Chapter 9
nine
. . .
Armin
I sweep up the busted tequila bottle with one of those tiny broom-and-dustpan sets I found in a near-empty linen closet, and then I sit down in one of the rickety rattan chairs in the kitchen to pick all the shards of glass out of my feet.
My left foot’s bleeding in three spots. Not as bad as my shattered heart.
It had been a rough night and a worse morning. Mia was in and out of the apartment half a dozen times, changing clothes, ignoring any attempts to feed her, talk to her, forbidding me to follow her.
I’d managed to hold it all in until she left a few moments ago, and then I took out my anger on this cheap bottle. If she wanted to get drunk and use me for sex, fine. But not being used at all was driving me crazy.
If I’m being honest with myself, and usually I’m not where Mia is concerned, everything about her drives me crazy.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I startle and fish it out, anxious to hear from her. But it’s the office. Sunbreak Security.
Probably calling to fire me. Good thing I’m my own funding.
I put my earpiece in and accept the call. Ready for the bad news.
“Congrats.” It’s Rafi’s voice. Upbeat. I’m shocked. He’s got to have better things to do than individual calls to agents.
And congrats on what?
“Thanks. On what?”
“Sunbreak PD took Blagas into custody. Questioning, only, but…I thought you were the one that called it in? Your boat explosion?”
“No, I…I had some cameras up, but all the footage was lost in the blast.”
“Oh.” Rafi’s enthusiasm deflates. If it isn’t me, then that isn’t a win for Sunbreak Security after all.
“Well, somebody called in a tip and sent some footage, linking the blast to men who boarded his yacht. “They brought him in. We’re hoping it’s enough to hold him, but you could be out of here by tomorrow. ”
“I don’t think that’s such a great idea, do you? Even if Harvey’s behind bars, his network isn’t. Mia…uh, Ms. Saul? could still be a target. She’s still testifying against him.”
Rafi doesn’t say anything. We suffer a long silence. Then he finally breaks it. “Watch yourself, Menesiena.” And he hangs up.
It’s good advice, but I’m not going to take it.
And anyway, most of the problem is solved if Harvey’s out of the way.
I imagine a life with Mia, without all this mess.
Maybe without all this, Mia isn’t mine at all. Maybe I’m not enough for her. A cold chill overtakes my body despite the heat outside, the shoddy air conditioning.
The doorknob to the front door jiggles, and she breezes in. Flings her bag on the sofa and stalks into the kitchen to find me in the middle of my impromptu foot surgery.
“Jesus,” she says. “What the hell happened?”
“I dropped the bottle,” I say. “Be careful. Shoes on for a few days.”
“Christ, Armin. Are you digging around in there with a pair of toenail clippers?”
I shrug. “It’s all I could find.”
“Shit,” she says. “Hold on.”
What’s that old saying? I hate it when you leave me. But I love to watch you go.
I watch Mia go, that beautiful ass swaying in the fabric of her gauzy blue sundress, and it’s enough to make me forget my wounded feet.
She returns with a little sewing kit and pulls the needle from it.
“I’m gonna throw up,” I offer.
“You were a sheriff,” she says, incredulous.
“There were no Die Hard moments. I never had to walk on broken glass.”
“You didn’t have to today, either,” she says, but her voice is soft and it melts me. She kneels down in front of me and gets to work digging out the shards, focused, her hands quick at work.
I feel lucky to have met her, a swell inside my chest, and I want to say so, but she gets so touchy about compliments.
“Oh, good news.” I cup my hand over hers where it rests on my thigh.
“What’s that?” She eyes me briefly, then returns to her emergency medicine. It only hurts a little. It’s nice to have her hands on me, her attention. I’m starved for her. She surfaces a sliver of glass, plucks it out, and drops it on the table.
“They got Harvey.”
“What?” She drops the needle. “Who got Harvey?”
I thought she might be happy, even. But her reaction is the opposite. Shock, horror.
And it’s infectious, the shock and the horror, but for different reasons.
“Sunbreak PD brought him down for questioning.”
“Why?” She gets to her feet and looks around, wild-eyed. “Did you do this?”
“God damn it, Mia. I thought you’d be—”
She doesn’t care what I thought. And it was all wrong, anyway. I was wrong about her, wrong to assume she was trapped in this life, that she wanted out.
That she felt anything for me.
And then she’s gone again. Slams the door shut behind her.
I get up to run after her. I’ll chase her down anyway, whether she feels anything for me or not. But I’ve still got a few pieces of glass in the other foot. And it slows me way down before I even get to the door.
I limp back to the kitchen. The foot she worked on feels good, but the other one burns sharp in too many spots to carry on using it with any success. So I stoop to pick up the needle where she dropped it.
There’s a knock at the door, three sharp taps that hearten me.
Maybe she regrets leaving. Hell, maybe she forgot her keys. I straighten up, forget my foot wounds, and I do a quick glance around for anything she might have forgotten, but I don’t notice anything right away.
While I’m mulling it over, five quick-fire shots splinter the door.