All of Me (13 page)

Nathan
swore to himself he would never have anything to do with Stella Ciaramitaro
again.

***

“Let
me drive you home.  It’s the least I can do since Danny insisted picking up the
tab,” Bobby said.  “I can drive you back here tomorrow to get your car.”  At Stella’s
quirked brow, he laughed.  “No, no, nothing like that.  I just had a really
good time tonight and I’d like to spend some more time with you.”

“I’m
flattered.  But I’m really not looking for anything serious right now.”  Stella
jingled her keys, hoping Bobby would get the hint. 

“Okay,
nothing serious then.  We’ll just hang out.  Maybe catch a movie or a concert
sometime?”

“I’m
not ready for a relationship right now, Bobby, and I wouldn’t want to lead you
on.”

“Are
you still hung up on your ex?  The Shaker cop?”

Okay,
this guy was starting to get on her nerves.  It was midnight. Stella was tired,
her feet were killing her, and she was heartsick thinking about Nathan and that
ginger bitch rolling around somewhere together.  She needed to go home and regroup. 
Maybe do some screaming into her pillow. 

Without
Robert Luciano III up her butt.

“I’ve
gotta go.  Take care.  And thanks for the dance.”  Before Bobby could ramble on
about being email buddies or text friends, Stella jumped into her car and slammed
the door shut behind her. 

When
Bobby finally ambled away, Stella exhaled a sigh of relief.  She jumped at the
knock on her window.  With another sigh, Stella rolled it down.

Danny
rested his forearms on the sill and gave her a sheepish look.  “Scale of one to
ten, how mad are you?” 

“Nine
hundred and fifty-two.” 

Danny
winced.  “That mad, huh?”

“I
wouldn’t worry about me.  You’ve gotta a guy out there who’s rocking about a
nine
million
right about now.  He’s a little
pazzo
and he carries
a loaded gun.”

“You
ain’t kidding.”  Danny whistled low and low.  “I’ve know Drazek for a long time
and I have never seen him that pissed.  I’ve seen him kick people’s asses and
not look that mad doing it.”

“How
long have you known Nathan?” Apparently Stella wasn’t too tired to grill Danny
about his partner.  Thank God Bobby wasn’t around to call her supposed fatigue
into question.

“Let’s
see…”  Danny paused.  “Twenty years.  We met when we were twelve.”

“Wow. 
Did you guys meet in junior high?”

“Something
like that.”

“Something
like
junior high?  What does that mean?”

Danny
paused.  “We lived in the same foster home together.”

Her
heart sank.  “A foster home?”

“Well,
we met in the foster home then we got kicked out of the foster home.  Then we
lived in a youth home for about four years together until we got placed into
separate foster homes.  Nathan left his eventually to join the Army.  I
actually got lucky with my last foster home and stayed there until Nathan and I
signed up for the academy.”

“What…why
were you in foster homes?”  Stella shook her head.  “I mean, I’m sorry if
that’s too personal…”

Danny
waved off her concern.  “Nah.  My mom and dad couldn’t take care of me anymore,
so I ended up in the system.  It sucked, but nothing compared to what Nathan
went through.”

Another
punch to the solar plexus.  “What happened to him?”

“Not
my story to tell, Miss Ciaramitaro.  Not my story to tell.  You wanna hear that
one, you’ve gotta get it from the horse’s mouth.  If you can.”  He straightened
up and tapped the roof of Stella’s car.  “You okay to drive?”

“Um…yeah. 
Fine.”  Still reeling from the newfound info, Stella said goodbye to Danny and
rolled her window back up.

Stella
sat there for fifteen minutes.  Thinking.  Making plans and then scrapping
them.  Until she pulled out her phone and did something really, really
shortsighted and downright stupid. 

She
dialed the cell phone number Danny had given her the other night.  Nathan’s
number.  And held her breath while it rang once…twice…three times…

“Yeah?”

