No Cap

Chapter 9

A woman’s anger is like a check engine light. There’s no easy way to know what caused it, so you just ignore it and hope it goes away.

—Text from Quincy to Hollis

HOLLIS

Thefirst thing I did the next morning after waking up was curse QuincyCarter’s name.

Itdidn’t help that I’d dreamed about him the night before.

Thedream was forgotten almost the instant I woke up completely, but the remnants of how I felt—hot and bothered—still lingered, even now, an hour after my eyes opened.

I’djust finished putting the final touches on my makeup, which consisted of mascara and glitter eyeshadow—because everyone needed a little sparkle in their life—when I heard the knock on my apartment door.

Iignored it, because I wasn’t expecting anyone, and got onto my favorite social media app.

MainlyI got on social media—with three minutes to spare before I needed to leave—to see if Alana had dumped Taite’s ass. But what I saw wasn’t what I was expecting.

Aphoto of the two of them as they ate at my favorite freakin’ breakfast joint.

That. Asshole.

Ofcourse he had to ruin it for me there, too.

Thenthere was the video of the two of them eating, real time. Him eating my order.

Ofcourse he was.

Thewoman who was obviously doing the recording came over the line.

“Breaking news, TaiteDeRosa is currently out with girlfriend, AlanaEldorado… playing on each other’s phones, making wacky faces at each other over breakfast. Is this a match made in paradise?”

Inearly rolled my eyes.

Because, of course, what I showed her last night wasn’t enough.

Wasshe just doing this for the PR at this point? I mean, she was a B-list actress and Taite was the most beloved man in the world today with his hot body, his ‘humor’ and his personality and charm. If anyone was going to propel anyone toward A-list it was him.

Theknock repeated at the front door, but I again ignored it.

Shakingmy head at the audacity of her not making the move she should have, I picked up my most recent burner phone.

Lastnight, in the dead of night, I’d been doubting myself, thinking that maybe I should have more control and not do these things anymore. But then I’d reminded myself of Quincy’s asshole comments and decided that no one got to tell me how to live my life. Not even that hot, sexy beast of a man.

Flippingthe burner phone open, I grinned maniacally.

Ithad one number saved in it.

Taite’s.

How did I get Taite’s number, you ask?

Kaylee. She’d gotten better at hacking, learning as she went.

Shehated Taite as much as I did, so we became fast friends. Over the last six months, we’d shared important information we could figure out about Taite. Such as cell phone numbers.

Taitehad changed his cell phone number multiple times over the last six months, but Kaylee always managed to get it.

Ihad no clue what Taite had done to Kaylee because I refused to pry, what I did know was that she was integral in the ‘making TaiteDeRosa’s life a living hell’ scheme and neither one of us wanted to break the law beyond petty inconveniences.

Pickingup the phone, I typed out a message.

Me:

Youlooked so good yesterday. I’m so glad that we got to catch up, and if the offer is still available, I’d love to go to the CaymanIslands with you.

TheTikTok feed I was watching live didn’t disappoint. And, as if the angels had prepared the way for my message to have the greatest impact, Taite pulled out his phone and started swiping through something.

Alanapractically pressed her face against his to watch, and I steepled my fingers with an evil grin.

Whomeverwas filming had a great view of Taite and Alana’s table.

SoI got a bird’s eye view of the reaction Alana had when Taite got the text message from me.

Shefroze, her face a mask of surprise, then looked up at Taite.

Taite, confused, leaned forward to press his hand on Alana’s cheek, but she jerked away from his touch.

Shepointed at something on the phone, then jerked her finger up at him.

ThoughI couldn’t hear the play-by-play, I could see that she was most assuredly having a reaction to what she’d read.

Taitepicked up his phone, and his face became murderous.

Ipick up the burner phone again, then start to text him a picture of Keda.

Itwas the same one I texted him every single time.

Aphoto of Keda, her smiling face, the day we were set to go to his stupid show.

