Slide, page 13
“You shouldn’t have told him anything at all.”
“Fuck you. I was worried, and I knew he would be when he saw the state of you…” He broke off with an exasperated sigh. “Look, I called him so he knew to keep an eye on you. I didn’t tell him much about how it happened, just that you’d gotten a bit banged up. You’d want to know if something happened to him, wouldn’t you?”
I echoed his sigh. He was right, but explaining the whole story to Ash wasn’t going to be pretty. He was freaked enough already, and he only knew what Mick and I had told him—next to nothing. He was going to flip his shit when he heard about the rest of it. The missing child worried me too. We’d been first on scene, and even though I knew it was ridiculous, I couldn’t help fretting that maybe we should’ve done more to locate her. “Do you think—”
Mick cut me off before I could finish. “We did our job, dude. Maybe if the CPD had paid attention, it wouldn’t have gotten this far. From what I heard, it wasn’t the first call to that place. They should’ve warned us before we got there.”
“Yeah, I suppose, but the kid could’ve been right there, all along.”
“Maybe,” Mick conceded. “But at the same time, he could’ve brought his damn sword back and killed us all. The police wouldn’t have known to look for a kid then, at least not as quickly as they did.”
I hummed a vague response, but I wasn’t convinced. The whole thing had been a clusterfuck from the moment the call came in, and no matter how bad things appeared, there was always room for them to get worse.
In my ear, Mick blew out a breath. I could hear his kids playing in the background, but in my daze of reflection, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “If the search is still going on when we get back on shift, we’ll deal with it then,” he said. “Get some rest, okay?” He hung up.
I stared at the blank screen for a minute before I got a grip and shoved the phone back into my pocket. I’d wandered back along the corridor during the conversation. With a heavy sigh, I leaned on the stair rail and stared down at the four-story drop. It wasn’t the first time a call had turned into something unpleasant, but it didn’t get easier. Just knowing we’d failed to prevent something messed with my head. We weren’t the police, but I’d seen too many horrible things to pretend I didn’t know how badly the scenario of a missing child could end.
“Gonna jump, fucker?”
I spun around to find Ash behind me. He was twirling a beer bottle in his hands and wearing a pair of jeans so old I couldn’t remember if they were mine or his. They hung low on his hips, and damn, they sure looked good on him. I swallowed thickly, instantly distracted by the sight of him. “Nah,” I said absently, “I was just on the phone. You okay?”
He nodded, his lips turned up in a faint grin. “Sure I am,” he said. “But shouldn’t I be asking you that? How’re the bruises? Still sore?”
I shrugged. “A bit, but I’m not on again until Wednesday; they’ll be all right by then.”
His tentative smile widened considerably. “Four days off, huh? What are you going to do with all that free time?”
I pretended to think long and hard about all the things I liked to do best. “Eat, sleep… maybe some other stuff….”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
I grinned back at his devilish smirk. “You’ve got a one-track mind. I’m going to see my mom on Monday. You should come; she misses you.”
“Can we go after work?”
I nodded. “Sure. She’s got Spanish class in the morning anyway.”
Ash laughed and shook his head. “You’re so behind; she’s doing pottery lessons now.”
Well, okay, then. I’d never been able to keep up with my mom. She couldn’t keep track of my erratic schedule either, and Ash took most of her calls. He didn’t seem to mind. In her own, unique way, she was as eccentric as he was, and they shared a deep bond.
Ash took advantage of my silence and stepped a little closer, his eyes suddenly intense. “Were you talking to Mick about the kid?”
“You already heard about that, huh?” I hedged pointlessly.
Ash rolled his eyes. “Now who’s being evasive? Yeah, I’ve seen it. You could’ve told me about the machete.”
Damn. He didn’t read newspapers and he didn’t watch the news, but one look at his face told me he already knew everything I hadn’t told him and more. A TV in a store window, or maybe he’d passed a newspaper stand. It didn’t really matter anymore.
“I didn’t know about it. Mick just told me. When did you see the news?”
“While you were sleeping,” Ash said shortly.
