Chapter 9 ARCHER
ARCHER
We don’t escape our room until almost eleven, losing half of our day to pleasure. But we didn’t wake till ten anyway, and a man is entitled to an hour with his wife, no matter who is waiting for him downstairs.
But now it’s time to face our guests, so I clutch Minka’s hand and lead her along the hall, one that would have been littered with guards twenty-four hours a day just a few decades ago.
No such security is needed these days—nor assigned—but my memories persist, and the shadows of time gone by pulse in the back of my mind.
We approach the stairs and start down, comfortable blue denim shorts hugging Minka’s ass, and an oversized Copeland City PD shirt dwarfing her small frame.
“Should you be wearing a bandage on your knee?”
Quietly contemplative, she glances down at her legs and shifts her head from side to side. “No. I’m supposed to keep the stitches dry and exposed to the air. I only wore a bandage yesterday to avoid getting blood on the dress.”
Again.
“I’m ready to take them out.”
“But it’s only been five days.” I know. I’ve counted every single one of them. “The doctor said they had to stay in for at least nine days.”
She skips down the stairs beside me, bending that knee like there’s nothing wrong with it. “I am a doctor. And I have the education to decide when they’re ready to come out.” She glances my way, challenging. “Are you suggesting you get to decide what I do with my body?”
“That’s a trap, and we both know it. I can’t answer that question without coming out smelling like a turd.”
“So don’t answer it,” she teases. “And don’t presume to tell me when I can remove my stitches. Do you think it would be rude to ask Mary to make us something to eat?”
“What?”
“Like… she’s here for Steve, right? But she takes care of people in New York and cooks meals and cleans, and keeps the mafia’s secrets. If I promised to be on Steve-duty for ten minutes, do you think it would be unreasonable to ask for an omelet or something?”
“You bewilder me, Chief. Half the time, I think you’re the lowest-maintenance woman on the planet. The other half…”
“Shut up. I could make my own, I suppose, but it’s universally known that something always tastes better when someone else cooks it.
” She steps off the last stair a single beat ahead of me, uncharacteristically dancing under my hand and crashing against my side again.
She’s got happy energy to spend, but a belly still waiting to be fed.
“Do you think Tim and Aubree will come over today? Or are they busy being newlyweds and all that?”
I shrug and sling my arm over her shoulders, steering us toward the kitchen. “They’re not actually newlyweds, and Aubree will probably want to check in on Steve. Tim might wanna see the guys before they go, so—”
Eliza Darling strides into the hall and skids to a stop. “Oh! Shoot. Sorry! I—” Her cheeks drain to a pale, desperate white. “Uh…”
Minka’s eyes flare wide, flinging up to mine, then back to Raquel’s out-of-town-baby-sister. “Did you spend the night here, Eliza?”
“No! I didn’t—” She frantically shakes her head. “Absolutely not. I—”
“Ah, there you are.” Cato emerges with a goofy grin and sets his hand on the back of her neck. “I was looking for you.”
“I did not sleep here!” Eliza throws his hand away and slams her elbow into his belly.
“I got here about twenty minutes ago, Chief Mayet. With my sister.” She moves a full three feet to the right, setting her left foot forward and her right foot back.
She’s ready to fight. “I swear, I stayed at Raquel’s apartment.
With my sister. And Taylor. And absolutely not—” She slaps Cato back, when all he wants to do is grab on.
“Did you know he’s only nineteen? He was a literal child two birthdays ago. ”
“I’ve been saying so from the moment we met.” Minka does that thing she does, staring down her nose from her position of professional power. She’s not Eliza’s boss, but… “Are you saying Doctor Raquel is inside this house right now?”
“Yes!” Eliza spins on her heels and hightails it toward the kitchen.
“I’ve had a lot of coffee this morning, so I needed to use the bathroom.
Someone…” She runs her hand through platinum blonde hair, flicking a high ponytail back until the ends tap her shoulder blades.
“Some person… I don’t remember their name, told me to come this way.
I found the bathroom, but then I got turned around and ran into that…
” Desperate, she twists and gestures past us to Cato.
“That child! He’s like Velcro, I swear. I have never met a clingier man in my entire life. ”
“He does that.” Minka slips her hand into my back pocket and follows the blonde fighter into a kitchen bustling with people and noise. “Is there a reason you’re in my home on a Sunday morning, Doctor Raquel? Or are you here to irritate me?”
“Finally!” Raquel sits on the dark stone counter, her feet on a stool, and a coffee mug by her thigh. “You were gone so long, I thought you must’ve gotten lost.”
