Apache Nights Read Online Free PDF

ancestors used to say.
    â€œWhy do you hate being attracted to me?” he asked, turning the tables on her.
    â€œNot because you’re Apache. I don’t let someone’s race get in the way.”
    â€œThen what is it?”
    â€œI’m not sure. Maybe it’s the way you make me feel. All hot and jumbled. Not like myself.”
    â€œYou do that to me, too.”
    â€œI know.” She grabbed her gym bag. “But I’m not interested in training with you anymore.”
    â€œSo that’s it? We’re done?” He shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t matter. But it did. The thought of losing her clenched his gut. He didn’t want her to disappear.
    Yet when she left, when she walked away, he let her go, unable to admit that the choice he’d made was based on prejudice.
    Â 
    At 9:00 p.m. Kyle walked through the courtyard of Joyce’s apartment building. She lived in a large complex, with flourishing flower beds, lush greenbelts and winding hardscape.
    He approached the sidewalk that led to her stairwell and frowned at the path in front of him. He’d called Olivia and asked her for Joyce’s address, and now he was taking reluctant steps to her door.
    He’d never apologized to a woman before and the notion of saying “I’m sorry” was making him squeamish. He’d rather be tortured, stretched on a medieval rack with metal thumbscrews on his hands and an iron mask on his face.
    Then what was he doing here?
    He ignored the question and started up the stairs. Her unit, D-2, was on the right. On the left was D-4. Both doors displayed Halloween decorations. Joyce had chosen a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, a friendly looking fellow who mocked him with a toothy grin.
    He knocked on D-2 and waited for her to answer. She didn’t respond. So he knocked again, harder this time. He knew she was home. He’d seen her car in the parking structure and if he listened close enough, he could hear strains of one of those crime scene investigation shows on her TV.
    As if she didn’t get enough of that in real life.
    Finally footsteps sounded. But she didn’t openthe door. He assumed she was peering through the peephole to see who was standing on her second-story stoop.
    He made a face, letting her know that he felt like a fool, keeping company with a plastic skeleton. Lucky for him, the Halloween decoration wasn’t obstructing her view.
    Or maybe it was unlucky. She still didn’t answer.
    â€œCome on, Joyce. Let me in.”
    Nothing. Nada.
    â€œI didn’t even bring a gun.” He stepped back and turned in a small circle.
    Still nothing.
    He cursed and removed the skeleton. “Check this out.” He waltzed with the bony creature, making its legs dangle. “I bet you didn’t know I could dance.”
    Suddenly a door opened. But it wasn’t Joyce. Still romancing the skeleton, he turned around and made eye contact with her neighbors, an elderly couple staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.
    â€œEvening,” he said, switching to a tango and dipping the neon bag of bones.
    They continued gaping at him. The old man was as bald as a billiard ball and his wife had a neck like a turkey. Kyle figured they’d been married for at least a hundred years.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” the man finally asked.
    â€œTrying to make Detective Riggs swoon.” He usedthe skeleton’s hand to gesture to his loose-fitting shirt, snug jeans and battered moccasins. “Can’t you tell? I’m a regular Romeo.”
    â€œHe’s crazy,” the woman murmured.
    â€œI’ll bet he’s an undercover cop.” The husband gave his six-foot-four frame a serious gander. “He’s just the type.”
    Without another word, they closed the door in his face, assuming he was one of Joyce’s offbeat peers. Kyle didn’t know whether to laugh or defend his own pathetic honor.
    â€œI see you met Mr.