Page 42 of Nightcrawler
I grinned, shaking my head. Vonne always made me feel better. “It’s not like that. Besides, what kind of a prick do you think I am? The guy’s just been shot. It’s not like I said, ‘hey, I know you have two extra holes in you…let me take the rest of ‘em out for a spin while you’re healin’.”
Vonne burst into laughter, and I smiled. His laugh always made me smile. It was so infectious. “Raven invited me for dinner tonight and he lives with his elderly grandma who likes cats.”
Vonne laughed harder. “He told you that? Come over for dinner…my granny likes cats? Man, it’s been way too long sinceyou’ve dated if you can’t recognize when a guy likes you so much that he invites you…and your cat to dinner.”
I shook my head. Maybe I was a bit slow on the uptake but then again, it’d been a while since I’d thought about what guys wanted and such. Vonne was right. Raven had sure liked kissing me and the erection he’d been sporting when he’d pressed up against me, wasn’t something a guy could miss.
“I honestly never thought about it,” I said, sounding lame. Vonne chuckled again. “What can I say? Who the hell doesn’t like kittens?”
“Kittens…right. So…are you tellin’ me you didn’t even kiss him?”
“I…ah…I kissed him…a couple of times.”
Vonne chuckled. “Brother, I knew it!”
I smiled. “Yeah. I suppose…aw,hell, the man is just so nice.”
“Yeah, he really is. I’m happy for you, Trigg. I really am.”
“Anyway, maybe you’re right. At least for tonight, I can crash with him. He said as much. I’m gonna call him and ask if he’s sure it’s okay to crash in his spare bedroom…maybe even for a couple of nights. If he says it’s okay, I’ll need your help, though.” I thought about what I really needed to take with me. I couldn’t care less if the manager wanted to dump everything else.
“Whatever you need, brother.”
“I don’t have anything here I care about except Stanley, my clothes, and my footlocker. And, if I don’t want the landlord calling the cops, I’d better get the mattress to the dump. It’s soaked in blood. I can drag that down the stairs on my own, but I can’t carry my footlocker by myself.”
“I can be there in a couple of hours, Trigg…just as soon as I get off work, my man.”
“Thanks, brother. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I hung up the phone, worried about calling Raven but knowing I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I couldn’t just show up with all my stuff in the bed of my truck. I dialed the number I’d saved in my contacts, and he picked up on the first ring, steeling myself for a humbling conversation. I could feel the blush on my face the second he answered.
“Hey, stranger,” he answered cheerily. “How’s it going? Are you running late?”
I looked at my watch. I should have been at his place by now. We didn’t live that far apart. “I…ah…this is really embarrassing.”
“What’s wrong? I can hear something in your voice. Is Stanley okay?”
Stanley? “Oh, yeah, my baby’s fine. That’s not it.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, my landlord found out about him because I stupidly ordered cat litter through Amazon and he saw it when it was delivered.”
“I guess that means you’re not allowed to have animals in your place. Was he really mad?”
I reached up and ran fingers through my hair. “He’s called the sheriffs. They’ll be here in the morning to put my stuff out front if I can’t get it out of here tonight.”
“What a bastard!” Raven said.
“It’s not only that,” I said, feeling really small. “The truth is…well, you know I’ve been having some money troubles, and I was counting on the Monroe job to be able to catch up on past rent.”
“Oh, man, Miguel. You mean he was going to—”
“Evict my ass in a week or so anyway, yeah.”
“Come here.”
For a second, I wasn’t sure I’d heard right. “N-now?”
“Yes, come here and stay. I told you I have a spare bedroom where you can crash and stay until you get back on your feet. My nana loves cats. I can clear a space in my garage for your furniture. I have the room.”