For Kartia! Here you go hun, thanks for your comments!!
Let me know what you think!
Chapter 18I came around and my first thought was that Ric really was a god in bed if he could make me faint this much. Then I remembered that it definitely wasn't Ric that had made me faint.
I felt bile rise in my throat and I pushed myself up so I could throw up in the sink. Gentle hands pulled my still damp hair out of my face. I twisted slightly and relaxed when I realised it was Bear.
'It's all right Angel.' Said Bear softly. I looked at him and nodded, not surprised he could talk – he just hadn't wanted to before.
The queasiness in my stomach didn't pass and I felt the urge to retch rise once more. I hunched back over the sink and vomited again.
Bear's hands stroked my back soothingly, 'Ric's on his way, Angel.' I managed to nod but then I staggered away from the sink, to my bathroom. I needed to brush my teeth and to…well to be honest I just had to get away from that god-awful smell.
I should go to church more often, maybe then these things wouldn't happen to me. Who was I kidding? These things always happened to me. I attracted shit like this like honey attracts bees, or maybe the more realistic comparison is that of moths and flames. I was the moth and these occurrences were the flames. I just hoped I wasn't going to get burnt. I sighed heavily – I needed Ric. I really really needed him, I was going to burst into tears any second and I wanted his arms around me when I did.
I stepped back into the living room and sat down on my couch. I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged my knees. Bear sat down next to me and put a comforting arm round my shoulder.
I could hear the wail of the police sirens drawing nearer. Where was Ric?
The door burst open and Bear leapt up, gun in hand, ready to shoot. He lowered his hand and put the gun away as he realised it was Ric and Tank.
Ric ran across to me, all pretence of being calm and collected gone. He reached my side and wrapped his arms around me. He held me like that for a minute or so whilst I chanted in my head don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Rico pulled back slightly, looked me in the eyes and asked me, 'are you ok Baby?' if it was anyone else, anyone else, I would have muttered something along the lines of 'yeah, peachy.' But it was Ric, and I couldn't lie to him.
'No.' I managed to say, and then I burst into tears.
He tightened his grip on me and pulled me into his lap, rocking me gently back and forth whilst he whispered what I supposed were reassurances in Spanish. I pushed my head into his shoulder and his hand gently stroked my hair, all the while murmuring softly that I was going to be ok.
My full body sobs gradually subsided into quietly crying and I became vaguely aware that the cops had arrived at some point. Wonder who won the pool. I hope it was Eddie, his wife Sheila's birthday is coming up and I know she wants to go away for a romantic weekend.
I heard one of the cops throw up and felt a bit better about me vomiting. I figure if the tough ass cops can be sick, then so can the tough ass bounty hunter.
'I need to ask you a few questions Cupcake, that ok?'
'Can't it wait Morelli?' asked Ric.
'No,' I said, 'it's ok.' I looked up from Ric's shoulder and repositioned myself on him so that I could see Joe. His nose had one of those weird nose things that you get when you break it. Wonder who did that…Oh. Me. Oops.
'Sorry about your nose. I was mad.' Understatement of the century.
Joe smiled at me slightly and touched his nose ruefully, 'yeah. I got that. I deserved it. I was being an asshole. I didn't want you to have moved on, you know? I'm sorry.'
I nodded, I understood.
'Sorry to you as well Manoso, and to your men. I honestly didn't mean it, I was just jealous…and hurt.'
Ric glanced down at me a second before replying, 'don't worry about it, Joe. If I'd lost her, I would've been an asshole too.'
'Thanks.' Said Joe; clearly surprised that Ric had called him Joe as opposed to his usual 'Morelli'. I was too; I'd question Ric about it later.
'Right, now we've cleared that up, we'd better get back to the questions, ok Cupcake?' Joe asked, and I nodded.
Joe got out his notepad and pen, and then he asked, 'how did you find the severed head?'
The questions lasted nearly three hours and I promised to drop by the station to sign my statement sometime tomorrow. By then the forensics team were everywhere. It probably wouldn't take very long to identify the head. The teeth were intact, apparently, and so dental records could be used.
I didn't recognise the head, and to be honest I was trying real hard not to think about why someone would put a head in my oven. Probably it was an accident. Probably the killers meant to put the head in apartment 3C as a present for 70 yr old Mr Kline. Or maybe it was a wax head and the smell was sprayed on or something, eau de death. The Queen of denial was in full swing.
'Will you come and stay in the compound for a while Babe? You don't necessarily have to stay in my room, you can stay in the spare room if you want.'
'Oh.' I managed to say in a tiny voice, but my brain was screaming 'he doesn't want me to stay in his room!' Closely followed by, 'Why doesn't he want me to stay in his room?' I wanted to burst into tears again.
Ric twisted me around so he could see my face.
'Oh God Baby! Of course I want you to stay with me! I just don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me. I want it to be your choice to be with me, not because you have no other option! You can stay in my room, I'd like nothing better, but only if you want to be there! Oh Baby! Don't cry, please don't cry. I'm sorry.'
Don't cry? What was he talking about? Oh, possibly the tears running down my face. Jeez, talk about emotional overload. I buried my head in his shoulder again and gradually I calmed down whilst he whispered, 'lo siento Bebe, te amo siempre mia Querida, lo siento.' (Translation: I'm sorry Baby, I love you always my beloved, I'm sorry.)Even though I didn't understand what he was saying it calmed me down.
