Just a City Boy (Midnight Train Series) (11 page)

Chapter Eighteen

“I still want my gun back,” I said. We were in my apartment. I was brewing a cup of tea and he was standing sentry at my door. He said nothing, but kept looking at his bags I’d left scattered around the living room.

I was trying to gauge the danger level. My purse was nearby. No gun of course, but I had a phone and I wasn’t afraid to use it. If only Ray hadn’t come to meet my train. I could have asked Zack to come home with me. I could have explained everything and I bet he would have helped! Instead I was holed up with a possibly psycho ex while trying to pretend that I wasn’t scared spitless.

“Ray?” I called. “My gun?”

He frowned and stalked over to me, standing in my personal space. My mind ticked off nearby items. Hot teakettle, paring knife, teacup, spoon. My body was priming for self-preservation mode. What a horrible way for my night to end, I thought. It had been so wonderful, meeting Zack’s eyes across the Lonely Nights lounge.

“You don’t need your piece anymore, Lulu,” Ray said. He put his hand around my waist and slowly pulled me to him. “I’m going to go with you everywhere you go,” he said. He brought his other hand up to my cheek, and where I’d almost melted into Zack when he did the same thing, this time my body froze up and revulsion crawled up my throat like a diseased toad. How was I going to fix this whole mess?

“Ray,” I said in my sweetest Southern Texas drawl, “be a sugar for me and get the honey out of that cupboard?” I gestured with my head and gave his side a little squeeze. I hoped he would buy my ruse because I really wasn’t feeling it.

He paused but then broke away to grab the honey. I got the teapot and swung it hard at his head. The only problem was he was expecting it, and he snatched my slender wrist mid-strike and twisted.

Snap!

I gasped audibly, and immediately felt the cold bone shivers start radiating from the center of my belly. Oh. My. God in Heaven. I was going to go into shock and Ray had just broken my wrist like it was a Jack in the Box prize. Tears sprung to my eyes. I took a big gulp of air.

“Ray, what did you go and do that for?” I asked him in a whisper.

He pulled my body to him and pressed his full hard length against me. He ground his words out.

“You tried to hit me, Lulu. What kind of a girl does that? You’ve been trying to get rid of me. I just figured you were going through a phase. I figured you’d come to your senses. Now when I was trying to be a gentleman, you aimed at my head with that thing. I don’t think any cop in Detroit would blame me for trying to protect myself,” he said in my ear. His hands groped up and down my body, pinching my butt and my breasts, but I didn’t even care. My wrist hurt so bad that all my nerve endings were screaming, WRIST=PAIN! Over and over again. More tears squeezed out of my eyes. I wanted Zack. I wanted Zack really bad right now.

“Zack,” I whimpered out loud.

Ray’s groping stopped.

“What did you say? Zack? Was that the guy that walked you off the train? Is he the guy you’ve been trying to dump me for?” He shouted in my face. His breath stank of Johnny Walker and sour milk and foul deeds. He was almost as drunk as Cooter Brown.

He had my good wrist, my left one, in a tight grip while I held my right arm close to my body, hand up by my heart to ease the throbbing.

That’s why I couldn’t protect my face when he hauled off and hit my right cheek so hard my head snapped sideways. I felt a warm gush of blood inside my mouth, and my tongue sprang to the spot to check for loose teeth. The inside of my cheek was busted, and the thick flow of blood was threatening to choke me.

Ray sneered at me.

“You don’t look too hot right now, Lulu. I think I’ll let you get cleaned up. Then I expect you in my bed,” he said.

I was sure I looked a sight. My cheek was swelling up, my tears probably smeared my thick black eyeliner down my face, and I thought my lip was split too.