Itwas just hours before she decided to take her own life because of what he did.

Then, I decided not to send it, because it might undo the damage I’d already done with the text from the ‘girlfriend.’

Smiling, I opened up the cabinet where I stashed all ‘burned’ burner phones, knowing that number was now blocked for all future uses, and tossed it into a small basket filled with four others exactly like it.

Theinvention of the untraceable phones you could pick up from the grocery store checkout aisle was great.

Withthat thought in my head, I grabbed my Danly—my Stanley dupe—and headed to the front door.

Myiguana, Godzilla—Zilla for short—sat in his hammock above the door.

Ididn’t know why he liked being there. It was almost always hard to get in and out of the door because his tail fell into the way, and I had to be super careful not to hurt it when I arrived and left.

Butat least with the hammock I no longer had claw marks in the wall above the door where he’d hung out on the small ledge above it.

Atone time, I assumed that ledge held a heater of some sort. But now it was just an eye sore, and something I doubted the apartment complex ever had plans to fix.

“All right, Zilla,” I said as I searched for my keys in my purse that held a week’s worth of food, clothes, and accessories. “Hold down the fort.”

Itwasn’t actually a week’s worth. It was more like a couple of hours.

Asa woman, I naturally carried a lot of things.

Inmy purse right at that moment was a Glock 43 in TiffanyBlue—no, I didn’t go anywhere in downtown Dallas without carrying—a handful of granola bars, a couple of spare magazines, a small bottle of water, deodorant, my lunch for that day, and a lot of other odds and ends.

Thatwas why I still had my head down searching for the key when I got the door open.

Myfingers had just closed on the cool metal when I backed out of the door ass first.

Placingthe bag down nicely right outside the door, I was just reaching up and moving Zilla’s tail out of the way to close the door when a deeply amused voice said, “An iguana?”

Ifroze, Zilla’s tail in my hand, and tried not to involuntarily give a full body shiver at the deep tone of the man’s voice.

Ididn’t have to turn around and look to know who was behind me.

Ifthe voice hadn’t alerted me, the way my body reacted to his close proximity would have.

I’dhad my share of boyfriends—though only a very select few sexual partners—but none of them had made me feel like this. It was like some raw, magnetic, animal attractiveness to the man that I had no hope of controlling.

Icould, however, hide the reaction my body had to him.

Luckilytoday I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt, a bra, and my scrub top.

Itmay have been one hundred plus degrees outside during the hottest part of the day, but it was like Antarctica in the freakin’ hospital.

Quicklymoving Zilla’s tail, I closed the door very gently, then locked the door without saying a word.

Thencame the moment that I had to pick up my things and turn around.

Ichose to pick up my things first, bending down to do so.

And, of course, that was when I felt the man’s solid warmth behind me.

Iswallowed hard and stood up straight again, bag solidly in my hand, and acted for all the world like I wasn’t affected in the least.

Turningslowly, I was met with the most mouthwatering sight.

Theman may be an ass, but man did he know how to fill out a pair of pants.

Dressedup for the day in ironed blue jeans that fit him like a glove, a long-sleeved dark gray shirt with barely visible white dots and a tiffany blue Ariat emblem on the left pocket tucked into his pants, and a dark brown western themed belt, he looked downright mouthwatering.

Butthat wasn’t the best part.

No, not even the cowboy boots covering his large feet were.

Nope, it was the black cowboy hat that fit snugly on his head, blocking out the beautiful blond waves of his hair.

Hisface was cleaned up a bit, no longer sporting the messy five o’clock shadow look. But he still had a beard, though a much neater one.

Hiseyes, dark tourmaline green, shone like jewels in the harsh lighting of my shitty apartment complex hallway.

Hewas also wearing glasses.

Wow. Nowthat was sexy!

Iwas the only one on this floor.

Therewere four apartments total on this level, but all of them were vacant but mine. Why were they vacant, do you ask? Because we were in the really bad part of downtown Dallas where there was a gang member on every corner. Not to mention there were a couple of drive-by shootings in this area every year.

