice was rough and raspy, "It's a nice room, looks better with the addition of another human sharing it with you."