Did he really think that was going to work?
Lee kept talking. “Obviously you heard our conversation. I know where Eddie stands, Eddie knows where I stand. If things are good between you and me, Eddie won’t be a threat. They start to go bad, Eddie’s movin’ in.”
“I got that part,” I said.
“I don’t intend for things to go bad but that doesn’t mean that Eddie isn’t gonna give you hints at what you might be missin’.”
Holy crap.
Lee continued. “So I want to be there when you’re with him because I’m the jealous-possessive type. That’s just the way it is and now you know how I feel. If you see him when I’m not there, then it’s down to you. Okay?”
“So, you aren’t telling me what to do, you’re telling me what you want.”
“If I wanted a woman who did what she was told, I wouldn’t be with you.”
I didn’t know any women who did what they were told, but I suspected they were out there. I just didn’t hang with them because that definitely wasn’t my scene.
“If it’s just you sharing your feelings, perhaps you can voice it less like an order,” I suggested.
“I’m used to giving orders and if it sounds like one then there’s always a chance you’ll obey.”
I gave him a look.
He gave me The Smile.
Marianne walked up and our conversation ended. While Marianne and I chatted and finished our drinks, Lee stood close behind me and nursed his Fat Tire. So close, I got comfy and rested my back against his front. Every once in awhile Marianne would take us both in and sigh.
When we were done, Lee and I walked Marianne to her car, I hugged her good-bye on the sidewalk and Lee and I watched her drive away. We went back to the front of The Hornet where Lee was parked, at the curb almost directly outside the front doors.
“How do you get these parking spots?” I asked when Lee opened the door for me.
“Luck,” he answered.
Bullshit. Luck. It was one of Lee’s “ways”.
We were coming away from the curb when his cell rang. He answered it as he was cutting across the four lanes of Broadway so he could make the turn right to my house.
“What?” he said into the phone and then barked out a clipped, “Details.”
Before he was done listening, he moved back into traffic. He flipped the phone shut and slid it in the console.
“I thought it’d be a quiet night. I need a quiet night,” he muttered to the windscreen, not talking to me.
“What are we doing?” I asked.
“We aren’t doin’ anything. I’ve got something to do. You’re waitin’ in the car.”
“Lee, that sounded like an order.”
“That was an order.”
Hmm.
Lee explained, “Luke was scheduled on call tonight but since he’s in the hospital, we’re a man down. I thought it’d be a quiet night, only one skip who can wait and most of the boys have been doubling up, working cases and doing stuff for you. All of your shit is either dead, behind bars or been offered employment at Fortnum’s. An informant’s called Ike whose manning the surveillance room. The skip has turned up. Bobby and Vance are on call but instead of at the office, I let them go home. Vance lives in a cabin outside Golden. I’m closest. Bobby’s comin’ as back up. He’s five minutes behind.”
“How do they know you’re closest?”
“All company vehicles have a tracking device, the Crossfire and your VW have one too.”