13. Dragon
Chapter Thirteen
DRAGON
“What happened to Vanessa? Such a pretty girl.”
I glanced at my mother, where she was washing dishes with the clinical precision she saved for domestic tasks.
She was wearing an apron with enormous flowers on it.
Peonies? It was pretty. Maybe I should get a flowery apron, maybe in tiger lilies.
“She was in the Peace Corps. I don’t know, I haven’t heard from her in years. ”
She was one of the few girls in the neighborhood who hadn’t treated me like I was an alien.
“You should have a party with all your old friends. To celebrate and show off your husband.”
I laughed as I picked up another plate to dry and put away. “Lucas, Charlie, Marie? That sounds like a lot of fun.”
I froze. I’d said Lucas’s name out loud without the feelings devouring me and spitting me out. Wow. Talking to Horse was actually really good for me.
She gave me a sharp look. “Lucas? I don’t recall him being one of your special friends.”
I shrugged. “He fixed my races when I started. I also dated him.”
Her face went pale, and she sagged against the counter. “You did not date Lucas,” she hissed, glancing at the door like someone might hear.
“I did date Lucas, but we kept it secret so you wouldn’t break his legs. I understand that he’s the one doing the leg-breaking these days. Jealous?”
She stared at me for a long time, her full makeup a little much for that hour of the day. “How old were you?”
“Fifteen.”
“And he was what, eighteen? Nineteen?”
I shrugged. “I was young and stupid.”
“Don’t tell your father. He’d have to do something, and then he’d get himself killed.”
I laughed. “So dramatic. Lucas can’t be worse than Uncle Ni?o.”
“Oh, but he can be.”
I frowned at her, studying her eyes, the conflict in them. I dried my hands on the towel and started for the door.
“Where are you going?” she asked, then muttered something in Italian.
“Theresa’s. I’ll be back.” Theresa was my cousin. She lived two apartment buildings away, in the same building as her mother. She hadn’t come to the impromptu party because one of her kids was sick. She also told me more about the family than my mother ever would.
When I knocked on the door, she opened it looking harried, her bleached-out hair sticking around her head like a poodle. I gave her a hug and then took her youngest son out of her arms, holding him on my hip.
“Do you want to take a shower first, or just sleep?”
She looked like crying.
I nodded. “Sleep. I’ll give you two hours.
It will be saving me from my mother. Go!
Go!” I pushed her into her bedroom and bounced the boy on my hip.
He looked around eighteen months. That was a trouble age.
He yanked my hair. I shook my head and growled at him, my best lion’s growl, and he burst into giggles.
He was so, so cute. And I’d actually have one of my own?
The world was a strange and beautiful place.
By the time Theresa stumbled out of her bedroom, looking hazy and confused, I’d finished her laundry, except for the piles of underwear the kid was wearing on his head as he ran around.
“Nice panties,” I said, nodding at the black, silky ones on top.
She sighed and snatched them off his head, then headed for the coffee pot. “You didn’t make coffee. Forget the laundry, make me coffee.” She threw me a smile and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m a mess. How do I live without you?”
“Clearly, it’s a miracle. How’s Tom?”
“He’s good. He’s probably passed out at work today. We were up all night with this guy, but is he tired? Of course not. At least the other kids slept through it. Thankfully, they’re at school.”
Little Tommy not being tired wasn’t entirely true. Fifteen minutes later, he’d fallen asleep under the coffee table. We just left him there with his chubby legs sticking out.
“So,” she said once the coffee had kicked in, leaning forward with her elbows on the table.
“So…”
“Horse. You married Horse Demon? And you’re having his baby? Aren’t you like, mortal enemies? I think the most you’ve ever said about him was that he was a manwhore who didn’t deserve good tires.”
Last night he’d been so absolutely perfect. “He deserves the best tires.”
She chortled and pointed at me while I tried not to blush.
“The best tires? Wow, Trix. You must be smitten.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned forward. “What’s going on with Lucas? Is he really worse than Ni?o? What’s the story with Boney?”
She blinked at me and went slightly pale. Just like my mother had gone. I sighed and leaned back, waiting for her to decide what she was going to tell me.
“You left the family,” she finally said.
“Sure. I’m not in the family, but I’m still family.”
“Boney…disappeared. You know about that?”
“No, Boney came to Vegas and tried to kidnap me. Who kidnaps pregnant women? Not Uncle Ni?o. He’d never agree to that.”
“Oh. You took him out? Then maybe you shouldn’t have come back here. Boney was one of Lucas’ favorites.”
I stared at my cousin for a long time, trying to understand what she was saying. “Is Lucas an idiot? Boney’s the worst. And I didn’t take him out. I let him go. And then I spent a week in the hospital.”
Her brow furrowed. “He hurt you?”
“I jumped a bike pregnant. I’m fine, but the baby…” I bit my lip and put a hand carefully to my stomach where Horse had kissed me so sweetly last night.
She propped her head on her hand as she stared at me. “Boney hasn’t been seen for a few weeks. And his team. They’re all gone.”
