Chapter 30 The Announcement
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
MAGGIE
“Get your filthy hands off me, Spencer!” I shoved him as hard as I could, which wasn’t much given my small frame in comparison to his. “Don’t ever touch me again!”
Spencer towered over me, a glassy-eyed leer playing across his face. He reeked of alcohol and I crinkled my nose in disgust.
“That wasn’t what you said the other night, was it, doll face?
” Spencer smirked. Reaching for me again, he gripped my biceps tightly enough to bruise and yanked me forward, throwing me off balance.
Using my equilibrium against me, Spencer whipped me around and shoved me into the brick wall in the alleyway of the building.
I tried not to cry out as my head smacked stone.
I gritted my teeth so I wouldn’t cry out. Bullies thrived on seeing your fear, and Spencer was the worst bully Smithson County High had ever seen.
“What do you want, Spencer?”
He grinned sinisterly, bending down so that he could look me square between the eyes. “I want all the money you owe me. Plus twenty percent interest.”
“I don’t owe you shit! It was a fucking accident!” I growled.
Spencer’s nostrils flared. He tightened his hold on my arms, pushing me harder against the wall behind me. There was no way I could fight him off. I didn’t have that kind of body strength.
“Yeah, well your little ‘accident’ cost me five grand!” Flecks of his spit landed on my face, making my stomach turn over.
I frantically glanced down both sides of the alleyway.
It was completely abandoned, not uncommon for this time of day in River’s Run.
Everyone was at work and none of the major businesses were on this block.
Even if I grew a spine to yell for help, nobody would be around to hear me. I was utterly alone.
“There’s one way you can work off what you owe,” Spencer offered with a lecherous grin. He leaned down and ran his tongue along the side of my face. “My boys and I could use an easy cunt like yours to pass around.”
I snapped my head back in disgust. “Get off me!”
Instantly I knew that was the wrong thing to say. Spencer’s bloodshot eyes darkened and he slapped me hard across the face before a hand cupped my jaw to hold me still.
“You think you’re better than that?” he sneered.
“Are you gonna start quoting Bible verses and claiming you’re reformed like every other dumb bitch in this town?
You’re a whore! A pitiful, ugly whore who’ll never get a guy beyond a few pumps in the back of his car. Like mother, like daughter, right?”
Tears clouded my vision as I tried to stop my legs from giving out beneath me.
His words were like blazing arrows straight to my heart.
Except I couldn’t deny that everything he said was true.
Diana had been caught multiple times in the back of men’s cars here in River’s Run.
That was why none of the other women her age would talk to her.
She’d ruined more than one marriage since we moved here.
And now I would do the same thing. My own marriage would suffer this time, because like Spencer said, I was ugly and pitiful. A good man like Zeke wouldn’t want me. Especially not when I owed so much money and had no way of paying it back.
As if he could sense the conclusion I’d drawn, Spencer loosened his hold and smirked at me.
“Get down on your knees for me like a good little slut.” He started undoing his belt buckle, gleaming as he saw the defeat and despair take over my face.
I lowered myself down on autopilot. Shame made me numb.
“My god, Maggie, haven’t I taught you to be more discreet than this?!”
Never in my life did I think I would be grateful to hear my mother’s voice. Diana stood in the opening of the alley, a hand on her hip, in a too short miniskirt and a low cut tank top she stole from me. She didn’t look shocked or upset by my predicament, though.
Spencer snatched my bicep again, jerking me to my feet and turning his leer to Diana. “Sometimes the mood just strikes you, Ms. Eaton.”
Diana glanced between us as if unsure how to proceed. If there weren’t tears streaming down my face, I knew she’d be flirting right back, but my overall unhappy demeanor must have clued her in that something was wrong.
“I guess the mood will need to strike you with someone else, Spencer. Looks like I need to get our Maggie here back to the house.” Diana gave him a small smile and wound an arm around my shoulders, steering me towards the sidewalk. “See you later!”
We only made it a block, with my mother checking back over her shoulder to make sure Spencer didn’t follow us, before she threw her hands up in disgust. “Maggie, if you need a place to entertain a man, at least have the decency to take them out to Randy’s!”
Randy’s Motel sat just off the highway on the edge of Smithson County. It had a reputation for lot lizards and drifters because they charged by the hour rather than by the night. A lot of shady things happened there. Diana was a frequent customer.
Her response made me want to vomit. “Do you seriously think I’d do something like that outside Marla’s apartment?” I seethed.
Diana rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Lord only knows with you, Maggie. I wouldn’t think you’d be wearing jeans two sizes too small, but you’re standing right in front of me in them, so it must be true!”
My jeans are not two sizes too small!
“Then I guess it’s a good thing that I won’t be standing in front of you again any time soon!”
“Oh really? And why is that?” She crossed her arms over her chest expectantly.
“Because I’m moving out of the country tomorrow!” I snapped.
Up until that moment, I had no intention of telling Diana anything about Zeke, our marriage, or our upcoming move. But if it meant wiping the smug look off her face then all the secrets were coming out.
She snorted. “Out of the country, huh? Why not off the planet, too? Maybe then you could get far enough away from me.”
“Oh my god, this isn’t ABOUT you!” I thundered. “I got married! And my new husband has orders to South Korea!”
I wish I had a camera to relive the moment over and over again. Diana’s jaw dropped and she staggered back a few steps, clutching her heart. “Margaret Eaton, you lie!”
“It’s Margaret Hayes, now.” A smile broke free, in spite of the fear still racing through my veins. “You remember Zeke, right? You met him outside of Marla’s the other day.”
Now I could knock my mother over with a leaf. “Oh my god, are you PREGNANT? You can’t make me a grandma yet! I’m too young for that!”
Of course, because it always came back to her. She couldn’t even congratulate me, just worry about what it meant for her.
“I’m not pregnant, but I do need to get packing. I’ll see you around, Diana.”
I had just made it across the street when I heard her call out, “Don’t do anything stupid, Maggie! A man like that has needs that you’ll never be able to meet. Make him happy, whatever it takes. Stay on your back, or let him stay on his.”
The insinuation made my hackles rise. My own mother all but echoing Spencer’s sentiments.
I was unworthy; always had been, always would be.
Nobody could ever see me as anything other than an ugly girl who knew how to spread her legs.
And according to Diana, that seemed to be the only thing capable of making a man like Zeke happy.
I didn’t bother to look back at her as I hurried away. Only after I saw the lights of The Comfy Cushion ahead did I finally let the tears fall.