Shut Up and Kiss Me (24 page)

Sky shook his head. “It’s not your job, or mine, to ‘do something.’”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t fix Matt, I can’t fix Veronica and Redfoot, I can’t fix you and Shala, but I can fix Jose and Redfoot. Or I can try.”

“Me and Shala? How the hell did we get on your list?” He shook his head. “You can’t go around trying to fix people.”

“Really? For a guy who makes his living doing just that, that’s a pretty big statement. You don’t just run this town, you babysit it. Drunks call you to give them a ride home in the middle of the night. When you know I’m upset, you just drop by like you did yesterday. When I lost my client last year, and I was worried about money, I suddenly get a call from your friend in Austin to keep his books for him. If Redfoot’s truck so much as hiccups you’ve got Ramon fixing it, and you pay for most of the bill and don’t tell him…”

Sky just shrugged. “But I still don’t stick my nose in other people’s business.”

“Yeah, right.” Maria stood and walked around the desk to smother him in one of her hugs. “Thank you.”

“For what now?” he asked, confused.

She pulled back. “For making me see I needed to
stop thinking about me and start thinking about other people.”

“I did that?” he said. “Doesn’t sound like me.”

She smiled. “Okay, then, thank you for listening.” She gave him another hug. “And for caring.”

Caring—that might just be the death of him, Sky thought as he watched her leave.

He looked at the clock on the wall. In twenty minutes, Lucas was bringing Shala here to meet with Phillip and the rangers. Due to the discovery of Charlie’s body, they’d rescheduled for the afternoon.

A sudden commotion from out front, raised voices and clatters, caught his attention. What was it now?

Sky jumped up, but the ruckus in the front of the station ended with the slamming of the front door. Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Sky expected to see Martha poke her head in and inform him of what was going on, but instead Matt appeared. Maria’s Matt. And he had his hand over his bleeding nose.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, and sat down in the chair Maria had just vacated.

“My sister again?” Sky asked, pushing the tissues to Matt.

“Yeah. She seems to have taken a liking to hitting me. As has Jose.”

Sky leaned back. “To be honest, I’m thinking of doing it myself. You lied to her.”

Matt pulled several tissues from the box and tried to stanch the bleeding. “I’m not guilty of what she thinks,
and it’s killing me. I can’t sleep, eat. All I think about is her.”

Sky crossed his arms on his chest. “Not thinking about your wife, huh?”

Matt shook his head. “I’m divorced.”

“You got another woman in Dallas?”

“Yeah, I do.” Matt pulled a picture from his shirt pocket and pushed it over. “She’s my world.”

Sky looked down at the little girl’s face, so much like the man standing in front of him. “Your daughter?”

Matt nodded. “Beautiful, isn’t she?” He let go of a deep breath through his mouth. “Redfoot came to see me this morning. He said I needed to tell Maria the truth. He assured me that whatever she had with Jose is over.”

“Redfoot knew you were divorced?” Sky asked.

“Yeah, he said he dreamed it. How fucking weird is that? Anyway, I went to the house to explain, and Maria hit me then, too.” He shuddered. “She’s getting better at it. She hit me a lot harder this time. Next time she’ll probably knock me out.”

“I hope you’re not here to press charges, because—”

“No,” Matt said. “Redfoot suggested I talk to you about Maria.”

Sky laughed. “Do I look like Dr. Phil? I’m so not the person to come to for relationship advice.” He had his own problems. Huge ones.

Matt studied him. “So you’re not going to help me?”

Sky leaned forward. “The only advice I can give is to tell her the truth.”

“I would, if she didn’t sock me every time I tried.” Frustration echoed in his voice. “Can’t you talk to her?”

“Me?”

“Just tell her to hear me out.” Matt stood and walked to the door, fleeing as if he was afraid Sky would tell him no. “I appreciate it.” He left.

Sky slumped back in his chair. He hadn’t quite gotten
his head around Matt’s request when another commotion exploded from the front office. Martha’s scream brought Sky to his feet, but he was only halfway around his desk before footsteps sounded down the hall. Jose shot through the office door, also with a bloody nose.

Sky motioned. “Let me guess. Matt?”

“Yeah. Fucker hit me and walked off—the cowardly piece of crap.”

Somehow, Sky didn’t think it was so much cowardly as much as a territorial statement: Maria belonged to Matt and Jose had best back off. Sky went back to his desk, dropped into his chair, and pushed the tissues toward his brother. Then he looked at the clock. “You’ve got ten minutes, Jose. Then I’ve got a meeting.”

Jose lowered himself into the other chair but didn’t talk.

