Chapter 24
SEALING
When I wake in the morning, Rig is still curled around me, and I blink at the white wall dividing the bathroom from the rest of the room. Someone is tapping at the door, and I shift, only for Rig’s arms to tighten.
“They’ll go away,” he rumbles. Snuggler.
“We’re not going away!” Marge shouts. Rig lets out a resigned sigh and rolls onto his back, and I climb out of bed in my T-shirt and pad over to the door.
The three old gals bustle in and crowd around the bed, peering at Rig.
“Oooo, my lord!” Marge says.
“Look what he did to you! That awful man …” Agnes clucks her tongue. “I’ve half a mind to go after him myself.”
“Let me see,” June says.
“She used to be a doctor,” Agnes says to Rig, and he nods.
She lifts bandages and inspects all the stitches, nodding all the while. “Excellent job,” she declares eventually.
“According to Konstantin, I put the Razor in the hospital,” Rig says.
“Oh God,” I say. “Was he all right?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Fucking scumbag. He would have killed me in a heartbeat.” He grins, and when he does, it’s all lopsided because his mouth is clearly still swollen. “Not a bad reputation to have, I’d say.”
Marge leans in and holds out her hand for a high five, and Rig lifts up his hand and slaps hers gently.
“Have you knocked on Marni’s door?” I say, turning to Marge.
“She’s not there,” Agnes says.
“She’ll be at Konstantin’s,” Rig rumbles. “He was jonesing about taking Angelo’s woman off him and talking about blowjobs.” His eyes meet mine. “That friend of yours is trouble with a capital T, babe.”
Shit.
“When are we going to breakfast?” June interrupts. “I haven’t gone out to eat in years, and I spotted an IHOP just down the road. We were going to walk, but we thought we’d come and knock on your door first.”
Rig sighs. “You’re not walking there, for fuck’s sake. A truck or something will wipe you all out in the road. Let me message Jake. I’ll take you all out for food.”
His eyes hit mine again, and he gives me a rueful smile. I guess any conversation we might have had about anything this morning will have to wait.
He tries to lever himself up and hardly moves. Agnes steps forward and holds out her hand, and he laughs.
“Not pulling you onto the bed, Agnes,” he chuckles.
“More’s the pity,” she says, grinning.
I gasp when he sits up: The bruises are coming up now, red and purple mottling all over his torso and arms.
He levers out of bed in his boxers, waving away my attempts to help, and limps to the bathroom, and I could almost laugh at the identical expressions of awe on the old ladies’ faces.
As my eyes follow him, too, even with his battered body covered in bandages and bruised to hell, he still looks amazing.
“I wish I was half a century younger,” Agnes sighs.
“He’s a big man,” June says, sliding her eyes toward me.
I smile. “He is.”
“One of you go and knock on the door of room 63. Jake’s in there,” Rig shouts from the bathroom.
They all decide to go and talk to Jake while we get ready, and I realize I need to find out what Marni’s doing, so I call her number.
As I chat with her about driving back and where we’re going to meet and at what time, I can hear Konstantin rumbling behind her.
She starts arguing with him, and he says something that sounds like “Bitches, Jesus Christ.” Suddenly, I’ve got Konstantin on the other end of the line.
“She’s staying with me another night,” he growls in his thick Russian accent.
Marni’s voice rises in the background saying, “You can’t just do that; we’ve got old ladies to take home.”
Then Konstantin says in my ear, “You can take them back. No problem, yeah?”
Rig’s out of the bathroom now, and he takes the phone out of my hand and tells Konstantin that he and Jake can fit us all in, and Marni can drive my old heap home tomorrow.
Honestly, I am having words with him and Konstantin about taking over when we were arranging things just fine. When I say that, Rig laughs.
“Sure, babe, but Konstantin and I did it in five minutes, not twenty minutes of making sure everyone’s feelings were taken care of.”
So I tell him I like my way better, which gets me a head shake and a smirk.
After I’ve showered, we head off for breakfast at the IHOP, and June moans with delight with every mouthful.
And I have to admit, pancakes with maple syrup are the real deal, and I make a mental note to make some one morning for Rig, and then instantly worry that I’m just assuming that he’ll come back and stay with me in my terrible apartment.
Rig manages to force some soft pancakes down, chewing carefully.
When we leave, Jake insists on taking the old ladies back home in his car, and we have a bit of a standoff where I get snippy about taking care of them, and Rig narrows his eyes and tells me I’m traveling with him.
Eventually, June says I should go with Rig and that no one is going to die on the road.
