Kiss the Girl (52 page)

“Mary Jane?”  He bent for a better
look at her white, pinched face
.  “Are you all right?”

She didn’t answer.  She simply stared ahead, her eyes wide, fixed and dangerously dilated.  He didn’t think she was even breathing.

“Mary Jane?”  He followed her gaze and said, “Ah.”

Tyrese
Jones stood a dozen feet away, looking like he’d sprung off the pages of GQ or something. 
Erik didn’t know what
drug lords paid their accountants these days
, but
it
must be some serious bank because the guy was turned out in what looked like
custom tailored Armani.  Erik felt a snarl rising to the surface
but he
squashed it. 
Maybe things were rocky between him and Nixie right now, but she’d worked hard for this
night
.  H
e wouldn’t be the one to smear the frosting
with an on-camera fist fight
. 

“What’s he doing here?” Mary Jane whispered, her lips barely moving.

“Nixie must’ve asked him.”

“Why?”  It was one word, but so full of anguish
that
Erik
tightened his
arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him, as if protecting her from a physical threat. 

“She asked a handful of people from the neighborhood to speak tonight. First person testimonials for the clinic or something.  See, there’s Mama Mel
.  A
nd Otto
Lyndale
--
y
ou know, with the huge dog?”

“Yeah.”  Her voice was faint, and Erik didn’t know whether she’d even heard him.  She was still staring at
Tyrese
who was,
God
help them, staring back at her. 

“Hey, look,” Erik said, turning her away from the guy.  “There’s Daryl Johnson.”

Mary Jane blinked and focused.  “Oh my
God
, the flasher?”

“Yeah, Nixie has a thing for him.”

A ghost of the old Mary Jane surfaced in the smile that tried to curve her mouth.  “What kind of thing?”

“Did I never tell you the story of Nixie and the horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day? 
God
, where to start.” 

He drew her hand through his arm and started to stroll casually away from
Tyrese
Jones.  “Well, it was the day after you’d been snatched by the Dog crew and Nixie, being Nixie, was worried
about you
--”

He broke off when Nixie’s advisor materialized in front of them, looking for all the world like a trained bear wearing a tux.  His scalp glistened with perspiration but he didn’t look like he’d been rushing anywhere.  He just stood there, a rock in the middle of a stream, ball gowns flowing past him like water.
  He was everything calm and stoic, except for his eyes.  They burned like
black
flame
and
Erik knew he wasn’t after
casual conversation.
 

“Dr. Larsen,”
Karl
said.  “I’m glad I found you.  Do you have a minute?  There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Erik
glanced down at Mary Jane, who stood in the lee of his arm like a doll.  Pretty, blonde, made of plastic.  “
Sure
,” he said.  “Maybe somewhere quieter?”

“
Certainly
.”

Karl
threaded a path through the crowd with an ease Erik had to admire.  The man didn’t fight for a single step.  He simply watched the flow, analyzed it and joined at a precisely chosen spot.  Within seconds, they’d landed outside a pai
r of secluded French doors.  Karl
opened them with a brisk economy of motion and suddenly, they were all standing in the cool night air, smooth slate stones under their feet, the DC skyline hanging at their backs. 

Karl pulled the doors shut behind him, enclosing the three of them
on a small balcony,
a little oasis of private calm.  Mary Jane wilted in visible relief but Erik felt strangely bereft.  The ballroom pulsed heat and energy a few feet away, but he felt cut off.  Isolated.  Wrong, somehow.  

“What can I do for you, Karl?” he asked, stepping away from the railing.  He didn’t care how absurd it was, he wasn’t facing this guy with a two-story drop at his back. 

“It’s Nixie,” he said.  “I’m concerned
--”

He broke off when t
he door jerked open and
Tyrese
Jones stepped onto the balcony.  

“I’m sorry,” Karl said
.  “We were hoping to speak
privately for a moment.  Do you mind?”

