Undercover (6 page)

She lowered her head and sighed. It didn't take a genius to figure out who and what had happened to her clothes. LeAnn, no doubt, was taking care of business.

When she walked out of the locker room, her nemesis stood in the hallway with her pack. LeAnn sneered, leaning against the wall, daring Erica to do or say something about the incident.

Erica made eye contact, but kept walking.

She swung by her apartment to change out of her gym clothes before heading to Hufferman’s crib. It sat on a corner lot with a yard sloping away from the sidewalk, giving it quite a bit more yard than the other houses. The two-story structure wasn't as grungy as she'd expected. A fresh coat of the cream-colored paint would do wonders, brighten things up a bit, but over all, the place was clean looking and neat.

Erica headed up the wood steps to the porch where several men and a woman loitered in chairs and on a porch swing. Being a nix, an unknown, they watched her with interest and suspicion.

"Can I help you, honey?" The woman on the porch swing asked in a raspy voice. Her red lipstick faded around the cigarette she held between her fingers. Rail thin and with a rough, pot-marked face, she reminded Erica of a few heroine addicts she'd seen at the police station.

"Is Huff around?" she asked.

"He's inside. Go on in," the woman managed to get out before erupting into a phlegmy cough.

Erica opened the screen door and stepped inside the darkened room. The pungent scent of marijuana and cigarette smoke blended together, causing her eyes to water. A few people lounged around staring at the television. The volume so low she wondered why they bothered. She gave a tentative smile to the curious glances, but no one spoke. At the back of the room, Huff leaned against a doorframe, talking to someone standing in the next room.

He turned his head and smiled as she approached. "Hey, you made it. Wanta beer?"

"Sure." She shoved a hand into the back pocket of her jeans and noticed Joey leaning against the kitchen counter, the someone Huff had been talking with.

Huff stared at Joey and then lifted his hands, palms up toward the fridge when Joey didn’t move. "Get her a beer."

Joey did and handed it to her without looking her in the eyes.

"Huff, bring me a beer," someone bellowed from down a dim hallway.

Joey retraced his steps to the fridge for another beer and handed it to Huff. "I'll be right back," Huff said to her as he headed down the hall.

"What are you doing here?" Joey asked.

"Huff invited me."

"Oh, so the two of you are friends now?" Anger dangled off each word.

"I’m not sure. Apparently friendship isn't always clear cut." Joey started past her, stopping when she continued to talk. "After all, I thought we were friends. And when you're finished being an ass, I'd like to be friends again."

He shoved his hands deep in his front pockets and walked away.

****

By Friday night, Derrick knew something was wrong. Joey had been brooding all week and Erica was MIA. Derrick assumed Joey would talk to him when he was ready, and maybe he would have, but with the hours Derrick was putting in at the shop there hadn’t been much time or energy for talk.

Derrick didn’t know where to begin. His thoughts on Erica were all over the board. The biggest problem being, he couldn't stop thinking about her. His internal battle swung from a thread of hope that at eighteen she might actually be mature enough to know what she wanted. To convincing himself it wouldn’t be right to put those kinds of expectations on someone so young. She would go off to college and forget all about him.

So why couldn’t he persuade himself to push her out of his mind. And why, after all these years of finding no one to love, was he falling for someone he couldn’t have, why someone so young?

He put the last of the supper dishes away and wandered into the living room. Joey sprawled on the couch watching television, his hands folded behind his head.

"How was school this week?" Derrick asked, plopping down in the old recliner, the springs groaning under his weight.

"Fine. It was school." Joey's eyes never left the TV.

"Everything else all right?"

Joey glanced at him. "Yeah. Why?"

"You've been quiet and I've noticed Erica hasn't been around all week. Are you two okay?"

"We’re fine," Joey replied, frowning at the TV screen. After a brief silence, he swung his feet off the couch and pushed up into a sitting position, running a hand over his face. "I screwed up, man. Last week I tried to kiss her and she stopped me, said we're just friends. It pissed me off and...embarrassed me." Joey hung his head.

Derrick leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees. "I can imagine. Did she lead you to believe you were more than friends?"

"Well, I thought...," he started in a rush of frustration and then stopped. "No. She didn't."

Relief on several levels washed over Derrick, along with a hint of shame. "Do you love her?"

"I don't know. I like her. She's cool to hang with and she’s pretty, but I don't know ‘bout love. She doesn’t talk like the other kids, you know. I mean, she's real smart and sometimes she talks about politics and stuff."

Derrick's heart warmed and he felt the slight twitch of his lips. "I've noticed that. She seems older then what she is. So, the two of you don't have a lot in common."

"Yeah, I guess not."

"And now she doesn't even want to be friends?"

"No, she does.” Joey hung his head again. “I'm the one who's being an ass."

"Because you’re embarrassed?" Derrick understood.

"Yeah, pretty tweeked, huh?"

"If you mean stupid, then yes, but I think that's a natural reaction to what happened. One you can rectify if you want her as a friend."

"I do. She's a good friend. She listens."

Yes, Derrick had noticed that, too. "Then don't cut your nose off to spite your face, buddy. Talk to her. Make it right."

Joey gave a sheepish smile. "I will."

After Joey went to bed, Derrick headed to the park. He told himself he was going to work off stress, the same as he always did. If Erica happened to be there, well, that wasn’t anything he could help. But when she wasn't there, he sat down on the bench and waited.

She never showed up.

****

Erica swung into Moreno's Repair Shop at quarter till five and pulled up beside a candy-apple red Camaro. The new model had a sleek and curvy design. She admired the sweet ride from all angles as she ambled past on her way to the shop entrance wondering what could possibly be wrong with a brand new car. As soon as she stepped inside the front lobby, she knew it wasn't the car needing service.