Why
did his voice have to sound sexier over the phone?  How was that possible,
even?

“Nathan?”

There
was a long pause.  So long Stella thought they’d been disconnected.  “Nathan?”

“Yeah. 
I’m here.”  He sounded tired.  Stella prayed it wasn’t because he’d been doing
anything strenuous.  With anyone.  Named Nadia.

“I
got your number from Danny.”  She inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly.  “It’s
Stella.”

“Yeah,
I figured that out.  What do you want?”
   She swallowed.  “I’m sorry to bug you.  You weren’t in the middle of anything,
were you?”

“Yeah. 
Sleeping.”

“Oh. 
Yeah.  Sorry about that.  But I’m in the parking lot of The Stony Lonesome and
my car won’t start.”

“Have
Bobby drive you home.”

“Bobby
is gone.”

“What
a gentleman.  Just drove off, huh?  Even after all that attention you paid him
tonight?”

Her
stomach flipped at the jealousy dripping from his voice.  “And Danny’s gone
too.”

“Call
a cab.”

Shit,
she hadn’t thought of that. 

Stella
scrambled.  “I don’t like driving in cabs.  Sometimes they pull over and
assault you and rob you and stuff.”

Nathan
snorted.  “And stuff?  Is that the technical term?”

“Nathan,
please…”

“Call
your one of your sisters.  Maybe Nina’s on duty.  She can come haul your ass
home.”

Stella
was perilously close to tears. 

See,
this is why you never play games.  You suck at them and never win anyway.

She
exhaled a shaky sigh – away from the receiver so he wouldn’t hear it.  “Okay. 
I’ll give my sister a call.”

She
thought she heard him mutter something about her being an ‘enormous pain in the
ass,’ but couldn’t be sure.  And she was too tired and emotionally spent to
ask.

Stella
cleared her throat.  “Alright, I’m gonna let you get back to sleep now.  Have a
good night.”

“I’m
already on my way.  Stay in your car.  If your automatic locks aren’t working,
lock them manually.  And put your windows up.  Do it now.”

“The
locks are working.  Windows are up.  I’m all set,” she replied with a grin she
hoped he couldn’t hear through the phone.  Stella was just so happy he was on
his way.  She would get to talk to him, touch him, and look at him for a while
longer. 

Yeah,
I’m cheesy and I sound like a lovesick 6
^th
grader and I don’t care!

It
also meant he wasn’t with the devil woman and her ginormous boobs.  At least
not anymore. 

“We
need to stay on the phone.”

“Okay.” 
Stella settled back into her seat and smiled.  “What do you want to talk
about?”

“I
said we had to stay on the phone.  I didn’t say we had to talk.”

“You
are such a party pooper.” 

Nathan
snorted.  “I have to say, I’ve been called a lot of stuff, but never, ever a
party pooper.”

Chapter
Twelve

Fifteen
minutes later, Stella climbed out of her car as Nathan parked and walked over. 
He looked as yummy in his tee shirt, windbreaker pants, and sneakers as he did
in his uniform and dress clothes.

Although,
Stella couldn’t imagine very many scenarios in which Officer Drazek
wouldn’t
look good enough to eat.

He
gestured for her to step aside. 

“Why…what
are you doing?”  Stella asked, stepping in front of the driver’s side door.

“Fixing
your car.”  Nathan gestured with a jerk of his head for her to get out of his
way.

“Uh,
yeah, that’s not necessary.  It does this sometimes.”  Stella wracked her brain
for anything that would make a smidgen of sense.  “It just needs to rest.”

Okay,
not my finest work.

Nathan’s
brows rose.  “Rest?”

“Yeah,
it gets overheated and just needs to…”  Stella cleared her throat.  “…rest.
Cool off.  It’ll be fine by morning.”

“Let
me try to turn it over and we’ll see what’s really going on here.”

