He sighed. “I’m not happy ‘bout this, Row.”
“Funny. Doesn’t seem to have affected your appetite.”
“Stop bein’ such an asshole, Rowan,” he returned. “It just so happens the Rueben’s for Firehair, an’ the chicken salad’s for your mouthpiece. And they ain’t on the department’s dime either.”
“Am I supposed to say thank you or something?” I made a show of reaching for my wallet. “Or do you just want the cash?”
“No. An’ put your fuckin’ wallet away…I just thought ya’ should know I’m tryin’ ta’ take care of Firehair best I can.”
“Like when you cuffed her?”
“I can’t have this conversation with ya’ right now.”
“Big surprise.”
He huffed out a heavy sigh and then paused for a moment before shifting in the seat and picking up the bag. “I better get these back over there before they get cold.”
“You do that,” I chided, and as usual I couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I quickly added, “When you placed the order, I sure hope you remembered to ask for plenty of arsenic. You wouldn’t want to miss a chance to poison her too.”
“All right! Fuckit!” Ben spat, dropping the sandwiches and slamming his fist down hard on the counter.
Pushing back, he stood up quickly. I looked over out of reflex and saw him reach to his belt. With a tug he pulled his gold shield from it and then slapped it onto the counter next to the sack of food. In another quick motion, he shoved his hand beneath the folds of his jacket. I heard a quick snap, and a moment later he laid his Beretta alongside the badge and sandwiches.
He was attracting attention from plenty of others, and I started mutely chastising myself for allowing my mouth to countermand my brain.
Ben shot a quick glance to the side and shoved the items toward another cop as he barked, “Watch these for me, willya, Anderson?”
“There a problem?” the uniformed officer asked, starting up from his seat, as were several of the others who were within earshot.
“No,” Ben snapped loudly enough for all to hear as he grabbed me by the collar and yanked me backwards from the stool, causing me to spill coffee across the counter. “I just gotta go finish somethin’.”
“Hey!” I yelped. “What the hell are…”
“Shut up!” he ordered, whipping me around like I was nothing then shoving me toward the door.
“Yo, Storm, don’t kill ‘im,” one of the cops shouted across the diner, punctuating the comment with a laugh. “Way too much paperwork.”
“Hey,” another added. “At least the meat house is right across the street. Won’t have far to go to drop ‘im off.”
I knew from personal experience, the “meat house” he was referring to was the medical examiner’s office that sat immediately next door to police headquarters.
“You want me to call the paramedics for him?” yet another officer quipped.
“Everybody just stay put,” he ordered again. “This’s personal.”
“Goddammit, Ben!” I was growling as I continued my futile attempt to twist out of his grasp.
“I said shut up!” he shot back, shoving me through the now open door and out onto the sidewalk.
With a rough yank he guided me around the side of the building, pushing me along as we went.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I demanded, but my words seemed to fall on purposely-deaf ears.
As we rounded the corner, he gave me a final hard shove, sending me stumbling into the side of a dumpster. Free of his grasp, I wheeled around to face him, rage continuing to surge through me.
“Take your coat off,” he ordered as he stripped out of his own and tossed it into a heap against the building.
“You’re kidding,” I snipped. “You’re not happy with just fucking my wife over. Now you want to kick my ass too?”
“Take your coat off,” he repeated, ignoring my question.
“What for?” I demanded.
“‘Cause, dumbass, you can swing harder if ya’ haven’t got your goddamn coat on, now take it off.”
I reluctantly shrugged off my coat and tossed it against the building as he had done with his. Why I bothered I really didn’t know. Whether I had the coat on or not, it wasn’t going to make any difference. He had height, weight, training, and even more importantly, first hand experience over me. There was no way I could come out of this without broken bones and blood loss at the minimum. At least it was cold outside, so I guessed when I folded, I could use the parking lot as an interim full-body ice pack until the ambulance arrived.
It’s not that I wasn’t going to defend myself, mind you, but I also wasn’t stupid. A no win situation is just that. Somebody isn’t going to win. And, I knew with absolute certainty that it was me who was in the “no” column when it came to a “win” in this instance.
I stood there, staring back at Ben, building as much hatred as I could in hopes that I would at least get in a shot or two before he clocked me and total darkness fell upon my world. Once again, I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as the glare locked between us.
Contrary to his instructions, not everyone had stayed inside, and there was now a small gathering of uniformed and plainclothes officers alike forming behind Ben. He didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and truth is, he probably expected the audience. Train wrecks always attract spectators, and that was pretty much what was about to happen.
I couldn’t say for sure because I wasn’t paying very close attention to them, but something told me wagers were being made within the group. I didn’t imagine they were giving me very good odds.
“Well, what the hell are ya’ waitin’ for?” Ben finally said. “Come on. Let’s have it!”
“Have what?!” I snapped.
“Come on! Take your shot!”
“What?” I snarled. “You really expect me to throw the first punch right here in front of a bunch of cops?”
“Everybody heard me say this is personal, right?” he called over his shoulder.
A disjointed chorus of “yeah’s” and “whatever’s” issued from the handful of onlookers.
“So then I guess you want me to swing first just so you’ll have a clear conscience when you beat the shit out of me?”
“Wake up, Rowan. I’ve got no intention of hittin’ you, ya’ fuckin’ idiot! You’re the one that’s got the issues here! Now come on! You been wantin’ ta’ hit me all goddamned day, so just do it and get it over with!”
Incredulity flowed into my voice, unevenly mixing with the anger that had already claimed the space. “You’re going to let me hit you?”
“Ain’t that what I just said?”
“And you aren’t going to hit me back?”
“I am if ya’ don’t hurry the fuck up and do it!” he shot back. “Now come on!”
I didn’t wait for him to repeat the invitation again.
CHAPTER 11:
“Feel better now?” Ben asked, following the question with a hard groan.
“A little,” I said, inspecting the ends of my fingers where they protruded from beneath a stained cloth. “I don’t think it’s broken.”
We were currently parked in a booth back inside the diner, him positioned so that he was facing the door and me on the opposite side of the chipped and uneven table. The burgers from the sack were sitting before him, still folded neatly into their paper wrappers. He hadn’t touched them except to pull them from the bag before sending it across the street with one of the other officers.
At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure if he was going to eat them or just look at them longingly, as he was still holding an ice-filled dishcloth pressed against the side of his face. Of course, I wasn’t in much better shape
