Talk Nerdy to Me (19 page)

"Sure
wouldn't." Charlie continued to stare at Eve. "I figure tomorrow we
can pool our resources on the fuel question. We didn't get to that tonight, but
tomorrow we can get right into it."

"Great,"
Rick said. "So Charlie and I can ride over together. We can bring
Chinese. Everybody likes Chinese."

Charlie
lifted his eyebrows as he looked at Eve. "Do you?"

"Sure.
Love it." She shouldn't let herself be roped into having Charlie come over
for another night, but Denise would be here. Denise could chaperone.

And
come to think of it, Eve wanted Denise to meet Charlie and figure out that her
baby sister was capable of having a nerdy friend. In Denise's world, nerdy
friends were a badge of honor. "My sister will be here, if you're deciding
on portions."

"Oh,
yeah?" Rick perked up. "Does she look like you?"

Eve barely kept from
laughing. Rick was exactly as Charlie had described him. Even though Eunice had
wrung him out tonight, he wasn't the least bit committed to her. If another
woman came along who interested him even more, he'd jump ship in a heartbeat.

"She
doesn't look much like me," Eve said. "She got the dark eyes and the
dark hair from my father's side of the family. I take after my mother."

"Is
she a model?" Rick didn't seem ready to let the topic drop.

"No, she's an
economics professor."

"Oh."
That seemed to dampen Rick's enthusiasm. "Any hobbies?"

"No."
Eve realized that Denise was like her in that respect. Economics was her
passion and the stock market was her hobby, but you couldn't really call it
that because Denise took her investments as seriously as Eve took her
inventions. In other words, neither of the Dupree girls
liked wasting time on frivolous pursuits. Eve had never thought about that
before.

"She
doesn't sound like my type." Rick said.

"Maybe
not." Eve wondered if a woman could ever feel secure with Rick.
Apparently, he'd always be on the lookout for someone better than his current
love interest. A girl could grab Rick and end up holding thin air, but if a
girl ever got a good hold on Charlie, she'd have something. Unfortunately, Eve
didn't think she had a hold on him at all.

"Then I guess we'll see you tomorrow," Charlie
said. "Same time?"

"Okay." Eve tried to look on the bright side.
Yes, she'd be tortured by being around a man who was exactly right for her and
wasn't staying in town, but she'd also benefit from his research on biofuel. That
was worth something.

Charlie started out the door and paused. "Listen, if
you locate those notes, would you give me a call?"

He would have to mention those notes again, just when she'd
convinced herself that the missing notes weren't anything to worry about.
"I don't have your number."

"Let me give you my cell." He rattled off the
number. "Want me to write it down?"

"No, I have it." She'd always been able to
remember things like that. It certainly wasn't a sign of genius, though. She
had no intention of letting someone slap that kind of label on her, least of
all Charlie, who was doing his best to blow this taco stand called Middlesex.

"Then
we'll see you tomorrow night," Charlie said as he went out the door.
"Don't forget to lock up."

She didn't even answer that. No matter what he said, this
was a safe town and she didn't have to worry about thieves. "See you
later," she called after them. And who was he to lecture about personal
safety when he was about
to climb on a motorcycle
and ride it through what had to be icy streets? "Drive carefully!"
she added before they were out of earshot.

Then
she closed the door. And locked it, but not because Charlie had told her to.
She locked it because even in a town that was ranked among the top ten safest
for its size, a locked door was a simple way to improve the odds. Nobody had
said Middlesex was totally crime free.

After
locking the door, she went in search of her notes. If she could find them, that
would end this whole crazy paranoia that Charlie was promoting. They had to be
here somewhere. Plus she still had a bunch of cleaning to do.

Charlie
didn't usually have passengers on his motorcycle. Tonight he wished he didn't
have this particular passenger. Rick leaned forward so that he could spend the
ride relating more of what had happened over at Eunice's house. In Charlie's
current frame of mind, that was too much information.

"She's
beyond inventive, Charlie," Rick said. "I have to buy that alien
story."

"No
you don't!" Charlie had to shout over his shoulder to make himself heard,
but shouting felt good. He was filled with nervous tension after the
confrontation with Eve. Consequently, he drove the motorcycle fast, watching
for icy patches on the road and swerving around them.

"Aliens,
I'm telling you," Rick said. "Who but an alien would look at those
rubber bands they put around bunches of broccoli and think cock ring?"

Charlie
groaned. He didn't want to think about anything to do with sex. Tonight would
be full of tossing and taming even without help from Rick's monologue.

"Then
she puts these little suction cups all over you and tells you to imagine
tentacles. Who would think of that except someone who'd had sex with a creature
with tentacles? It drove me wild, thinking of her in bed with an alien octopus.
I was constantly on the verge of coming, but then she'd put on the broccoli
rubber band and I'd be good for a while longer."

Charlie
stepped on the gas. The sooner he got Rick home, the better.

"Then
there was the space slime. She said that came straight from Titillium."

"Never
mind about the space slime!" Charlie had taken about all he could take.

