Chapter 2 #2
“How dare you?!” Olivia shrieked. “I demand respect at all times! But most especially from the men in my life!”
“Didn’t disrespect you, Olivia. All I did was point out facts that happen to be different than what you thought. If you think that’s disrespect, then maybe you should look it up and see what it really means. Because that ain’t it,” Remi said.
“I’m leaving! I will not sit here and take this!”
Remi didn’t say a word. He reached for the bottle of gin on the table — the fourth of the day — and poured himself a shot. He threw the shot back, swallowed, clenched his jaw as the burn went down his throat and slammed the shot glass on the table.
Olivia cleared her throat to get his attention.
Remi drunkenly gazed at her. “Thought you were leaving?”
“I am. Just as soon as you pay me for the outfit and the bills you promised to pay.”
Remi looked at her for several more seconds before he shrugged and shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans. He brought out a wad of cash and looked at it, trying to determine how much he had with him. “Fuck it, take it all,” he said, tossing it in her direction.
Olivia quickly snatched up the money that fell to the floor and tucked it in her purse before she focused on Remi again. “So that’s it, you’re just going to let me leave.”
“You want to leave, leave. If you want to stay, sit. I really don’t care, Livi.”
Olivia yanked the chair back from the table then shoved it into the table to try to get a response out of Remi. In the process, she managed to cause the bottle of gin — or what was left of it — to fall, spilling all over Remi, and then to break when it rolled off the table and hit the floor.
“Hey!” Remi said irritatedly.
“Is there a problem?” Vince asked, as he approached.
“We didn’t ask for anything. You can go back to the bar,” Olivia snapped.
Vince laughed. His hand shot out so quickly it was a blur as he curled his fingers around her bicep, and started for the door.
Olivia started screaming, trying unsuccessfully to pry his hand off her. “Let me go!” she screamed over and over again. “Help! Help me, Remi!”
Vince opened the door and yanked her up to face him in the open doorway. “I’m Vince. This is my place. Daisy and Remi are my niece and nephew. Stay away from both of them, and stay away from my place of business. You’re not welcome here.” He shoved her through the open door and slammed it closed.
Olivia just barely managed to catch her balance, preventing herself from falling just outside the bar and grill, and turned around to shout at the man who’d just thrown her out, but he’d already closed the door.
In a rage, she turned her fury on Remi’s car, grabbing handfuls of gravel and throwing it at his car, taking her house keys out of her purse and dragging them across the hood of his car as well as down the driver’s side door.
Vince, on the other hand, made a beeline for Remi after he threw Remi’s friend out. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Vince demanded, as he stood right beside Remi.
Remi had laid his upper body across the table again, resting his head on his forearm. “Huh?” Remi asked, opening his eyes to see who was talking to him. “Uncle Vince.”
“Yeah, Uncle Vince. What the hell is wrong with you hanging out with somebody like that?”
Remi looked across the table he sat at, then around the part of the room he sat in. Confused at finding nobody there, he looked up at Vince. “There’s nobody here.”
“No, there’s not. She left! And don’t bring her ass back in here. I’ll throw you both out.”
Remi sat in his seat trying to figure out what Vince was talking about.
“Olivia? You called her Olivia,” Vince said, beginning to realize just how drunk Remi really was.
“Oh, shit! Yeah, Olivia. She’s my new girl,” Remi said, trying to stand up while he shoved the chair back so he could stand. He pried his keys out of his pocket and held them loosely in his hand while trying to balance himself.
“Where are you going?” Vince asked.
“To get Olivia.”
“She just left. I’m pretty sure somebody like that can find her way home without much help.”
“No, I promised I’d help her do something,” he said, struggling to remember what they’d talked about. “Oh! I’m taking her shopping. I think,” he said, his memory kind of fuzzy.
“You gave her a handful of money. I think that’s enough.”
“Oh. Well, I gotta go anyway. ‘S‘pose to be at work.”
“I don’t think so. Just sit right here for a while. You need to sober up,” Vince said, snatching Remi’s keys from his grip.
Remi flopped back into his chair, but shook his head. “Trying not to be sober. That’s when it hurts the most.”
“Tell you what. Sit here for a little while and I’ll get you something to eat. Alright?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Remi. You’re going to eat.”
“I’m not hungry. But I’ll take something else to drink.”
“Seems like a good compromise. Give me a second,” Vince said, going back to the bar and tossing Remi’s keys in the lost and found box before taking the rest of Daisy’s strawberry shake and pouring it into a glass and adding a tall straw to it.
He carried it back to Remi and set it on the table in front of him.
“What’s this?” Remi asked.
“Looks like a strawberry shake, but it’s got tequila in it. Drink it up.”
Remi snickered. “Best kind of alcohol doesn’t taste like alcohol.”
“Exactly. When you run out of that one, I’ll get you another one.”
“Can the next one be chocolate?”
“Yep. I got some chocolate flavored vodka.”
“Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,” Remi said happily, sipping on the milkshake that was just that, a milkshake.
Vince went back to the bar and shot a text off to Brandt. “Come get Remi before I whip his ass for being a dumb-ass.”