Buthonestly, some people might’ve braved it like me if it wasn’t for the run-down building. Rent was cheap here, but there was a reason rent was cheap. The building was falling apart around our ears.

Overthe years, all of my neighbors had dropped off from my floor. There were two on the floor below me, one below that floor, and one on the bottom floor.

Itjust made it easier to keep track of who was and wasn’t supposed to be in the building, though.

I’msure there were a few people wondering what the asshole was doing here.

Unlessno one saw him come in, that is. And it wasn’t like he was going to arouse suspicion on my floor since there was no one here but me.

Whichwas why I didn’t bother keeping my voice down when I saw him standing there.

“Why are you here?” I snapped. “And when did you start wearing glasses?”

Hiseyes sparkled, as if he was amused by my anger, which only made it spark higher.

“I’m here because I wanted to ask you where you were between three and four a.m.,” he asked, sounding hesitant. “AndI wear glasses when my head starts to hurt really bad. UsuallyI wear contacts.”

Istiffened, wondering what had happened for him to have asked me that.

“Here,” I answered. “Why?”

Hetilted his head in a way that would’ve caused all that beautiful blond hair to fall across his eyes again had he not been wearing his hat.

“And let me guess, you don’t have any proof of that,” he drawled.

Thisbitch…

“Actually, I do,” I said, sounding bored, but really, I was a boiling volcano about to spew lava everywhere.

Hisbrows rose in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected my answer.

“An issue was brought up by a comedian. He finger-pointed you. What kind of proof?” he asked as he looked around. “This place is empty. It’s so shitty that there’s not even adequate locks on the front door. I didn’t see a single security light when I came up here, let alone a camera. AndI didn’t see a single other occupant other than you.”

Ipulled out my phone without answering his asinine comments about my place.

Pullingup my doorbell app, I turned it around to show him all the entries where it showed a person.

Hereached for my phone, but I pulled it away. “Nuh-uh. I watched a video the other day online that said never let a cop have your phone. So you’re not getting my phone.”

Herolled his eyes, as if I was some cute little complication, and it made me want to kiss him. Then punch him in that sexy mouth when I was done.

Idid none of those things, and instead rolled down to the first video from me coming home last night.

“Where is this?” he asked as he looked down at my door, noticing there wasn’t a Ring doorbell in sight.

“Inside,” I said. “IfI’d left it out here, it would’ve been stolen. SoI leave it inside in a secret place so I can just spy on my apartment. And if there’s movement in there, other than me, it picks it up. That, and I can talk to Zilla during the day.”

Hiseyes seemed to soften at that, and I took a long step away from him, telling myself I wouldn’t fall for the soft act.

“What would you do if someone actually showed up on your camera?” he asked. “And why get that? You could’ve easily just gotten a run of the mill camera and set it up inside.”

Ishoved my phone into my bag and shouldered it before heading down the length of the long hallway—I was the last one on the end on the very top floor—before telling him, “Keda bought it for me for my birthday, and I couldn’t return it.”

Withthat, I started going down the long flights of stairs, and eventually out of the building to my car.

Ifound my car right where I’d left it, with a few new dings on it.

Howthat happened when you park next to nobody and get back out to the car the next morning with no one around you, I didn’t know. ButI knew I hadn’t seen the dent by the front headlight before.

Movementout of the corner of my eye had me glancing up to see my nemesis getting into a bright, shiny blue truck. Envy tore through me.

Iwanted a new car. But new cars weren’t conducive with my driving style, my income, or the area in which I lived.

Gettingin the car a little more depressed than I’d walked up to it, I started it up and began the trip to work after letting it warm up, not once glancing in my rearview mirror to see if the detective had followed me.

Asalways, even this early in the stupid morning, there were a shit ton of people out.

Ihad to drive like a maniac to get to work on time, but when I got there, like always, there wasn’t an empty parking spot in sight.

