Rock Chick 07 Regret (70 page)

I put my head on chest, wrapped my arm around his belly and fell asleep watching football.

* * * * *

Hector

Hector pulled gently away from Sadie’s sleeping body, got out of bed, leaned back in and tucked the covers around her.

He walked to the bathroom, took a shower, shaved and went back to the bedroom.

He dressed with his eyes on Sadie to make sure she didn’t wake and because she looked cute when she slept, hands tucked under her cheek, her thick, soft, wild hair everywhere. Her scarred cheek was against the pillow which Hector thought was a good thing. She seemed not to notice it anymore or she’d put it somewhere in her head where she didn’t think about it. But every once in awhile the sight of it and the reason it was there crept into Hector’s consciousness and it would serve as an angry reminder. This was happening a lot less lately but when it did, it didn’t lose any of its intensity.

Once dressed, he leaned in and kissed the top of Sadie’s head.

She didn’t stir.

Then he went downstairs.

He made coffee, flipped the switch on the coffeemaker, wrote a note for Sadie and went upstairs and put it on the pillow. He was walking back downstairs when the knock came at the door.

He opened the door to see Bobby.

“
Hombre,
” he said, Bobby jutted out his chin and stepped in. Hector closed the door and went on, “Sadie’s sleepin’.”

“Got coffee?” Bobby asked.

Hector led the way to the kitchen, poured a mug for Bobby and a travel mug for himself. Bobby walked with him to the front door.

“Cell contact okay?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah,” Hector replied.

“You thinkin’ positive thoughts?” Bobby went on.

“No,” Hector responded.

His first errand that day was unpleasant but unavoidable.

Bobby nodded.

Hector walked out into the pre-dawn morning, got in the Bronco, started it up and drove to Vance’s house.

Just before Max was born, Vance and Jules had moved from her small duplex to a three bedroom bungalow with a white picket fence that was four doors down from Indy and Lee’s place but still only a block away from Jules’s Uncle Nick.

Hector parked in front of their house and had a hand on the door handle when he saw Vance exit the house and stop. Jules was there, holding a coffee mug and wearing a robe. Her hair was down and mussed and she looked half asleep. She lifted a hand to wave at Hector. He gave her a chin lift and settled back in his seat. Then she tilted her face to Vance who accepted her invitation and bent his head to her.

Hector looked away.

Minutes later, Vance opened the door, slid in, put his travel mug between his knees and buckled up.

Hector took off.

“This gonna go well?” Vance asked the windshield.

Hector didn’t take his eyes from the road. “I’m thinkin’, no.”

“How far you gonna push it?” Vance asked.

“As far as I have to.”

Vance didn’t respond and the conversation died, both men lost in their own thoughts.

It took an hour and a half to drive to the prison. Hector had called in a few markers or a few
more
markers. This business with Sadie was draining his reserves but he also didn’t give a fuck.

They were met at the entrance and taken to a room. Bars on the windows, a couch, a table, two chairs. They stayed standing and waited, silent.

Less than ten minutes later, the door opened and Seth Townsend walked in with a security guard.

He took one look at Hector, not even glancing at Vance, and he turned to the security guard.

“Take me back.”

The security guard’s eyes moved to Hector, he closed the door and stood in front of it.

“Take me back,” Seth repeated to the guard.

Hector studied him. Even with months inside, he looked good. Body fit, his prison blues wrinkle-free like he had them ironed, his hair cut neatly. Hector tried to find some hint of Sadie in him but it wasn’t there. Seth Townsend was tall, dark-haired with some distinguishing gray and his body was made up of lean, muscled bulk. He was impressive, had a presence that was both magnetic and menacing, even in prison. How this man made Sadie, Hector couldn’t begin to guess. If he hadn’t seen the photos of Sadie’s mother, he would have thought she was adopted.

“We gotta talk,” Hector said.

Seth’s gaze sliced to him but he was silent.

“I wanna cut a deal,” Hector went on.

Seth’s eyes flashed and he smiled. It was not an amused smile, it was a triumphant one. He walked further into the room.

“You want to cut a deal,” Seth repeated.

“Yeah,” Hector replied.

Seth put his hands in the pockets of his pants and rocked back on his heels.

“All of a sudden, I want to cut a deal too,” Seth said.

It was Hector’s turn to stay silent.

Then, as if Vance nor the guard were in the room, Seth offered, “I’ll make it worth your while to stay away from her.”

Hector showed no reaction to this and remained silent.

“Good enough to fix up that house of yours, trade up to a better car, even afford a decent haircut.”

Exposing his knowledge of Hector’s living arrangements and vehicle mixed with the inference that Hector was beneath Sadie’s notice, Hector knew Seth was trying to rattle him.

Considering he left Sadie naked and asleep in his bed, Hector remained unrattled.

Seth watched him closely then said, “No? Then I’ll make it
not
worth your while to stay with her.”