I nodded at Ray, afraid to speak. As much as it pained me to admit it, I had the worst taste in men since any of Henry the 8
th
’s wives. It also pained me to admit that I had once felt affection for Ray, who must have been quite possibly the stupidest man alive. While he was in
my
bedroom, expecting to have sex with
my
body, I was caressing my insurance with my bad hand and cradling it in my left. My .40 Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol had been stuffed down the back of his pants, and when he turned to walk away from me, I lifted it as soft and gentle as a newborn kitten. Daddy taught me how to pickpocket too, but I never used that talent. Much.

I had two bullets stashed in my kitchen drawer, but I was pretty sure there were some already chambered in the magazine. I abhorred violence though, so as much as I wanted to shoot Ray in the head as many dang times as I could, I grabbed my purse from off the floor and quietly slipped out the door of
my
apartment and ran down the stairs. I was still wearing my long gown and my leggings and my sneakers, thank gosh. He would notice me missing right about…now, and I shot out of the ramshackle apartment building and ran down the street. Adrenaline had me pain-free. I was running as far as my feet would carry me. I ducked down an alley and came out on another road, and kept going. At 3am there weren’t too many people out to question why a woman was tearing through the streets with a gun in her left hand and blood running down her chin.

I found an alcove to a building, and looked all around. Ray wouldn’t be able to find me just yet, so I pulled my phone out and dialed Brenda.

“Brenda, you hotta come het me,” I told her. My tongue and mouth weren’t working quite right. “I’m about a huarter mile west of Chestnut and Elm,” I said through tears and a hiccup.

She told me she’d be right there, and I waited. My wrist was starting to hurt again, bad, so as much as I wanted to dig through my purse and clean myself up, I just held my wrist to my chest and cried.

I waited and waited, and finally heard a car come up the street. I poked my head out of the alcove and recognized Brenda’s jeep. I stepped out and waved at her, and the jeep stopped on a dime in the middle of the road. Two figures came out.

It was Brenda and a man, a tall strong man with broad shoulders and the gait of a trained Army Ranger, wearing a red flannel shirt over a bright white T-shirt and blue jeans. Basically, a knight in shining armor disguised as the poster child for Bad Boys of Detroit.

His face was full of fury and vengeance.

Brenda came up to my other side.

“I’m sorry it took me so long. I wanted to track down Zack. We’re taking you to the hospital, Lauren,” she said. I nodded and about collapsed in Zack’s arms. He was afraid to touch me, but he assessed my wounds, saw my wrist, asked me to open my mouth, and then gently wiped tears from under my eyes.

He didn’t say a word, but I was in too much pain, physical and emotional, to care about what he may or may not be thinking.

Brenda got me to the hospital, and they waited in the ER lobby while I got taken to a triage room. It was a typical night in Detroit Medical Center, so I wasn’t too high on their list. GSWs, rapes, stabbings…I considered myself one of the lucky ones.

A nurse came in and cleaned me up, her capable black hands efficiently wiped away mascara and eyeliner smudges and crusted blood under my neck and on my collar bone.

“We gone get you fixed up, honey chile,” she whispered to me while taking my temperature and blood pressure.

Her accent reminded me of home, and a fresh wave of tears rolled down my face.

“Sister you cry all you want. No one’s gone come in here and get you. Nurse Alimah take good care a you,” she murmured and patted me on my back where nothing was hurt. “Doctor Gomez is gone come in soon. We’ll get you a X-ray and some pain medicine and send you home good as new,” she said and then left.

Moments later a Hispanic man came in.

“I’m Dr. Gomez,” he said. He held his hand out to shake, and then realized his error. I saw this was going to be a problem for the foreseeable future. I held out my left hand. He grasped it gently. He got a good look at me.

“You’re Lulu from Lonely Nights!” he said with delight.

I blushed and nodded.

“My wife and I love your show. When are you taking it to Vegas?” he asked.

I laughed a little. “Oh stop. I’m just small town girl,” I said.

He smiled. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’m sorry it had to be like this,” he said. He studied the chart and looked over my face next.

“Who did this to you?” he asked.

“My roommate,” I said shamefacedly.

“Do you want to press charges?” he asked.