Stella
huffed.  “Listen, Mr. Fix-It, I know what’s going on here…no need to mess with
things.  I’ll let it cool off tonight and come back tomorrow.  Okay?”  Stella
grabbed his arm and tried to pull him towards his truck, but the guy was way
too big to move without his permission. 

He
eyed her for a few long seconds.  He seemed to decide it was easier to do what
she wanted rather than fight because, with an unintelligible mutter under his
breath, Nathan walked back to his car and Stella followed.  He opened the door
for Stella and helped her in.  There was no graceful way for a woman in a short
dress and heels to jump up into a huge SUV, so Stella was pretty sure Nathan
had gotten an eyeful of leg.  Or at least that’s what the sudden weirdness on
his face suggested.  Five seconds later, they were on their way. 

Stella
glanced around.  “Is this new?”

“I’ve
had it for about two years,” Nathan replied, eyes straight ahead on the road. 

“Two
years?  It still smells new and it’s spotless!”

He
shrugged.

“My
car looks like I live out of it.”  Stella laughed.  “My sister Gigi says Jimmy
Hoffa is probably buried in there somewhere.”

Nathan
gave her a sideways glance she had no idea how to interpret. 

So
she kept going.  “Is your house this clean too?”

Nathan
nodded.  His eyes were constantly scanning every building, person, and car they
passed.  Always on duty.

Stella
fidgeted with her bracelets.  “So, did you and
Nadine
have a good time
tonight?”

Nathan
shrugged.  “Nadia.  Yeah.  Fine.”

“You
guys were sure in a hurry to leave.  You didn’t even say goodbye.” 

He
scoffed.  “I’m surprised you noticed.  What, with all the dancing you and Bobby
were doing.” 

“We
danced
once
.  Which you would have known if you’d stuck around.”

He
muttered, “Once was enough.”

“I
danced
with Bobby.  You and that
ho
damn near screwed right in front of
everyone!

“I
didn’t so much as
touch
her.  Unlike you with your patting and hugging
and dancing!”

Stella
reared back.  “Hugging?  Really?  When?”

“You
danced with him.  That’s equivalent to hugging.”

Stella
laughed.  “Oh, Nathan, you are too ridiculous.  Seriously.  At no point was my
body pressing up against his body.  Not even close.  Technically, I guess we
did hold hands, but that’s just a matter of proper dance positioning.”

“I
don’t care what you call it, I didn’t like it.”

“Well,
I didn’t like that flame-haired slut putting her hands all over you!  At least
Bobby was a gentleman!  That bitch would have done you right on the table if
you had let her!”

Nathan
smirked.

“
What
?”

“You
do have a mouth like a sailor.  And you’ve got quite a little temper on you,
don’t you?”

“I
am 100% Sicilian, which means you
have
no idea what I am capable of.” 
He had the good sense to stop smirking.  “Did you or did you not kiss
Nadine
?”

“Nadia.”

“Like
I care.  So did you?”

“No.”

“Did
you have sex with her?”

Nathan
looked genuinely offended.  “Don’t be ridiculous.”  He shot her a look.  “Did
you have sex with Bobby?”

Stella
scoffed.  “Yeah.  I did.  You left and Bobby and I banged in the bathroom.”

Nathan
swerved the Denali into her driveway, threw it into park, and returned her
glare.  Stella knew without a doubt if she’d been a man, they’d already be
throwing punches; tussling on her front law.

“What
happened with you and that Shaker cop?” Nathan demanded. 

“Nothing. 
We dated, we broke up.  No big deal.”  She fumbled in her purse for her keys
because she did
not
like where this was going. 

“Do
not lie to me.  I want an explanation.  Now.”

Stella’s
head shot up.  “Excuse me?  I don’t need to explain anything to you!  Thanks
for the ride.  Good night.” 

She
found her keys and tried opening the passenger door.  It was locked, so she hit
the power unlock button and opened the door.  Stella jumped down and slammed
the door behind her.  By the time she got to her porch, Nathan was right behind
her.