Eddie: Grime Doesn't Pay (The Brothers Grime Book 2)

by Z. A. Maxfield

“Perfect for me.” Eddie fired up the engine and drove west, which just happened to be the direction of a breathtaking sunset. “First I have to ask you where you want to eat. I don’t know what kind of food you like, or—”

  “Surprise me.” Andrew glanced over.

  “All right,” Eddie said. “And do you like to dance? Or would you rather go to the movies.”

  “I really don’t dance. I’m actually a helluva klutz.”

  “I’m pretty sure you could dance with me.”

  “I’m pretty sure I could do anything with you, but after the day I had, I could use a beer first.”

  “All right. Relax first, then…whatever comes next. Okay?”

  “Yeah.” Andrew melted into his seat. “Perfect.”

  Eddie turned on the radio, such as it was. He normally kept it tuned to a smooth jazz FM station, but he let Andrew play with the pretuned buttons.

  “News, classical, jazz, rap, and mariachis. A man of varied tastes?”

  “There aren’t a lot of choices. I’m lucky the car has an FM radio.”

  “My car has an MP3 player input jack. I guess I’m spoiled.”

  “You like tapas?”

  “I’m not sure I’ve ever had tapas. They’re the salty little Spanish dishes, right? You snack so you drink more?”

  “Exactly. I know the perfect place, but you have to be prepared for hot spices and garlic and onion and fish. Some people don’t eat garlic on dates.”

  “I’m game if you are. If we both eat it, we’ll cancel each other out.”

  “That’s what I figure but some guys—”

  “Let’s get this out in the open, Eddie Vasquez. I’m not like any guy you’ve ever dated.”

  “Oh, you’re not, eh?” Eddie turned his head just in time to catch Andrew’s wink.

  “Nope.” Andrew leaned back to stare up at the sky. “And you, my friend, are going to corroborate that by the end of the night, or I’ll retire my dick in shame.”

  “Holy cow. You’re just a big tease, aren’t you?” Eddie’s cock tightened painfully behind his zipper. His palms grew damp as he gripped the wheel extra tight.

  “I never tease, Eddie. God, this is a great car. I feel like I’m drowning in the wind—like it’s blowing all my problems away. I can hardly breathe. What a rush.”

  “Glad you like it.” Andrew looked just right in his passenger seat. He looked windblown and flushed and beautiful.

  “It fits you even though you’re such a big guy. When I imagined what you’d drive, I automatically thought, truck. Like a dually or something. Big truck. Big tires.”

  “I don’t have to compensate, you know,” Eddie complained.

  “Well, I don’t know.” Andrew shot a sideways look at him. “But I’d like to find out.”

  Eddie grinned. “All will be revealed.”

  “I wait with bated breath.” Andrew flew his hand along the air currents.

  “I’ll even let you do some of the revealing, if you like. You’ve got some nimble fingers, and I figure mine will be shaking.”

  “You promise?” Andrew asked. “I’d like to try undressing you with just my mouth. Maybe mark the places I’ve kissed. Go back and make sure I’ve been ultrathorough.”

  Ah, God. How am I going to get through dinner?

  When Eddie looked over again, Andrew blew a kiss at him. He knew what he was doing, all right.

  “You’re a brat, you know that? This car isn’t big enough for you and me and my boner. Knock it off.”

  “You want me to knock one off? Right here?” Andrew asked innocently. “Now? In front of God and everyone?”

  “Down, boy. Save something for later.”

  “I’ve got plenty for whatever you need, but I can see how you might want me to pace myself.”

  “Are you always like this?” Eddie was going to have to watch himself with this one.

  Andrew smiled at him. “Only when I’m determined to be happy.”

  “Okay then. I’m glad.” Eddie swallowed and prepared himself for more teasing. “Happy looks good on you. Carry on.”

  Eddie drove the rest of the way to the restaurant, where he pulled the roadster into a parking place on the street. Andaluz, a new place on Fullerton’s locally hyped restaurant row, was close enough to the Grime warehouse that he and the guys had walked there a couple times for drinks and a snack when they were working late. Good food, nice music. Pleasant atmosphere. Eddie liked the place a lot.

