Time to stop speaking.
He watched me a beat and then looked at Lee. “We movin’?” he asked Lee.
“Yeah,” Lee said to Vance and his eyes cut to Dawn. “Dawn, thanks for stayin’ late. We’re done for the day.” Then he looked down at Indy and I watched as his face went soft. “Luke’s takin’ you home.”
“Lee, if you want, I can take Indy home,” Dawn said sweetly, the queen of kindness.
Blech.
It was my turn to consider vomiting.
“I got her,” Luke walked forward without sparing Dawn a glance.
Vance let me go and I turned to Indy just as she arrived at me and gave me a big, surprise, hug. I stood in her arms, uncertain what to do for a second then I hugged her back.
“Good luck,” she said when she let me go and then she got close and whispered, “remember, deep down, he’s a great guy.”
I took a breath and nodded.
Before Indy and Luke left, Luke stopped at the door and sliced his eyes to me. “Tomorrow, five thirty, here, you and me. Don’t be late.”
Then he was gone.
I stared at the door. “What did that mean?” I asked Vance.
“You’re training with Luke tomorrow,” Vance told me.
I totally lost any hold on my head-crackin’ mamma jamma and my mouth dropped open. “No I’m not.”
“I were you,” Lee said, coming up to us, “I wouldn’t be late.”
I stared at the both of them.
Fuck.
* * * * *
Vance followed me to my house on his Harley. We parked Hazel in the garage, I jumped on his bike and we met Lee at a bar on Colfax, the same bar I’d seen Darius in a few days before.
We got drinks, Vance a soda, me a diet soda (even though I wanted tequila, I was still going for a clear head) and Lee a beer.
We stood at the bar, me and the badasses, surveying the room and not speaking.
Vance didn’t get touchy and sexy. This was a different Vance. This was badass Vance. He was relaxed but alert and very serious. We weren’t lovers here, we were partners. How he communicated this, I could not tell you, but he did. I knew it, felt it. Anyone in that bar f**ked with me, they f**ked with Vance.
And it was pretty clear no one wanted to f**k with Vance.
Or Lee.
Me, now that was probably another story.
Still, we were given a wide berth.
After about ten minutes, Lee murmured, “Let’s go.”
I had no idea why he said this, if he got some sign but they moved and I followed. We walked to the back of the bar, down a hall and into a room.
In the room were three people. Darius sitting at a round table, a supplier I’d heard of and seen once or twice but didn’t know his name on Darius’s left and on his right a pretty, middle-aged black woman with tawny brown eyes and a huge Afro.