at my outrage. “Is he okay? Did something happen with his job?”
This time they both looked down, and my heart sunk. It was Salome who spoke this time. “He got fired. He needs to be out of his apartment by the end of the week. Looks like those two guys who had been giving him a hard time here made a stink with his bosses. Tariq said that shit hit the fan for real. He’s going back to the city as soon as he’s packed up.”
I’d heard enough. “That stubborn motherfucker. He was going to leave without even saying goodbye?” I knew tears were running down my face. “I’m going over there,” I said, as I got my bag. I probably looked a wreck but I didn’t care. “If he thinks I’m just going to let him walk out on me, he has another thing coming.”
Rocco
The sharp knock on the door made us all jump.
I looked up from my slump on the couch to see Dani and Tariq, who had been here all day “holding my white ass down.” Tariq looked to the door, his eyebrows high on his forehead. Just yesterday, he’d informed me he’d been offered a job in the foundation’s finance department, and that he was going to take it. So Tariq was a real NYC exile now.
“Did you guys order food?” They both stood up on the third knock and seemed like they were looking for an escape route.
Tariq was about to say something when we heard Julia’s muffled yelling from outside my door.
“Rocco. Fucking. Quinn. You better open this damn door. Right. Now.”
Tariq and Dani had their coats on and were already flashing me deuces by the time I got up.
“We’re gonna bounce, my man,” Tariq said, clearly too scared to open the door himself.
Dani just nodded as he wearily looked at the piece of wood Julia was pounding on like it was about to explode. My heart was thumping in my chest as I reached for the doorknob.
She was here.
I wasn’t sure if she’d just come to tell me off one last time, but the need to see her was practically forcing my limbs to get the door open. I closed my eyes and pulled on the doorknob. When I opened the door, air filled my lungs for the first since I left her apartment.
She look tired and like she’d been crying, her eyes red-rimmed. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and her clothes rumpled. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and she was standing in my doorway holding four huge bags from... Pet Mart?
Her eyes flashed as she ran them over me. “You look terrible.” Her voice caught on that last word, but she rushed into the apartment before I got a chance to answer.
Dani and Tariq who were already on the move, each with an arm up like they wanted to give her a hug but were afraid she’d punch them if they tried. They both knew better than to mess with a Queens girl when she was in a mood.
She put the bags gently on the floor and she stared them down. “So I guess you guys split up, half at mine and the other half here.”
“We’re heading out.” Dani sounded spooked and Tariq was clearly not trying to get on her radar. They hurried out, shutting the door behind them, and then it was just us.
I didn’t dare make a move to touch her. I didn’t dare try and explain. I was paralyzed under her scrutiny.
“So you broke up with me and blew up your job.”
She looked hurt and I wanted to hide from the knowledge that I’d put it there. “I don’t need a hero, Rocco.”
She came closer and I moved to meet her, then remembered I had no right to touch. My nose flared as I took in her scent, that faint smell of the coconut-and-lemon lotion she used.
“Why did you do it, Rocco? I want to hear you say it, because even though these past couple of days have been terrible, I know you’re not cruel.”
At that moment we heard a high-pitched meow coming from the bedroom, and we both turned to look at Pulga, who was now almost twice the size she’d been at Thanksgiving. She came straight up to Julia and started demanding attention.
Her serious face softened and she kneeled down to pet the kitten. “Hey, baby girl. I missed you.” For all that Julia talked about hating my cat,