Page 133 of Tease Me


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Doc coughed. “You’ll want take a whole pill now. Get your pain under control. Tomorrow, you can cut it to a half every four hours to keep your head clear.”

“You know, man,” Wilde said, “a little pot in those brownies there would have done the trick.”

“Un uh,” Kim said. She placed the hot pan full of heaven covered in cheese on the hot pad. “No one ruins my famous brownies by adding weed. Throws off the chocolaty goodness.”

I chuckled. “She’s right, ya know. Kimmers makes the best brownies in the tri-state area.”

Wilde tossed back a pill and washed it down with beer. “Okay. I give. But a joint would have done the trick and kept me a little clearer.”

“Not for bone pain.” Doc took a gulp and reached for a plate. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Bou doesn’t allow drugs in her shop.”

Kim chimed in. “Probably the only clean building in the Yuma triangle. We like to thank Ronan for that. Got a spatula, doll?”

“Ronan?” Wilde took a pull on the longneck.

“That’s her pops.” Kim said. “He—”

“Annn...yway.” I gave her an oh-no-we-don’t glare.

Wilde’s hella intense look prompted too many questions, and I wasn’t about to pull at that thread around him. I pointed. “Spatula’s in that drawer.” I passed out the forks and moved on to another topic. “Celt not coming?”

Doc blew on his first bite. “Nah. He’s at a, um, ‘town hall’ meeting.”

12

Wilde

Locked. Fuck. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. The tech-junkie who’d joined Diablo last year had damn near forced me to put two locks on my mobile phone. Then he done something to the thing to make sure no one could hack into our biz. I quietly set Bou’s phone down on her nightstand and stared at her. She slept so peacefully. My fingers itched to move the strand of silky hair that had fallen over her eyes. No. I couldn’t. Instead, I tiptoed as best I could with the cast, out of her room.

The leg felt better this morning, thanks to the Oxy, but following doctor’s orders... not my gig. Like cops, the white coats were supposed to be the good guys, but I knew better. Men like me scared them. If that little buck-thirty, pointy-nosed man had taken the time, Cain, the only person who’d taught me shit about living would still be kicking around the warehouse. In some way, Doc seemed different. Like he got us. Did he say something about riding? Maybe he was one of us at heart.

I’d give him a little credit. I hobbled back to the kitchen and popped half a pill. The smell of lasagna lingered, making my stomach growl. That could wait. Doc’s old lady seemed protective of Bou, and she’d said something about a Ronan. Bou’s pops. That he... kept the traffic away from this place. But where was this Ronan now? Bou had called this place her shop. Did that mean he’d left or died? That album I’d found before didn’t give much away, but I couldn’t remember any pictures with a... Did that mean she didn’t have a ma either?

“Shut those thoughts down, man,” I muttered.

Back at the front door, I turned the knob, careful to keep quiet. Didn’t want her catching me sneaking out... or at least that’s what I told myself as I eased the door closed behind me. Phone, Wilde. Focus. Call Angel. The sun had crested over the desert, blaze-fucking-orange.

However much I hated the damn thing, Outside, there was nothing to lean on so I hitched the crutch under my armpit and limped out. Dust and tumbleweeds blew across the road. I raised an arm to shield my eyes and hobbled to the opposite shoulder.

Down the slope, the sage brushes thickened, protecting the ditch from the blowing sand. I ran the end of the crutch under the sage, glad that I’d brought it with me. I looked around, trying to imagine the area at night. This had to be where I’d crashed, but there wasn’t a shred of evidence here to prove it. Had someone covered it up or did the wind hide my tracks? Whatever, I didn’t care either way. My phone wasn’t in my stuff, so it had to be roadside. I bent over to look under a bush where I thought I’d landed.

“Why the hell are you out here?” Bou’s voice had me standing straight. She darted across the road.

“Need to call my man back in LA.” I kept searching.

Rocks crunched on the small slope under her feet as she approached. She grabbed at my arm. “No way. Get your ass back inside.” Bou glanced down the road in the direction I’d been traveling when I crashed.

I let my gaze drift down to where she held my arm and back up to meet her nervous eyes. I wasn’t giving this one up. I planted myself in place. “Why?”

“Ah.” She released my arm and waved a hand at my leg. “You’re hurt.”

“Lie,” I accused. Okay, she was right, but a broken leg didn’t tie me to this place.

Bou pinched her lips, dropped her brows.

“What the fuck, Bou? You want me to stay?”

Her tangled curls whipped in the wind. “No. Not that. I, uh, let’s just go inside.” She cut her gaze back at the road.

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