All of Me Page 12

  “Well, hello,” Fi said with a laugh and Stella dropped her arms. Exhaling a hard sigh, she turned to find Nathan standing behind her.

  He’d tucked in his shirt. His ripped, mascara smeared, wrinkled shirt.

  God love him.

  “Good morning,” he said to no one in particular.

  “Nice to see you again, Drazek,” Nina said with a nod.

  Nathan returned the nod. “You too.”

  Fi pushed Nina and Stella out of the way to invade Nathan’s personal space. She stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Fiorella. Nice to meet you.”

  As they shook, Kat lifted a hand. “Hi, officer.”

  Nathan nodded again. “Hi. Nice to see you again.”

  Gigi was uncharacteristically quiet. Instead of launching her typical water boarding interrogation session, she just smiled at Nathan. “I’m Gigi.”

  “Damn it, you guys! This is not a meet and greet!” Stella got aggressive then; pushing bodies toward the door. Even poor Kat with her zebra cane got a little shove. “Get out. I’ll call you later. Bye!”

  “Have fun, Stella!” Fi called out, laughing.

  Once the door was shut and secured, Stella turned and sagged against it and shook her head.

  “They were worried about you,” Nathan said. He lifted his arms above his head and stretched. Stella caught sight of a little patch of hair-dusted skin below his navel and made a mental note to touch it very soon.

  “Ha. They are nosy. And intrusive. And they drive me nuts, so stop defending them.” She yawned, walking toward him. She grabbed Nathan’s hand and tugged him toward the bedroom. “Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  As they walked out to their cruiser to begin a shift, Danny cleared his throat. “So, you gonna be pissed at me all night or…”

  Nathan didn’t answer. Not because he was angry, but because he wasn’t. Not anymore.

  “I swear I was trying to help, D. I know it was stupid and I put you and Stella in a really weird position, but I swear to God, I thought it was a good idea at the time.”

  Both men got into the car and slammed their doors shut. Nathan started the cruiser.

  “I don’t think Stella is too mad about it anymore. And nothing happened with Bobby, so no harm done, right?”

  Nathan scoffed. “Only that now Nadia now thinks we’re a couple. She called me three times the next day, Danny.”

  Danny had the decency to flinch. “Have you talked to Stella?”

  He’d done a lot more than talk to her, but Nathan wasn’t going there.

  “She’s fine. We’re fine. So don’t worry about it.” He shot Danny a look. “But don’t ever pull that shit again. Okay?”

  “We’re fine?” Danny eyed Nathan’s profile. “As in, a plural ‘you’…like the two of you, collectively, are fine? As in, you are a couple?”

  “No, as in, we’ve decided collectively to forgive you and not take turns beating you bloody with our bare hands.”

  “Glad to hear that at least.” Danny messed with the radio until he found a song he liked. “Nothing happened between her and Bobby, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Otherwise, Nathan would be in the back of the cop car instead of the front.

  “You know she’s really into you, don’t you?”

  Nathan’s discomfort with the intimacy of this conversation spiked.

  “You should have seen the way she was looking at you all night. It was enough to make me sick. But that was nothing compared to the glares she was giving Nadia. I thought there was a pretty decent chance I was going to have to pull Stella’s claws out of Nadia’s face before the night was over.”

  She was jealous. Over me.

  Nathan smiled in his head.

  “I, uh, mentioned something to her about the foster homes,” Danny said.

  Smile gone. “You what?”

  “She asked how we met and how long we knew each other. I didn’t want to lie to her,” Danny replied.

  “Why not? You lie to every other woman you meet.” Nathan shook his head. “That fucking mouth, Mac. You just can’t keep it shut. What did you tell her? Exactly?”

  “That we met in a foster home and bounced around a lot. I told her you joined the Army and we met up a few years later at the academy,” Danny said. “That’s it. I swear to God.”

  “Do me a favor…don’t talk to Stella anymore. You’ve got plenty of other women to chat up. Leave her out of it.”

