All of Me (7 page)

Christopher reared
back, eyes wide.  After taking a few seconds to recover from that low-blow
threat, he turned a little in his seat and stared straight at Stella.  He
plastered on a fake smile.  “Okay, here you go.  I’m talking to you, you
psychotic little
dago
.”

Stella laughed louder
than necessary and leaned in closer.  “Those cops from the other night are here. 
And one of them winked at me.”

Christopher eyed her. 
“And?  So?”  He started scanning the restaurant.  “Those cops were delicious…”

Stella rolled her
eyes.  “I don’t want any male attention.  And I especially don’t want it from a
cop.” 

Christopher must have
spotted the dynamic duo because he growled in the back of his throat.  “I can’t
see the other one, but stud muffin #1 is
beautiful
.”

Stella tugged on his
shirt sleeve until Christopher met her eyes.  “Focus!  Please!  You know why
I’m not looking for anything, so stop panting and be my friend!”

Christopher rolled his
eyes, but leaned in to make it appear they were deep in conversation. 
“Alright.  Fine.  But Ryan was like a year ago.  It might be time to think
about moving on, honey.”  Christopher patted her hand and added, “Just
sayin’.” 

Even hearing his name
was like a punch to the stomach, face, and kidneys all at once. 

You’re supposed to
be over it.  What is your problem?  Why can’t you get over things like other
people do?  Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Stella’s face always
betrayed exactly what she was feeling and this time was no exception. 

“Aw, Stella, I’m
sorry.”  Christopher nestled up closer to Stella and folded his hands in his
lap.  “Okay, use me as you will.  Should we start making out?  Wanna give me a
frencher for full effect?”

Stella laughed for real
and gave Christopher a good shove.  “Go back to your conversation with
Stellan.  I’m sure I’m making too big of a deal out of this.  I’m sure it’ll be
fine.”

Christopher didn’t need
to be told twice.  He whipped back around to face Stellan so fast Stella felt a
whoosh
of air on her face.

She turned back to Kat,
only to find her studying her intensely.  “What?”

“You’re all freaked
out.  More than usual.”  Kat’s hazel eyes narrowed.  “What’s up with you?”

Thank God the waitress
arrived at that moment, the entrees they’d ordered in hand.

Stella never forgot
about them, but she managed to put her self-consciousness aside for long enough
to scarf down her eggplant parm and order a slice of tiramisu.  There was a lot
of joking, laughing, and flirting (well, between Stellan and Christopher
anyway), and Stella was having a good time despite herself. 

Until the dynamic duo
stood up and The Other One turned around and met her eyes.

If Christopher thought
the blonde officer was beautiful, he should have torn his attention away from
Stellan long enough to take a gander at Drazek.  Damn it, the guy was sexy as
hell.  Despite the fact that he looked like he was throwing up in his mouth as
he trailed behind The Other One toward Stella’s table.

Chapter
Six

“Hey, it’s the first
time we’ve seen you when you weren’t brawling,” Danny called out as he
sauntered up to the table. 

The gypsy, Stella, gave
him a small smile and arched a dark brow.  She glanced down at her watch. “The
night is still young, right?  Always time.” 

Her gaze moved to
Nathan and he felt
it
again:  those weird, powerful, uncomfortable
sensations.  His scalp tingled and his dick jumped and he went light-headed. 

Maybe she wasn’t a gypsy. 
Maybe she was a witch. 

God, I hope she’s a
witch.  Then at least there’s a reasonable explanation..

The woman sitting
across from Stella cleared her throat, breaking the weird silence. 

“Oh, uh, this is my
sister, Kat.”  She pointed at a tall, lanky guy in a skin-tight baby blue tee shirt. 
“This is our friend Stellan…”  Stella placed a hand on a big, burly,
dark-haired guy’s arm.  Nathan recognized him from the hospital the other
night.  “And this is Christopher.  My supervisor…”  Nathan’s lungs ceased
functioning for a second.  “…and friend.”  She tilted her head toward Danny and
Nathan.  “Guys, these are the officers who responded to Eddie’s house the other
night.  And I bumped into them at the hospital a few night’s ago.  Officers
Drazek and…”  She looked at Danny’s nameplate.  “…McDonough.”

