Читать книгу Perilous Poetry - Kym Roberts - Страница 14

Chapter Six

Everyone had pitched in to help clean the store. The windows were boarded, the books were separated into stacks of good to sell and those that needed to be included in the insurance claim, and the glass and debris had been swept and vacuumed. Bullet holes and splintered wood were still visible but would have to wait for the next day. About nine o’clock, everyone went their separate ways, but Cade said he’d be back in an hour with dinner. He wanted to keep our dinner date. Or so he said.

It was currently nine minutes after ten and I was working myself into a tizzy. He wasn’t coming. I knew he wasn’t coming. He was stringing me along until some big political event occurred and then he’d ask Reba Sue to go with him. I tore off the blouse I had on and put on a clean T-shirt. My Book Boyfriend is Better Than Yours splayed across the front of the shirt in bold red letters. I looked in the mirror. With leggings, it didn’t look too bad, and if he didn’t show, I could sleep in it.

Princess looked up at me and snorted.

“I know, I shouldn’t waste my time. He’s not going to show. I starved myself for nothing and now I’ll be stuck eating a gallon of vanilla ice cream for dinner.”

Which didn’t sound too bad…as long as my cousin didn’t come home and want half. But hopefully I was safe since he’d asked to use my daddy’s truck. He’d never driven a truck and wanted to test drive a “man’s car” so he’d left his keys and headed out on the town while my aunt and Daddy went home to my dad’s house.

Princess grunted and ran for the door. She didn’t seem to be doing too badly with her bandage. “You can’t go out. You’re hurt.”

A moment later she began scratching and I knew it was a losing battle. “Fine. But don’t you dare stay out late.”

I opened the door and glanced at my watch. Ten fourteen.

Princess ran down the steps and I thought for sure she was going to roll, but somehow, she made it to the bottom in one piece. I heard a creak of metal and looked toward the gate at the edge of the narrow alley leading to my apartment and the river. Blocked off from the front of the store with an iron gate, I always thought our apartment was in a pretty neat location at the back of the bookstore on the upper level. I’d lived here with my parents as a kid, and after my mom died when I was ten, my daddy and I stayed on. He now had a house, and I had the apartment.

The light above the gate illuminated the sign that my daddy had made for my mom. Eve’s Gate had hung on that iron bracket since the day we moved in—with an occasional mishap of it falling on someone’s head. Those rare incidents created rumors of my mom’s spirit haunting the sign, and that tidbit of gossip had always given me comfort. Especially now since the alley was empty.

I sighed and stepped back in my apartment.

“Don’t close that door!”

My heart skipped a beat, or I had indigestion, I’m not sure which, but I smiled as I looked out and saw Cade Calloway making his way through the alley.

I glanced at my watch. Ten seventeen. “You’re late. I should close this door and eat leftovers.”

Cade eyed my mom’s sign and I smiled. She’d hit him on the head a time or two.

Once he was passed it, he looked up the stairs and said, “You don’t have any leftovers. You’ve got a half-eaten half gallon of ice cream.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Wrong.” I had two brand new half gallons of ice cream. It was almost time for peppermint shakes and I wanted to make sure I didn’t run out.

Cade took the steps two at a time with a takeout bag in each hand. Once he got to the top of the steps, he crowded me on the landing. “Hi,” he whispered as he looked down at my mouth.

“Hi, yourself.” I nodded toward the takeout bags that smelled almost as good as he did. “What’d you bring me?”

“Pork fried rice and beef and broccoli.”

“You’ve earned passage into my home.” I turned and brushed against him as I went back into my apartment. I told myself it was an accident, but who was I kidding. I wanted the contact between us.

Cade put the bags on the table. “I see you were expecting me.”

For a moment, I was embarrassed by the paper plates and plastic ware I’d thrown on the table. It’d been my way of protecting myself from a broken heart. There’s nothing worse than setting the table with china, silver, and candles and then spending the night looking at the empty chair across the table. Not that it ever happened to me, but I saw it plenty of times in the movies and those women were just downright pathetic.

“Sorry. I forgot to run the dishwasher.”

“You don’t have a dishwasher.”

“Huh, imagine that. Would you like some iced tea?”

“No wine?”

“The only bottle I have, you can’t have.”