“I did get lost!” Eliza rushes straight to her sister’s side, practically crawling into her skin for protection. “Then I found your boss.”
“And here I am.” Minka studies the duo arrogantly, a tomcat taunting its captive mouse. “Why are you here, Doctor Raquel?”
“Why so hostile?” She folds a long, tan leg over the other and strokes her sister’s hair. “I hardly got to see you last night, Chief, and when I did, things seemed to feel a little…” She smirks. “Awkward. Wanted to check in, is all.”
“Zora wants her Auntie Minka.” Felix does a drive-by, depositing his sweet baby girl into Minka’s stunned arms before he continues toward the counter, far enough away to escape her wrath.
“Heard you like the V, Doctor Darling.” He goes to the fridge and swings the door wide, perusing his options before taking out a carton of eggs.
Beside me, Minka freezes and stares down at the infant, who was born with eyes just like her mother’s.
“I, too, am a V enthusiast. A connoisseur, if you will.” Felix hip-bumps the fridge closed and sets the carton on the counter by the sink. “You didn’t bring your friend to brunch?”
“Taylor?” Raquel gently kicks her foot forward, a rhythmic bounce that ends in whoop-a-man’s-ass boots. “She’s gotta work today, so we had to part ways. I knew the esteemed Chief Mayet probably needed a debrief this morning, so…”
“I’m going to drop her.” Minka’s entire frame trembles, her arms outstretched and her hands rigidly holding Zora a full foot and a half from her chest. “She’s slippery.”
“You’re supposed to cuddle her.” Cato sweeps the baby up and allows Minka a single second of relief, but then he shoves her arms into position and places the baby down again.
“You caught her when she was born, and you didn’t drop her then.
If you try hard enough, I bet you won’t drop her now that she’s dressed and not oozing someone else’s body fluids. ”
“I don’t think she requires a debrief today, Lady V.” Felix folds his sleeves up and pumps soap into his palm, then he flips the faucet on at the sink and goes to work scrubbing his hands clean. “How’s your brother doing, anyway? Still five minutes too late to every important event?”
Giggling, Raquel tilts her head back and glances at a man I’m not sure she realizes is a fuckin’ mafioso. Or maybe she knows, but she’s totally chill about it. “He says that was an undesirable outcome, but that he needed time to prepare.”
“Prepare?” Cato scoffs. “We spent thirty-seven business years getting Christabelle off that bus. He had time to build the fuckin’ hospital first, brick by brick, if that’s what he wanted to do. He still didn’t arrive in time to catch the baby.”
“And yet, you named her Darling,” Raquel gloats. “Don’t think I didn’t notice.”
“Didn’t name her Darling for him, I assure you.” He looks across and lifts his chin. “You can take her to the patio if you want, Auntie Minka. Christabelle’s sunning herself before it gets too hot out there.”
Minka’s cheeks burn dangerously warm. That good mood she woke with, gone. “Uh…”
I chuckle. “She’s not an explosive, Chief. You handle organs all day long, dissecting them, weighing them, storing them. Consider her a pair of lungs you really shouldn’t drop.”
“So give me a steel bowl to put her in. Here.” She thrusts my niece—the second one I ever got, considering Mia came first—my way. “Please, Archer. I haven’t even had coffee yet.”
“You’re a coward.” I fake an irritated sigh, but I eagerly scoop Zora straight out of her arms and bring her to my chest. “You've doubled in size since we last saw you, haven’t you, pretty girl?” I brush dark wisps of hair over her scalp and study every inch of her plump little lips.
Her hands scrunch tight, long nails threatening her perfect skin if she swipes wrong.
“How does it feel to be living in New York with those animals, huh?” I draw her higher and kiss her temple.
“Felix is your daddy? Tough break, kid.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll play a game of egg roulette, Detective.
” Felix snags a pan from the cupboard and sets it on the stove.
“I’ll boil all twelve and inject just one with something that’ll knock you dead.
Then I’ll watch you eat every last one of them.
” He spins to the fridge and takes out a stick of butter, clapping Cato on the shoulder when they cross paths.
Felix is at his best when his family is in one place.
“Can you make a pot of coffee? Can’t you see the chief is out of sorts until she’s had her hit? ”
“I’ve been living with her long enough to know exactly how long we’ve got till she blows.” He smacks the button on the front of the coffee machine and turns, resting against the counter. “We still have a little wiggle room yet. You wanna ask for a raise, Doctor Raquel? Now’s the time.”