Icircled the block all of four times before I realized I was going to have go farther out.

Except, the sight of a shiny blue truck that happened to have a near front row parking spot at the hospital’s entrance caught my attention.

Igritted my teeth and was about to turn left away from that stupid truck, when my phone beeped.

Annoyedenough to reach for it, I saw I had a new text message from a blocked number.

Blocked:

Getup here. I saved you a spot.

Iblinked, then looked up.

Icould just barely see him in the driver’s seat.

Frowning, I was contemplating turning left anyway just to spite him, but he flashed his lights at me.

Andthen I glanced at the clock and saw that it was about two minutes before my shift was supposed to start.

Grittingmy teeth and swallowing down my pride, I headed toward that stupid truck, and its asshole owner.

WhenI got close, he pulled out of the spot, and I whipped into it.

WhenI got out with my bag, it was to see the window rolled down on that pretty truck with the owner’s face half hanging out of it.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“You’re not even curious why I was asking you where you were at three a.m.?” he asked.

Ofcourse, I was curious.

ButI wasn’t going to continue to entertain him.

“I am, but I’m late for work,” I informed him. “Thanks again.”

Hewatched me go, and I felt him until the wall blocked his gaze of me.

Ihurried toward the elevator and got to the third floor with only seconds to spare before my shift started.

Whichwas, of course, par for the course with me.

Iwas habitually late. I couldn’t help it. I had time blindness.

Myboss hated me for it.

Andspeaking of boss….

“Hello, Marla.” I grinned.

Iwas grinning because I knew it pissed her off that I was here not only on time, but that she’d caught me on time.

Usually, she asked the other X-ray techs if I was here on time, and they always replied with ‘I don’t know.’

Wedidn’t have a clock-in system. The hospital had a new tech program that scanned our badges as we walked in the door, so they knew when we arrived and left.

Marlahad no way of checking to make sure that I was on time anymore because that was something upper management dealt with.

i.e. not her.

“Get to work,” she snapped. “You’re the only one on shift today.”

Iblinked, then looked around, feeling my heart drop out of my chest.

Fuck.

Todaywas going to suck.

Andit did.

Bythe time two o’clock rolled around, I was exhausted and starving.

I’dalso run around doing every-fucking-thing for every-fucking-one.

And, of course, I ran into Marla on the way to the ER with a goddamn coffee in her hand.

Iwanted a coffee.

Iwanted a drink of any kind, really. But a coffee would be the best option if I had a choice.

“Hey, Marla. I need a lunch break soon,” I said.

Marlarolled her eyes, as if she couldn’t be bothered with me or my required-by-law lunch break. “I’ll see what I can do about that. But it’s not like I can really tell patients to stop needing X-rays while you take a lunch break.”

Thisbitch…

“No, I guess you can’t,” I said as the elevator doors opened. “But correct me if I’m wrong, but you are an X-ray tech yourself, right?”

Theway I said it so sweetly caused her eyes to narrow.

Butthis was it. I’d had enough.

Herlack of caring for anyone but herself was getting to me.

We’dbeen short techs for the last six months because she was such a bitch that they quit—or didn’t even take the job after meeting with her.

Somethinghad to be done, and there was one very common denominator in the entire equation.

Arrivingin the ER, I wasn’t surprised to see it freakin’ hoppin’.

Iwalked to the patient’s room but was stopped in the hallway by a woman who was holding her IV pole in one hand, and her gown in the other.

Shestepped out in front of me and said, “Ba?o?”

Shit.

“Uhhh,” I said as I looked around for the nurses. “Give me one second,” I said as I held up one finger.

Headingin the direction of two nurses chit-chatting at the end of the hall, I called out, “Excuse me?”

Thetwo nurses stopped talking, turning to me as one. “There’s a patient standing behind me that needs help with the bathroom, and I can’t speak Spanish.”

I’dtried, of course, taking two classes in high school, then more in college. ButI was doomed. I didn’t have the language gene, apparently.

