Blossom - Andrew H. Vachss [60]
"She was."
"Did she raise you?"
"No. I was only there for the summer. The State raised me."
"Are your parents dead?"
"I don't know. Never met them."
"Oh."
"You can get that sappy look off your face. You don't miss what you never had."
"You don't know my looks. You don't know what they mean. And folks do miss what they never have. They do it all the time. Now tell me what you found out."
87
LATER, I WAS on the couch in her living room. Blossom was curled up at the other end.
"Why are you in this?" she asked.
"Virgil's my brother."
"I understand that. But you came to help Lloyd, right? I know he's been arrested and all, but nobody thinks he did it. Why don't you go back home?"
"I could never explain it to you. The guy who did this, I know him. Not his name. I was raised with humans like him. I know why he does it."
"You want to stop him before he does it again?"
"I'm no hero. That's not it. I told you, I can't explain it."
She slid closer on the couch, voice quiet. "Cyndi tell you what I told her? About you?"
"To stay away from me?"
"Yes. She tell you why?"
"Not exactly."
"You're a trouble–man, Mr. Burke."
"What's that?"
"There's men who walk on the edge because they like the way it feels under their feet. Risk–takers."
"That's not me."
"Yes. Yes, it is. You've got the mark. Clear as a signpost. It's got nothing to do with bravery. But wherever you go, there's trouble. Trouble for somebody."
"You don't know me."
"And you don't know the sniper?"
I dragged on my smoke to have something to do. Thought it through. "I won't be around here long."
She stood up. Held out her hand to me. "You'll be around here till it gets light anyway."
88
IN HER BEDROOM, she pulled the T–shirt over her head and stepped into my chest, tilting her face up. Her lips were full and rich. Swollen. I kissed her softly, my hands trailing down her back. Her skin had a fine sheen of powder and sweat. Her arms came up, linked around my neck. She leaned back, one bare foot on my shoe. Her breasts were small, round perfect things, tiny nipples dark against the milky flesh.
Blossom pushed my jacket off my shoulders, opened the buttons on my shirt with a pickpocket's touch. She sat on the bed while I pulled off the rest of my clothes. Held out her hand again. Pushed me onto my back on the bed. Got to her feet. Hooked thumbs in the waistband of her powder–blue panties and pulled them down to her thighs. Bent at the waist as she stepped out of them. Came onto the bed again, her face in my neck. I gazed down the line of her back. Her ankles were slim, calf muscles standing out strong. A woman who spent a lot of time on her feet. Her buttocks swelled from a tiny waist. I patted her, feeling the firm flesh bounce back against me.
"It's a handful, huh?"
"Bigger than I would've thought."
"I had to learn how to walk to keep it down. Boys used to follow me home from school."
"I would have, I saw all this in motion."
She slid one leg over mine, trailing wetness. Kissed me deep, tongue curling up against the back of my top teeth. Her hand found me. "You left something in your clothes," she whispered. "Go get it."
"What?"
She propped herself up on her elbows, regarding me with those searchlight eyes. "Don't tell me…"
"What?"
"Why do you carry that pistol, trouble–man?"
"For protection."
"Yeah. You wouldn't leave home without it. That the only kind of protection you can think of?"
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh. You have any or not?"
"Not."
Her little fist thumped me lightly on the chest. "Nice work, boy. You get lucky enough to come along when I'm having an estrogen–fit, then you blow it."
"Speaking of which…"
"Forget it. What year do you think this is? I didn't go to medical school to have some strange man playing with my life. I don't know where you've been."
"I…"
"Don't even tell me. A stiff cock's got no conscience."
"Your mother tell you that?"
"Matter of fact, she did. Best time to ask a man for a favor is just before he comes."
"When's the best time for a woman?"
"Just after." A gentle twist to her mouth, playing with