Jade dashed down the sidewalk. "Hey!" she shouted at his retreating back, then cursed herself for not having the sense to ask Bianca what the man's name was. "Hey!" Risking a twisted ankle, she switched from jogging to running and managed to catch up.
"I'm sorry," she began, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. "Really. It's completely my fault."
"Who said it wasn't?"
"I shouldn't have followed you. It was impulse. I have such a problem resisting impulse—always have... I only wanted to—could you slow down a little?"
"No."
Jade rolled her eyes. "All right, all right, you wish I'd get run over by a truck, but there's no need to be upset with Bianca. We just started talking,then we hit it off."
He did stop now, to simply stare at her. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world," he muttered, and made her laugh.
"I had to follow you into that one and make pals with your girlfriend. Sorry."
"My girlfriend? Bianca?"
And to Jade's amazement, the man could laugh. Really laugh, with a wonderful baritone rumble that melted all the ice and made her sigh in delight.
"Does Bianca look like anyone's girlfriend? Girl, you are from Mars."
"It's just an expression. I didn't want to be presumptive and call her your lover." His eyes were still warm with amusement as he stared down at her, "That's a happy thought, kid, but the guy I was just jamming with happens to be her husband, and a friend of mine."
"The skinny man playing drums? Really?" Pursing her lips, Jade thought about it, found it charming and romantic. "Isn't that lovely?" Vincent only shook his head and started walking again.
"What I meant was," Jade continued—he'd just known she couldn't possibly be finished—as she hurried along beside him, "I'm sure she came back to check me out, you know? To make sure I wasn't going to hassle you, and then, well, one thing led to another. I don't want you to be annoyed with her."
"I'm not annoyed with her. You, on the other hand, have gone so far beyond being an annoyance I can't find the word." Her mouth fell into a pout. "Well, I'm sorry, and I'll certainly make it a point to leave you alone, since that's apparently what you like best."
Her perky nose went up in the air, and she sailed across the street in the opposite direction from their building. Vincent stood there a moment, watching her scissor those very pretty legs down the opposite sidewalk. Then, with a shrug, he turned the corner, telling himself he was glad to be rid of her. It wasn't his concern if she wandered around alone at night. She wouldn't have been out walking around on those silly, skinny heels if she hadn't followed him in the first place. He wasn't going to worry about it.
He turned around, heading back. He was going to make sure that she got home, that was all. Back inside, where he could wash any responsibility for her welfare off his hands and forget her.
He was a crosstown block away when he saw it happen. The man slid out of the shadows, made his grab and had Jade letting out an ear-piercing scream as she struggled. Vincent sprinted forward with his fists already clenched. Then skidded to an amazed halt as Jade not only broke free but doubled her attacker over with a hard knee to the groin, and knocked him flat with a perfect uppercut.
"I only had ten lousy dollars in here. Ten lousy dollars, you jerk!" She was shouting by the time Vincent gathered his wits and rushed up beside her. "If you needed money, why didn't you just ask!"
"Are you hurt?"
"Yes, damn it. And it's your fault. I wouldn't have hit him so hard if I hadn't been mad at you." Noting that she was nursing the knuckles on her right hand, Vincent grabbed it by the wrist. "Let's see. Wiggle your fingers."
"Go away."
"Come on, wiggle."
"Hey!" The shout came from a woman hanging out an open window across the street. "Should i call the cops?"
"Yes." Jade snapped the word back as she wiggled her fingers and Vincent probed, then blew out a steadying breath. "Yes, please. Thanks."
"Polite little victim, aren't you?" Vincent muttered. "Nothing's broken. You might want to get it x-rayed anyway."
"Thanks so much, Dr. Doom." She jerked a hand away, kept her chin lifted and gestured with her uninjured hand in what Vincent thought of as a grandly regal gesture. "You can go. I'm just fine."
As the man sprawled on the sidewalk began to moan and stir, Vincent set a foot on his throat. "I think I'll just stick around.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For you-know helpi-"she was cut off
"Don't mention it." Vincent added a bit more weight when the man on the ground began to curse. When the squad car pulled up ten minutes later, he stepped back. Jade wasn't having any trouble giving the cops the details, and Vincent harbored the hope that he could just slide away and stay out of it. The hope died as one of the uniforms turned to him.
"Did you see what happened here?"
Vincent sighed. "Yeah."
And that was why it was nearly 2 a.m. before he trooped up the steps with Jade toward their respective apartments. He still had the unappealing taste of police station coffee in his mouth and a low-grade headache on the brew.
"It was kind of exciting, wasn't it? All those cops and bad guys. It was hard to tell one from the other in the detective bureau. Well, you could because the detectives have to wear ties. I wonder why. It was nice of them to show me around. You should have come. The interrogation rooms look just the way you imagine they would. Dark and creepy."
He was certain she had to be the only person on the planet who could find a sunny side to being mugged.