We all head back to the motel, load up all our stuff, and then it’s Rig and me alone, thrumming down the interstate in his beaten-up old truck, just like our first night together.
“Will this thing get us home?” I say.
“Betty may not look pretty but she’s solid mechanically. Not spending money I could use for other things on a better truck.”
“Betty? Your car has a name? That’s cute.”
He eyes me sideways. “Don’t all cars have names?”
I laugh. “Only if you’re a big old softie.” And he rolls his eyes at me.
“Not sure about the idea of bringing three old ladies along to a mafia-run fight in Chicago, babe.” He looks at me sideways. “A little bird told me that Marge disarmed one of the heavies.” A smile is curling over his lips.
I hold up my hands, laughing. “She did! And as for coming along, there was no stopping them. They were planning to come on the bus. Seriously, it was the only way I could think of to keep them safe.”
He chuckles. “They’re batshit crazy.”
I grin out the window. “I know.” I look back at him. “Maybe at that age you don’t care anymore. I mean, what have you got to lose?”
“Not a lot, I guess.”
I scan his face and all his bandages. “What are you going to do now?”
“Fucking recover. Never felt so bad after a fight. You might have to take over the driving.”
“I can do that. Did the doctor check you over for anything besides the visible injuries?”
“Yeah, babe, she did. I’m all okay.”
“Where are you staying tonight?”
He eyes me again. “Is that an invite?”
Oh God, maybe it was.
“The sex is much better at your place than at my mom’s,” he adds.
“There was sex at your mom’s?”
“Of course there wasn’t.”
I take in the industrial wasteland we’re speeding through. It’s hard to have a serious conversation in this thing with the noise of the engine.
“I’m staying with you whether you want me to or not,” he grunts.
I laugh at this and turn back toward him. “It was an invite, Rig,” I say, and his eyes roam mine for a bit before they swing back to the road.
He leans forward to put some music on the radio, and I stretch out and touch his thick arm.
“I’m sorry how it all went down with you and me. Not sure being friends was the best idea I ever had,” I mumble.
He laughs. “Yeah, that’s kind of why I agreed to it. Knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me if I kept bugging you.”
“Arrogant.”
“Just realistic,” he says, and I give a little growl.
He takes a hand off the steering wheel and winds his fingers through mine. “The friends thing was justified, babe. Not gonna lie, I don’t have a stellar history with women. Been burned a lot, hooked up a lot.”
I laugh. I could say the same of myself.
“But I like being with you, Carl.”
“Okay.”
There’s silence after I say this, then he says, “What does that mean?”
“It means I get it. I like being with you, too.”
He’s quiet for a moment, then he says, “What about we try for this?”
My eyes slide toward his giant body wedged behind the wheel of his truck in his plaid shirt over T-shirt and beaten-up old jeans. He said last time I saw him that he wanted more from me. This is a relationship … permanence … “You want that?”
“Yeah, I fucking want that.”
I purse my lips and look out of the window, and he sighs.
“I hope you accepted my apology for the things I said to you, babe, when we first got together about how you are. Not the most tactful guy on the planet.” He squeezes my hand.
My throat goes tight. He’s trying so hard here. “How I am?”
His mouth twists in amusement. “You fishin’?” And my lips curl up. “You’re sweet. Funny and loyal.” Then he grins. “An amazing lay.”
“And you’re an asshole!” I gasp, laughing as my chest warms. Will I ever be able to handle his rough brand of sweet?
He raises an eyebrow at me. “You don’t want to be described as an amazing lay?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re sweet?” I say, talking over him.
He laughs as he studies the road. “Keep that top secret, babe. If that gets out, everyone’ll want a piece of me.”
“I think they already want a piece of you, Rig.”
He shakes his head. “No woman with any sense wants me. As you’ve seen from the ones I’ve hooked up with. I’ve had to chase around a bit after you, though. So that must mean you’ve got your head screwed on.” He’s full-on laughing now. “How have I done so far?”
I huff and look out the side window. How does he always get me smiling? “Fucking awesome, as you well know.”
He squeezes my hand again. “That’s good, babe. It’s nice to do something right for a change.”
I shake my head, and he grips my fingers tighter. “I understand you’ve had a rough time, Carl. That you don’t really trust me or this. Let’s enjoy what we got for now.”
It’s not exactly starlight and flowers, but it still sounds pretty amazing. I’ve never had someone as good as he is in my life.
I squeeze his hand. “Okay, Rig. I want to try for this, too.”