Crushed Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

back as it roared to be free. I was no longer its master as my body gave in to Iris’s plea.
    I gasped as I erupted; my seed released and joined with her flow.
    The choice bed dampened by our encounter, Iris pur-red beneath me, blissful dreams taking hold after a good fucking. To think she was just escaping her kids and a mundane life for the night. In her, I’d found an escape of my own.
    â€œGracias,” I mumbled, succumbing to the exhaustion of the moment myself.
    The sun was still dormant when we emerged from the townhome.
    â€œFeel like some breakfast? You must be hungry,” she said. The wrinkles in her dress were visible as she staggered down the driveway to her car. I’d parked the 650i convertible on the street, so as not to block her in.
    â€œStarving, but I have places to be. Stayed way too long.”
    â€œGuilty as charged,” she said as she looked back at me. “If you ever need a place to stay or anything . . .”
    â€œAnd I’d be tempted, too, but . . .” She could’ve been useful, but I guess I still had a heart somewhere in there.
    â€œI know. You do crazy shit for apparently no reason. Not healthy.”
    I walked her to her car; gave her a tight good-bye hug “Get back to your kids before they wake up. Maybe you can work off any remaining frustrations on hubby.”
    â€œI doubt it,” she replied as I closed her door. She started the Corvette, a throaty growl emanating from its exhaust. She wanted me to kiss her. I couldn’t. “But if he’s able, I’ll give it a try.”
    â€œThat’s the spirit.”
    â€œ Aparte del sexo, yo se que llevas algo bueno adentro de ti ,” she intoned, figuring I understood. Aside from the sex, there was some good in me.
    â€œYou’re just saying that because you still have that ‘glow,’ ” I joked, rather than acknowledge such delusions.
    â€œTry not to get yourself killed, okay?”
    â€œGoodbye, Iris.”
    â€œAdios . . . whatever your name is,” she said with a wink.
    With a shriek of its tires, Iris gunned the auto down Hartman Street and zoomed around the corner, leaving me alone in the pre-dawn hours and dreading the long drive back to Dallas.

Chapter 7
    I took a sip of the black currant iced tea, engaged in another conversation across the ether.

    Anything new for me? Slow news day for these other busters. Need something major. Keep these hits up on the website, y’know?
    Busy working on a job. If something comes up, I’ll holler.
    Please do. The bigger, the better. You know nobody’s $$$$ is betta than mines. Where are you living these days?
    Nowhere. Everywhere.
    You know I’ma keep hounding you until we meet one day.
    How do you know we’ve haven’t met?

    I typed, feeling silly.

    U like fuckin’ with a sista.

    Smiling at her comment, I checked my receipt, waiting for my order to be called. Number 332—a side salad and a cup of the black bean soup. A light lunch was what I needed after all the drinking and whatnot in Houston. Had been eating too heavy recently anyway. Being swift in mind, as well as body, often went together.
    The soup took me back to New Mexico. Reminded me of Mary’s comfort food while my mother worked long hours at the inn where we stayed. Mary, who worked a different shift, was like a second mother to me. When we moved to California, there was no more Mary. And the comfort, as well as the food, was gone.
    I opened a window on my laptop. Began planning for Vegas. I needed a flight and somewhere to stay. With a click from my wireless mouse, I opened another window, viewing dates of the music awards simultaneously. My mind began assembling what I would need and who to reach out to. Natalia, Natalia. Time to get to know you even better.
    From inside Café Express, I paused from my multi-tasking to gaze across the street at the Gables Uptown Tower, on alert for faces, both familiar and