“Gone?”
She nodded, eyes big and sincere. “Gone. And you’re in the middle of that mess?”
“No. I let him go! And I should have let Horse kill them, or…” I trailed off while my heart lurched.
Jezabel could do terrible, horrible things.
“Hold on.” I called her, but it went to messages.
What was she doing at this time of day? I had no idea.
I hung up and scowled at Theresa. “Even if Boney got taken out, that’s on him for trying to kidnap me in my town. ”
“Lucas has had business interests in Vegas for a few years.”
“What kind of business interests?”
She shrugged. “Well, I think he owns a little casino, a strip club, and some other things.”
“If he’s been in Vegas, he should know better than to mess with my people.”
She laughed and pointed at me. “Your people? Don’t tell me you made your own family out there.”
I hesitated, then sighed. “It sort of snuck up on me.”
“And Horse is part of this family?”
“No!”
She flinched back at the loudness of my voice, and the little guy stirred under the table.
“Sorry. Just no. He’s not a player, just a fighter who runs his business and loves the stars. I think that’s why he’s out in the desert, so he can enjoy the stars.”
She studied me for a long time. “Was it Lucas?” she finally asked quietly.
I hesitated, then nodded. She knew there was a guy I was trying to make think I was pretty. I’d never said who.
She took a deep breath. “I’m glad you left when you did. He was always a manipulative little weasel, but after you left he became something else. Sometimes he’d look at me, and I’d just shiver because it felt like how a snake looks at a gerbil.”
I laughed, but I grabbed her hand and felt cold. “I’m glad you didn’t think he was hot. He made a crappy boyfriend.”
“I mean, of course I thought he was hot. He’s definitely hot, just evil.”
“The worst kind of hot guy. So he’s giving the family a hard time because Boney disappeared and he’s blaming me?” I clarified how you weren’t ever supposed to talk in my family.
She hesitated, then nodded. “I think so. He’s calling up some debts Joey ran up, raising rent rates, competing with your dad’s gym, that kind of thing.”
I nodded. “Of course he is. My idiot brother would take a loan from a shark. Or a snake.” I stood up and stretched. It wasn’t my problem. I wasn’t in the family. But at the same time, no one messed with my family.
She stood with me. “You’re going?”
“I need to get back before Horse does. He’s been at the gym with my dad.” I winced. “He’ll need to ice.”
“And you can kiss him better.”
I hesitated and then grabbed her in a big hug. She hugged me back with the strength of a million grasshoppers. “Love you, Theresa. If you have problems with the snake, let me know.”
I let her go, and she nodded, but her eyes were uncertain. She really was afraid of him. He’d broken my heart, but I’d never been scared of him. He must have changed. Well, so had I. Hopefully, I’d changed for the better.
When I got back to the apartment, Horse was sitting in the kitchen with a steak on his face.
“That’s so manly,” I said, prodding at the meat. He was manly, big, dwarfing the chair and looking tired. I loved that. I needed him in my own apartment so I could cook for him and climb on his lap without my mother coming in.
He raised the steak and turned a very colorful eye toward me. “I thought you’d appreciate it. How’s the kid?”
“Kid?”
“Your mother told me that you went to help a cousin with a sick kid. Theresa?”
“Yeah. Little Tommy’s fine. Theresa just needed a break. Do you want to go out?”
He blinked his colorful eye at me and sat up, suddenly less tired. “Out where?”
“Shopping. For baby stuff. Las Vegas isn’t going to have the options New York has. I should do a budget, but you’re supposed to splurge with a first kid, right?”
He caught me and pulled me onto his lap, snuggling me against his broad chest. “You feel so good. Yes. Let’s go shopping if you aren’t tired.”
I slid my hand up his chest and into his hair. “You look tired. I’ve never seen you so exhausted, even during the three hundred.”
“You asked your dad to push me, but I’m definitely up for baby shopping. They must have some really cute stores.”
I relaxed against him and then shook my head. “We’ll shop tomorrow. It’s late, and I want to spend the whole day with you like we’re tourists.”
“Really? We’ll take a ferry to the statue?”
“And walk through Central Park checking out other people’s strollers.”
“Classic couple activities. And we can scope out baby outfits on the ferry. We can get matching family outfits. It’ll help with the Christmas magic. Leather, denim, and polka dots in red, green, and white.”
I snickered and sighed against his neck. I licked him and he tasted salty, sweet, and incredibly good.
He rumbled a growl deep in his chest. “Are you trying to seduce me, woman?”
“Can I? Isn’t it too early to go to bed?”
He stood up, holding me in his arms and carried me out of the kitchen, through the living room, and down the hall to our little bedroom. We had to stop when we ran into Tammie.
She had big hair, big jewelry, and a lot of foundation. “Hey,” she said brightly. “Auntie Mona said you guys were here. Sorry I missed the dinner. So, you’re pregnant?”
Horse kept walking, closing the door on my cousin and leaving me alone with his sore, bruised, colorful body.
I loved him so much. And he was mine to have, hold, and devour.