Iknew twelve words, tops, from two whole years of Spanish classes.

“Oh, that’s Elodie’s patient,” the first one said.

Inearly rolled my eyes.

Ihated when that was said. I mean, be a decent human being and go help the woman, for Christ’s sake.

Rollingmy eyes, I turned my back on the two nurses and headed for the nurses’ station, stopping in front of the charge nurse. Another bitch I couldn’t stand but had to deal with anyway.

“Polly,” I greeted her civilly. “There’s a patient in room two who needs help to the bathroom.”

Pollyglanced up from her phone, a coffee in her hand, too, and said, “That’sElodie’s patient.”

Igritted my teeth and turned, walking back to the patient. “I know you probably can’t understand this, but you can feel free to just pee in the middle of the floor. Someone might clean it up, but it sure the fuck won’t be one of these lazy nurses.”

Withthat, I walked away, feeling badly, but knowing I had a fifteen-month-old in room six who had swallowed something that they needed an x-ray of who needed my attention.

Iwasn’t a nurse.

Therewas a reason I didn’t follow that path.

ButI was compassionate, so if she still had issues when I got done, I’d show her to the bathroom.

Mysecret hope was that she pissed everywhere.

Butthat would also be mean to her actual nurse, Elodie, who was likely in another patient’s room doing her job. Unlike the three lazy nurses I’d just talked to.

Arrivingin the room, I gave a huge fake smile and got to work.

WhenI was done, rolling out my huge machine with me, I headed for the mouth of the ER and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him.

Thepatient from earlier was with her nurse as I walked by, and I was happy to see the woman looked a whole lot happier than when I’d left her.

Itried to keep my head down as I headed toward Quincy but stopped dead all over again when a man who looked exactly like Quincy shifted to my right.

Andanother was talking up Polly just to his right.

Triplets.

He’dsaid he was a triplet.

Buthearing and seeing were two different things.

Man, if I had the same ‘why choose’ fantasy other readers had, this would be the perfect scenario.

Asit was, I was convinced rather quickly that they were all like Quincy.

Quincy, who was dressed much the same as earlier, minus his hat.

Hewas also talking to those two bitchy nurses.

Irolled right on past them out the doors of the ER.

ButI didn’t escape.

Quincycalled my name, and I sped up my walk to a near jog.

Itwas at this point that I realized my mistake. As a chunky girl, I didn’t have much stamina. And pushing this massive machine around with me wasn’t helping.

“Would you stop?” Quincy asked as he easily caught up to me and held steady at my side in his slick cowboy boots.

Ithought about telling him to fuck off, but since that would be slightly unprofessional, I chose to stay my tongue. Instead, I went with the whole truth.

“I don’t have time to deal with your shit,” I said stiffly as I pushed my gigantic portable X-ray toward the elevator doors. “I’m hungry and have yet to get a lunch break because my boss is a bitch. A big one, because they all know I’m allergic to freakin’ seafood alfredo, and she specifically requested a freakin’ seafood restaurant from our boss today. Which sucks, because Italian is literally my favorite. I’m literally the only X-ray tech in the entire gosh dang building, and I’ve been run ragged while my boss, who is also an X-ray tech, sits on her happy ass in X-ray and ‘monitors’ everything. I haven’t had any coffee today because I woke up late. I’m angry at the world right now, and honestly, you’re one of the people I’m angry with. To top it off, I’ve had to pee for the last hour and a half. Anyway, if you’ll excuse me…”

Thedoors closed on his stupid grin, and I gritted my teeth to keep the angry words from spewing out.

Oneday, that pretty smile of his would be knocked away with a fist to the face. AndI hoped that I’d be the one to do it.

Thenagain, after a conversation—**cough cough** altercation—when I was twenty, and thought it was smart to punch my brother in the tit for something he said, I learned that life wasn’t fair. Sometimes, men hit back, and I was now ready for that after having a sore boob for a week and a half from his return punch. Though, I knew for a fact that he’d pulled it at the last second.