“What is it you need?” Sky took in his brother’s beat-up face and felt sorry for him. When his mind turned to what Maria had said earlier, his gut tightened more.

Shoot, there had been a time when he had been jealous of Jose. Jose was Redfoot and Estella’s real son, and while those two had never made Sky feel like a second fiddle, Sky had never felt anything but. Jose always seemed to know what he wanted out of life, while Sky had floundered, eventually joining the police force. It hadn’t helped that Jose got the prettiest girls in high school. Hell, there had even been a time Sky envied Maria’s affection for their brother.

“Time’s ticking,” he warned the still-silent Jose.

“It’s Maria…and Dad.” Jose went with what was clearly the easier topic. “I wouldn’t put it past the tribal council to tell him he has to marry Ramon’s mom.”

Sky shrugged. “Since when has Redfoot done something he didn’t want to do?”

“Since it involves his beloved culture,” Jose snapped.

Sky shook his head. “He’s loyal to the tribe, but if I had
a dollar for the times he said the council isn’t about culture, it’s about politics, I’d be rich. The only reason he’s in the council is to try and keep politics out.”

Jose grabbed another tissue for his nose. Changing the subject, he asked, “What are we going to do about Matt? Guy’s married and still sniffing around Maria.”

Sky didn’t know how much to reveal, but he figured Jose might as well hear it all. “He’s not married. The reason he’s been hanging out in Dallas is because he has a daughter.”

“A daughter?” When Sky nodded, Jose let out a big whoosh of air. “Maria loves him, doesn’t she?”

Sky shrugged. “I think so, but hell, what do I know about relationships? I’m just as screwed up as the rest of you. Probably more.”

“You mean you and Shala?”

Sky started to deny it, but then said, “Yeah.”

“She’s hot,” Jose remarked.

“Yeah, that she is.” Sky was remembering how she’d looked that morning, wrapped in only that sheet.

Jose grabbed another tissue. “I hope I didn’t ruin it for you.”

“Ruin it for me?” Sky asked.

“Yeah, her seeing me naked.” Jose chuckled. “Once she’s seen the best, and knows how a real man looks…”

Sky laughed. He and Jose might not have completely understood each other over the years, but they had bonded. “I’m not worried. I saw you naked, too. The pink robe was a nice touch.”

“Sorry about being an ass the other morning,” Jose said.

Sky shrugged. “From what I gather, you had a rough night.”

“I have had a rough
three
nights.”

“You do look like hammered shit,” Sky said, studying him.

Jose chuckled. “I feel like hammered shit. Did Dad tell
you that I fell through a wall? My head went right through the Sheetrock. You can see the shape of my nose and everything.”

“Really?” Sky couldn’t help laughing.

“Yeah, and then this morning Maria spilled hot coffee all down the front of me. Burnt the shit out of my junk.”

Sky laughed harder. “Ahh, that explains the mustard.”

Jose shook his head. All humor had left him. “I screwed up.”

“How’s that?”

“With Maria. I should have snapped her up when I had a chance.” He sighed. “Whatever you do, Sky, if you care about this Shala woman, don’t let her walk away. You’ll regret it.”

“It’s not like that,” Sky said, but the words sounded and felt like a lie.

Jose stood. “Thanks for…hearing me out.”

“Anytime,” Sky said. As his brother started to leave, he added, “You know, Redfoot told me all about those buildings you designed. The one in Vegas and the one in New York. He’s proud of you.”

Surprise filled Jose’s eyes. “He told you about it?”

“All about it. Said you took him on a tour of the one in New York when he visited. He brought those magazines back that had the article about you, and he passed them out everywhere.”

The look on Jose’s face told Sky that Maria was right: Jose and Redfoot needed to talk.

“Hey.” Martha popped her head inside the office. “I’ve set Phillip and Ms. Winters up in the interview room.” Her gaze shot to Jose. “You look as if you ran into Mr. Ugly and he attached himself to your face.”

Jose smiled at Martha, who used to be his school nurse. For some reason, they’d always given each other a bit of hell. “Gosh, I was just about to say the same about you.”

Martha snickered and gave his arm a pat. “You always had a smart mouth.”

“Thanks, Martha.” Sky left the pair talking and went to find Shala.

Redfoot knocked on Veronica’s door. He had to talk to her, damn it! Ramon had called and insisted they go meet with the tribal council, but first he needed to talk to the man’s mother.

He wouldn’t put it past the old farts of the council to recommend he make the union legal between himself and Veronica. Frankly, considering his dream, he had assumed that was supposed to happen. After Veronica’s temper tantrum, he wasn’t so sure.

“Go away!” came a voice from behind the door.