He folded his arms across his chest, looking pissed, perhaps even more pissed than he had that morning, and I wondered idly if that was why he’d left me alone in bed. “Is that why you left?”
His frown deepened. “What? Why would I do that?”
Or maybe not. I glanced around, stepped even closer to him, and put my hand on his arm. “Never mind. Look, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know, okay? You probably know more than I do.”
He nudged me with his shoulder and sighed softly. “It just freaks me out knowing that guy was anywhere near you with a fucking machete.”
“He wasn’t,” I said, stretching my aching back out slightly. “It was stashed down the hall. I never even saw it.”
“You just saw the baseball bat, huh?”
“Not really. I was kinda busy. Just forget about it, okay? It’s over.”
His scowl remained for a moment more before he tipped the last of his beer into his mouth and relaxed his face into a lazy grin. He had avoidance down to a fine art, and it meant he also rarely pushed me to talk about anything. It bugged me most of the time, but when it came to my work, I was as willing as he was to let things slide.
We began walking slowly toward Ellie’s apartment. If his leisurely pace was anything to go by, Ash didn’t seem in a hurry to get back inside. “You didn’t have to come tonight,” he said. “Ellie’s tanked. I was going split as soon as she passed out.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “Can we get food on the way home? I’m starving.”
He nodded agreeably and pushed open the front door, but then—like magic—Ellie popped up and glared at us through narrowed eyes. “On your way where?”
“Nowhere, darlin’,” Ash lied smoothly. “I’m just going to get Pete a beer. Why don’t you introduce him to Sean?”
He winked as he ducked around us and disappeared into the kitchen. I had no option but to follow Ellie into the dimly lit living room, then as luck would have it, she vanished too, leaving me to face her bitch of a sister alone.
Warily, I looked around the room. Megan was holding court on the couch with her new fuck buddy, Sean, beside her. Megan Mills was a strange-looking chick; she had the same thick auburn hair as her siblings, but she lacked their wide, friendly eyes. Hers were small and dull, leaving her face flat and cold, just like the rest of her. It made talking to her a depressing prospect. I moved toward the couch with a suppressed sigh, knowing it was better to get it over with quickly.
I stopped right in front of her and pulled out my best amiable grin. “How are you doing, Meg?”
She barely glanced in my direction, her attention focused on the greasy fuckwit she was draped over. “I’m good, thanks, Pete. How are you?”
“Yeah, good,” I said, but she’d already lost interest. My grin widened enough to look genuine as I moved off. Looked like Megan had no time for anyone who didn’t dance to her drama-queen tune and I came firmly under that category. Relieved, I made my escape and wandered over to Charlie, the middle Mills sibling, who was hiding in the corner of the room about as far away from Megan as he could possibly get.
He stood and shook my hand, grinning like the idiot he was. “She doesn’t change.”
I sank down in the nearest chair as he sat back down. “She’s not so bad in small doses.”
Charlie chuckled. He knew all too well that Megan was so unpleasant she was almost a caricature villain. The guy beside him leaned forward and extended his fist. “Hey, man. I’m Joe.”
I nodded and smiled at the tall, dark-haired dude. I’d heard the name before. If I remembered correctly, he’d been Charlie’s roommate at some point, and Ash knew him quite well. He was pretty hot too, though he was clearly straight. With some guys, you just knew. “Aren’t you the one who moved back to Seattle?”
Joe shook his head with a rueful grin. “It didn’t work out, so I’m here until someone drags my ass back to screw things up again. I’ve got a place up at Lakeview. You live in Lincoln Park, right?”
“Right.” I nodded, but there wasn’t really much else to say. Sometimes I thought living with Ash had killed my conversation skills.
“So, how’ve you been, dude?” Charlie said when the introductions were over. “We haven’t seen you for ages.”
I shrugged as Ash appeared beside me and passed me a beer. “Work, man. You know it keeps me busy.”
Charlie grinned. “Yeah, too busy. My mom was asking about you yesterday. She wants you over for dinner soon.”
