I held my breath.
“Seriously?” I said when I let it out.
“I’m not gonna try to read your mind when there’s something you want. Just tell me and I’ll get it for you.”
Well, hell. That made things easy for him.
He didn’t have to ask clever questions, do any detective work, put any effort into it at all if I just told him what I wanted.
I decided to change the subject because that one very well might tick me off.
“What was Eddie so hot to see you about this morning?” I asked.
Lee rolled onto his back and I snuggled into his side, my cheek on his shoulder.
“Darius has some trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“The kind Eddie can’t get involved with. He’s got some pressure from the Department about Darius, they don’t like the relationship and they want Darius out of commission.”
“Eddie won’t do it?”
“Eddie’s a Mexican-American, family is all important. He thinks of Darius and me as brothers. It’s one of the reasons why he and I survived both of us being in love with you. Eddie would never take Darius down.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist.
“What happened to Darius?” I asked.
“After his father was killed, the life insurance covered funeral expenses and some bills. Not enough money comin’ in, standard of living crashed. All of a sudden, Darius and his Mom were responsible for a house and Darius’s three younger sisters. It was hard, he was young. Darius was offered an easier path and he took it. No one would have guessed he’d make that choice but after what happened to his father, Darius was one seriously pissed off black man. He was lookin’ for trouble and found it.”
“Can he get out?”
“Easier to get in than out, but yeah. Anyone can do anything if they want it bad enough.”
“Does he need help?”
Lee’s fingers had been drawing randomly on my back but they stopped, his arm came around me and his other hand tilted my chin to look at him.
“Do not try to save Darius,” he said.
I made a huffy sound then told him, “That sounded like an order.”
“The brothers are not fond of women messin’ in their affairs. Especially white women. This includes Darius. The guy you knew in high school is gone.” His voice got kind of scary.
“All right,” I gave in. “You don’t have to get all freaky about it.”
He let go of my chin and I snuggled into him again.
“I’m beginnin’ to feel my mother’s pain. I just have you to worry about and it’s doin’ my head in. She had all four of us,” Lee said.
“You’re a big, tough, badass dude. You’ll survive,” I told him.
He rolled into me and ran his mouth down my jaw to my ear. “Your job is to make it worthwhile.”
I had a feeling I could do that.
Chapter Twenty-Four