"No,
really! It was green and gooey, and she rubbed it all over my dick before I
finally— Yikes, Charlie! Watch out!"

The
bike went into a skid. Charlie corrected with his body weight
and
managed
to come out of it. The skid scared him straight and he slowed down some. A
wreck wasn
't going to
solve anything.

"Guess
I'm
distracting you, huh?" Rick sounded shaken. "Maybe I
shouldn't be telling you about any of this while you're driving."

"Good
guess!" Charlie concentrated on the pattern of ice and dry pavement,
weaving his way back to his aunt's house.

Rick
stayed silent the rest of the way home. "Want to come in for
a
beer?"
he asked as Charlie screeched to a stop in the driveway. "I could fill you
in on the stuff I didn't mention."

"That's okay."

"I'm
telling you, that space slime had some ingredient that made it tingle, like
menthol or something. She loved it when I put it on her. I put it on her
nipples, of course, but she really went crazy when I put it on her clit. I
rubbed it in really good, and she—"

Charlie
revved the motor. "Sorry. Have to run. Work tomorrow."

"You
don't know what you're missing." Rick fastened the spare helmet on the
back of the bike. "I'm willing to share. It might give you some
ideas."

"Appreciate
the thought." Charlie took off before Rick could launch into any more
vivid description.

He
drove home at a more leisurely pace. Now that he'd ditched Rick, he was in no
hurry to go back to his empty apartment. As he was cruising the dark streets of
Middlesex, the cell phone clipped to his jeans pocket vibrated. He pulled over
to the side of the road so he could answer it.

If
Rick was calling him with more war stories, he wouldn't answer. But the number
wasn't Rick's cell or his mother's land line. He answered the call.

"Charlie?" Eve
sounded scared. Really scared.

"What
is it?" Unconsciously he'd driven back in the direction of her house. He
was less than two blocks away.

"My ... my back door
lock doesn't work."

"Why not?" He had
a bad feeling about this.

"It looks like
somebody broke it. On ... on purpose."

Charlie
concentrated on every nuance of the road as he flew over the
deserted streets dodging patches of ice. He stayed low and moved with the bike,
aware of every slip of the tires that warned him of a slick spot. He was
desperate to get to Eve
's
house,
but he wouldn't be any help to her if the paramedics had to scrape him off the
pavement.

The two blocks seemed like
two miles, but finally he swerved into her driveway, parked the bike, and
pulled off his helmet
as
he
ran up to her front door. She must have been watching for him because she threw
the door open before he could ring the bell.

"Oh,
Charlie." Her face was pale as she drew him into the entryway. "It
looks like they used a crowbar to get in. The door's all chewed up around the
lock."

Charlie's
chest was tight with the effort to breathe. He was so glad
to
see
that she was okay. Theoretically the lock could
have been jimmied anytime, but whoever had done it probably knew it was still
broken. "I didn't think you
had
a
back door other than the one that goes from the kitchen to
the
garage.
Where is it?"

"At
the end of the hall there's a little dogleg to the left. I forget about that
door half the time, especially this time of year when I don't go out in the
backyard. Come on, I'll show you."

Charlie
glanced down at his boots. "I don't want to track—"

"Never mind that
now." She started toward the hallway.

He
glanced at the front door, and sure enough, the dead bolt wasn't thrown.
"Eve, damn it, you haven't locked the front door. That needs to become
second nature."

She
turned back, startled. "Oh." With a sheepish expression, she walked
back to the door and turned the lock. "I guess once you arrived I
automatically started letting my guard down."

"That's
dangerous thinking. I'm not some martial arts expert who can save you from
anybody who comes along."

"I
know." She gazed at him. "It isn't logical, but you have that effect
on me, anyway. I feel completely safe around you."

"You
shouldn't." And he wasn't only talking about personal safety. He wondered
if she had any idea the kind of craving she inspired. Giving in to that craving
could mean heartbreak for both of them, and his grip on those urges was tenuous
at best.

"I'll
work on that," she said. "In the meantime, I want you to take a look
at the door and tell me what you think." She started back through the
living room.

"I
don't have to look to tell you what I think." He followed her down the
hall. "You need to notify the police. I meant to say that when you called,
but I was so rattled I forgot. I figured we'd do it once I got here."

"I don't want to
notify the police, Charlie."

"Why
the hell not? You had forcible entry. I'll bet whoever it was took your
notes."

"I
have a hard time believing the police will get excited about a missing set of
notes. They'll probably advise me to fix my door and get an alarm system. End
of story."

"At
least there would be a report." Charlie had to agree with her, though.
Those notes weren't something you could put a dollar value on, like a
television or a sound system. He just wanted to find a way to get her more
protection.

"Having
a report is less important to me than taking a risk that they'd look at the
hovercraft and want to know what kind of license I have for it."

Good
point. Charlie was sure the moment she flew it she'd be in violation of some
law. And he could only imagine what kind of red tape she'd encounter if she
tried to get a permit. In doing that she'd only increase the number of people
who knew about the hovercraft.