Jackie slid her eyes up to the gym windows. “Thank sweet Jesus for that,” she said softly.
I followed her gaze to the second floor. “You better not be seen talking to me.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I gotta get back to work, anyway.”
I stood there for a few minutes longer, enjoying the soda and the luxury of being fully vertical. I turned to get back in the car and gasped at the sight of Ramirez standing next to me.
“Been waiting all day for you to get out of this car,” he said. “Bet you’re surprised at how quiet I move. Didn’t even hear me come up on you, did you? That’s how it’s always gonna be. You’re never gonna hear me until I pounce. And then it’s gonna be too late.”
I took a slow breath to quiet my heart. I waited a moment longer to steady my voice. When I felt some control, I asked him about Carmen. “I want to know about Carmen,” I said. “I want to know if she saw you coming.”
“Carmen and me, we had a date. Carmen asked for what she got.”
“Where is she now?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. She split after Ziggy got offed.”
“What about the guy that was with Ziggy that night? Who was he? What happened to him?”
“Don’t know nothing about that either.”
“I thought they worked for you.”
“Why don’t we go upstairs and talk about this? Or we could go for a ride. I got a Porsche. I could take you for a ride in my Porsche.”
“I don’t think so.”
“See, there you go again. Refusing the champ. You’re always refusing the champ. He don’t like that.”
“Tell me about Ziggy and his friend… the guy with the smashed nose.”
“Be more interesting to tell you about the champ. How he gonna teach you some respect. How he gonna punish you so you learn not to refuse him.” He stepped closer, and the heat coming off his body made the air feel cool by comparison. “Think maybe I’ll make you bleed before I fuck you. You like that? You want to get cut, bitch?”
That’s it. I’m out of here. “You’re not going to do anything to me,” I said. “You don’t scare me, and you don’t excite me.”
“You lie.” He wrapped his hand around my upper arm and squeezed hard enough to make me cry out.
I kicked him hard in the shin, and he hit me. I never saw his hand move. The crack rang in my ears and my head snapped back. I tasted blood and blinked hard several times to clear the cobwebs. When most of the stars faded, I shot him square in the face with the Sure Guard.
He howled in pain and rage and reeled into the street with his hands to his eyes. The howling metamorphosed to choking and gasping, and he went down on all fours like some monstrous animal—a big, pissed-off, wounded buffalo.
Jimmy Alpha came running from across the street, followed by his secretary and a man I’d never seen before.
The man went down on the ground with Ramirez, trying to calm him, telling him he’d be okay in a minute, to take deep breaths.
Alpha and the secretary rushed over to me.
“Jesus,” Jimmy Alpha said, pressing a clean handkerchief into my hand. “Are you okay? He didn’t break anything, did he?”
I put the handkerchief to my mouth and held it there while I ran my tongue over my teeth to see if any were missing or loose. “I think I’m okay.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jimmy said. “I don’t know what’s the matter with him, the way he treats women. I apologize for him. I don’t know what to do.”
I wasn’t in the mood to accept an apology. “There are lots of things you can do,” I said. “Get him psychiatric help. Lock him up. Take him to the vet and get him neutered.”
“I’ll pay for a doctor,” Jimmy Alpha said. “Do you want to go to a doctor?”
“The only place I’m going is to the police station. I’m pressing charges, and nothing you can say is going to stop me.”
“Think about it for a day,” Jimmy pleaded. “At least wait until you’re not so upset. He can’t take another assault charge now.”
I WRENCHED THE DRIVER’S DOOR OPEN and jammed myself behind the wheel. I eased away from the curb, being careful not to run over anyone. I drove at a moderate speed, and I didn’t look back. I stopped for a light and assessed the damage in the rearview mirror. My upper lip was split on the inside and still bleeding. I had a purple bruise forming on my left cheek. My cheek and my lip were beginning to swell.
I was holding tight to the wheel, and I was using every strength I possessed to stay calm. I drove south on Stark to State Street and followed State to Hamilton. When I reached Hamilton I felt as if I was safe in my own neighborhood and could allow myself to stop and think. I pulled into a convenience store lot and sat there for a while. I needed to go to the police station to report the assault, but I didn’t want to leave the security and comfort of home turf, and I wasn’t sure how the police would regard this latest incident with Ramirez. He’d threatened me, and then I’d deliberately provoked him by parking across from the gym. Not smart.
I’d been on adrenaline overdose ever since Ramirez appeared at my side, and now that the adrenaline was slacking out, exhaustion and pain were creeping in. My arm and my jaw ached and my pulse rate felt like it had dropped to twelve.
Face up, I said to myself, you’re not going to make it to the police station today. I shuffled through my shoulder
