Desolation Road (Torpedo Ink 4)

Inez beamed at her. “It’s wonderful to meet you. Absinthe is one of the sweetest boys. I’m so glad he’s found you.”

Her gaze dropped to their joined hands, specifically looking at her finger. She was clearly old-fashioned enough to think there should be a ring there with his declaration. For some reason that made Scarlet blush, the color moving up her body into her cheeks. She felt like pulling her hand away and hiding it, but that was silly, especially when Absinthe was clasping her palm firmly against his chest.

“Ice is making our set of rings. He started the minute I told him I found my woman. He’s the best jeweler I know.”

Inez touched the little tanzanite tears surrounded by tiny diamonds dropping from her ears. “He made these for me. I told him he shouldn’t give them to an old lady, but he insisted he made them just for me. No one ever did that for me before. I treasure them.”

Scarlet looked up at Absinthe. He was telling the truth to Inez. He was having a set of wedding rings made. When he said he moved fast, he wasn’t joking. That should have frightened her, but somehow it reassured her that he meant what he said. She was always afraid no one really wanted her, but Absinthe seemed hell-bent on making her truly his no matter what baggage she brought with her. Things were moving a little fast, and she would have to talk to him about that, but she liked that he was that sure.

“Savage came in the store the other day, at Sea Haven,” Inez informed them, chattering on, clearly embarrassed to having shown so much emotion over her earrings. “He was so sweet. I needed some help with Donny.”

Scarlet was shocked to hear anyone call Savage sweet. She couldn’t imagine the man having a sweet bone in his body. He looked like he might kill you and eat you for lunch.

Inez began checking their grocery items as she talked. She was fast and didn’t seem to need to look. She just kept talking. “Donny Ruttermyer is a sweet boy born with Down syndrome. He lives on his own and works at the store for me. My friend Donna owns the store across from my grocery and has a studio apartment over her store that she rents to him. Her home is behind the store. It’s quite lovely behind the little white picket fence.” She rattled off the details in a friendly voice almost without taking a breath.

Scarlet wanted her to get to the part where Savage was sweet. Inez had almost gotten to the last item and Absinthe was busy putting everything in a burlap bag he’d brought with them.

“Jackson was out of town and Donny got into some trouble …”

Absinthe’s head went up and he paused in the act of putting fresh fruit into the bag. “What kind of trouble, Inez? What does that mean?”

“Oh, nothing big. He made a mistake with his checkbook. He’s usually very careful. Jackson helps him. He got one of the columns mixed up, or at least I think it was something of that nature—he wouldn’t let Donna or me look. He was so upset he was hurting himself. I couldn’t stop him.”

Absinthe’s gaze dropped to her arm and the long sleeves she wore. He reached across the counter and very gently pushed her light sweater back to reveal the dark bruises on her arm. “Savage see these?”

Inez sighed and pulled her sleeve down. “He did. He wasn’t happy. Donny didn’t try to hurt me. He’s strong and he was agitated, hitting his head on the wall and throwing himself around. I got in his way. The minute he banged into me and I hit the wall, it was awful. I called Savage. He’s one of the few that can stop Donny when he’s that upset. Czar can too, but Savage seems to really reach him faster. I don’t know why, and I was terribly afraid he was going to harm himself, especially after I fell.”

Scarlet could tell by Absinthe’s stillness that hearing that Inez had fallen made the situation worse.

“Was Savage aware that you fell?”

“Donny told him. He stuttered and cried. He was rocking back and forth. Savage didn’t try to touch him or comfort him like I expected, he just let him talk. When Donny told him about me falling into the wall and then onto the floor, he called Libby Drake. I didn’t know he knew the Drakes that well or even that she was a doctor. She wasn’t home so he called Steele. He insisted Steele come immediately to see me.”

“As he should have,” Absinthe said. “I hope you were cooperative.”

“I don’t go to the doctor often. I find they seem to like to prescribe drugs and I don’t take pills, but Jackson and Savage are the two men I can’t seem to say no to when they insist on bringing a doctor around.” She heaved a sigh. “It’s ridiculous how bossy they can be.” She patted Scarlet’s hand. “Be careful, honey, these men tend to be difficult to say no to.”