Tyrese
ignored him, his gazed fixed on Mary Jane.  His face matched his tux perfectly, Erik saw with disgust. 
Exquisitely
designed, expertly constructed, no expense spared on materials.  But
as with
Karl
,
the eyes didn’t fit.
He stood there like t
he king of elegant cool
but his eyes burned
with an
anguish Erik didn’t want to recognize
.  I
t was too close
to th
e
emotion
that filled Erik’s
own heart
.
 

But
he
wasn’t in the mood to examine his own heart
.
He focused on
Tyrese
instead, and realized with a shock that anguish
wasn’t all
he saw in the other man’s eyes. 

It was fear
, too
. 
A deep, horrible
, naked
fear
, as if
he’d found the one woman he needed and had screwed it up beyond redemption. 
As if
he’d have to spend the rest of his life knowing he’d held a gift in his hands and through his own ignorance, fear and stupidity had fucked it all up.
 

A vicious tremor of recognition shot through Erik, but he shoved it aside.  He’d deal with that later
.
  Right now, he had to protect the woman
wearing his grandmother’s ring
.

“Mary Jane,”
Tyrese
said, and put out a hand.

She shook her head and moved backward until she was pressed against the railing.  “Oh no,” she said, hugging her elbows.  “You are
not
allowed to do this.  Not here.  Not now.  Not
ever
.  This is
over
.”  A lock of silvery hair dropped out of the elegant knot at her crown and floated against her cheek.

Erik stepped forward, put a
protective
hand on Mary Jane’s arm.  “This isn’t the time or place,
Tyrese
,” he said.  “Why don’t you
--”

“Why don’t you stay the fuck out of this
,
Dr. Larsen?” 
Tyrese
said
, his tone
utterly polite
.
  “This is between me and Mary Jane.”

Mary Jane
vibrated against Erik’s arm, whether from fury or hurt or nerves he couldn’t
tell.  But she glanced up at him and patted the hand on her arm.  “It’s okay,” she said.  “I’ll handle it.”  Erik nodded and stepped aside.  But not
so far that he couldn’t knock the crap out of
Tyrese
if
he laid a finger on her
. 

Mary Jane turned
exhausted
blue eyes on
Tyrese
and
said, “
We’re over, Ty.  I’m done with all this...drama, okay?  So spare me one last scene. 
I told you before,
I’ve moved on.”

“
What, with
him?” 
Tyrese
snarled the words with elegant disgust and white-hot fury. 
“You think you’re going to be happy with some white-bread doctor?  He doesn’t know you.  He doesn’t love you.  Not like I do.”

“
Yeah, that’s exactly the point.”  She laughed, and it was like listening to glass break.  “Because you know
what
your love is like?  It’s like being stuck in a waiting room for the rest of my life.  Waiting for the police to show up at my door telling me you’re finally dead.  Waiting for you to
wake up one day and
by some miracle actually
love me more than your job, your neighborhood
. 
More than
that fucking
anger
you’ve been cherishing all these years
.  Waiting for a ring that’ll never come, and a life together that’ll never start.” 

She stepped
back
into Erik’s side and he automatically wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close
.  “Erik loves me like you never did, and that’s exactly what I want
,” she said
.

“And
you think
I’m
being dramatic.” 
Tyrese
shook his head and eased forward, nearly close enough to touch her.  Erik’s
free hand fisted
.  “Come on, Mary Jane.  I just want to talk to you.”

“
He asked me to marry him,” she said softly.  “I said yes.
”

Tyrese
dropped back as if he’d taken a blow to the
chest
, his face going slack with surprise and disbelief
.  “
Like hell you
did
.”

She
silently
held out her left hand.  Erik’s ring twinkled there, catching every drop of moonlight and tossing it back into the air with a smug glow
. 

“Well now, this is an interesting development.”  Karl spoke from the shadows where he’d melted.
  Erik started.  He’d forgotten the guy was even there.
  “Is it true?”

Erik’s stomach dropped
with a sudden burst of insight
.  This was wrong.  Mary Jane wasn’t supposed to have his ring.  Nobody was supposed to have his ring but Nixie.