Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
R arity…
“Rarity, oh thank God!”
Shit. Mom was here.
I sighed as she rushed to me in my hospital bed and wrapped me in a hug so tight I thought my head would squeeze off.
I was supposed to be an only child. My mom and dad had struggled with fertility issues, and when I’d been born, I’d been named Rarity as an ode to the fact I was supposed to be their only one.
I was twenty-four, and I had three younger brothers. A set of identical triplets that my mom had come up surprise! I’m pregnant! When I was nineteen… They were all four years old now, and right before they’d been born? Dad had died on us. A stupid accident. So here was Mom with three newborn sons, and I, her only daughter, was still a rarity.
Unfortunately, that sometimes meant that Mom went overboard on the overprotective helicopter parenting where I was concerned. At the same time, she was just as bad about the boys. She’d had them so late in her forties it’d been a dangerous-as-fuck pregnancy, and I’d been terrified I was going to lose her, too, in childbirth. And so soon after I’d lost Dad? Woof. Let’s just say that when the boys had been born, I’d bawled more over the fact that Mom was okay than over the fact that I had three new, amazing baby brothers – but she didn’t need to know that.
Some things were just best kept to yourself, you know?
Anyway, the whole thing had been a fucking rollercoaster. More so when it’d fallen to me to be the other adult and parent figure.
Dad had made damn good money when he was alive, and my salary at the Iron Horse and my other job at a craft store wasn’t anything close. But we were making it. Barely. Some of it in part due to my mother’s overbearing parents moving into the house with us, some by virtue of my mom’s full-time job at the DMV.
Holy hell, was it rough making ends meet, though, even with the house being very nearly paid off thanks to Dad’s life insurance. The homeowner’s insurance was wild thanks to hurricanes picking up in frequency, speed, and destructive power, and they were killing us. Feeding three growing boys was no joke, either. Add cars aging out and blowing up, gas and groceries being sky high, keeping three boys in clothes and shoes when it felt like something new was having to be bought week to week, and the fact that the three of them were still young enough to want to dress alike and would throw a fit if they didn’t always get to? Yeah, I know, I know, they should have to suck it up, but you try telling my mother that. Especially on top of her guilt of Dad being gone, which was in no way her fault.
It was just a stupid accident!
“Mom, Mom, Mom! Stop! I’m fine! I’m fine!” I got her to stop fussing. She leaned back, overwhelmed and mascara and eyeliner tracking muddy down her face.
“I don’t want you working there!” she tried. I shook my head, grinding my teeth against the sudden wave of nausea that tried like hell to swamp me.
“No, no, no, and no!” I said. “Absolutely not. We’re not doing this,” I declared, and she scowled at me.
“It’s too dangerous,” she tried to argue. “Just look at you!”
“We can’t make it without the tips. Besides, I’m an adult, and it’s not your choice.”
The curtain was whisked aside in the emergency room bay I was in, and the doctor came in, interrupting any further discussion of my employment status.
“Well, your scans did come back with signs of a mild-to-moderate concussion,” he said.
“Oh!” My mother covered her mouth with both hands.
“Mom, stop!” I snapped. “I could have just as easily gotten it playing soccer.”
The doctor chuckled. “That’s true, actually, but that’s not what happened here, now is it?”
I sighed. “No offense, but not you, too, Doc. I need my job.”
“Well, you need to take some time off,” he said, and I stubbornly shook my head, gritting my teeth. I needed to look fine. I needed to be fine. I couldn’t miss any hours.
“I’m fine,” I argued.
“You are most assuredly going to be fine, but you’re definitely not fine right now,” he said.
“My poor baby.” My mom’s voice cracked.
“I’m going to work tomorrow,” I griped. “And there’s nothing either of you can do to stop me.”
The doctor sighed, lowering my chart and grasping the clipboard at his waist, arms crossed and gripping the edge.
“That may be true, but you’ll need to follow the head injury and concussion protocol tonight…”
I impatiently waited for the doctor to fill my mother in on what needed to be done, since he clearly didn’t trust me to handle myself, much to my frustration. I wasn’t a child! But I got it. I wasn’t exactly an adult, either – not at just twenty-four. I mean, wasn’t it something like twenty-five before your frontal cortex or whatever fully developed?
Honestly, I was too tired to fucking care. I just wanted to go home.
The entire car ride from the hospital to home, my mother lectured me on being careful and told me how much I needed to look after myself. Which, okay, fine, alright, I would take that – but when she started in on my job, I shut her down cold.
“Nope,” I cut her off. “We aren’t going there!” I declared.
“Rarity Jane Mitchell!” she cried, and I glared at her. She faltered, her face awash in the red light of the traffic light in front of us.
“Boundaries, Mother,” I said firmly.
She crumbled a bit and looked so lost my heart gave a twist.
“I’m fine,” I reiterated. “It was stupid and a one-off thing. It’s the Iron Horse . It’s not always going to be one hundred percent safe. That’s the world we live in these days.”
Her eyes welled up, and I made a slightly exasperated sound.
“It’s green,” I told her as the light changed. Just anything to get her to stop looking at me like that.
Thankfully, we made the rest of the ride home in silence, albeit an uncomfortable one.
Once home and inside the front door, my mother sighed disappointedly and said to me, “Go to bed. I’ll get you up like the doctor told me.”
I nodded tiredly and sighed. “I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, baby,” she declared. We hugged in the kitchen, and I went into my room across from the kitchen island while she went into her room past the dining room table.