She knew my name for
sure.  She had to look at Danny’s.

Nathan wanted to punch
himself in the face for being so pleased.

Danny jammed a thumb
into his chest.  “Danny.”  He gestured over his shoulder to Nathan.  “And
Nathan.  Nice to meet you all.”

“My sisters told me how
compassionate you both were the other night with that situation,” Stella’s
sister said.  She had a short, straight haircut, dark-rimmed glasses, and a
very thin frame.  She was young and attractive, but seemed fragile somehow. 
But her voice was authoritative when she spoke, as if she expected to be
listened to.  She gave them a serious nod.  “Thank you.  My family really
appreciated it.”

Nathan had never been
more grateful that Danny was a shameless shmoozer because he couldn’t have
answered if he’d wanted to.  He did give the woman a tight nod before
continuing his fruitless attempts at
not
being affecting by her sister. 
Who was obviously here with her boyfriend.

“It was nothing.  We
deal with dirtbags like that all the time.”  He gave Stella’s sister a cheesy
smile that seemed to confuse her.  “I’m thinking you won’t be having another
problem with him.”  Danny turned his attention on Stella, leaning into her
space and lowered his voice.  “And if you do, just call me.” 

Nathan’s hands balled
into fists and his teeth ground down hard as Danny did his familiar
whip-out-my-pad-and-pen-and-give-a-woman-my-info act.  It had happened a
thousand times over the past 10 years.  He’d always been embarrassed for Danny,
but he’d never wanted to pull out his Billy club and beat Danny with it. 

But Stella didn’t swoon
or giggle or lick her lips.  In fact, she seemed kind of irritated, which
pleased the hell out of Nathan.  Even though it was probably because Danny was
hitting on her in front of her boyfriend…who seemed weirdly unaware of
everything going on.  He and the other guy were very absorbed in something on
the boyfriend’s phone.

“Uh, that’s okay,” she
said and Danny’s head whipped up in surprise; pen still on the pad.  Stella
smiled stiffly.  “I appreciate the thought, but, uh, I think we’re all set. But
thank you. Anyway.”

Danny – in shock over
his first female rejection probably ever – tried to regain his former swagger. 
He finished writing the info, handed it to Stella’s sister, and put his pad and
paper back into his pocket.  “Well, hang on to it.  You never know when you’re
going to need a cop, right?”

“Our sister is a cop,
so…”  Stella said, eyeing Nathan.

“But that’s okay,”
Stella’s sister interjected.  “Thank you, officers.”  She slipped the number
into her handbag. 

Danny straightened up
and gestured toward the door.  “We’d better get going. Nice to meet you all.” 
Danny zeroed in on Stella.  “And to see you again.  Don’t hesitate to use that
number if you need to.”

Stella nodded and Danny
turned to leave.  But before Nathan followed suit, he made the mistake of
looking at her one more time. 

Their eyes locked.  And
the most annoying, stupid, insanely intense thing happened:  one of those movie
moments, where everything else fades except the two people staring into each
other’s eyes.  It was the most imbecilic thing to ever happen to him, but it
was
happening.  All he could see was her face and all he could hear was the
pounding of his heart in his chest and ears.  The rest went blurry, then black,
until he didn’t remember where he was – or even who he was.  Which was
magnificent in its own right.

“Come on, partner.  A
call just came through.”  Danny’s voice and a shove to his shoulder broke the
spell.  Nathan blinked a few times and dazedly followed Danny out of
Marinelli’s.  He got into the driver’s side of the cruiser and started her up. 
When Danny jumped in, Nathan asked him, “Where to?”

