Seven

Desi did her best to avoid Dex, but it became tricky when she arrived at the bar to see Grey. She did cast the younger sister a sideways glance as she walked by, though. Des shook her head and went back to her book. Things would be awkward between them for a few days, maybe a week, but they'd eventually return to normal. It had to do with guilt. Whenever one of them did something, even if they were in the right, it tended to mix heavily with guilt, which it turn made them cold to whoever was involved.

Just further proof that they were too much alike.

"Hey, Desi," Ansel said, drawing her attention away from the fantasy novel she'd been reading. He clutched his soccer ball. "Can I go kick the ball?"

She tensed. "Um, is there anywhere for you to do that?"

"Yeah," he nodded and pointed behind him toward the back door. "Grey lets me do it in the alley."

She thought over his proposition for a moment. While Ansel didn't lie often, he had been known to stretch the truth. On the other hand, she could see Grey telling the young man that the alley would be a safe place to indulge his soccer habit.

"Yeah, sure, bud." She nodded. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Okay,"

With a smile, he dashed off to spend the next hour or so kicking his soccer ball against the exterior wall of the building. Des went back to her book and tried to ignore the strange nagging sensation that continued to claw at the back of her mind.

Days went by and Desi continued to avoid Dex. In fact, it'd been four days since she'd spoken to her sister and nearly as long since she'd seen her outside of Bad Alibi. Through Ansel, she knew her sister was working with some P.I., a guy named Artie. Des didn't even realize people were still named Artie.

She'd moved the last of her things out of the house the day before and sat in her Blazer trying to figure out where she would stay when her phone went off. It'd been Ansel and he was worried about Dex. He said she seemed depressed, really, really sad. When she asked why, he said it had to do with her case, that the lady she was supposed to help lost her baby. Des didn't want to be rude when she asked him what she was supposed to do about it, but it might have come across that way, regardless.

"You're our sister," he said. "Come make her happy. Please."

It'd been the please that made her go back to the house to check on Dex. If it weren't for Ansel, she'd have let her older sister wallow in private.

Des knocked on the door and waited a moment before it opened. Dex eyed her, brows pulled tightly together.

"What are you doing here?"

Desi lifted her arm revealing the six pack she'd bought on the way over. Dex's brows rose in surprise.

"Come on in," she said as she stepped aside.

Des did and entered the living room where she took a seat, removed a beer for her and her sister.

"Ansel call you?" Dex asked as she sat down, taking the beer she'd been offered.

"Yup," she replied. They twisted the tops off and tossed them onto the coffee table. "So, you gonna tell me what happened?"

To her surprise, Dex proceeded to do just that, though Desi knew it had been the abridged version. Every story Dex told was the abridged version.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." She leaned against the arm of the couch. "I promised this girl I could help her keep her kid and now…" Her words fell away and she shook her head.

"You know exactly what you're going to do," Desi said. Dex glanced at her.

"Wanna fill me in on that?"

"You're going to do what any Parios would do," she said as though it should have been obvious. Dex shrugged. "Fight dirty. It's what we're good at."

Dex smiled softly. "Yeah, you're not wrong there."

As they sat together, comfortable for the first time in days, Ansel entered the room. He stood near the threshold, hands clasped as he looked them over.

"Hey, bud," Dex said. "What's up?"

"Are you guys friends again?" he asked, looking from one sister to the other.

Desi's stomach sank and when Dex looked to her, she knew the eldest Parios felt the same.

"Yeah, buddy," Dex said. "We're friends. We always were."

"Does that mean Desi's comin' home?" he asked as he approached the pair and sat between them.

The two shared another glance over his head. Des could see how conflicted her sister was, how she struggled between agreeing with Ansel and flat-out refusing. Desi decided to speak up.

"Not just yet, man," she said, drawing his eye. "Besides, I'm not used to her snoring anymore." Dex's face fell while Ansel smiled wide. "I mean, Jesus. It's like a Mac truck every night."

"Hey, I don't snore."

"Yeah, ya do." Ansel chuckled.

