Then he tore something from me.Something that had beenfixed to me.Something I didn’t ask for.Something I didn’t deserve.SomethingI didn’t want.
Something I didn’t know how to get rid of that was so heavy,it was a miracle it hadn’t crushed me.
And the only reason it hadn’t crushed me was that I had helpkeeping it buoyed up with an apartment full of daisies.
He did that by stating, “If you think your lip gloss isimportant, it is.You were correct.You have every right in every way ineverything to do what you wish to do, go where you wish to go, be what you wishto be.No one has the right to take that away.It isn’t the lip gloss.It isn’tthe man at Smithie’s who left his post.It’s the fact an animal was loose thatnight.A monster.And he caught you in the dark.No one is to blame but him.Noone should shoulder that but him.And no one will.But him.”
I stood staring at Marcus, breathing heavily, having had toput my hand up and hold on to the edge of the door while his words sheared aburden the size of a mountain from me.
“Do you understand that, darling?”he asked.
I nodded.
“Good,” he said.“Tonight, Daisy, seven.And if you needanything before then, you know how to contact me or just come down to my manwatching your apartment and ask.I don’t give a fuck you’re about out ofcoffee.He’ll send someone to get it for you.”
Oh.
My.
Lord.
“Now do you understand that?”he pressed, and that questionwas important.More important than it seemed.So important, my answer was goingto change my life.
I knew it.I knew it better than I knew the best ways to ratmy hair to give it maximum volume.
And in that moment, I had no choice in the answer I gave.
I nodded.
“Good,” he whispered, his blue eyes warming me from six feetaway to the point my toes curled in, I was just that toasty.
Then he was gone.
Chapter Six
Patch of Light
Daisy
“If you’refeelin’ thelove for rock ’n’ roll, tonight at Herman’s Hideaway, hit up a new band that’smade the scene, Stella and The Blue Moon Gypsies.The lead singer has beenrockin’ clubs in Denver for a while.But she’s found hergroove with the Gypsies.Trust me, I caught them as an opening act at theGothic last weekend and they blew the roof off.To get you into the feel, I’llplay a song Stella and her crew kill when they cover it.La Grange,byZZ Top.”
The radio was playing while I was getting ready for Marcusto take me out to dinner.
I was a Southern girl, which meant I was a country girl.Icould kick back to the sound of Patsy, Loretta, Barbara, Tammy, Emmylou,Shania, Wynonna, Trisha, Reba, and the best of all time, Dolly.
But there were times in my life when I had to switch tosomething else with deep Southern roots.
That’s when I hit up my rock ’n’ roll.
And in my getup, it was a rock ’n’ roll night sure ascertain.
Obviously, I’d decided to go out with Marcus.
He wanted to convince me we were meant to be together, he’dbeen kind enough to me he’d earned that shot.
But he was going to know what he was getting.
To this end, I was wearing my leopard print (or one ofthem).A skintight mini-dress that only went down tothere.The backwas scooped all the way out and the front was scooped to maximum cleavagepotential (and with the maximums of my cleavage, this might be awe-inspiring tosome; heck, it was my cleavage and it was still that to me).
