Chapter Five #2
“Ah, never mind, I’m sure you saw it sprayed on the trailer park dumpster or something.” I jerked the door open.
She shot in front of me and forced it to close again.
“I’m not some ignorant bitch you’re going to talk to in just any type of way,” Debi informed me, while blinking like an eyelash was about to come off.
She might have been cute if she wasn’t such an annoying cunt. Freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose and her eyes were suddenly more green than blue.
“I didn’t notice anybody out here trying to speak with you to begin with. I’m trying to find a drink and something that hasn’t been left as bitter, brittle, and broken as you.”
Those eyes flashed in warning, but I didn’t see it for what it was. I was left sucking in a startled breath when she slammed both hands into my chest and sent me back a few paces.
“Fuck you,” she managed through gritted teeth, before turning toward her friend.
Mak had his arm around the other girl, but she was clearly keeping her eye on me and Debi. I wiped my face knowing the tantrum to come if he was left going home to Sasha for entertainment.
I didn’t want to hear it.
I just wanted a drink, and Crystal.
I wet my lips and glanced back to find Mak glaring at me. The girls were huddled together, and Debi was jabbing a finger my way.
Mak hurried toward me, his eyes widening in a silent ‘What the fuck? “Man, come the fuck on. We can get these two broads and lay out a little blow.”
I couldn’t keep the disappointment from registering across my face. Blow was the last thing Mak needed tonight. He’d run through that girl and be ready to fight everybody and himself within an hour or two.
“Pfft. Man, you’re as boring as my wife these days.” Mak snorted. “The fuck is wrong with you. Let that mouthy little crank suck your dick, let me dip mine, and you can get back to Springfield before that little gash ends her shift, yeah?”
The idea of going back to escort her home from work hadn’t really occurred to me, but now that he mentioned it…
“Yeah?” he doubled down, noticing that he’d caught my attention.
I sighed and relented with a hint of irritation in my tone, “Yeah. Whatever.”
Mak and Tonya led the way, leaving me and Debi to trail after them.
The silence between us was palpable. And, about the time I was going to ask if she didn’t want to stay and shoot some pool while they slipped away for a few hours, we turned into an alley.
Our steps echoed and the awkwardness thickened until the narrow space emptied into a parking lot.
At the other end, something in cut offs with a braid hanging over each shoulder stood in wait.
“I told you she’d already be back at the van,” Tonya announced, flashing a grin at Debi.
“Good. She can sit on his lap. I’m driving,” Debi declared before putting some speed in her step and rushing past all of us.
The girl with the braids let out a little squeak when Debi snatched the keys from her hand and rounded a powder-blue minivan.
“What the hell got into her?” Braids asked.
Mak gave a bawdy laugh and tightened his hold on Tonya, drawing her into him as he teased, “More like, what didn’t…”
Braids shook her head and glanced toward me. Her shy, sweet smile was cute, but it wasn’t the one I wanted.
“I’m Kindra,” she offered, as the van door slowly began to slide open before anyone reached it.
“Fancy.” I grunted.
“Kindra is?” She pinched her nose up.
“Nah, the Houdini act on the minivan.” I gestured, a little grin winning over. “Kindra is cute, I guess.”
“You guess?” Tonya teased.
Mak swatted her ass and grabbed her arm when she tried to climb in first.
“Let them.” He nodded toward us.
“I am not squeezing my long-legged ass into that backseat.” Kindra announced, and I realized she did reach my shoulder.
I wasn’t used to that but seconded her opinion all the same. “You two are shorter get the fuck in.”
Mak glared as Tonya shot into the van, when he turned back and saw her ass he forgot his upset.
“I’m Anthony.” I cleared my throat and motioned for her to go first.
She smiled like she wanted to say something but eventually entered the van without a word.
I slid the door shut and turned my attention to Kindra, if only to avoid the woman glaring at me in the rearview mirror.
“You three been friends long?” I asked, after clearing my throat.
“We work together at the–”
“Shut up. You don’t need to tell them everything,” Debi scolded, before turning the radio dial until we’d have been left yelling at each other if we wanted to continue the conversation.
Kindra gnawed at her lip, her attention slowly shifting from the rearview mirror to me in an apologetic way. I leaned in, undeterred by Debi’s antics.