“Sure,” I said, but my attention was abruptly diverted as Ash dropped onto the arm of the chair I was sitting in and slid his hand under my shirt.
He traced the deep bruises splayed over my torso with the pads of his fingers. I stayed still as he conducted his examination. I was bruised and sore, but his touch was light, light enough to relax me. I leaned into him without much conscious thought. After a moment, he answered the movement with a final, featherlight brush of his thumb, then left his hand where it was.
“So,” Charlie said, leaning forward with a bottle of vodka in his hand, oblivious to Ash’s hand or my reaction to it. “I saw on the news about that guy attacking a paramedic. Was it anyone you know?”
“Must have been another house,” I said, waving away the hard liquor. Ash did the same, but he bristled as the events of the day before came rushing back to both of us.
“Still,” Charlie said. “The guy looked pretty crazy. Did you hear what he did to his wife? Almost beat her to death with a baseball bat and just left her there. What kind of head case does that?”
I shrugged, hoping if I gave him a vague enough answer he’d shut the fuck up. “Who knows?”
It worked, eventually, but the damage was done. Ash got up and put Ellie to bed, and when he came back he didn’t say a word more—he just lolled his head on my shoulder and watched the world go by with half-lidded eyes. I let him be, knowing he was half-asleep. Charlie paid us no heed, and Joe didn’t seem to notice. No one else could really see us, and in Ellie’s place we felt pretty safe. I didn’t realize how wrong we were until Megan’s new boyfriend suddenly appeared in my eye line.
“What the fuck is this? Are you two faggots or something?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DESPITE being the drunkest of all of us, Charlie responded first. He put his vodka bottle down and swiveled round in his chair. “What the fuck?”
Sean leaned against the doorframe and shrugged, like the hate seeping out of him was nothing out of the ordinary. “They look like queers with their hands all over each other like that.”
Across from me, Joe’s eyes bugged out. I was vaguely amused to see him belatedly figure out who Sean was sneering at. It made sense. Though Ash had known him a while, it wouldn’t occur to him to divulge his love life. It never did. Apart from my mom and a few close friends, not many people knew we were more than roommates. Neither of us fit the stereotypical image, and it was rare that an outsider worked it out for themselves. Our scruffy hair and tattoos had stereotypes all of their own. We’d even fooled each other when we first met, and under different circumstances, Joe’s wide-eyed surprise might have been funny, but I didn’t laugh. There was nothing funny about the bullshit coming from Sean.
“Yeah, queers,” Sean said. “Ass bandits, whatever. Hey, Meg? You didn’t tell me your brother and his crew were faggots.”
Enraged, Charlie jumped to his feet. I considered intervening as Sean stepped forward to meet him. Charlie was no fighter, and Sean had a good twenty pounds on him. Sean’s words meant nothing to me, but I didn’t want to see Charlie get hurt.
Joe beat me to it, standing and placing a restraining hand on Charlie’s back. “Leave it, Chas. He’s not worth your time, man.”
His tone was placating but it didn’t do any good. Sean’s words had struck a chord with Charlie, and I knew why. Ash aside, he was probably the only person in the apartment who knew Ellie was also gay. His anger was in defense of her, for the little sister he adored, and deep down, though I was worried he’d get his ass kicked, a part of me cheered him on. I sat up straighter, keeping half an eye trained on Ash, and watched the scene unfold. In the past, Ash would have been up and swinging punches before Sean had drawn breath, but he’d mellowed in recent months. So far, his only reaction had been to sit up and plant his feet on the floor. Cautiously, I put my hand on his shoulder.
Sean caught the movement and sneered again. “See? Fucking queers.”
Ash stiffened. The muscles in his back turned to stone, and I was almost sure I felt his blood run cold. My instinct to protect him hit me like a wrecking ball. I stood and stepped in front of him, moving faster than my aching back really wanted to. My body blocked him from Sean’s view. If Sean wanted to get to him, he’d have to go through me first.
I stared at Sean, widening my stance. Unfazed, he looked me up and down and shook his head.
“I don’t like faggots.”
I leaned forward and cocked my head to the side. I made no other movement, but the challenge was clear. “So?”
