Softer Than Steel (A Love & Steel Novel) by Jessica Topper

Author:Jessica Topper [Topper, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-09-14T22:00:00+00:00

Rick

Tangled Up in Blue

The Ramones stuttered about the number of hours in a day at top volume from the car stereo of the Mini. ’Kin hell, Rick thought. Twenty-four hours prior, he had had his hands and his mouth full of Sidra. As soft and as intoxicating as the wild tiger lilies whizzing by his window, dizzying him.

How ever was he going to get through the weekend without seeing her, without talking to her? Perhaps the Ramones were on to something. He wanted to be sedated, too. Put me in a coma til Monday night, he thought.

Sidra had all but kicked him to the curb last night. Rick wasn’t sure if “go now” meant “come back later” or “fuck off don’t bother.” He thought of a million things he could have done differently, starting with the fact that he could have cleared up the issue of his bloody name from the get-go.

He had lived in a town of less than five hundred people for the last twenty years. Hanalei was just small enough for everyone to know their neighbor and just quirky enough not to care about Riff Rotten or the handful of other famous freaks who sought refuge from their nonsensical notoriety there. And since coming to New York, he had been living in a sort of similar limbo.

Take any given day on the subway. Strangers felt compelled to strike up conversation like they knew him, or chose to inhabit comfortable silence; the looks on many of their faces revealed they knew of him. New Yorkers conveyed an aloof reverence, for the most part. When was the last time he had had to introduce himself, cold, to another person? Let alone a beautiful woman in a state of half undress?

Oh, he had fucked up big-time.

“What’s got your tongue?” Kat asked, glancing in the rearview. “You’re awfully quiet, Riff.”

“Didn’t he tell you? He’s gone all yogi on us,” Adrian teased. Rick had half a mind to give the front seat a kick, wishing it were a direct blow to Adrian’s arse instead.

“Are Sheena and Judy friends?” Abbey broke in. “Uncle Riff, do you know Sheena and Judy?”

“I’m sorry, luv. Who?”

“Sheena is a punk rocker. And Judy is a punk. In these songs,” she pointed out. “So I wanna know if they know each other.”

God bless the Ramones. “I’m sure Johnny and Joey really knew girls like Sheena and Judy,” Rick explained.

“And Jackie, too,” Adrian reminded them.

“I think that’s great,” Kat said, her eyes meeting Rick’s in the mirror.

* * *

“Do you mind if I nip down to the beach?”

“No, go right ahead.” Kat was reaching in the cupboard for pasta. “Mi casa es su casa, and the beach, too. Dinner in about half an hour.”

“Thanks, Kat.”

The arc of soft sand was a mere fingernail clipping compared to the vast Polihale beach back home. Still, Rick felt transported the minute he let his toes sink down. Actually, the shape of the lake, with its seclusion of trees, reminded him very much of Hanalei Bay, a smaller beach closer to his house.

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