“This how you scared away Tracy and Brent?” Hector asked about Sadie’s only two boyfriends. She didn’t need to tell him about them last night, he already knew. He’d dug them up as a matter of course during the investigation and knew all about them.

“They took the first option,” Seth replied without remorse.

“I’m waitin’ for option three, the one where, once you get out, you invite me to Thanksgiving dinner,” Hector returned casually.

Seth showed no response.

“We done with this topic?” Hector decided it was time to move on.

Seth shrugged.

“Sadie’s bad business has to stop,” Hector continued.

Instantly Seth retorted, “You
are
clever. You come up with that on your own?”

Hector ignored him. “You can carry on and fuck it up or we can work together.”

Seth’s eyes went hard. “You have got to be joking, Chavez, no way in hell we’re working together.”

“Then I got a choice,” Hector replied immediately. “Vance here has been diggin’ around Elizabeth’s disappearance. Vance is pretty good at findin’ shit out. So good, he found out she was whacked by Mickey Balducci. You remember Mickey Balducci?”

Hector watched with some degree of surprise as Seth showed a reaction. Before he could control it, pain sliced across his face. The one thing Seth had given Sadie was the ability to put up an impenetrable defense. This was a first.

Still, Seth didn’t respond.

Hector kept at him. “Vance can share with Sadie what he knows or we can let her go on thinkin’ you did it.”

That’s when Seth Townsend’s magnetic, menacing, invulnerable aura cracked. His body jerked and his face went pale.

“She thinks
I
did it?” he whispered.

Hector nodded and Seth’s hand came out of his pocket and up slightly as if it was going to tear through his hair. He realized quickly what this would expose, dropped his hand and he looked out the window.

Hector opened his mouth to speak when his cell went. He decided to give Seth a moment to reflect, dug it out of his back pocket and looked at the display which said “Sadie Calling’. His eyes cut to Vance, he flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“Sadie,” he answered and he felt the air in the room grow dense.

She was whispering, voice panicked, “I got up. You weren’t here. I was going down to the kitchen to find you. I was on the landing, looked downstairs and I saw a
man’s legs
on the couch. They weren’t yours. Hector, where are you?
Someone’s in the house
.”

Fuck
, he thought, anger gripping him at the fear in her voice.

Without hesitating and without giving a thought to his audience, he bent his head, stepped away and turned so his side was to the room.

“Calm down,
mamita
, that’s Bobby. He’s lookin’ after you today. Didn’t you see the note I put on the pillow?”

He heard her take a deep breath and then he heard her move. Finally, she sighed.

“Blooming heck, I’m sorry, it’s right here. I didn’t see it.”

“You okay?” he asked immediately.

“Yes,” she replied and she sounded okay, in an instant totally over her panic. Will of fucking steel. “Where are you?” she asked.

“Doin’ some business.”

She hesitated and he knew she was bracing before exposing herself. She did that a lot and, he figured, didn’t know she was doing it. He wondered vaguely when it would stop when he heard her ask, “Am I going to see you today?”

He fought a smile, his head came up and he looked sightlessly out the window.

“Yeah, this won’t take long but I got other shit after this. No matter what, I’ll be home tonight, take you to dinner.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go out.
 
We’re not really good with going out. Maybe we should cook something here.”

“Whatever you want,
mi corazón
.”

“After we eat, you can take me for another bike ride,” she told him and he bit his lip and shook his head.

“Gotta say,
mujer
, it’s good you like the bike.”

“Will you take me for a ride?” she pressed.

“I’ll take you for a ride.”

She didn’t respond to this but he heard the pleasure in her voice when she went onto a different subject like they had all day to talk. “I have to go with Jet to get fitted for a bridesmaid’s dress today. Do you think Bobby would take me?”

The thought of Bobby taking Sadie to get fitted for a bridesmaid’s dress made Hector lose the battle with his smile.

“Yeah.”

She carried on, “I know you want to do your floors but if I have time, can I
goo
your fireplace?”

He couldn’t help it, he gave a short laugh. She made “gooing” his fireplace sound like it was the height of entertainment. He didn’t know a single woman who thought “gooing” a fireplace was a thrill a minute.

“Yeah,” he repeated, still smiling.

“Where’s the goo?”

“Back room,” he answered. “Listen,
mamita
, I’m in the middle of something.”

“Oh! Sorry. You should have said.”

“I just did.”

When she spoke again, he heard the smile in her voice. “Okay, I’ll let you go.”

“You leave the house, you’re never outside of touching distance from Bobby, got me?”

“Got you,” she replied readily.

The tension left his body. “Later.”

Then he heard her voice going soft and breathy like it always did when she said it, “Bye, babe.”

And like it always did, he felt that soft, breathy word in his gut before he flipped the phone shut, turned back to the room and found Seth Townsend staring at him.

Something had changed. Hector couldn’t put his finger on it but he knew, before Seth spoke and confirmed it, that whatever it was, it was big.

“I was like you,” Seth told him, voice hard, eyes active, body taut. “Just like you.”

Hector’s eyes narrowed.