“Nowhere.”  He faced
Nathan and huffed.  “I had to get you out of there, dude.  You looked like you
were about to pass the fuck out.” 

“Wh-“

“Are you or are you not
into that Stella chick?  And do
not
lie to me.”

“No.  Why?”

Danny reared back. 
“Uh, because the two of you just eye-fucked in front of the whole restaurant!”

The word
fucked
jumbled into the same sentence with
the two of you
(when Nathan was one
of the plural you and that particular woman was the other) was enough to turn a
perfectly nice erection into a painful, raging hard-on. 

He shifted uncomfortably. 
“We did not.”  Nathan gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands. 
“She’s very attractive and seems nice, but she’s not my type.” 

“Bullshit!” Danny
pointed back toward the restaurant.  “That chick is everyone’s type!  She’s a
hot little piece of ass and I want you to admit you are into her!”

“Stop calling her a
chick and a piece of ass!” 

“Ah-ha!”  Danny leaned
back against the door and window, shaking his stupid head.  His self-satisfied
smirk was enough to make Nathan’s blood pressure triple.  “You fucking dog. 
“You want her.  Bad.  Why the
hell
didn’t you tell me you were into her,
Nathan?” 

“I’m not into her.  I’m
dating someone.  And, even if I was stupid enough to be into her, she has a
boyfriend.  You met him, remember?  Big, dark dude with the gold chain and
earring?”

Danny scoffed.  “So
what?  You know how many woman I’ve been with who had ‘boyfriends?’ One good
screw and she’ll forget that douchebag’s name.  And don’t even play the Christy
card.  Christy isn’t even on same
planet
as that chick – oh, excuse me –
that
woman
.  Christy can physically have sex because she’s a human and
alive.  That chick
is
sex.  You can tell just by looking her.  That
woman would rock your world.”

“I’m not looking for
anything like that.  I’m not like you, Danny, I don’t need all that crazy
shit.  In fact, it’s the last thing I want.”  Nathan shoved the next sentence
past the grapefruit sized lump in his throat.  “But if you think she’s so
amazing, you should definitely hook up with her.”

And pray to God that
Nathan didn’t strangle him with his bare hands.

“She’s not into me and
we both know it.  She couldn’t take her eyes off of you, D. Seriously.  And
that last look she gave you…” Danny shuddered.  “I’ve never had a chick look at
me like that.  Ever.  It looked like she was staring straight into your soul or
some shit.” 

“Maybe she thought she
recognized me.  Maybe I looked-“

The realization slammed
into his brain like a freight train going 200 miles an hour.

Stella - Maristella, Kat -
Katerina, Nina – Antonina, Fi – Fiorella…and there had been one more
sister…G…Giovanna – Gigi.  The five Ciaramitaro sisters.  Their father owned
C’s.  In the old neighborhood.  Orr at least he had when Nathan lived there
twenty years ago. 

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
.

So that’s why she’d been
staring at him.  She recognized him from the old neighborhood.  And definitely
remembered all of the other stuff that went with it.

Nathan felt sick.  And clammy. 
And he wished he could put his fist through a cinderblock wall. 

See?  You should have known
better.  She’s not into you.  She just remembers your sorry ass, that’s all. 

“What’s up there, bro?” 

Nathan turned to find Danny
studying him.  “Nothing.  I just remembered where I know
her
from.  The
old neighborhood.  The one I lived in before I went into the system.  Their dad
owned a little grocery store.  So, see, that’s why she was staring.  She just
recognizes me from back in the day.”

“Yeah, nice try, but nope. 
That was no ‘hey, I know you’ look, dude.  That was a ‘I have evil plans to
jump into your brain and
fuck you up
, but I’m gonna have some fun along
the way first’ look.”  Danny clucked his tongue, grinning.  “Gonna be one
helluva rough ride there, my man.  Better you than, me, my brother.  Better you
than me.”