“Do armadillos make good speed bumps? Hell yes I’m pressing charges!” I said. I got light-headed for a second, and the doctor held me up.

“Alright, we’ll get the police up here to take your report. Is she armed?” the doctor asked.

“She? My roommate’s a
man
and to tell you the truth, I have no idea. I wouldn’t put it past him to have stolen someone else’s gun too. Thank goodness I got mine back,” I said.

The doctor nodded and gently inspected my wrist.

“We’ll know more after the X-ray, but you’re going to make a full recovery. You don’t need your hand for your work, do you?” he asked.

I snorted.

“I waitress for my day job,” I said.

He clucked at me. “That’s not good. I hope you have a nice boss,” he said.

I lay back on the bed, feeling so exhausted and worn that I might as well be the bottom of a do-gooder’s shoe. I thought of Pete. He’d probably fire me as soon as look at me.

The curtain slid open, and Brenda and Zack came in.

“We kind of snuck in,” she said. “Did they give you any pain meds yet?” she asked.

I shook my head. “They’re probably waiting to see if I need any kind of surgery. This stinks like fish,” I said. I looked at Zack who had yet to speak to me.

If ever a guy was going to turn and run, this would be the moment to do it. My face had to be a god-awful mess, even after Nurse Alimah’s ministrations, and my dress was torn past redemption, my sneaks didn’t match the shimmery evening gown and my updo was now a down don’t.

Zack didn’t run.

“Brenda, will you leave us a minute?” he asked her quietly.

That was the thing that always surprised me about him when he opened his mouth. He was very soft-spoken. But I’d seen him about knock two kids’ heads together from brute strength. His soft voice belied his physical prowess. I had stomach butterflies when he pulled a chair up to the exam table.

“I feel like a piece of garbage right now,” he said.

For the moment I forgot my wrist.

“What? Why?” I asked him.

“You were about to ask for my help. I could see it in your eyes. You were bending. You were going to surrender something vulnerable to me. Then that guy…” he didn’t finish his sentence. Brenda must have told him who ‘that guy’ was though.

“I don’t know what Brenda told you, but we were through a long time ago,” I said. I needed to get that out there. “We’re not together,” I said. I didn’t want any confusion or wondering. “And if he thinks I’ll ever let him walk through my door again,” I was getting angry, and the increased pulse actually caused my wrist to throb worse. “Ohhh,” I groaned and closed my eyes.

“Shh it’s okay. You don’t owe me any explanations,” he whispered.

Tears leaked out from the corners of my eyes. Everything was so messed up. I
wanted
to explain things. I wanted him to explain things. I wanted explanations and diatribes and long conversation-filled nights followed by rocking…I just wanted a lot more than I had at the moment.

They came with a wheelchair to take me to the in-house radiology lab, and Brenda and Zack stayed behind. After that, a policeman came to take my report. I gave them my address too, and hoped they picked Ray up. I just wanted to go home.

After the hospital did all they could do, Brenda went to get her jeep. Zack wheeled me to the exit, per hospital rules.

“It’s not like I broke my leg,” I whined.

I could sense Zack smiling behind me. “Quit smiling. It’s not funny,” I said.

“How did you know I was smiling?” he asked, surprise in his voice.

“I could just tell,” I said.

“Hm, your medicine must be kicking in. You’re back to your ornery self, I see,” Zack said.

“Careful Zackory Daniels or I will knock you upside the head with my cast,” I replied. I was enjoying our little banter far too much.

The cops let the hospital know that they had Ray in custody, so it was safe for me to go home. I watched the dawn lighten behind the skyline in the rearview mirror. I’d pulled all-nighters before, but never for anything this rotten. Brenda and Zack had to be tired too.

She pulled up in front of my building, a brick three-story affair, and no frills. The three of us sat inside the jeep.

“Well Lauren, I think it goes without saying that you don’t need to be alone tonight. Am I wrong in assuming that Zack would like the honors?” Brenda asked us.

I blushed.