Dex scoffed. She seemed to struggle to find something to say, but couldn't.

"I can't believe you're ganging up on me with her. Unbelievable," Dex finally said. Ansel simply shrugged.

A knock at the door brought them out of the moment again. Dex made the comment that she hoped it was another sister with more beer, someone she might get along with better, but it wasn't. Artie had come for a visit. As much as she didn't want to, Desi took Ansel upstairs and left the two PIs alone.

That night, when the crowds had dispersed, Dex had taken Ansel home, and the other employees had gone, Desi made a final pass throughout the bar. She glanced over tables and under them, ensuring anything big had been swept up or wiped away. She was exhausted as she went to the office and found it empty. Des knew Grey hadn't left, especially not at half past two in the morning, so she decided to check upstairs.

She knocked on his door, internally praying that he hadn't fallen asleep. She was grateful when the door opened.

"Hey, Des. What's up?" he asked in a heavy voice.

"You okay?"

He looked more than tired, as though something else weighed him down. It bothered her to see.

"Yeah, no." He waved dismissively at her and shook his head before plastering a smile across his lips. "I'm fine. Did uh… did you need something?"

She didn't like the way he was acting. It seemed off, wrong.

"Um, yeah. I just wanted to tell you I'm heading out."

"Right," he nodded. "I'll walk you out, lock up."

They descended to the main floor together, all the while that nagging feeling that had bothered Des throughout the day grew more and more intense. By the time they reached the front doors, it had caused the skin on the back of her neck to prickle.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He said as he held open the interior door.

Des nearly stepped through it, but paused before she had. She turned to him. "You sure you're okay?"

As before, Grey plastered another fake smile across his lips. She might not have known him well, but she could tell it was bullshit.

"Of course."

He had a terrible poker face and a tell that was easy to spot. Every time Grey began to lie, he stood with his legs wide apart and pressed a closed fist into his other hand. It was meant to look casual, but all it did was scream anxiety to Des. He did it as he smiled at her.

She looked him over and could practically see his nerves vibrating, but what stood out the most and drew her attention away from his anxious behavior had been his eye. In the dim lights of the bar, the bruise looked so much worse than it had before.

In the days since Kyle had punched him, the majority of the bruise had faded. All that remained had been a semi-circle of purple that followed the line of his eye, but at night it seemed so much darker. She scowled.

"Jesus," she mumbled. "That thing looks terrible."

He seemed confused until he realized what she meant. Grey chuckled. "Yeah, I guess. It's almost gone, though."

She reached forward and gently touched his face. She ran her thumb across the injury. His entire demeanor changed when she did. Suddenly relaxed, Grey dropped his hands and slumped a bit in place, his back no longer painfully straight.

"It still hurt?"

"Nah," he said. "Just sometimes."

"Maybe it just needs another kiss, hm?" She'd meant it to be a joke and even chuckled a bit when she spoke, but Grey's expression hadn't changed.

Desi's smile faded as his dark eyes danced across her features. A strange look overtook them, half something she recognized and half something else.

"Okay," he said.

There was a strange assertion to the word. He sounded as though, yes, she needed to do it. As though it were a non-commanding command.

"Okay," she muttered. Adjusting her hold to his cheek, Des stepped forward. She never had the chance to kiss the bruise, however.

Grey's lips descended on hers seconds before she would have kissed the bruise. She'd been taken aback by the action, but not so much that she couldn't reciprocate. With a sigh, Des formed against Grey, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding him close as the kiss deepened.

A surprising level of passion filled the moment, enough so that she'd been a bit lightheaded when they parted. Grey had been slow to back away, but gradually did, offering a brief nip of her bottom lip when he had.

They unfurled themselves, Desi sure to keep a foot or better between them. She was flush, but did her best to appear otherwise.

Grey chewed on his bottom lip, staring back at her as though nothing had happened. That strange heaviness returned to his expression.

"What was that for?" she asked.

Wiping his hand down his face, Grey tugged on his beard briefly. He cleared his throat and stepped back.

"Night, Des," he said.

