Chapter 7 #2
I wish I could shower. I feel so…tainted right now. My dumb brain takes me back to my bedroom this morning with the nurse holding me apart while Joe…
I allow myself a full body shiver to dispel the ick and the build-up of stress. But just the one. I don’t have time to fall apart.
The driver opens the door, and I get out, making sure I have everything with me.
‘I need something to drink,’ I say, glad that Jacob follows me without a word.
At least he doesn’t try to impose his will on me like Joe and the nurse do.
He opens the door for me as I go into Grinder, like he’s an actual bodyguard and not the sentinel who sits outside my jail cell.
I don’t thank him.
‘CONGRATULATIONS!!!!’
I jump at the high-pitched whistling and cheering.
The cacophony of noise has me skittering back in alarm, bumping into the large, storefront window.
‘You’re our millionth customer!’
I blink. That’s Janet’s voice. I try to cut through the panic that’s making my chest feel tight and focus on what’s going on in front of me. There are balloons and brightly colored confetti all over the floor. Jacob is standing in the middle of the room. He has pink silly string all over him.
‘Me?’ he asks. ‘I never win stuff.’
‘You get to choose any drink you want from the menu for free for a whole YEAR!’
Jacob grins. ‘A whole year?’
He goes up to the counter while I’m still trying to figure out what’s happening.
And then I see Lu in the corner behind her laptop. She gives me a wink.
I go over to her and sit down.
‘What’s happening?’ I whisper.
‘Just go with it. I got the message this morning from your phone. We put this together on the fly in like half an hour. Janet’s gonna come over in a second. Give her the thing. She’ll put it in the dumbass’s drink.’
On cue, Janet comes over, smiling wide. ‘Can I get you ladies anything?’
‘A latte please,’ I say, a little dazed still.
‘Coming right up. Oh, this table is a little dirty. Let me just get that cleaned for you.’
Lu gestures at the table with her head while she keeps an eye on Jacob, who’s still looking at the menu with a little smile on his face.
I take the pill out of my pocket, wrapped in a piece of tissue, and put it on the table by Janet’s hand as she begins to wipe the table.
Jacob is still perusing the drinks, probably looking for the most expensive one he can get for free. He’s not paying attention to us at all.
Janet grabs the tissue with the cloth and deposits it into her apron pocket.
She turns away.
‘How are you making out, sir?’
‘I’ll take the extra-large smoothie with the kale and kiwi.’
‘Sure thing!’
Jacob finally seems to remember he’s on the job and looks around in panic for a second before he sees me with Marcie.
He sits at a table close to us. ‘Ma’am,’ he murmurs.
I hear the blender already going so I know that Janet is working fast.
‘You win ze big prize!’ Lu says loudly to Jacob. ‘You get ze beeggeest drink, yes?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He smiles a little.
‘Good for you!’
Janet brings a massive cup over a moment later and my heart sinks. It’s going to take him forever to get through that.
He begins to slurp it up immediately, but it only takes an inch out of the cup.
Shit.
Lu laughs. ‘You get ze healthy smoothie! For your beeg muscles, yes, mountain man?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
She claps her hands. ‘A man of such few words. Perhaps you make up for your conversation in ze bedroom, yes?’
Jacob chokes into his drink. ‘Uh…’
Lu titters and waves a hand. ‘Look how he blush!’
‘Aren’t you supposed to be at class now?’ Jacob asks, taking another long pull through his straw.
‘It was delayed,’ Lu says quickly. ‘An hour later.’
Jacob nods and pulls out his phone, I guess to let the devil incarnate that is his boss know about the change of plans.
Lu shows me her phone at the same time, making sure that Jacob doesn’t see her screen.
It’s from Janet.
Ahole got the biggest mother ducking cup imaginable. I crushed the thing in the bottom + didn’t mix it after I added in the smoothie. should b in the first 1/4 he drinks
Mother ducking
MOTHERFUCKING
Lu shorts.
‘She’s smarter than I thought,’ she mutters in her normal voice.
‘What was that, Ma’am?’ Jacob asks.
‘My seester. She eez sometimes…an eediot, but she message me. She do something smart for once.’
I see Janet behind the counter shaking her head. She gives Lu the finger where Jacob can’t see.
He goes back to his phone after a moment and keeps slurping at his cup. My latte arrives, and I try to drink it, mostly to have something to do while we wait for Jacob to shit his pants.
I check the clock. Why does time go so slowly when you want something to happen, and vice versa?
Lu pretends to speak to me about our upcoming Shakespeare project. I say very little because I don’t even know enough about the guy to bullshit.
Finally, after what seems like hours, Jacob makes a noise of discomfort.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask.
‘Your mountain man. He looks very pale,’ Lu says. ‘Too much of ze protein, perhaps?’
‘I…uh…’ He clutches his stomach. ‘Jesus.’
