But she could tell he was thinking. And thinking hard. And she decided to let him.
That was why, when he quickly got out of bed and began putting on clothes, she didn’t ask him all those questions she usually asked. She had already decided, before she even cameover to Teddy and Nikki’s house, that she was going to let Mick be Mick.
“I’ll be back,” he said as he began heading for the exit.
But then he did something he almost never did before. He turned around. “I’ll explain later,” he said.
Roz nodded.“Okay.”
Which warmed his heart. And which made him say words that were never easy for him to verbalize. “And Rosalind?”
She looked at him. “Yes?”
“I love you more than you will ever know.”
Her heart swelled. “I love you too, Mick.”
For a long moment, they just stared at each other as if they were committing to each other for the first time. Then Mick actually smiled and began leaving.
“And your ass better be careful and stay clean,” Roz yelled after him.
“My ass better be careful and stay clean? Why?” he asked as he glanced back. “Because you may have to kick it?”
Roz saw the smirk on his face. “That’s exactly why. I don’t wanna get my foot dirty.”
Mick laughed out loud. He looked so boyish and youthful to Roz when he laughed.
But when he left the guesthouse, her smile slowly left too. Because she knew he wasn’t going to a party. He was more likely than not going to a situation that might end in a slaughter. Her only prayer was that he got out of it alive.
This was the hard part.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Mick walked into the house on Bluebond Road suited up, not in his usual all-black attire, but in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt beneath his long white coat.
Teddy, who was playing cards with Monk, smiled. “You look half-dressed, Pop.”
But Mick was looking around. “Where’s Cleo?”
“She’s throwing up in the bathroom.”
“She’swhat?”
“As soon as I said you were pulling up,” Teddy said, “she suddenly got all sick and had to rush to the bathroom to throw up. It’s all another one of her scams, Pop. She just wants your attention.”
Mick headed to the bathroom.
“Looks like she’s going to get it,” Monk said with raised eyebrows. He moved his hat further back on his head.
“And you’re right,” Teddy said. “I don’t know what he sees in that woman.”
But when Mick knocked on the bathroom door and then walked in, and he saw Cleo bent over the toilet seat, he just stood there. Because she was actually throwing up. “What’s wrong?”
“When Ricky beat me, he pounded on my stomach. Now it’s hurting so bad.” She threw up again. Then she wiped her mouth and flushed the toilet.
When she went over to the sink to wash her hands, she slid slightly as if she was going to pass out.
“Whoa,” Mick said as he hurried over to her and grabbed her. “Let’s get you to the bed.”