Cade laughed. “Really? I rank that low?”

“It ranks that high.” I poured two glasses and grabbed a couple serving spoons and made my way to the table to sit down across from Cade.

We’d sat at this very table countless times in high school while doing homework and filling out college applications for Cade. He’d been a year ahead of me and had been recruited by the best schools in Texas on a football scholarship. That career had been our downfall, and I wondered if we were doomed to follow the same path.

“What can you tell me about Matt Allen’s death?”

Cade looked up as he dished out our food. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking about him getting electrocuted and the Barn getting shot up, all within a couple days.”

“Those are very different incidents. Matt’s death was an accident.”

“Was it?”

Cade put down the serving spoon and frowned. “What makes you think it wasn’t?”

“I just don’t believe in coincidence.”

Cade shook his head and passed me my plate. “You’re always looking for trouble.”

Ignoring his remark that stung more than I cared to admit, I started to take my first bite when my cell phone rang. I glanced at it on the counter and decided to let it ring. This was a night to be savored. I took a bite and nearly moaned as the flavors of the rice, meat and vegetables began to quench my hunger.

Cade ignored my phone and began asking me about the poetry reading on Friday when it rang again. “It’s okay to answer your phone,” he said.

“It’s not going to be anything important.”

“Then it will be over with quickly. Or, we could listen to it ring all night.”

I got up and answered the phone on the fourth ring. “Hello.” I tried not to sound irritated but from the smirk on Cade’s face, I failed.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of my cousin’s mouth on the other end of the phone.

That got my attention. “What? Jamal, what are you talking about?”

“Please don’t kill me.”

“Jamal, if you don’t tell me what I’m going to kill you over, then I’m going to kill you for real.”

“I just wrecked your daddy’s truck…”

“You what?” I heard the traffic pass and a horn blare. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. A truck swerved at me and clipped the front end of the truck, I spun around and ended up smashing into the concrete barricade. The truck isn’t drivable.”

That one bite of fried rice was screaming to come up. How was I going to tell my daddy? He loved that truck. I loved that truck. I grabbed my keys and ran for the door.

“What’s wrong, Princess? Where are you going? I don’t want you going off by yourself. Not after what happened tonight. I’ll come with you.” Cade was up out of his chair and at the door at the same time I was.

“No!” I yelled. It was more denial of what I was about to find than a response to Cade. “I need you to stay here, Princess is still out and—” My voice hitched. This had been my opportunity to make things right between us, but my cousin and my daddy’s truck meant the world to me…and him. “Please, Cade. Wait here for Princess.”

Cade ran his hand through his hair, clearly irritated. “Whatever you need. I’m here.”

I ran out the door and down the steps. “Where are you?” I asked Jamal.

“I’m on the bridge over the river.”

“The highway?” He could get killed standing on that bridge.

Jamal gave me directions but I knew exactly where to go. I jumped in his rental car and was there in two minutes. He was standing at the bed of the truck with his arms folded and the phone up to his ear. It was the stupidest place to stand, the man was going to get himself killed.

“Charli, I’m sorry.”

“Where’s the other driver?”

“He took off.”

I looked my cousin up and down in the dim lighting. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, Charli.”

“I don’t blame you. It was an accident. I’m just glad you’re okay.” I was still sick when I looked at the truck, but I was relieved that he was in one piece. “Have you ordered a tow?”

“It’s a two-hour wait.”

I looked at the front of the truck and cringed. It was bent and twisted like the front axle was a spiral, not a straight piece of steel. To my utter disappointment, the truck was in bad shape.

My vision blurred as I neared the front end of the vehicle. This had been my parents’ truck. Oncoming headlights blinded me.

“Are the police on their way?” I asked.

“Yeah, but they’ve had a busy night.”

“You told them it was a hit-and-run?”

Jamal nodded his head and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked down at the screen as I read the text from Cade: Princess is home safe and sound. Are you okay?

I immediately texted back. I am, but I won’t be home for a couple hours.

Do you want me to come to you?

Yes, I did, but I didn’t think it would be fair to Cade to make him stand on the shoulder of a bridge risking his life for a truck that wasn’t his. I texted him back: Jamal is with me. I should have expected the response.

Night, Princess. See you tomorrow.

So much for my dinner date.