WhenI got back up to my floor, I pushed my cart into the area where it belonged, then made a mad dash for the bathroom that I needed or else.

Afterwashing my hands and heading back to get my next ‘assignment,’ I found myself standing in front of… the director of the entire hospital.

Andhe was chewing Marla out. As in, chewing her out so badly that there was a freakin’ crowd of people standing outside the door listening.

Allof them were nurses, PAs, and doctors seeing as none of my fellow co-workers were there.

Whatthe heck was going on?

Isquished between a few people to get into the room and came to a halt when I saw the director nearly pointing his finger at Marla’s stunned silent face.

“…and when there’s only one tech here, you are the one who has to pull up your bootstraps and get into the deep end. That is completely and totally unfair to the one employee who showed up for work. We want to retain the ones who show up, not make them want to quit.” He tilted his head. “You are officially demoted. You are now just a normal tech. Please feel free to do your job accordingly.”

Heturned from the door, and I scrambled into the corner of the room.

“He yelled at the radiologist, too,” an OR tech whispered. “Apparently, he came in here and asked for Ted, the radiologist. Then when he was busy reading something to a doctor, he turned on Marla. WhenTed came into the room, he switched his yelling to Ted. Then accused them of not doing their jobs. It was glorious.”

Honestly, Ted wasn’t a bad radiologist. I worked with three of them, and he was the easiest to deal with of the three. But he was a bit… uninspired. He lacked any and all desire to go further in life. Didn’t go above and beyond for anyone. And couldn’t care less about what we did or didn’t do on a regular basis. If the X-rays got to him, great. He’d read them. If they didn’t, also great, he’d sit on his ass.

Whenthe director worked his way out of the door, I followed behind him, feeling like I needed to stick up for Ted.

WhenI was out and the director was zooming for the elevator, still looking quite pissed, I rushed to get to him.

“Sir,” I cleared my throat.

Thedirector looked down at me. “Yes?”

Iworried my lip for a few seconds before saying, “Ted is a great radiologist. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t do anything. We were going a mile a minute, and I doubt he even noticed that there was only one tech actually working.”

Thedirector frowned. “What about Marla?”

Notwanting to trash-talk her, because I was at least somewhat civilized, I said, “Well, Marla is Marla.”

Hiseyes narrowed. “Usually, this is done in department… but how do you feel about taking over Marla’s job?”

Iblinked. “Uhhh…”

“You’ve been here for a few years now, and you have great reviews,” he continued. “And, aside from Marla, you’re the one who’s been working here the longest.”

Iwidened my eyes. “Sir, I would love to say that I’m ready to take that position, but honestly, I’m still too new. I think people might revolt if they had to work under me when I’m only a few years out of school.”

Hegrinned. “How about you let me worry about that. And we can give it a trial run. You can start next shift.”

Withthat, the elevator doors opened, and he stepped inside as a man holding what looked to be a bag of food walked out.

“Could y’all direct me to a Ms. Aue?” the man holding the food asked.

Thedirector jerked his chin at me. “You have her.”

Thedelivery guy held the food out to me and said, “This is yours. I was specifically asked to give it to you and only you.”

Ireached out and took it.

“Marla’s holding down the fort while you eat lunch,” the director said. “Take every second of your hour. Enjoy.”

Thedoors closed on the both of them, leaving me standing in front of the elevator with a look of shock on my face.

Iwalked to the break room on that floor, placed my bag on the table, and opened it.

Therewas a note right on top.

DearGrumpy,

Ididn’t know what you liked, so I got you a few things. I finished the food out with a couple of desserts, because they always made my sisters happy when they were having a bad day. Try not to get arrested.

Quincy

Ididn’t know why that note almost brought me into tears, but I did know that my anger at the man had somewhat calmed.

Andwith each bite of food, that anger cooled even more.

Maybehe wasn’t so bad after all…