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He walked from behind the espresso counter, grabbed a broom that was against the wall and stormed outside. He swung the broom like it was a baseball bat against a telephone pole. He did this with such force it split in half, the broom portion flying out into Broadway, where luckily the cars were stopped across the intersection at a light. Then he did an under arm toss, throwing the remaining portion into the street and stormed back in.
Everyone watched this. Therefore, everyone was watching Duke when he came back. He pointed to me, brows drawn under the trademark rolled red bandana that was tied around his forehead.
“You’re done,” he declared, his gravelly voice low and barely controlled.
I nodded. I was too scared to do anything else.
Then he pointed to Eddie. “You got two days to sort this shit out. You don’t, Jet and her mom are disappearing. Got boys everywhere who owe me favors. She stays in this kind of danger, I’m putting her on the back of a hog and she’s gone. Got me?”
This outburst took me by surprise.
First, I didn’t know Duke liked me so much. Duke was kind of surly, so I figured mostly he put up with me, not that he liked me. Not enough to break a broom and definitely not enough to go head to head with Eddie. Second, I was flipping out because Duke was going head to head with Eddie. I didn’t think Eddie would like that.
“Calm down,hombre,” Eddie said in a warning tone.
I was right, Eddie didn’t like that.
“I’ll calm down when I don’t hafta jump on my bike in the middle of the night to make sure one of my girls didn’t get her head blown off,” Duke shot back.
“Duke, it’s just a graze,” I put in, feeling the words “one of my girls” slide through me like silk.
His eyes cut to me. “I don’t fuckin’ give a shit. Do youseewhere it is? An inch and half your head would have been gone.Jesus fucking Christ!” he exploded.
I had no chance to defuse the situation. I felt hands on me then. I was shifted outside of Eddie’s arm and then engulfed in a hug. I felt Tex’s flannel shirt against my cheek and then I felt his beard press against my forehead.
“Fuckin’ A, Loopy Loo,” he said, absolutely no boom to his voice.
I couldn’t withstand it. Texalwayshad a boom to his voice. Tears hit my eyes and I couldn’t control them.
“I’m okay,” I whispered.
“World would be a poorer place without you in it,” he whispered back, actuallywhispered.
“I’m okay,” I repeated, putting my arms around his waist, or trying to. He was a big guy, they didn’t fit all the way around.
If you told me two weeks ago I’d be hugging Tex, I would have laughed in your face. But there you go.
His arms loosened and he turned me towards Mom who was standing there. She pulled me to her, one-armed and this started the rounds of hugs, cheek kisses (except for Blanca, who laid one right on my lips) and a lot of me saying, “I’m okay.”
I had to admit, this brought it all home to me. You get caught up in your chaos, you don’t realize just how much you’re dragging everyone along with you.
In the end, I was slouched, exhausted, on a couch between Mom and Trixie, my head on Mom’s shoulder, her head resting against mine. Ada’s handkerchief with most of my mascara on it was clutched in my hand.
“I’m sorry,” I told Mom. “I just wanted to fix things.”
Her head came up and she looked down at me.
“Can you do me a favor, dollface?” she asked.
I nodded.
“This time, can you let someone else fix things?”
I looked to Eddie, who was the someone else who was going to fix things. He was talking low-voiced to Mace. They broke off and stepped outside.
Damn.
I sighed.