  He’d always thought it would be nice to take a date there, but he’d been busy lately. Or maybe he’d only been saving it for someone special like Andrew, who was currently running his fingers up the inside of Eddie’s leg, making it impossible for Eddie to get out of the car.

  Eddie engaged the emergency brake and then adjusted himself. “You know what? Bad boys get spanked.”

  “Promises, promises.” Andrew slipped from the car with a fluid, graceful move that didn’t surprise Eddie at all. Klutz my ass.

  “Brat.” Eddie searched his pockets for change to feed the meter.

  “I could help you find whatever you’re looking for in there, if you want.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Eddie blushed like he was on fire. Just what I need, Andrew’s hands in my pockets. “I’m going to play dirty too. When you least expect it, all this teasing is going to come right back at you, big-time.”

  “Again with the promises.”

  Eddie finally found change for the meter. Then he put his hand in the small of Andrew’s back and ushered him across the sidewalk. Andrew glanced up at him, as if he felt the faint sparkle of electricity that raced between them.

  Eddie opened the door and let Andrew go inside ahead of him. When Andrew turned back to him with a big smile, Eddie’s heart slammed happily against his rib cage.

  “This is nice.” Andrew took a look around.

  “I like it.” Eddie let the hostess know he had a reservation.

  The place was long and narrow. Dark wood paneling and leather-upholstered benches lined the walls behind bistro tables and bentwood chairs. A polished mahogany bar sat opposite a tiny raised platform at the back that served as a stage. Colored sconces decorated the burgundy walls with arcs of light, while pierced metal Moroccan star lanterns shed flattering light from above.

  “I’ve thought about bringing you here for a while.”

  Andrew eyed him. “Why didn’t you?”

  “Guess I never had the nerve.”

  “You don’t just flirt for the sake of flirting, do you?”

  “I don’t even know how to flirt.” Eddie felt his face heat again. “I’m generally direct. That’s the Orc factor. I see what I want, and I take it.”

  “Then why did I have to ask you out?”

  “I guess I felt outclassed. Outshone. Out of my league with you. You’re the first man who ever just…took my breath away. God, I’m too old for this shit.”

  “Shut up. I like you, Eddie.” Andrew took Eddie’s hand. “I like you for reasons that you probably think I haven’t even considered yet.”

  “Like what?”

  “When you’re with Lucy…” Andrew bit his lip. “I see how fiercely you love.”

  A long, silent moment passed before a throat cleared, and the spell between them broke. The hostess was waiting for them to follow, and there they were, simply staring at each other.

  “Sorry,” Eddie said.

  “No worries.” She grinned before leading them to a table against the wall near the stage where a musician played slow, sultry flamenco guitar. Eddie slipped into the bench along the wall, and Andrew took the chair. She left them with menus and the promise their waiter would arrive shortly.

  Andrew leaned forward and spoke softly. “This place is awesome. How’d you find it?”

  Eddie set his menu aside. “It’s close to work.”

  “You work out of an office?”

  “A warehouse, actually. We have office space up front, and out back there’s a loading bay for the vans, equipment, and su
pplies.”

  “So you have a large operation then.”

  “The business has grown some since we started.”

  “Did you hear anything back about Mrs. Henderson? I meant to ask earlier, but—”

  “Yes, actually. I visited her in the hospital yesterday, and I met her lawyer. He’s a family friend, I guess.”

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Probably. She’ll have to go somewhere people can look out for her.” Eddie fiddled with his silver. “I told the lawyer I’d help however I can. That’s why I was late. He called to ask me if I’d meet him at Mrs. Henderson’s house tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

  “I guess you should know, my job isn’t exactly a nine-to-five thing.”

  “Why not?” Andrew frowned at this. “Don’t you make your own hours?”

  Eddie wondered how much he should say. “We do restoration work, after a fashion. So people call us whenever they need us. At all hours.”

  “You’re on call anytime of the day or night?”

  “Theoretically, yes. My partners and I schedule on-call nights. I’m technically off duty tonight, but I told Mrs. H’s lawyer to call me whenever.”

  Movement in his periphery was the only warning Eddie got before a slim, dark-haired girl slid to his side on the bench and threw her arms around him.