“I get it. Ya’ll are top secret agents of NASA,” I teased, bringing a finger to my lips. “I won’t tell.”
Kindra snorted, drawing a leg up onto the seat as she shook her head, “No. We just chase vitals at the nursing home in Swanwick.”
“Ya’ll are nurses?”
I’d have never guessed. Debi probably had the bedside manner of a rattle snake. I met her gaze in the mirror, and she rolled her eyes like she read my thoughts.
“Do we look like fucking nurses to you? Do you think nurses need to carpool in minivans?” Debi mouthed, starting the engine.
I wasn’t sure where we were headed, but at least the terrible music faltered for a minute.
Her logic was amusing, but I decided to try and defuse her a little, “I don’t know. My highfalutin’ ass ain’t never convinced one to give me the time of day. So, I wouldn’t know what the fuck they drive. I’m sure there are one or two that might have kids, though.”
She stared at me, her disgusted squint not tightening, but certainly not relaxing, either.
Kindra’s hand shot out and she caressed the back of my hand and teased her fingers between mine.
“Never mind her. She’s a little funny sometimes,” Kindra whispered, pushing her arm rest up so she could get closer.
“Fuckin’ hilarious, I can tell.” I snorted.
A giggle sounded from the bench behind us, and I tried to ignore it.
“Ant, tell her how to get to Tilden,” Mak called.
“What’s in Tilden?” Kindra whispered.
“The best snow you ever snorted,” Mak sang.
“It better be,” Debi huffed.
“Take sixteen down to Vera,” I called over the music.
“We’re CNAs. What do you do?” Kindra quietly asked.
“Hmm?” I drew a deep breath and stared into her green eyes.
“You’re about to lie to me,” Kindra accused, and I couldn’t help the guilty laugh.
I owned a former strip club. Big Vick sold it to me for a dollar on my eighteenth birthday, but I didn’t have the time to dedicate toward all of that right now. It was nothing more than a warehouse that stored the marijuana our club pushed, and a few crates of guns that we called an armory.
I wasn’t about to tell a van full of law-abiding, perfectly employed, good girls all of that; she was right.
“You could say we’re flippers.”
“Oh, like real estate?” Kindra latched on, that hopeful naivety shining bright in her tone.
“Yeah,” I instantly agreed. “Yeah, something like that.”
The radio played a decent song, and it kept the questions at bay, until we arrived in Vera.
“Turn left off the highway, and hook the next right,” I advised.
When the yellow house on the edge of Tilden came into view, I motioned for her to pull off the road. “You’ll want to kill the lights.”
“For what?” Debi scoffed.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temple.
“Hurry the fuck up,” I called back at Mak, who was swapping spit like he was leaving his lifelong sweetheart for war, rather than running into the dope house for five minutes.
He finally pulled himself off her, and rather than tuck her legs back in front of her, Kindra shot off her seat and planted herself in my lap.
It left Mak awkwardly shuffling around a much larger obstacle than he originally would have, but he didn’t seem to mind.
He slapped the back of Debi’s headrest as he passed.
“Shut the fucking lights off, or do you want to turn on the emergency flashers and get a little ice cream truck horn? Fuckin’ noob.
” He damn near fell out trying to get around my legs.
Once he managed to find the ground, he slid the door shut a little harder than necessary.
“Jesus.” I laughed into the valley of my chest and Kindra’s shoulder.
She kissed my cheek and teased her nails through my short hair on the side, “You’re cuter than him, and nicer, too.”
“Hell, that could be true of a junk yard dog.” I laughed, and pretended to stare after Mak, if only to avoid her face.
“You look like the fun kind of trouble,” she murmured, her lips finding their way to my neck.
I could feel Debi’s glare, even if I couldn’t see it.
Kindra was cute, and she smelled nice. I allowed myself to be lured by her tender touch and was soon distracted by a kiss.
The door shot open, and I curled her toward me instinctively.
“Were you saving her or making her your meat shield?” Mak teased, with a knowing grin.
I tried to shift, hoping she’d move along back to her seat, but she just curled her legs tighter to my seat and left Mak to navigate.
I gritted my teeth when I heard him working the knot on the baggie. I knew how this song went, that sound meant the night was about to get long and ugly.