There was movement beside me as Joe stepped up. “Careful, dude,” he said to Sean. “I don’t think you know who you’re fucking with.”
Sean laughed, but the sound was flat and cruel. “What are they going to do? Hold me down and rape my ass?”
There was silence as his words rang out. I glanced back at Ash, expecting to share mutual disgusted disbelief, but something in his horrified, stricken face stopped me short. Something inside me snapped. I saw red and my fist connected with Sean’s jaw before I even knew what I was doing.
All hell broke loose. Someone restrained me, but I twisted away when I realized it wasn’t Ash. Joe let me go as soon as he saw I was done throwing punches, and Charlie moved forward to finish what I’d started. Punches flew and chicks screamed, but I didn’t hear any of it. I whirled around, searching for Ash, but he wasn’t there. My heart sank when I saw the door to the apartment was wide open. Without looking any further, I knew he was gone.
I ran from Ellie’s swanky, converted apartment. No one noticed me go. Sean was on the floor where my punch had put him, fending off Charlie, and Joe was still trying to calm things down. I ran for the stairs. Ash was claustrophobic—no way would he take the elevator. I jogged down the first few flights, but I had to stop halfway down. My bruised back and ribs had been the last thing on my mind when I’d lunged at Sean, but I was beginning to pay for it. Running down the stairs just wasn’t going to happen.
I took the final set at a slower pace, but I was still breathless when I stepped out onto the street. We didn’t live far from Ellie’s place, but I had no way of knowing if Ash had headed for home. I pulled out my cell, but I spotted him halfway down the block just before I hit his speed-dial.
Relieved, I shuffled across the street. He was leaning against a building, his eyes closed. A cigarette dangled unlit from his hand. I put my hands on his shoulders and roused him, searching his face for the harrowed stare I’d seen upstairs. “Come on,” I said when I found nothing. “Let’s go home.”
He didn’t move, just glanced blankly back up toward the apartment, and the reason for his hesitation was obvious—he didn’t want to leave Ellie with Sean in her place. I understood, but we couldn’t stay. My temper had faded quickly, but I was still pissed—pissed enough to do something stupid if we encountered Sean anytime soon. I didn’t want to hang around. Punching someone behind closed doors was one thing; brawling in public was something else. We needed to leave, before I got my ass arrested.
“Charlie’s staying over with Ellie,” I said. “Her roommate’s there too. She’ll be fine.”
Ash slowly pushed himself off the wall, holding my gaze suspiciously. “You’re sure Charlie’s staying?”
I nodded. “Yep, Joe too.”
It was enough to get him moving, but it didn’t bring him back. He seemed to be in a world of his own as we started to walk home. I left him alone, since keeping my aching body upright required my full attention, but I was baffled as I replayed the scene in my head. It didn’t make any sense, none of it did. Ash wasn’t ashamed of his sexuality, and he knew better than to let someone like Sean get to him. I’d seen him upset, angry, and even so rattled he was spooked by his own shadow, but I’d never seen him as haunted as he’d been when Sean had attacked us. The notion was disturbing, and kept me preoccupied for the short few blocks we had to walk to get home.
I headed straight to the kitchen when we got back to our apartment, grimacing at the slight limp I’d developed on the way home. Ash leaned against the doorframe and stared at the floor as I threw back a couple of Advil. His silence began to irritate me. He’d just watched me punch someone out yet he had nothing to say? Irrationally, I suddenly felt angry with him, but for what I couldn’t be sure. Sighing, I reached up and retrieved the bottle of bourbon we kept in the cupboard.
I’d poured an inch into a tumbler before he finally looked up. “You’re drinking that with those pills?”
I rolled my eyes. I’d only had one beer all night, and I’d drummed it into him time and again that drugs and booze didn’t mix. Advil and a single Budweiser wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind, but it was kinda nice to know he’d listened. Not that I was in the mood to see the glass half-full. I held the whiskey out to him. “It’s not for me,” I said. “It’s for you. Drink it, and calm the fuck down.”