There could be no denying the assertion in his words. He wanted her to go so, with no good excuse to remain, Desi nodded.

"Yeah, night."

She turned and left. The doors latched behind her seconds later.

On the way back to her truck, she couldn't help but take inventory over what'd just happened. Something was wrong, very wrong, and she wished to hell she knew enough to offer help.

A loud knock woke her from her sleep. Des had reacted violently, jolting awake so fast that she slammed the top of her foot against the door handle.

"Ow, shit," she hissed, rolling over and nearly tumbling into the floorboards.

The knock came again, forcing her to remember that she'd been interrupted. Des sat up and spotted a very confused older sister standing just beyond the glass. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled down the window.

"What?" she grumbled.

"Did you sleep in your car last night?" Dex asked with an unmistakable tone of judgment. "In the Alibi parking lot?"

"Looks it," she replied. When the fog had been cleared from her eyes, she peered at her sister and noticed Dex's clothes. "You look like an insurance agent."

Dex's expression fell. "You look like a hobo."

She shrugged. Her sister wasn't wrong.

"Where's Grey?"

"I don't know," she said, shoving open the door and forcing Dex out of the way to do so. "Inside?"

"No, he's not. Didn't you see him leave?"

"No." She stretched. Her back cracked in response. "Everything okay?"

"I guess," Dex sighed. "He said he's going to be in Houston for a couple of days."

"That why you're here?"

"Yeah. You working today?"

"Not until later. Why?"

Dex met her gaze and forced an awkward smile, one that Des knew the meaning behind without bothering to ask. Her shoulders slumped.

"Seriously?" she groaned.

"You really want me making these people drinks?"

"God, no." Des grimaced. "Christ, the only drink you can make is a beer in the glass special."

Dex mumbled something, but it wasn't protest.

"Um, just let me get ready, I guess. Brush my teeth and shit."

"Yeah, okay." Dex didn't bother waiting before she made her way back inside the building. Desi arched a brow. Something was happening today, something that had her sister's panties in a bunch.

Des spent the majority of the day in her own little world and happy for it. When she worked, she didn't tend to pay attention to anything beyond the tip of her nose. It helped the time move faster and kept her focused. She'd always had a problem with a wandering brain. Sometimes she thought she had undiagnosed ADHD. It would explain a lot.

"Hey, Des." Dex's frantic tone caught her attention, slicing through the haze she'd been in while mixing a set of drinks for a table.

"Yeah?" she asked, glancing up as she shook the martini shaker with all her might. Dex's face did little to hide her worry. "Shit, what's wrong?"

Des set everything aside and focused solely on her sister. Rarely did Dex let anything reach the surface and when it did, it tended to be bad.

"I need your keys." She held out her hand.

"Why?"

"The Mustang won't start." She curled her fingers in that hand 'em over way.

"The hell's wrong? You're freaking me out."

"Nothing, okay? I just need to pick up Ansel, so give me your damn keys."

Something didn't feel right and there was no way in hell she was going to give Dex the keys without knowing more.

"Hey, Mark!" Des flagged down another bartender. She quickly poured the drinks into the chilled glasses as he approached. "Do me a favor and take these to Four for me, okay? I have to get my brother."

"Yes, sure."

He took the tray and left. Des tugged off her apron as she stepped around the bar.

"No, I don't… just give me your keys," Dex said.

Desi leveled her gaze on her older sister. "Something's wrong," she said pointedly. "Grey's been acting weird, you're acting weird, and I'm not just going to let you go with my truck, okay?"

"When'd you talk to Grey?"

"Last night. Is this the same thing?"

"I…" Her words fell away. "Just, come on. I'll explain on the way."

Des dug into her pocket and alongside her sister, jogged to her Blazer, all the while Dex filled her in on what was happening.

"So," Des said as she neared the diner. "Grey's actually a bank robber. Like, a real-life bank robber."

"Yup," she replied. "Turn in right here." Dex pointed to an entrance. "I want to get a look."

