CHAPTER NINETEEN
RIPLEY
The last thing I wanted to do was go to work in a mood like this.
I’d been enraged since I received a message from my mother a few hours earlier demanding more money.
Not long after that I heard from Charlie, letting me know he wouldn’t be selling to me anymore.
My whole day had gone downhill from there.
Charlie had been reluctant to tell me why until I continued to press him. Finally he confessed that someone had told him not to. It hadn’t been hard to figure out that it had been Auryn.
I’d never had to work so hard to keep from exploding. Finding out that Auryn had made such a controlling move left me feeling violated. Angry beyond all reason. And more than anything, it had left me panicked.
Where would I get more pills now? The doctor cut me off months ago. I’m sure there were more street dealers, although I didn’t know anyone well enough to ask. Unfortunately, Auryn had been right about one thing. Not every source was trustworthy.
My hands shook on the steering wheel during the drive to work. It took everything in me to obey the traffic laws. To keep from hitting the gas harder than necessary or honking the horn at every idiot that did something stupid in traffic.
It wasn’t worth it. They weren’t the ones I was really mad at. I told myself I was pissed off with Auryn, but maybe I was really mad at myself. In such a short time, I had let him get too close. Letting him know the truth that I barely admitted to myself these days.
Now he’d gone and done something stupid that created a problem for me. And as much as it made me crazy with anger, I knew it had come from a good place. Auryn wanted to protect me from myself. Too bad it didn’t work that way.
I felt bad when I thought about slapping him. The way he’d stood there and taken it when he could have stopped me. Instead, he’d allowed me to unleash my anger on him. I wondered what else he would have allowed me to do.
As I pulled into the parking lot at work, my fingers drifted over my bottom lip. It still stung from his bite. A little puffy, though the skin remained unbroken.
I parked my car and turned off the engine. A heavy breath exiting my lungs as I slumped in my seat. How did I get in so deep over my head in such a short time? What was it about Auryn that made it so easy to lose myself?
“Time to put on your game face,” I muttered to myself. Every time I showed up to work I regretted my choice to take a job in the customer service industry.
My shift tonight was an agonizing six hours. No doubt the place would be busy which should help keep me moving. Time went faster when I stayed busy.
Pasting on a somewhat friendly expression, I left my car and entered the restaurant. Going through the motions of greeting my coworkers. Smiling and nodding, exchanging meaningless pleasantries.
The first couple hours weren’t too bad. As the night went on, the restaurant grew busier. I hustled my ass off, moving from table to table. Carrying dishes back and forth from the kitchen. The usual. I did my best to keep from looking at the clock. That only made things worse.
I was halfway through my shift when I glanced up and saw him. Jamie. Following the hostess as she led him to a table near the window. He still had a healing black eye and bandaged fingers from the last time he’d shown up here.
Even though I had told Auryn that I would rather deal with Jamie than him, that wasn’t exactly the truth. Stupid things were often said in the heat of the moment. Seeing Jamie sitting there, pretending to study the menu, confirmed that I would definitely not rather deal with him.
Now I had no choice. My own words had come back to bite me in the ass.
Feeling more edgy than I was accustomed to despite the Oxy in my system, I approached Jamie, letting my true feelings show on my face. “What do you want?”
He studied me for a moment before saying, “You won’t get a very good tip with that attitude.”
“I don’t want anything from you. Give me your order and stop wasting my time.” Gritting my teeth together, I waited for him to hum and haw over his menu before finally deciding. “I can give you a few minutes and come back.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve decided.” Closing the menu, he beamed a satisfied smile at me. “I’ll have the chili with the Caesar salad on the side. Bring me a mug of beer too. Any kind is fine.”
I snatched up the menu. “Sure, whatever.”
I wasn’t sure why Jamie would show up here after what happened last time. I sincerely doubted that he wanted to piss off Auryn. If anything, he came only to make me uncomfortable. Because he knew that I didn’t want him here. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Maybe he got a sick rush from seeing me forced to serve him when I otherwise wouldn’t give him the time of day. All it did was confirm my decision not to continue seeing him.
When I returned with his beer, I placed it in front of him and promptly walked away. He called my name, but I wouldn’t stop or turn around. Nope. Not tonight. I wasn’t having it.
“Everything going okay tonight?” Carissa asked when we both went to the kitchen for an order pick up. She’d been working here almost as long as I had.
“Peachy.” My very smile dripped with sarcasm. “You know how it goes.”
“You seem like you’re in a mood tonight.” She gathered several dishes, piling them expertly along her forearms before grabbing the final two in both hands. “I hope everything is all right.”
“It’s all good. Thanks. Just one of those days, you know.” My smile grew tighter as I lied through my teeth. Carissa was nice and all. We chatted at work on our breaks. We weren’t friends outside the building though. We didn’t know jack shit about each other.
I grabbed Jamie’s chili and salad. Planning to drop it on his table and get out of there before he found a way to stall me. He was lucky I wasn’t immature enough to do something nasty to it.
He made the mistake of grabbing my wrist before I could leave. Squeezing tight enough to bruise.
“Stop walking away from me.” Jamie’s tone was low so nobody at the nearby tables would hear. Not that they were paying attention anyway. Everyone was in their own little world.
“Get your hand off me before I stab you with a fork,” I hissed.
He sat back in his chair, surprised. Releasing my arm. “No need to be violent. I only wanted to talk.”
“I’m done talking to you, Jamie. Just because you come in here to eat doesn’t mean I have to play your stupid little game. Leave me alone or I’m telling my manager that you’ve been harassing me. After that, I’ll go to the police.” I wasn’t the type to threaten people, especially with the police.
We both knew there wasn’t much they would do without any concrete proof. What else was I supposed to do? Get Auryn to deal with him again? Too late for that. After today, I doubted I would see Auryn again.
“About what?” Jamie laughed. He motioned to the bruises on his face. “I’m the one with evidence. Maybe I should go to the police. I’m sure they would find several reasons to nail your so-called boyfriend.”
Perhaps it was the way he grinned at me, like he really had me there. Maybe I was simply sick of everybody’s shit.
With the anger driving me, I picked up his almost full glass of beer, pouring it over his head. His shocked expression empowered me to keep going. Next I snatched up the hot bowl of chili and smiled while I dumped the contents into his lap.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jamie’s shout rang out through the restaurant. Several people turned to stare.
I didn’t care. I was beyond that now.
Needing to really drive my point home, I snarled, “Come near me again and I’ll have you killed.”
As much as I would have loved to enjoy the moment while Jamie flailed and freaked out, I had to get out of there. My boss caught up to me on my way out.
“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” he shouted, his face red, a vein popping out in his forehead. “You’re done, Ripley. There are no second chances after assaulting a customer.”
“Fine with me.” I may panic later. Right then I gave no fucks. “I’ll come back to get my final paycheck.”
I wasn’t about to stand there and argue my case or plead for my job. Screw it. I was done.