  “You got it. No problem. I’ll stay away from her.” After another silence and some squirming like a two year old, Danny turned to face Nathan. “You’ve gotta tell me, brother. I am dying to know. You had sex with her didn’t you? Was it as insane as I think it was?” At Nathan’s glare, Danny groaned. “Come on! I know you’re not a details guy, but at least tell me she rocked your world. I already know it, but I need to hear you say it. She changed the whole game, didn’t she?” At Nathan’s silence, Danny blew out a long, low whistle. “That insane, huh? Shit!”

  “I didn’t have sex with her. Jesus, Danny…” Nathan huffed. “You know, if you spent as much time worrying about your own personal life as you do about mine, maybe you could find an adult woman to be with.”

  Danny grinned. “Penelope is an adult. She’s twenty-one. Totally legal.”

  “You are twelve years older than her, Danny. What could you possibly have in common?”

  “Uh, we both like to fuck like rabbits. And she likes Thai food. That’s enough for me.” At Nathan’s disapproving look, Danny scoffed. “Hey, we can’t all have Stellas, now can we? Some of us have to find happiness where we can find it. With as many people as we can find it with.”

  “Well, you’ve got that part down pat.”

  They drove up and down the streets of their beat, but it was a quiet afternoon. After grabbing a couple of coffees at Dunkin Donuts, they parked for a few.

  Danny popped off the lid of his coffee. “Did Stella say anything about that Shaker fuck-face she dated?”

  “Nope.” Nathan stared out the driver’s side window at nothing in particular.

  “You remember Andy Piker? From that soccer league I was on?” When Nathan nodded, Danny continued. “Yeah, well, I bumped into him the other day. He’s on the Shaker force with Stella’s ex, so I asked about him about it. Andy said Stella got sick for a while last year and the dickface dumped her. Andy wasn’t sure of the details, but he said the guys gave her ex a real hard time after that. Apparently, they liked Stella and were pretty pissed at how the dirt bag had treated her.”

  Nathan didn’t want to hear any more. About Andy Piker and his big mouth, about Stella’s ex, and definitely not about how other men had defended her during her time of need. It was irrational and stupid, but he couldn’t but feel guilty about not having been around to take care of her when she was going through all of that.

  Nathan shrugged. “Stella’s tough. I’m sure she’s fine about everything now.”

  Before Danny could bring up something else that would make Nathan’s head explode, they got a disturbance call. Apparently, someone at Arby’s wasn’t pleased that the restaurant had run out of curly fries and was pelting workers with those little packets of Arby’s and Horsey sauce.

  Only in East Cleveland.

  ***

  “Hey, Stella, can I talk to you for a minute?” Gigi wiped her hands on a yellow and white checkered dishtowel before flinging it back over her shoulder.

  They were at Pops’ house making some lasagna and baked ziti to freeze. Kat and Pops were in the living room arguing over whether or not Pat Sajak and Vanna White had ever been – or were currently - married. Kat (correctly) insisted they hadn’t and weren’t, but Pops wasn’t buying it. He’d gotten it into his head that Pat and Vanna were a couple and that was that. Pops was a sweet guy, but you didn’t argue with him when he got into one of his moods.

  “Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Stella folded some tin foil over the platter of baked ziti and slip
ped it into Pops’ freezer.

  “It’s about that cop, Drazek, we were talking about the other day.” Gigi sank into a kitchen chair and fidgeted with the gold cross around her neck.

  “Don’t worry, okay? I know it was…weird. To say the least. But everything is okay.”

  Gigi waved off her explanation. “When Nina said his last name, something about it sounded familiar to me. I couldn’t place it for a while, but then I remembered.”

  Something about the look on Gigi’s face freaked Stella out. She sat in the chair opposite to her. “Remembered what?”

  “You guys were too young, but I remember it pretty clearly. He – Drazek – lived in the old neighborhood. Around the corner from C’s.”

  “And?”

  “I don’t remember all the details, but I know Pops used to give him food.”

  “Gave him food?” Pops had been notorious for giving away food to people in need, but Stella wasn’t quite sure what that had to do with Nathan.

