Rock Chick 07 Regret (17 page)

His grin turned into a blinding, white smile, he leaned in again but only to kiss the top of my head this time.

He took my hand in his and he walked me back into the bar.

Chapter Six

It’s My Lip Gloss

Sadie

“He’s here, he’s here,
oh my God
, he’s here… and he looks
good!
” Ralphie chanted, dancing around by the window.

Oh my God.

Hector was here. It was seven o’clock and Hector was here.

I looked at the display on the DVD player. No, it was seven-oh-two.

But Hector was still here.

To take me out to dinner.

And he looked
good!

And we were going to “talk”. I knew we were going to “talk” because Hector called Art in the early afternoon and told me so.

I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t even want to go to dinner!

How did this happen?

Oh… my…
God
.

* * * * *

That afternoon at Art I unwittingly answered the phone (as you do when, say, you run a business) and without even a hello Hector said in my ear, “I’m
standin
’ in the Station, Eddie’s with me and he says you haven’t come in yet.”

Oh my.

“Well –” I started.

He interrupted me, “You don’t come in
they
gotta let Harvey go.”

I tried again, “I just –”

“They let Harvey go and you don’t tell them what Ricky did to you I still got four Balducci brothers to deal with rather than bein’ down to two.”

My body went tight and I stared unseeing at the counter unable to process his words.

“What?” I asked.

“I think you heard me,” he answered.

I heard him all right.

“I heard you. I just don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean,” he explained but I could tell he was losing patience, “if Ricky and Harvey are out of commission, I just gotta go after Marty and Donny.”

I kept staring at the counter. “Why are you after the Balducci Brothers?”

Silence then a soft, “
Mamita
, are you shittin’ me?”

Quietly I answered, “No.”

More silence then, still soft, “Tonight, after dinner, we’re gonna talk.”

He gave me an opening, my back went straight and I took it.

“Hector, about dinner –”

“Seven o’clock, you aren’t there, I’ll find you.”

Disconnect.

I kept staring at the counter and tried to decide if Hector could find me.

Then I decided Hector could very likely find me.

Then I spent the next six hours alternately having panic attacks and letting Ralphie talk me into things. Things like closing down the shop. Things like going to Cherry Creek Mall. Things like buying a new outfit for my dinner with Hector. Things like buying that new Coach handbag I
did not need
. Things like agreeing it was a good idea that Ralphie bought the cute doggie food and water bowls even though I knew Buddy would lose his mind. Things like trying on everything Ralphie threw at me in thirteen different stores without losing my patience or calling on the Ice Princess (not even
once
).

* * * * *

“Ralphie, calm down,” Buddy said to the still dancing Ralphie.

Ralphie was in no mood to calm down. He rushed to me and grabbed my arms.

“Sweet ‘ums, your outfit is
perfection
. He’s wearing jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket. Thank
God
we didn’t go OTT with that slutty top from
Bebe
.”

There was no way on earth I was ever going to buy that slutty top in
Bebe
that Ralphie forced me to try on. Of course, I didn’t tell him that in
Bebe
or now.

The doorbell went, thoughts of slutty tops flew out of my head and all the breath went out of lungs in a whoosh.

Then without looking at Ralphie or Buddy, I turned on my stiletto heel, rushed to the powder room and slammed the door.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Ralphie talked me into keeping my hair loose and giving it what he called “just a wee bit more volume” so there was tons of it falling in waves and ringlets around my face, on my shoulders and down my back.

I went light on the makeup mainly because heavy looked, well, heavy. The scar on my cheek was still too angry to hide without looking like I was trying to hide something. Anyway, my hair did the work a heavy makeup job would do (as I mentioned, there was
loads
of it) and I also had my signature MAC lip gloss on, a soft pink with a gentle shine.

I loved that lip gloss.

I had on a silvery-purple blouse with a mandarin collar, rows of soft, generous ruffles floating down in a V at the bodice and little ruffles making up the short sleeves. I paired this with my new Lucky jeans, a thin silver belt and silver strappy sandals. Finally, I was wearing my diamonds-in-platinum tennis bracelet and my diamond stud earrings.

I stared in the mirror thinking maybe I was still OTT.

Did one wear diamonds and platinum when one went out with the ex-DEA agent that put one’s father in prison?

Did one wear a silver belt
and
silver strappy sandals
ever?

Was one absolutely
mad
that one was not climbing out the window right now?

A sharp knock came at the door and I jumped.

“Sadie! Hector’s here,” Ralphie called unnecessarily as I
knew
Hector was there, just two seconds ago, Ralphie was chanting it.

“Coming!” I shouted back and then realized Hector would know I was in the powder room. If I stayed in there very long Hector would wonder what I was doing. I didn’t want to go out there to have dinner with Hector but I also didn’t want Hector to wonder why I needed a long bathroom break.