“Not until you talk to me. I swear, I’ll pitch a tent and sleep here tonight if you don’t open up.”

He meant it, and Veronica knew he didn’t lie. The back door swung open. She stood there, her beautiful face red and puffy from what looked like hours of crying. Guilt speared Redfoot’s heart. His goal had been to convince Veronica to marry him. He’d assumed she might waver, but if he thought she really didn’t want this…

He reached for her, but she jumped back. It hurt. “What do you want me to do?” he asked. “Tell me what you want and I’ll do it.”

Tears welled up in her brown eyes. “What I wanted was to not climb into that hospital bed with you. What I wanted was to simply see you a couple of nights a week, to share a small part of myself with you. Now you’ve ruined everything.”

“Nothing is ruined,” he argued.

“Ramon plans to go to the council. You know what they’ll say. They’ll insist you do right by me. They could kick you out of their group.”

Redfoot gritted his teeth. “I don’t care. They can take that council position and shove it up their asses.”

Veronica swiped at her tears. “That won’t change anything. You don’t have to look into your son’s face knowing you’re a whore.”

“Don’t you dare call yourself that!” Redfoot growled. “What we shared was not ugly.” He slapped his chest. “I care about you. I want you to share my life. I want to get older with you.”

“Is that why you did it? You set out to make me marry you, so I would belong to you. So I would have to take care of you.”

He felt another wave of guilt, because he had indeed set out to make this happen. “You would never belong to me, Veronica. And caring is a two-way street.”

Her face was stony. “I’m no fool, Redfoot. I lived this once.”

“So it’s true, isn’t it? That bastard hurt you. And you judge me to be the same type of man.”

“You’re all alike.” Fury brightened her eyes.

“No. We are not.” Redfoot took a step closer, but the pain in her eyes halted him. “I will fix this.”

She shook her head. “It’s too late. Ramon is going to talk to the council, and he’s going to think less of me if I don’t marry you. I won’t have my son think bad things about me. But don’t you ever think that I will forgive you for this.”

“It’s never too late.” He wanted so badly to touch her, to hold her, to spend the last years of his life proving to her that all men weren’t bad. But if setting her free made her happy, that’s what he would do. All he had to do was figure out how.

Shala twisted in her chair, frowning as the back of her thong climbed up between her butt cheeks. The door opened, and her heart made a leap of joy that bordered on pain. Sky! She had assumed he would be here, and when he hadn’t come at the beginning, her nervousness
had grown by leaps and bounds. Who liked to be interrogated by a Texas Ranger?

Okay, she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, but the man’s direct question about her involvement in anything illegal gave her the heebie-jeebies. His mere presence demanded a confession, and she’d been about to admit cheating on her sixth-grade history test. Hey, he wanted a confession? He would get one.

“Sorry, I had someone in my office.” Sky studied her. Sitting, he slipped his hand into hers and squeezed. It reminded her of how he’d held her hand at the hospital, how he’d naturally sensed her discomfort. Warmth and strength washed through her.

Leaning back in his chair, Sky looked at Phillip. “Have you already introduced yourselves?”

“Yes, we’ve gotten that far,” the ranger said. “I was just asking Miss Winters if she’s ever been connected to anything illegal.”

“So, you’re scaring her, huh?”

“Only if she’s hiding something,” the ranger replied.

Sky scowled. He gave her hand another squeeze.

Sensing his anger, Shala said, “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Sky snapped. “She’s the victim, Phillip. I thought I made that clear.”

“And some victims know more than they’re letting on.”

“Bullshit,” Sky interrupted. “She’s been nothing but cooperative. Just because you’ve got a high-ranking job with some fancy badge doesn’t mean you can go around intimidating people. And unless you can pull your head out of your ass and be a gentleman, this interview is over!”

Shala stared at the two men, imagining them next throwing fists. “It’s really okay,” she repeated.

Phillip burst out laughing. “I’ll be damned. Protective, aren’t you?”

Sky didn’t appear to appreciate the other man’s mirth. He growled, “Play nice or she doesn’t play at all.”

The ranger leaned back in his chair and faced Shala, a smile still pulling at his lips. “Ms. Winters, if I came on too strong, I’m sorry. I’ve had a rough day. Murder does that to me, and the fact is, this case just keeps getting bigger and we don’t have a clue where to start.” He looked to Sky and then back at her. “But Sky’s right, I might have taken my frustration out on you. So how about let’s start over? My name’s Phillip, and I’ve known Sky Gomez here for about seven years. I play poker with him three times a year, and any friend of his is a friend of mine.” His gaze shifted back to Sky. “Better?”

“It’s a start,” Sky replied.