  “Cha-Cha,” she said happily. She nearly squeezed the breath from his lungs. “Where you been, baby? You don’t write. You don’t call.”

  “I’ve been around.” Eddie pushed her gently away. “You still working at the Library?”

  “Yeah. You look good.” She shot Andrew a dimply smile. “Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Andrew Daley. Andrew, my friend Esme. Gypsy, if she likes you.”

  “You work at the library?” Andrew asked. “Which one?”

  Silvery notes of laughter spilled from her like water trickling over a rockfall. “My Library’s not in your district, sweetheart.”

  After that, the silence dragged on for too long. Andrew said, “So…Cha-Cha.”

  “My nickname,” Eddie answered.

  Andrew’s eyes held wary amusement. “I’ve heard Lucy call you that. How did you get it?”

  Gypsy laughed. “You mean to tell me Cha-Cha ain’t shown you his moves yet?”

  “His moves?” Andrew’s smile faltered.

  “Esmerelda,” Eddie warned. Things were bound to go poorly with her spilling all his secrets like they were something intimate and sexual when they were anything but. “Don’t make me use your middle name.”

  “Oh, baby, you don’t know what you’re missing.” Gypsy leaned over the table, her bosom heaving from her open blouse and low-cut bra. “Cha-Cha can go all night. He’s amazing.”

  “All night?” Andrew asked coolly.

  “He’s like a machine, baby.” With another sly wink, Gypsy dared Eddie to shut her up. “Best I ever had.”

  “Run along, woman.” Eddie shooed her from the booth. “Find another man to torment. This gorgeous gentleman is my date for the evening.”

  “You still ain’t no fun at all, baby.” Gypsy pouted before sliding gracefully from the booth. Her slim hips gave a saucy little twitch as she pushed her hair from her eyes. “Stop by.”

  “Sure, sometime. Say hi to everyone for me,” Eddie told her.

  Andrew watched as she walked away, saying nothing.

  “There is probably no way to salvage this moment, but for what it’s worth—”

  “That scene was straight out of reality television.” Andrew’s laughter was perfectly musical. It fell on Eddie like big, fat drops of the sweetest summer rain. “And if I was one of the Real Housewives of Tehachapi or wherever, I’d stand up and do a Joan Collins. Throw a drink in your face. Make an absolutely brilliant exit.”

  “And then what?” Eddie tried to hide his smile. He’d learned early on to expect the unexpected from Andrew. Maybe that was part his charm.

  Andrew narrowed his eyes dramatically. “And then I’d turn to look back at you from all the way across the room and I’d yell, ‘You never told me you were straight, you bastard. Our whole life has been a lie. What about the pugs, Cha-Cha? What are we going to tell the pugs?’” Andrew lifted his hands and fluttered them.

  Jazz hands.

  Andrew was supremely nonplussed. Amused and waiting for the explanation he seemed sure would come.

  At last. A guy who doesn’t jump to conclusions.

  “The Library is the strip club where I worked before we got the Brothers Grime started.” When Andrew lifted his eyebrows, Eddie hastened to add, “I told you I was a bouncer.”

  “I know.” Andrew smiled. “But imagining you stripping is kind of hot. Were you a good bouncer?”

  Eddie shrugged. “I read people pretty well. I could see trouble coming, so I got the job done.”

  “And Cha-Cha? What moves was she talking about?”

  “That, you’ll have to wait for.” The waiter arrived at their table, ready for their drink order. “I’ll have whatever’s on tap. What would you like?”

  “Same.” Andrew leaned forward. “Lucy calls you Uncle Cha-Cha, so it can’t be dirty.”

  Eddie laughed. “No, it’s a family nickname, and that’s all I’m going to say for now. What do you want to eat?”

  “Right now? Just food, please.”

  Eddie rolled his eyes. “I walked right into that, huh?”

  “You cha-chaed into it.”

  “You’ll know soon enough.”

  Andrew seemed content to wait. He let it go in favor of fiddling with everything on the table: the bud vase, the phony tea light, his forks and spoons and knives. He rearranged the packets of sweetener and tucked them back into their box—yellow, blue, white—over and over, making stripes of color instead of leaving them sorted out.

