Oranges & Roses

Sparkling Menacingly

Chapter One

Six Days Later

“So am I officially dead?”

Homicide Detective Kelvin Houston smiled at me as he closed the door and nodded. “Arrietty Emelina De Sota is officially deceased. How does it feel to be a dead woman?”

“Like I took a bullet through the gut.” I returned his smile and tossed the handful of chopped onions into the frying pan. “How does it feel to have a permanent house guest?”

“Technically this isn’t my house but you won’t be the first free loader I take in temporarily even if it was. Not to mention you still owe me dinner and a drink.”

“Which is what I’m currently doing at the moment so stop bitching. And just so you know, I’m never telling you anything about my domestic skills ever again.”

They’d moved me here after one of Rob’s men took a shot at killing me at the hospital after I’d survived surgery. I’d yet to see my brother but I spoke to him almost every day on the phone. He told me he was in the middle of planning my fake funeral since I apparently died two days ago. He even asked me what kind of flowers I wanted as a joke. I only woke up two days ago to a poorly decorated bedroom with no clue what the hell was going on. Houston, thus far, has been my only visitor and I was oddly ok with that.

No one was sitting with me when I finally opened my eyes from a four day coma but the second I tried to sit up, everyone in the vicinity knew I was awake. I’d screamed louder than I should’ve but it felt like I’d been shot…again.

Sorta.

A strange woman came running in, claiming I wasn’t supposed to be getting up yet and to lay back down. Since I had no idea who she was, I didn’t listen and starting throwing random items at her, whatever was in arm’s reach. Of course it didn’t help when Houston came into the room and caught a baseball to the forehead. What the hell a baseball was doing in the room, I don’t know. But I managed to get my hands on it and hurl it as hard as possible.

“Ow! Jesus, Elina! Calm the fuck down!”

“Where am I?” I yelled at him. “What the hell is going on? Who the fuck is she?”

“For one, you’re nursing a hole in the midsection so you need to stay,” Houston said rubbing his forehead and pointing at the bed. “Two you’re at a safe house and three, this is my sister. Be nice and pleasant like I know you can be. Say hi, Elina.”

When I didn’t say anything, the petite blonde took over. “Hi, Elina,” she said meekly, still holding her hands out in a defensive manner as I sat huffing on the bed. “I’m Dixie.”

“Dixie.” I looked at Houston. “Seriously? Dixie Houston. Are you shitting me right now?”

“No.”

“No? That’s all you’ve got for me is no?”

“Exactly.”

“I fucking hate you.” I sank back against the headboard. “What happened?”

“You were shot.”

“I was shot?” I looked at the girl who was still thinking about approaching me even though her brother had sat down at the end of the bed. She had the wide-eyed ‘I’m standing next to a live tiger’ look on her face. She nodded when she noticed I was waiting for her confirmation. “I was shot.”

“You know you were shot. How do you think you got the hole in the gut?” Houston just rolled his eyes but settled back into being patient. “Do you remember who it was?”