‘Oh, I hope it’s not the same thing as Nurse Smith,’ I murmur. ‘She sort of looked like that this morning before she had to run for the bathroom.’
Jacob lurches to his feet. ‘There’s a bathroom here, right?’
‘In the back, sir,’ Janet supplies. ‘Red door.’
He looks at me and then the doorway to the back, looking torn.
‘Go,’ Lu commands. ‘We will wait here. I keep my friend safe.’
Jacob nods and lurches across the café, narrowly missing another server carrying a tray of drinks. He apologizes loudly and sprints the rest of the way, disappearing into the back. A door slams half a second later.
‘How long will he be like that?’ Lu asks, staring after him.
‘Hours, I think.’
‘Hours, you think?’ she chuckles. ‘Oh, no. Ze mountain man left his phone.’
Lu slips it into her pocket.
‘What are you going to do with it?’
‘Keep it with me. If he can track it, he’ll come find me, hoping you’re with me.’
I nod. ‘Good idea.’
She winks. ‘I know. Now, what the fuck has been going on? I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but you look like shit, dude. I tried to see you, but they wouldn’t let me in. They said you were sick.’
I take her hand and squeeze it. ‘I can’t…’
Tears come to my eyes, and I can’t force out anymore words about the past few days.
‘I will,’ I breathe, ‘but not now. I just… I can’t.’
My friend squeezes my hand back. ‘I get it. You been through some shit.’
‘I been through some shit,’ I parrot, trying for a small smile.
Lu gives me another wink. ‘When you’re ready, okay, babe? If you wanna talk, I’ll listen. Then I’ll help you plot your revenge.’
I nod jerkily, taking several deep breaths. ‘Revenge. Yeah. Definitely.’
‘Okay. Now, get your fucking head back in the game. It’s go-time. The red Miata is in the parking lot around back. My cousin, Sark, is waiting. He’ll take you wherever you need to go.’
I stand up. ‘Thanks for this. You’re a good friend. The best I’ve ever had.’
I turn to go, but then swing back. ‘I don’t have a phone. But as soon as I get one, I’ll contact you.’
Lu gives me a quick hug and I return it. ‘You want me to tell your baseball cards where you are?’
I chuckle but shake my head. ‘If they ask, tell them I’m okay, but keep them out of the loop for now. This will be easier if they don’t know what I’m doing until it’s too late to stop me.’
Lu’s brows rise. ‘Sounds like you have it all in hand, my badass bitch. I’d say be careful, but that ain’t really your style.’
I grin and leave Grinder, walking quickly, but not too quickly, to the parking lot. I see the Miata and get into the passenger seat.
Lu’s tall cousin with the buzzed hair and the small tattoo on his cheek side-eyes me but says nothing. He just turns the ignition and backs out of the space.
‘Take me to Wrath, please,’ I say, staring out the window and already breathing easier now that I’m almost free of the oppressive links of the Banderville chains.
‘It’s closed. Gas leak. A couple weeks ago.’
‘Gas leak,’ I mutter and smile in spite of myself at the story. ‘I know. I was in the basement when it happened. Hole blasted right through the floor. It was a whole thing. I almost died.’
He doesn’t say anything.
A few minutes later and we’re in the center of Richmond.
‘What does your tattoo mean?’ I ask.
‘Which one?’
‘The cheek.’
‘Killed a guy.’ He smirks and glances at me. ‘Scared?’
Now I smile wide. ‘Why?’
‘Because I’m a killer.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Are you scared?’
‘Why?’
‘Same reason.’
He looks at me and laughs. ‘You? Miss prissy Novelle princess with the golden snatch?’
I don’t laugh, just cock my head at him. ‘First, I’m not a Novelle. Second, golden snatch?’
‘I heard it in a Guy Richie movie. Thought you were British. You don’t know what a snatch is?’
I frown a little. No, I don’t think that word ever came up at The Heath.
I must not be acting how he expects because he stops smiling and doesn’t actually answer my question.
The silence stretches and he glances over at me a few seconds later with a weird look on his face.
‘Are you serious?’ he finally asks.
‘I rarely joke about murder out loud,’ I say. ‘People find it upsetting.’
‘Yeah,’ he says faintly. ‘I think I get why Lu likes you… Pop Pop, too, actually.’
I smile at him. ‘I like Lu, too. She’s a really good friend.’
‘Yeah, she’s good people,’ he sighs.
‘What’s a golden snatch?’ I ask again because he still hasn’t answered me.
He coughs into the steering wheel. ‘Uh, we’re here. Just Google it, maybe.’
‘Okay. Thanks for the ride.’ I shut the door, and he looks like he wants to say something more to me, but I can’t have him hanging around. I don’t want his presence to thwart my plan. I suspect he’s known in Richmond by sight since Lu’s family are into the shadier things.
I’m hoping the same is true for me, that I will be recognized out here in the open like this.