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He nodded again. This time his lips were turned up a little at the ends.
Something scary was going on and I knew it was the truth when Matt tensed and Daisy’s wide eyes swung to me.
“Shirleen,” Daisy started, turning back to her. “I got Marcus on the case.”
“Well, then, I got Darius on the case. This is good. This means them stupid-ass motherfuckers won’t get away, will they? Think they can fuck around at Shirleen’s table, shoot my friends. I don’tthinkso.”
No.
No, no, no.
I mean, okay, I liked it that Shirleen wasn’t mad at me and thought of me as a friend, but I figured we were talking about someone getting whacked. Although I wanted my problems to go away and I wanted the fix to be permanent, I wasn’t ready for that.
“What are we talking about here?” I asked.
Shirleen opened her mouth to speak but Daisy cut in, “Her man is Eddie Chavez.”
Shirleen’s mouth snapped shut and her eyes grew wide.
Wonderful. Now, Eddie was “my man.”
I took in a deep breath.
Whatever.
“Really, I can’t—” I started to say.
“Shut your mouth, get yourself an iced tea and sit your ass down. We’re gonna watchDays of Our Lives.”
Without further ado, she flipped on the TV and someone handed me an iced tea. I was a little too scared of Shirleen to disobey her order to watchDays of Our Lives, even though I had other things to do,a lotof other things, like tell Eddie that I was pretty certain I just saw Shirleen give the order for Vince Fratelli to be whacked. Instead, I walked forward and sat down in a chair that was upholstered in Barney the Dinosaur purple.
Shirleen’s eyes watched Matt and Darius move toward the door.
“She’s got Nightingale’s protection,” Daisy said, settling in on the migraine couch at Shirleen’s feet with her own iced tea.
“Figured that after I heard his army swept through last night. That boy rocketed straight from wild child to badass motherfucker, now he scares the shit out me.” I was a little surprised to hear Lee could scare the shit out of Shirleen. Shirleen didn’t seem to be scared of anything. Though I knew where she was coming from and I nodded to her in agreement. She caught my nod and looked at me. “What’s the story with you and Eddie?”
Before I could answer, Daisy got there.
“They bought a coffeemaker together the other day.”
Shirleen’s eyes nearly popped out of her head and then she roared with laughter.
“Eddie Chavez and a coffeemaker! Holy fuck! Darius, you hear that?” she called.
Darius was standing at the door with Matt. He looked down the hall, not pleased at being interrupted.
“I heard it,” he replied.
“Jet, girl, you’re workin’ on becomin’ a legend. Kneein’ Fratelli in the balls, traipsin’ around with Nightingale protection and buyin’ kitchen appliances with fuckin’ Eddie Chavez. Shee-it. Darius!” Shirleen yelled, displaying no sign of concussion or that she had a care in the world that Scary Darius didn’t want to be interrupted. I decided to focus on that semi-positive fact rather than the new frightening turn in the conversation. “How many girls wished they’d bought a coffeemaker with Eddie? What, a hundred?”
I sent word to the Good Lord that I really,reallyneeded deliverance.
Darius didn’t answer.
At least that was something.
Then Shirleen leaned into me and I realized I should have been more specific about my heavenly request.
