“Vance and Jules broke up,” Daisy put in.

Tex made a noise that sounded like “puh” then he said, “That’ll last, like, a minute.”

“She broke up with him two days ago. They’re over,” Daisy shared.

Tex’s big head swung to me. “Over?” he asked, like the concept of two people ending a relationship was foreign to him.

I nodded.

“Shee-it,” he muttered.

There came another knock on my door.

“What now?” I mumbled as I walked to it and opened it.

“Fuck,” Roam said, standing outside next to Sniff. They were both staring at me.

“Don’t say f**k,” I told him. “What are you doing here? You okay?”

“Yeah, what’s on your face?” Sniff asked.

“A facemask,” I answered.

Both of them kept staring at me. I knew it hurt my street cred, The Law walking around in a facemask.

“It’s important to take care of your skin,” I defended myself.

They blinked.

“Crowe around?” Roam asked, the first to get over the severe blow to my reputation, he was looking passed me.

“They f**kin’ broke up,” Tex boomed from the chaise.

Roam and Sniff stared at me again. Sniff looked disappointed. Roam’s face went hard. I knew what he was thinking.

“Roam, it isn’t…” I started.

“Get in here boys, we’re orderin’ pizza,” Daisy called over me.

“We are?” I asked when I’d turned to Daisy.

“Sure. Pizza, football and facials. What else do you do on a Sunday?”

Roam and Sniff pushed in.

Daisy stood up, twisting the top back onto the nail polish. “Time to wipe off the mud. Lay down, Sugar. You, Sniff, go wet this cloth, hot water. Hot as you can get it,” Daisy ordered Sniff and threw him a pale pink washcloth.

Sniff stood staring at the cloth a second then without a word (small miracle) he walked down the hall.

I lay down. Roam turned on the TV.

Thirty minutes later, slathered with face lotion and glistening from shoulders to hairline, facial done, enough pizza on the pub set to feed an army, the boxes sitting next to the jars and bottles of the facial debris, another knock came at the door.

Daisy, Tex, Roam and Sniff were all watching the game. I walked to the door.

It was Heavy and Zip.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“Came to see if you’re still alive,” Zip replied, pushing in.

“That the Broncos game?” Heavy asked, pushing in too and staring at the TV.

“Naw, Broncos don’t start until three,” Tex answered.

“You want pizza?” Daisy asked.

“Fuck yeah,” Heavy replied, already sitting on the couch and reaching for a slice.

I stood by the door, staring at my ever-growing company and wondering how this had happened. I wanted a quiet day. I wanted to learn how to cook. I wanted to spend the afternoon at a hobby shop perusing skeins of wool.

“Crowe here?” Zip asked.

“They broke up,” Sniff informed him, eyes never leaving the game.

Zip hadn’t moved into the room. He was still standing by me at the door and his eyes turned to me.

“Girl, I told you,” he said.

“I don’t want to hear it, Zip,” I replied in a soft voice.

He stared at me a moment then he looked to the floor and shook his head. Then to my surprise when he looked up again he also lifted a hand and patted me on the shoulder. Then he got himself a slice of pizza and a seat on the couch.

Heavy wasn’t watching at the game. He was looking over the back of the couch at me.

“I don’t want it from you either, Heavy,” I told him.

He watched me a beat then nodded once slowly then looked back at the TV.

My cell phone rang. It was Ally telling me that she was coming over.

“Bring beer,” I said to her and stared at my living room, “lots of it.”

“Gotcha,” she replied.

“And some pop, Roam and Sniff are here.”

“No problem.”

“Indy, Jet and Roxie coming?” I asked.

“Negative, sister. They’re spending the day with their men.”

I felt a stomach twist.

“See you in ten,” she said in my ear.

I flipped the phone shut, beginning to get good at ignoring the stomach twist and I sat on the floor beside Heavy. He pulled at a lock of my hair. I looked up at him. He winked at me.

My stomach twist felt a little better at the wink but my eyes got blurry.

Then a knock came from the backdoor.

“Jules?” Nick called from there.

“We’re in the living room,” I called back.

* * * * *

I swung into the black Explorer next to Luke.

Luke stared at me.

“Ready,” I informed him, buckling in.

“You wearin’ purple pants to a takedown?” he asked, eyes on my thighs.

I looked down at my cords. They weren’t purple, as such. They were more like a lavender-ish gray. I also had on my black cowboy boots, a black belt, a dusty gray, thick knit, long-sleeved tee with a hood and my black leather blazer. The hood of my tee was over the back collar of my blazer.

I thought my outfit was kickass, especially putting it together after two in the morning with only five minutes to do it.

One look at Luke said he didn’t agree.

“Just drive,” I said.

He drove but he drove with a grin on his face.

We went to the old Stapleton airport area. Not the ritzy part that had been redone, the shitty part that hadn’t.

“What’s the deal?” I asked on the way.

“Skip. High bond, means the bondsman’s out a whack if we don’t pull him in. Name’s Warren. Total scum. He’s a dealer and a pimp. More the second, keeps his girls high and workin’ for him doin’ the first. You know him?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said.

“I got a taser for you,” Luke told me. “Please tell me you got your gun somewhere in those purple pants.”

I pulled it out of my back waistband and showed it to him.

“You need a holster,” he said to me.

I nodded thinking of going shopping at Zip’s tomorrow night. A holster would be dead cool.

“Ike’s on him. Says he went into a house and hasn’t come out. Called backup. Warren’s a mean motherfucker and usually not far from his gun.”

I nodded again, rethinking my excitement at a ride-along for a takedown.