I took a long, hot shower before drying my long blonde hair and braiding it to sleep. I had the promise of a spectacular swelling bruise across one cheekbone, climbing up my temple and around my right eye. Right now, it was hard to see under the harsh bathroom light, the barest shadowing of blue under my skin with the chance to darken like a motherfucker given time.
I made a face at my reflection and looked at the rest of me. Long blonde hair, wide blue eyes, and a smattering of freckles across my nose and cheeks made me feel like I looked thirteen with my face scrubbed clean of makeup. It also made me look like some kind of preacher’s daughter – all sweet and innocent.
Nothing could be further from the truth. My dad had lived fast, my mom had too, and I had been the apple of both of their eyes. I mean, I still was, I guess, but things were so different now without him.
Life kind of sucked, and I felt bad for my kid brothers. They would never get to know him, or me and Mom, and what we were like with him around. All they got to see was the both of us working ourselves to the bone, trying to keep things together. Man, we weren’t the same. Life just wasn’t the same… and four years on, it felt like the grief would never end.
I turned away from the mirror and clicked out the bathroom light as I moved into my bedroom, which had pictures of happier times of me, Mom, and Dad stuck to the walls everywhere. There were also pictures of Aden, Braden, and Caden – yes, my mom went there. No, she wouldn’t listen to reason. And yes, even though I was vociferously against it, I still thought the names were adorable, and they’d only gotten cuter the more the boys had grown.
I crawled into bed, cuddled under my fluffy comforter, and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was asleep. I swear my mother was shaking me back awake in the blink of an eye. I groaned and flailed an arm in her direction and grumbled about being up. She made me get up and walk around the kitchen island before she would let me lay back down.
So stupid, which I know – she was worried – so it wasn’t stupid… but still.
A full night of that shit, and I felt wrecked. Nevertheless, I got my ass up, got dressed in my uniform for the craft store, and slipped out before my mom could stop me. I marched resolutely an hour-plus walk back to the Iron Horse to get my keys, my phone, and most importantly, my car to drive myself to what I considered my first job.
Thank God for caffeine and sunglasses.
When I arrived, it was to a pretty serious cleanup effort and oh, yay, Charlie was still here and he was standing with the owner.
“Rarity! You’re alright!” the owner called, and I nodded tiredly.
“Concussion, but I’ve got to work, and I’ll be here tonight.”
“That’s my girl!” Charlie tried to sound enthusiastic but my withering look and pulling off my sunglasses shut that shit right down.
“I’m just here for my keys, phone, and car,” I told him.
Rob looked a little green around the gills because of my face.
“Nasty shiner, girl. You sure you’re alright?” he asked me.
I looked at him. “I’ll be better if Charlie Boy and security would actually enforce the rules around here. I mean, for real, what the fuck was that last night?” I demanded.
“It’ll be taken care of,” Rob grunted, and I believed him. Charlie at least had the grace to look embarrassed, which was something, I guess.
“Oh, yeah? What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Extra security tonight,” Rob said. “And I’ll be on-site later.”
I nodded slowly and said, “It’s a start. How’s Gemma?” I asked.
“Fine! Fine! She’s fine. All good,” Charlie stammered nervously.
“Big Dawg?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Fractured orbital. He’ll be out a while,” Rob said, and he didn’t sound happy about it.
A little instant karma, I thought to myself. I knew it was bitchy, but damn – he’s the head of security when he’s on shift, and he let that shit go for far too long. So as bitchy as the thought was, it was also true. Of course, Charlie was the manager, as he always liked to remind us. He was the one in charge and held the power. We were just to do what we were told . That had definitely tied Dawg’s hands to an extent, and for that, I low-key felt bad for him. But still, Big Dawg could have crumpled Charlie between his hands and thrown him into the garbage bin. He should have told Charlie to fuck off and pulled rank as head of security when it came to the bar’s, you know , actual security?
Wild concept, I know – but ugh.
“It’ll all be good tonight,” Rob declared. “I doubt they’ll be back after the cops were called last night.”
Well, shit. I wished I had as much faith as good ol’ Rob, but lord.
“I’m going to grab my phone and keys. I’ll be back tonight,” I said. I ran upstairs to my bar and punched the keypad of the cubby under it. The door beeped and clicked, popping open. I retrieved my personal belongings and scrolled through the burst of messages and texts that’d come through the night before.
I walked back to my car, answering everyone, but it was Gemma’s text that caught my eye.
You know, fuck Charlie, fuck Big Dawg, and especially fuck Rob for not firing them after that shit show. Don’t worry, girl. Tonight’s going to be different, I promise. I took matters into my own hands and made some calls.
Interesting…
I texted her back that I was okay and let her know about Rob’s big master plan to supposedly keep tonight different.
I got back an eye-rolling emoji from Gemma and a yeah, right, for real, just you wait.
I couldn’t think about it anymore. if I wasted any more time, I was going to be late getting to work. I twisted the key in the ignition to my dad’s old Jeep, and it fired up, old reliable. I loved that it was an old standard shift. He’d taught me to drive it before he’d died, promising me if I could drive a standard, I could drive just about anything.
With a sigh, I worked the clutch and gear shift, putting it into reverse and backing it out of the grassy, sandy parking space on the side of the road across from the gas station next to the bar.
There was no real parking for cages at the bar, just bikes. After last night, I expected the place to be packed tonight. I mean, it was going to be a typical Saturday night at the Iron Horse, but with the added excitement from last night? It was probably going to be packed even more .
Yay. I hoped the tips were at least good. I had a shiny new ambulance bill to pay, and that shit ain’t cheap.
At least I was still on my mom’s insurance for the hospital visit.
Being a broke-ass adult in Florida sucked ass.