  Eddie watched it all, fascinated. Equally content, even though they weren’t talking at the moment.

  When the waiter returned with their beer, Eddie asked him what he thought were the restaurant’s five best tapas dishes, and ordered one of everything described. If Andrew thought it strange to order without opening the menu, he said nothing. Eddie did that all the time by necessity.

  Over the course of an hour and a half the waiter came back with several small plate offerings: crostini with Serrano ham and onion marmalade, a plate of shrimp flash cooked in garlicky olive oil and crushed red peppers. Spanish croquettes—crispy mashed potato balls filled with spicy meat. Octopus, salt cod. Pickled sardines. Eddie didn’t know if Andrew would like them, but he discovered Andrew was game to try at least a bite of anything before he made up his mind.

  Each dish was meticulously plated, full of flavor, and, to Eddie’s way of thinking, unique enough to get any couple past the awkward small talk of a first date.

  Yet nothing felt awkward between them. Conversation flowed naturally, happily, or it stalled out and comfortable silence remained in its place.

  Eddie decided he could eat one last shrimp, so he jabbed it with a fork and swirled it in some kind of fiery red oil. When he went to lift it, Andrew caught Eddie’s wrist and pulled the morsel to his own lips instead.

  Eddie let him, settling in to enjoy the Andrew show.

  Andrew wrapped his lips around the shrimp and slithered it off the fork with his tongue. He chewed it thoroughly. Eddie’s gaze went from Andrew’s eyes to his lips and back again while all the breath left his lungs. His heart kicked his rib cage like a mule.

  “Are you usually so forward?”

  Andrew’s eyes held a teasing challenge. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “What if I don’t like forward guys?” Eddie’s voice came out laced with desire. “What if I’m some kind of throwback?”

  “I wouldn’t throw you back.” Andrew kept hold of Eddie’s wrist while he slid his tongue over his lips to catch stray drops of sauce.

  “Holy cow,” Eddie breathed.

  “What?” Andrew asked, all inn
ocence. Eyes like a cartoon woodland creature, he caught his lower lip between his teeth.

  Eddie’s body heated like he’d swallowed a flare. “You, uh…missed a spot.”

  “Yeah?” Andrew swiped his hand over his lips. When he looked up at Eddie for confirmation he’d gotten it, Eddie shook his head. “Where?”

  “Come home with me”—Eddie’s voice cracked a little—“and I’ll show you.”

  Chapter 8

  Eddie pulled his car into the garage behind his place and glanced over at Andrew. “C’mon, this is it.”

  “This is your house?”

  “It must be. I pay the mortgage.” Eddie led him along the flagstone pathway to the door. He’d planted thyme in the cracks, and when they walked on it, the fresh herbal scent wafted into the air.

  “I like these old-school places.”

  “All the houses around here are little bungalows.” Eddie entered first and keyed his code into the security system. “Some are fixed up, and some aren’t. Some are rentals for college kids. Some are flophouses.”

  “The area’s going through some kind of renewal though, isn’t it? Because of all the new businesses downtown?”

  “I think so. It’s a great location. I can walk to the market and the gym. There are nice local bars where you can get a beer and watch a game.” Eddie hung his coat up on a hook by the door and turned. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “No thanks. I’m still a little light-headed. I don’t normally drink more than a couple beers.”

  Eddie led Andrew to his living room, where he tried to see it objectively, as Andrew must be seeing it.

  Andrew turned to him. “My God, this place is straight out of a magazine. It’s beautiful.”

  “Nah.” Eddie flushed with pleasure. “Well. Yeah. My sister’s an ace with color.”

  “It’s not only beautiful; it’s squeaky clean. Everything is perfect. You live like this?”

  “I… Uh.” Was Andrew saying that like it was a good thing or a bad thing? “I don’t like clutter.”

  “Show me the rest. Show me where you leave your shoes in the middle of the floor. Show me your junk drawer, or I’m going to be too intimidated to stick around.”

  “Now that you mention it, there is a standard use of a coaster clause in the contract I’ll have to make you sign before you’re allowed a glass of water. And you’ll be receiving your own microfiber cleaning cloth, so make sure you keep that with you at all times.”