“Vance –” I whispered.
“Save it,” he cut me off. “Tonight. Six thirty.”
Then the tractor beam switched off, his chin lifted, he kissed my forehead and he said, “Wear something nice.”
He let me go but his hand wrapped around mine. The warmth of his hand in mine, the strength I felt there, the intimacy of the gesture took me off guard.
Okay, so we’d necked, groped, laid in my bed (of all places) and talked. I’d held him at gunpoint and he’d beat me at wrestling. Even though this had all passed between us, his holding my hand made a statement that went beyond the cat and mouse game we seemed to be playing since we laid eyes on each other.
I didn’t know if you held hands with a woman you intended to sleep with and then leave which Crowe had a reputation for doing. He saw, he conquered, he left.
Furthermore I had no girlfriends to ask. I didn’t expect this was a topic of conversation that either Zip or Heavy would be delighted to get into with me.
Though, if I were to guess, my answer would be no.
I didn’t know what to do with this and I was struggling to process it when he turned us to the door and in the window to the room that faced the hall we saw several kids (and I could swear May as well) quickly move away. We heard movement and giggling and then nothing.
“God dammit,” I muttered under my breath.
Vance just looked down at me wearing his arrogant, shit-eating grin.
And all of a sudden I had new things to worry about. This made my list include my soon to be f**king by Vance Crowe; everyone at King’s hearing about our make out session; what it meant that Vance held my hand; and the fact that I had absolutely nothing “nice” to wear on our date.
* * * * *
Later that afternoon I cornered Roam and Sniff. Roam was looking at me funny. Sniff was grinning.
“Hey Law,” Sniff said.
I pushed his shoulder and then swung my gaze between the both of them. “I got a favor to ask you two.”
“Anything Law,” Sniff said immediately.
“Depends on what it is,” Roam said cautiously.
I sat down on the arm of the chair that Sniff was sitting in. “You hear anyone talking about going out at night –” I started.
“We ain’t snitchin’,” Roam broke in.
I shook my head. “I don’t want you to snitch. I want you to tell them it’s a bad idea. Talk them out of it. They’ll listen to you.”
“They’d listen to Park,” Sniff put in.
I turned to Sniff. “Now they’ll listen to you.”
Sniff looked like he didn’t believe me and he threw a glance at Roam.
“Like it or not,” I said, “Park left you something. You two have been around longer than most, been on the street longer than most and seen a lot more than most, including finding Park and knowing the Nightingale Boys. You can ignore that, use it the wrong way or use it the right way. I’m asking you to do the right thing. That’s it. Now it’s your choice.”
They both looked at me and didn’t give anything away. I waited for something, anything, but they gave me nothing so I gave up.
“All right, I said my piece.” I got up from the chair, preparing to go but Roam stopped me from leaving.
“Law,” he called.
I looked down at him. He and Sniff exchanged another glance and he hesitated like he didn’t know what to say or didn’t want to say what came next.
“Yeah?” I prompted.