The Fighter's Block (50 page)

And then he had
to
rush off somewhere
.

Today she knocked on his door again and waited for quite a while. There was no answer so she headed back to her apartment. He just
so happened to be exiting
the stairwell, saw her, and was about to retreat until
she spotted him.
It was too late to avoid her and she waited by her apartment door as he came down the hall.

“Hey, stranger,” she said. “Your brother must really keep you busy lately because I never see you anymore.”

He barely nodded as he stopped five feet
from
her. “Yeah, it’s still summertime. Lots to do.”

“Come on in,” she motioned. “I made enchiladas for my sister and her kids but they can’t make it until tonight. The food is still warm and it needs eaten.”

She entered the apartment and left him standing there with the door wide open.

Jesus, why is my life so fucked up?
he
wanted to know.

He followed her in, hoping it would be easier than giving her another bullshit excuse. He’d uncovered so much about her life that it was ridiculous how much he knew her. She had no idea that her parents were behind the
recent
misery in her life, and she had no idea that
someone from the
Divehouse
really might have set Van up for Brian’s murder. She was also unaware that Andy had been threatening to publicize the video of her
over
the Internet.
The recording was non-existent, but Cole didn’t even believe Andy would have gone that far anyways. It was all about the money.

“I can’t stay long,” he stated as he softly shut the door behind him. He looked around the apartment, not sure if he wanted Van to be there or not. He assumed he was at the gym.

“You can eat, right? Or would you like me to pack it up so you can eat it later?
”

“
Uh,
I can eat here. Thanks.”
I’m an idiot!

She was pleased as she dished him up a pair of enchiladas. When she set the plate on the table she asked, “Salsa, sour cream, guacamole?”

“Uh, yeah, all three.”

Again she smiled as she set three small dishes on the table by his plate
, along with some shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes
.

“Are you going to eat, too?” he asked as he sat. “Did you eat yet?”

“Um, no I haven’t, but that’s for you. I can eat later.”

“I won’t eat unless you do,” he replied, folding his arms across his chest defiantly.

She narrowed her eyes at him but relented because she knew he was serious. She reluctantly dished herself half of an enchilada
, grabbed a beer for Cole,
and sat across from him.

“You know, pregnancy affects people’s appetite
s,” she told him. “I do eat
. But after spending the time making this, it just didn’t look appealing anymore.”

He took a bite so he didn’t have to look at her beautiful face. When he swallowed he asked, “How you feeling lately? Everything okay?”

She’d been watching him carefully, just about to ask him the same thing. Why did he seem so
uncomfortable
around her these days? She seriously wondered if he’d been avoiding her lately.

“I’m feeling fine, thank you,” she replied. “Kind of tired once in a while, and like I said, food just appeals to me differently. I ate a tomato for breakfast,” she scowled.

That made him chuckle a little. “Hey that’s a fruit, isn’t it?”

“Maybe,” she laughed. “But who would salt it and eat it like an apple?”

He finally glanced at her with a lifted brow. “Apparently you.”

“Apparently so,” she smiled. Now he was at least amusing. Maybe he just had things going on lately.

She cut a tiny piece from her
food
and took a bite. No, it didn’t
taste like something she wanted to eat at the moment. But she forced it down and asked, “Have I offended you somehow, Cole?”

He almost dropped his fork. When he made himself look at her, the worry lines on her face were apparent. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Uh, no, of course not. Why would you think that?”

Dumbshit
!
Now she’s going to bring up the fact that you’ve been a total douche
this past week.

“Well I’m sure you’ve been busy working, but it just seems like you’ve been avoiding me lately. But not only that, you seem really… I don’t know, short with me.”

Did that mean impatient? Rude? He wasn’t sure but it made him feel bad.

He did the only thing he could do and decided to tell her the truth. “I have been really busy lately. And yeah, I kind of have some things going on, so I’m really sorry if I seem distant.”

She examined his face as he took another bite. It made sense to her, but he seemed way uneasy around
her
—more than when they’d first met.

“So you’re not mad at me for that whole thing with Quincy?”

He looked up at her. “Mad at you? Hell no, I’m not mad. You helped the case, so that helps me.” He’d said it before even thinking abo
ut it and quickly added,
“I was worried you were going to do someth
ing stupid.
You saved me the trouble of bailing you out of jail for breaking and entering.”

She lightly laughed. “Ah, but I thought
you
were going to do that for me,” she teased. “But really, Cole. I’m so sorry for all of that. I don’t know what got into me. I was just so worried about Van and I was so afraid Quincy would run and I just…
I wanted to help and Van had asked me not to. I was desperate.
Lapse of judgment.”

“You didn’t trust Van’s lawyer?” he had to ask.

“Jack? Yes, I trusted Jack. But he’s really secretive sometimes and I just… Okay, maybe I didn’t trust
anyone
at the time,” she admitted. “It was all really scary.”

“Understandable,” he nodded. “But it’s over now.”

“Somewhat.”

He gave her a side-glance. “What do you mean? They couldn’t find anything solid that linked Van to the crime.”

“And that’s it? Brian’s case goes unsolved?”