“Blooming heck,” I said into the mirror. Then I pulled in a deep breath and whispered, “You can do this Sadie, it’s just dinner, a talk. You can talk to Hector. You’ve had boyfriends, you’ve had lovers. Okay. They didn’t stick around very long because your father warned them off but you aren’t a frightened little virgin. You’re a grown woman. An experienced, grown woman. An experienced grown woman who can take care of herself. You can talk to him, tell him you aren’t interested. Get him to understand and back off. You can do it. Right?” I leaned in closer and repeated, “Right?”

Another sharp rap at the door.

“Sadie!” Ralphie snapped.

“Coming!” I shouted, whirled, yanked open the door in full snit and stomped out, glaring at Ralphie. “For goodness sake, Ralphie, can a girl fix her lip gloss without her crazy, gay roommate banging down the door?”

“No,” Ralphie shot back. “Not when Hispanic Hottie is waiting to take her out to dinner.”

“Stop calling him Hispanic Hottie, his name is Hector,” I returned.

“I call ‘em as I see ‘em. He’s Hispanic…” Ralphie lifted one hand and then continued. “And he’s hot.” He lifted the other hand then he shoved them together like he was squeezing an accordion. “Hence, Hispanic Hottie.”

“You could argue about this all night,” Buddy called from down the hall. Ralphie and my heads swung in that direction and we could see both Buddy and Hector “Oh my God now for a different reason” Chavez standing there, by the door, both of them watching The Ralphie and Sadie Show. “But Hector’s waiting and Ralphie, we’ve got a reservation,” Buddy finished.

I didn’t hear the last part of what Buddy said. I was staring at Hector who was looking like he was trying not to laugh and not succeeding very well. It was a full on, light up the room, beyond amused, glamorous smile.

Couple that with him being clean-shaven, his hair still an unruly mess but now a slightly less unruly still sexy as ever mess, wearing a black, tailored shirt, a pair of jeans, a black leather jacket, black cowboy boots and a fantastic, wide, black belt with a heavy, matte silver square buckle… well, I not only could no longer hear, I couldn’t speak or move.

I could only see.

Oh my.

The answer was yes. One could wear diamonds and platinum with the ex-DEA agent that put one’s father in prison.

I wasn’t OTT. I needed a lot more sparkle and glitter to go out with a man that was just, plain beautiful.

“You ready?” Hector asked and I jolted out of my stupefaction.

No. I was definitely not ready.

“Yes,” I lied and walked toward him.

He watched me walk and the way he did it made me acutely aware of everything about me, every tiny movement, every last hair on my head.

“Okay kids,” Ralphie said, trailing me. “Don’t be too late. Don’t do any drugs, drive smart and even if
all
the other kids are doing it, think twice. If you’re going to be over your curfew then make sure you call your Daddies or we’ll get worried.”

I stopped in front of Hector but turned to Ralphie.

I leaned up to kiss his cheek and then whispered, “Shut up.”

He grinned at me.

I turned to Buddy, he helped me on with my to-the-hip, black trench coat, handed me my deep-green, patent leather
Lanvin
bag with the chain link strap and then I kissed his cheek too.

“Seriously, Sadie, you’re gonna be late, you phone,” Buddy said to me but his eyes were on Hector.

“I’ll phone,” I promised.

With that, Hector took my hand and we were out the door.

Darn.

Here we go.

Hector walked me to the Bronco so fast I nearly had to run to keep up. Once there, he opened the passenger door, helped me in then slammed it when I settled. He rounded the front and got in the driver’s side but instead of turning on the truck, he twisted toward me.

“Give me your cell,” he demanded.

I blinked because everything was happening really fast.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Your cell,” he repeated.

Confused at this strange start to a date, I pulled out my cell phone and handed it to him. He took it, flipped it open, punched numbers into it and then hit the green button.

In a second, I heard his cell phone ringing. He pulled it out of the inside pocket of his jacket and flipped my phone shut. Then with me still silent and watching him, he hit buttons on his phone,
loads
of buttons. My phone rang; he flipped his shut, mine open and returned his to his jacket pocket. Then he started to hit buttons on my phone,
loads
of those too, even more than what he did on his phone.

“Do you,” I tried to be polite after he kept on hitting buttons, “mind telling me what you’re doing?”

He flipped my phone shut and handed it to me, his eyes coming to mine.

“You’re programmed into my phone, I’m programmed into yours,” he told me. “You got my cell, my house, the office and the control room at the office. The control room is set as the top choice in your phonebook. You ever have a situation,
any
situation, you call there. Someone is there twenty-four, seven and they’ll take care of you. Got that?”

Slowly, not certain sure how to react to Hector giving me his cell phone and home phone and office phone and offering me twenty-four, seven access to someone who would “take care of me”, I nodded.

“Now,” he went on, his voice softer, he was leaning closer and I wasn’t keeping up. “I’m gonna kiss you, because,
mamita
, the way you look right now, I gotta fuckin’ kiss you.”

Oh
my
.

I guessed Ralphie was right, my outfit
was
perfection.