  “Yeah. He used to come in all the time carrying loose change in a Ziploc baggie.” Gigi said. “He was really thin and his clothes were filthy. I remember he had silver duct tape around shoes that were about two sizes too big.”

  The bile rose up in Stella’s throat.

  “Sometimes he had two other little boys with him, but mostly he came by himself. He’d try to buy a bunch of bananas or a loaf of bread with the change, but, of course, Pops would send him home with bags full of stuff. I remember Mama crying about it a few times.”

  “You must have him mixed up with someone else,” Stella said, already deciding it was the truth. “This guy couldn’t have grown up like that. He’s way too put together.”

  Nathan’s words came back at her: I’ve had a screwed up life and I have a lot of issues.

  “No, Stella. I remember his last name because a few times Mama and Pops called CPS and they came to ask about him. And when I saw him at your house this morning, it was him.”

  “That was forever ago and you were a kid, Gigi. It’s possible that it was a relative of Nathan’s...maybe a cousin or something.”

  “Could have been,” Gigi conceded. She stood up and walked into the living room. She leaned against the wall. “Hey, Pops?”

  When Kat and Pops continued their now yelling about Pat and Vanna, Gigi got loud. “Pops!”

  He whipped around in his chair to face her. “What?”

  “Do you remember that little boy who used to come into C’s? The one you gave food to and Mama used to cry about?”

  “Oh, yeah. We tried to help him…called protective services a bunch of times, but I’m pretty sure nothing got fixed.” Pops ran a hand over his bald head. “One week, he stopped coming around. I always wondered what happened to him, poor kid.”

  “Do you remember his name?” Gigi asked.

  Pops thought for a minute. “No. It was a Polish name though. I remember that.”

  “Was it Drazek?”

  “That was it.” Pops rubbed at his chin, nodding. He looked over at Stella. “That’s where I remembered that name from the other day. At Sunday dinner. You got a friend named Drazek, Stell?”

  Something like that.

  “Do you remember that boy’s name, Pops?” Stella asked, breath held.

  Please don’t let it be him. It would be horrible enough if it was a relative of his. But please don’t let it be him.

  “Ned? Nick?”

  Stella’s heart sank. “Nathan?”

  “That was it!” Pops shook his head. “Nathan Drazek.” He clucked his tongue. Poverino.”

  “Yeah…poor thing.” Stella sank into the chair.

  Gigi sat down too. She studied Stella’s face. “You care about this guy, Stella?” A side of her mouth turned up. “Dumb question. Looked like you cared the hell out of his last night.”

  “He accused me of knowing him and pretending not to when I met him. He said I felt sorry for him. I had no idea what he meant.”

  “Well, you were only about six when he came around. You wouldn’t remember,” Gigi said.

  “His partner told me he grew up in foster homes. I thought that was bad enough…”

  “Obviously things worked out okay for him, right? He’s a police officer and…” Gigi smiled. “…we know he has great taste in women. Maybe he got adopted into a nice family eventually.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  But probably not.

  “I have to say, Stell, I was very surprised to find a man at your house this morning. That’s a big change up.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  “Best laid plans and all that, huh?”

  Stella rubbed at her eyes and exhaled a hard laugh. “You got that straight, G. You got that straight.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Who called the Po-Po!” An older African-American woman built like a brick shithouse and sporting some bright pink scrubs looked around from her computer behind the nurses’ station.

  Nos were called out from various corners of the ER as stretchers rolled through and staff bustled around. Nathan heard loud cursing from a far back corner room…some guy was ranting and raving about “fuckers” and “deprivation of human rights” and demanding a “dilaudid IV push.” Or “at least some fucking morphine, for Christ’s sake.”

  Well, at least he’s flexible.

  The secretary eyed Nathan over the rims of her glasses. “Who called you, baby?”

  “I’m looking for Stella. Ciaramitaro.” When the secretary’s salt and pepper brows rose, Nathan added, “I need to speak with her briefly. Not official business.”

  “Uh-huh.” She pushed a button and lowered her lips to a microphone. “Stella, report to the front desk. Stella, to the front desk.” She pointed in the direction of Dilaudid IV Push. “On second thought, go down there and get her. And, while you’re there, throw that guy’s butt in jail, would you? Cause I do not wanna hear that shit all night.”