A middle-aged woman in an exquisite, powder blue dress stood at the counter across from Derrick. She turned at the sound of the bell announcing Erica's arrival and gave her the once over. With the dress tight and cut low down the front, the woman had been giving Derrick quite the peak show with the way she’d been leaning over the counter. So, this was the lonely older woman who provided extra pocket money.

Erica felt a slow burn simmering in her stomach. An awkward moment passed. She looked for some sign on Derrick's face that told her to leave or thanked her for showing up.

"I...umm... I was in the area and thought I’d stop by to pay my bill." She felt outclassed, all too aware of how frumpy she looked in her skinny jeans and t-shirt. The older woman's shoes probably cost more than Erica's entire outfit.

"Derrick, honey, why don't you settle up with her. I can wait." The woman’s pink glossy lips tilted up in a sugar sweet smile.

Honey?
Erica wanted to stick her finger in her mouth and pretend to gag, but resisted the childish urge. "I can come back another time." Erica backed toward the door.

"No," Derrick blurted, moving from behind the counter. "I need to do a follow up on your car." He said to Erica and then turned to the other woman. "Janice, you'll need to come back another time.”

"But...," the woman sputtered.

"Your car doesn't need an oil change for another couple weeks," Derrick stated in a tone that had Janice snapping her mouth closed. With her lips flattened in an angry line, she snatched her purse off the counter and stomped out.

“Derrick, I am so sorry. I hope I didn’t screw things up for you with her,” Erica said. But in her head, she patted herself on the back for a job well done.

“If I’d wanted her to stay, I would have done as she suggested.”

“But isn’t she your big tipper?” Erica couldn’t tell if it was anger or embarrassment causing his face to turn red.

Deep creases formed between his brows as he pushed past her. “How’s the car running?” he asked as he went out the door.

She caught the door before it closed and followed him out. “Great. No problems at all.”

He checked the tire pressure, the oil and all the other fluids flowing through the old car. “Everything looks good. When was the last time you had new tires? They look pretty worn.”

“The last time I could afford them.” She suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Well, you’re going to need them before winter. I’ll set you up with a good set at a reasonable price,” he said as they headed back inside.

He went behind the counter, retrieved an invoice from a file and slid it across the scarred counter top at her. “We can work out a payment plan for you.”

No wonder the guy wasn’t hurting for business. He cared about his customers and made every effort to make things easy on them. And in the process, she wondered, how difficult did he make things for himself.

The bill was cheap, but then Erica noticed labor was not included in the cost. Parts only. He was helping her out, she realized, probably because he thought her a teenager living in a single-family income. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t any better off - to her knowledge anyway.

“Is something wrong?” He broke through her thoughts.

“You forgot to add in labor.”

“I didn’t forget.” He pretended to wipe something off the counter.

She went around the counter and touched his arm. He stilled. “Derrick, you don’t have to do that. I appreciate it, but you put time into the car and deserved to be paid.”

He turned to face her. “Consider the free labor a thank you for being so good to Joey. You’ve helped him a lot with his school work.”

Erica glanced down at the invoice in her hand and then back at Derrick. She reached up and kissed his cheek, the days stubble rasping against her soft lips. When he didn’t back away or put distance between them, she leaned in again, touching her lips to his in a brief, tentative kiss. She started to press her luck, see how far he would allow her to go, when he cupped her face with his work-roughened hands and brought his lips down to hers. The gentle way he moved over her mouth in complete contrast to the strength of the desire pulsing between them. The shear sweetness sending something akin to firecrackers flashing through her body.

Then he ended the kiss as tender as he’d started, yet his hands remained on her face. In his eyes flickered an equal amount of desire, sincerity, and sadness. “I know I shouldn’t have kissed you. It won’t happen again, but I’ve wanted to do that since the first day I laid eyes on you, before I knew your age.”

“But…”

He silenced her with a thumb over her lips. “I’m way too old for you, Erica. You’ve got your whole future ahead of you, an opportunity to do something with your life and get out of this hellhole.” He dropped his hands and put distance between them.

“If it’s so bad, why are you and Joey still here? Why didn’t you move him away from this a long time ago?”

“I didn’t have a choice. This shop is my only secure source of income. We’ve lived as cheap as possible so I could put every cent aside for Joey’s education.” His words clipped, he ran his fingers through his hair and turned his back to her. “I’ve done the best I can. Joey will get his opportunity.”

“And what about you, Derrick? When do you get your opportunity?”

“I don’t know. When I’m positive Joey’s life is set, that he’s where he wants to be.”

Erica walked around Derrick, forcing him to face her. She saw sorrow and pain in his eyes. An overwhelming sense of love blanketed her heart. She wished she could hold him and tell him all she held in her heart for him. “And what if he’s already where he wants to be?” She asked in a quiet voice. “I don’t mean this neighborhood, but with you, working on cars. Would that be so bad?”

“It would mean everything I worked for, everything I gave up would have been for nothing.”

“That’s not true. Derrick, you’ve done a helluva job raising Joey. That isn’t a waste of time. Where would he be if you hadn’t worked hard, if you hadn’t given up your own dreams?” Derrick paced the room. “He needed you and you didn’t let him down. That means more than anything ever could, more than a education, a fancy home or a better opportunity. He had your love, that’s what really mattered.”

Derrick stopped and studied her face from across the room. “What happened to you to make you so wise?” He asked with care. “My grandma would say you have an old soul for one so young.”