He paused as he considered a response. “No, it won’t go unsolved. They’ll keep investigating it.”

“And we won’t know anyth
ing until someone else is arrested
?”

Cole shrugged. “What is it that you need to know? Who they’re looking into?
That sort of thing?
Are you worried about someone in particular?”

She didn’t answer right away. She’d considered all kinds of possibilities since Van was arrested. Someone had obviously wanted to frame him for Brian’s murder. It had to be someone that he knew. Who would do something like that?

“Dani, is there something you’re scared of?” Cole asked. “You seem really…uneasy. Is it just because the case is unsolved or is there something else?”

“I’m worried about Van, I guess. I don’t want anything else to come from this, but I’m sure it will.”

“You mean other people that were involved?”

“Yes. What Quincy did was bad enough. I don’t know if he was involved in anything else, but I’m not sure if I want to know. If he had been working for Brian, maybe he found out about the diamonds. Maybe he killed him for that. But did Brian ever come across the diamonds? Where did
Quincy
get
the box? Did he have them
?”

These were all very legitimate questions that Cole
couldn’t discuss with her
.
Quincy claimed to know nothing about the jewelry, and when asked about the silver box, he said it was what Brian stuck the money in when he paid him.

But he couldn’t give her that information because it wasn’t public knowledge yet.
“Let’s go over the whole diamond thing again. So you think that Brian saw them, knew they were in his apartment, but later on, when you moved out, he thought you took them?”

She nodded. “As far as I know, that sounds right. He, uh… Well,
the
night he threatened me,
he demanded
the diamonds. He told me he’d leave Van alone if I gave him the jewelry.” She scowled. “He felt I
owed
him, piece of shit.”

He tried not to think about that night. Clearly she was still angry about it and had every right to be. “So he didn’t have them that night,” Cole stated. “
Someone must have taken them from his apartment
.
It’s the only explanation.
”

“Yes,” she nodded.
She suddenly shook her head and sighed. “I can’t believe what happened to Quincy,” she said quietly. “I mean he was one of Van’s best friends. He was just…he was a funny guy, playful, and he was nice to me. I trusted him because Van trusted him and…” She sighed again. “
I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about that night.”

He did
n’t, either.
God, if she broke down and cried about it, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. Why was he even in this position to begin with?

Oh yeah, because she was the nicest girl he’d ever met, and he was
the
pathetic dipshit that
couldn’t stay away.

“You think maybe Andy could’ve gotten his hands on the jewelry?” he asked, changing the subject. “Was he in Brian’s apartment much?”

She slowly shrugged. “
Yeah, he
was there sometimes. It’s possible.
I can’t imagine he would go against Brian like that, though. He was scared to death of him.
”

“
Maybe he’d had enough.
Have you talked to
Andy
recently?”

He knew she hadn’t but figured he’d keep the subject rolling.

“Nope,” she shook her head. “I’d rather not associate with anyone linked to Brian.”

“Did Andy seem like the type to get into the kind of stuff that Brian did?”

“You mean stealing things and raping women?” she scoffed bitterly. “
Not on his own
. The guy
could barely talk around girls, but
as for stealing stuff… I guess he was pretty good with computers. No doubt Brian probably used that to his advantage.
And I know he was involved in other aspects of Brian’s evil schemes,
”
she added with a frown.

He knew she was referring to the sex video, but a
key rattled in the door and they both looked toward the sound. Cole had been stupid and lingered too long. He should have just taken the food to go.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Van entered the apartment and Dani stood with a smile. “You’re home early.” She hurried across the room and slid her arms around him for a hug.

“It’s Friday. Figured I’ve beat the shit out of myself enough this week.” He eyed Cole at the table and awareness sank in. “Who’s your friend?” he asked anyways.

“Oh, this is Cole,” she said, turning around to gesture to him. “You guys honestly haven’t met yet?” Neither man responded as Dani led Van t
o the table. “Cole lives in 4
G
. You really haven’t met each other?”

“Not officially,” Van replied. He did behave appropriately and extended a fist. Cole bumped it and Van added, “Nice to meet you. Welcome to The Block.”

“Thanks,” Cole nodded. He turned to Dani and said, “Thanks for lunch, I really appreciate it—”

“Then sit and finish it,” she pointed with a smile. “Honestly, Cole, just stay and eat.”

She turned for the kitchen and prepared a dish for Van, and when she did, Van gave Cole a look that said, “Might as well.”

“
Where’s
your sister and the kids?” Van asked.

He sat down at the table with a smug smile. Yeah, he knew who this guy was. Didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Between Jack’s insistence that Dani was being “looked after” and
Paulie’s
warnings about the new guy getting too close to
her
, it was a no brainer.

“
They’ll be over later. Jaime’s mother-in-law stopped by and wanted to take them to lunch.”

Van nodded as she set a plate in front of him. “Thanks, babe. This looks incredible. I’m starving.”

She returned to
the
spot next to him and said, “We were just talking about Andy.”

Van flashed a
glance
towards Cole but tried to remain clueless. “Oh yeah? What about that fuck wad.”

“Van, be nice.”

“What for? S
top feeling sorry for him, Dani
.” He turned to Cole and asked, “What about Andy?”