  “Is that her patient?” Nathan asked.

  “Mmm-hmm. We always give her the wild ones ‘cause she’s usually good at chillin’ ‘em out, but that guy is beyond Jesus now.”

  Nathan followed the trail of curse words, thumps, and growling coming from the last exam room on the left.

  He heard Stella say, “Mr. Lewis, I want to help you. That’s why I’m here. But the doctor says no dilaudid or morphine. Or any benzos. So we’re going to have to come up with a different game plan, okay?”

  “Fuck you, bitch!”

  There was a scuffle and a male voice said, “Hey! Hey! None of that or they’re going to have to restrain you, Mr. Lewis!”

  Nathan’s walk morphed into a fast jog. He turned into the room and found two hospital security guards trying to pin down a writhing, foaming-at-the-mouth Mr. Lewis while Stella attempted to apply restraints to the guy’s arms. But he was flailing too wildly for her to get him pinned down properly.

  The guy swung his arm at Stella and managed to clip her in the shoulder, knocking her a little off balance.

  Oh, hell no…

  Nathan met Stella’s wide eyes and, with a jerk of his head, gestured for her to stand back. He pulled both rent-a-cops off of Stella’s patient (who had stopped fighting the minute he saw a Cleveland police officer enter the room). He leveled his best this-is-my-show-now look on the guy. “Sit. Down.”

  Mr. Lewis, a gaunt, wild-eyed dude in his thirties, dropped his butt onto the hospital bed. Nathan pulled up a chair, sat down, and placed his forearms on his knees. He folded his hands. “Mr. Lewis, I am Officer Drazek with the Cleveland Police Department. And this is how the rest of your visit here is going to go: first, you are going to calm down. No more wild behavior, do you understand me?”

  Mr. Lewis nodded slowly.

  “Second, you are going to accept whatever pain meds the hospital is willing to give you. And you’re not going to give your nurse a hard time about it. Got it?”

  Another nod.

  “Third, you are going to apologize to your nurse.
Now.”

  Mr. Lewis swung his head to look at Stella. “Sorry.”

  Stella nodded her acknowledgement.

  “Look at me, Mr. Lewis.” The guy complied. “Lastly, you’re going to get discharged without fighting. You need rehab, which the hospital will be more than happy to help you obtain, but you have to want to help yourself.” Nathan leveled a hard gaze. “Are we in agreement with how things are going to proceed here?”

  When Mr. Lewis nodded again, Nathan slapped his hands on his thighs. “Good.” He stood and moved the chair back. “Don’t make me come back here, Mr. Lewis. Because there won’t be any more talking…just me escorting you to jail. Do you understand me?”

  Mr. Lewis nodded.

  “No, I need to hear you say it. I need verbal confirmation that you’ve heard and understood everything I’ve just said to you,” Nathan said.

  “Yes.”

  Nathan leaned in. “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, I understand, officer.”

  Nathan nodded, satisfied. He turned to the rent-a-cops. “If this guy so much as looks at her sideways, I want a call. Immediately. Dial 9-1-1 and ask for dispatch to send me.”

  They shot Stella looks, which had a flush spreading across her freckles into her cheeks. “You got it, officer,” one of them said while the other one nodded his acquiescence.

  Nathan gestured for Stella to precede him out of the room. Once the door was shut behind them, Stella smiled up at him. “My knight in shining armor. Thank you for that.”

  Now it was Nathan’s turn to flush. “Just doing my job.”

  Stella looked around and leaned in closer. “I am so happy to see you. And I really want to kiss you silly right now.” She smiled slyly. “But they have cameras everywhere and I don’t wanna end up on YouTube.”

  Nathan grabbed her hand and pulled her out the back exit door and into the little sitting area outside. The moment the door clicked shut, he pulled her up against his chest and lowered his mouth to hers. Nathan’s hands cradled her face, holding it to his – even though Stella wasn’t going anywhere. They kissed long and hard until Stella pulled away with a breathless laugh.