Des did as she was told and pulled into the parking lot, sure to pass by the large wall of windows that allowed them to see inside. She crept along, all the while looking for Ansel, who she found with the bald guy. She remembered him. He'd been at the bar all day ordering the most ridiculous Bloody Mary she'd ever made. Desi's blood began to boil.

"Pull around over there," Dex said, pointing to an area near the back. Des obliged and put the truck into park. "Stay here. I'm going to go get Ansel."

She grab Dex's arm before she could leave the truck. "Dude, I can-"

"Stay here," she said firmly. "Wait for Ansel, then take him immediately to the bar. Do you hear me?"

Desi chewed on the inside of her cheek and reluctantly nodded. Dex had used her 'mom' voice, so she knew it was serious.

With a sharp nod, Dex left the truck and headed for the back of the diner, not hesitating to slip inside.

"What –the actual- fuck?"

"Hey, buddy." Dex kept her smile as she slid into the booth. Before Baldy could say a word, she pressed the tip of the butcher's knife into his thigh.

"Hi, Dex," he replied. "I was supposed to get cilantro."

"I know, what happened?" She kept her tone light and casual.

"He said Grey was going to meet us," Ansel said.

"Okay, well, how about you go wait in the car while I have a talk with our friend here, hmm? Desi is parked right around back."

Ansel looked from his sister to the stranger and back again. Dex kept her smile, but knew Ansel suspected something. He was an annoyingly smart kid.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, buddy, of course."

"Love you," he said as he stood.

"Love you, too."

Dex watched as he walked through the front door and along the sidewalk to the back where Desi had parked. The moment her brother was out of sight, she turned her attention to the guy with the knife in his balls.

"Okay, asshole. We're going to have a little chat."

Des leaned over and unlocked the door. Ansel hopped up into the passenger's side seat an instant later.

"Where's Dex?" she asked, noticing that their sister was nowhere to be seen.

"Talking to the man."

Des turned her eye on him, nerves tensing. "What man?" she asked, doing her best to keep the worry from her voice.

"He said he's Grey's friend, that we were going to meet him here, but Grey never showed up," he said. "She's inside talking to him."

Des knew without a shadow of doubt that whoever Dex was talking to was one of the assholes Grey warned her about. She peered through the cracked windshield and at the back door where Dex had slipped into the dinner. There was no sign of her.

"Okay, bud." Des undid her seatbelt. "I'm going to go grab Dex."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course it is," she said with a smile. "But we need to get that cilantro and we can't leave the bar alone for too long, right?"

"Right."

With a nod, Des told him to stay put and that she'd be right back. Hopping out of the truck, she headed for the backdoor when the dishwasher wasn't looking and saw something that horrified her. The bald guy, the one with the stupid-specific Bloody Mary preference, was in the middle of choking Dex.

"Get off my sister, asshole!"

Desi leapt onto the bald guy's back and immediately put him in a headlock. He let go of Dex and twisted from side to side in an attempt to dislodge the psycho. He grabbed her arms, yanking as hard as he could to get her off, but Dex was right there. She landed one punch to the guy's gut after another in a flurry of movement and the small kitchen suffered for it immensely.

But as the seconds ticked by, the bald guy slowed and eventually, finally, he crumbled. He fell backward onto Desi, which made it a little hard for her to breathe. She groaned, the incredible weight focused almost exclusively on her chest.

Dex hovered over them, her legs on either side of the guy's hips, panting from the exertion.

"He's out, Des. He's out," she said, patting Desi's arms.

Des let go. "Get this asshole off of me."

Hooking her arms under him, Dex shoved her weight against Baldy while Desi shoved. Together, they managed to roll him off of her. The ability to breathe unobstructed had never been so wonderful.

"Come on," Dex said, offering her hand. Des accepted and was hoisted to her feet.

The two young women panted from the fight, each of them likely sore as a result of being tossed around like ragdolls.

"You use the headlock I taught you?" Dex asked.

"Hell yeah."

Dex held up her hand, "Right on."

The pair high-fived.

"Okay, so," Dex looked around and spotted a roll of cling-film set up to the side where they'd wrap the food at the end of the night. "Let's deal with this piece of shit."