'Can we take Rex?' I asked.
'Of course. He can stay in our living room on the table by the sleepy place.'
'Sleepy place?'
'Oh,' he said, sounding a little bit embarrassed, 'the area with pillows and stuff, it's what Alysha calls it. Sometimes when she visits I read her stories there before she goes to bed, but she always falls asleep before the end of the story and I have to carry her to bed. Christ, I'm babbling.'
'Yeah,' I said with a smile, 'but I love it!'
'I love you,' Ric countered.
'I love you more,' I replied, sticking my tongue out.
'Don't think so Babe. One Two Three. Ha! See? I love you more!'
'Only today!'
Jokey Ric disappeared and serious Ric took his place, 'I love you so much Querida, I'm sorry I made you cry.'
'I was kinda emotional Ric, not sure you can take all the blame for that one, severed heads tends to make a girl weepy.' Ric's lips curved up in a slow smile and then he leaned forward and kissed me.
Really, truly kissed me. It was somewhere between Panther-I'm-going-to-fuck-your-brains-out and I-love-you-more-than-anything. It was a heady mix and I had to restrain the urge to rip off his clothes and give him a reason to sing the hallelujah chorus.
We reluctantly pulled apart and Ric rested his forehead on mine whilst we tried to get our breathing back to normal.
'Come on Babe. To the batcave.'
He grabbed my duffel bag in one hand and my hand with the other. Bear picked up Rex's cage and Rex supplies. We climbed into Bear's hummer, whilst Tank set off in the Mercedes, muttering about needing to see his woman.
Ric and I sat in the back whilst Bear drove. Ric wrapped his arms around me again and I leaned back against him, feeling safe. We reached the compound in record time. I angled out of the car and hugged Bear.
'Thanks for being there.' I said simply.
He hugged me tightly, 'Anytime Angel.'
Ric's expression was dumbstruck. Bear shot him an amused glance and ambled off.
'He spoke to you!'
'Yeah, so? He must have spoken to you to tell you about the head.'
'No Babe. He pressed the panic button, which automatically sends a signal to the comms room and the emergency services.'
'Oh. Well Bear can talk, it's just he doesn't want to sometimes. Probably he didn't phone for you because the panic button was quicker and more efficient, and also he was trying to comfort me, and wake me up.'
'Wake you up?'
'I fainted.'
'Oh. You ok?'
'Fine.' Ric looked in my eyes for a minute then nodded.
'You want something to eat?'
'Yeah, but nothing to fancy ok? Not sure my tummy could cope.'
We went up to Ric's living room and he cooked for us in his kitchen. He cooked chicken, and tomato, and sweetcorn, and onion, and cheese, and peppers, and added it to pasta. It was delicious. And it really hadn't looked hard to do; maybe I could learn to cook it one day. I'd think about it later, which reminded me… 'How come you called Joe, Joe? Not Morelli?'
'He's a friend of yours.'
'He was a friend before.'
'Yeah. But he was competition before too.'
'Oh. So you don't feel threatened by him anymore?'
'Do you love him?'
'Yeah, but as a friend.'
'Do you love me?'
'You know I do!'
'As a friend?'
'Well, yeah but as a lover as well.'
Ric smiled at me, 'that's why I can call him Joe.'
'Oh.' I smiled too, and then I leaned forward and kissed him. He made an appreciative noise low in his throat and I pushed my body against his.
His cell rang. I hate technology.
Ric sighed. 'Yo?' he answered, sounding pissed.
'What? Yeah, ok.' He hung up. 'I have to go to my spare office; some information has just come in on the case I'm working with the Feds. I need to go through it. I shouldn't be too long though. You can make yourself at home here, or you can go to the playroom. I had security add your thumbprints to the database, so you can get in any room in the compound, ok?'
I nodded; he gave me a swift kiss and was gone. I unpacked my things from my duffel bag and checked in on Rex. I questioned Rex about the head but he didn't answer, go figure.
After 15 minutes, I decided to try and navigate to the playroom. I made it there with surprising ease. Lester, Bobby, Nick and Danny were watching a movie. I settled in with them. I watched for ten minutes before getting up and bolting out the room. I ran as fast as I could to the Kitchens so that I could noisily throw up all my yummy food.
A minute later, Ric was there. 'All right Baby?' I nodded. 'If my food was that bad you didn't have to eat it!' Ric said with a slight smile.
'The food was amazing and you know it! I just saw something.'
'What?'
'Never mind.' I didn't want Ric to think I was pathetic.
Ric gave me a long look, 'ok.' He said finally. 'I'm nearly done. How about you go back to our room and I'll meet you up there in a few minutes?'
'Sounds good.' I said and went back to wait for Ric, and to brush my teeth again.
Ric watched her walk away with a frown. Something had bothered his Babe, and he was pretty sure it was something from the playroom, which meant one of the boys had upset her. His frown deepened, and he headed to the playroom.
'What upset Steph?'
'I don't know man!' Lester said, 'Honest. One minute she was ok and the next she was running out the room.' The other men agreed.
Ric opened his mouth to question them further when something on the TV screen caught his eye, 'well shit.' Ric said. 'I'm surrounded by morons.'
