Chapter 11 #2
“Saylor,” Angela spoke up. “That trash is overflowing. Can you take it to the dumpster out back?”
I stood from the desk and went and collected all the trash in the shop before carrying two large bags toward the back door.
Outside I bumped into Dreux, who also was taking out trash for his uncle.
“Hey.” He smiled at me before looking toward his mother’s shop. “How’s it going in there?”
“Oh, it’s going,” I told him.
“Need help?” he asked, gesturing toward my bags.
“Nah, I got it.”
Dreux didn’t listen; he came and took a bag from me anyway.
I walked with him over to the dumpster where we discarded the trash.
“She’ll ease up,” he told me. “She’s just protective.”
I thought of back home and my mother. I had questionable friends, but she wasn’t as protective in a sense as Angela came off. True, she didn’t like my boys, but I couldn’t recall her ever shooting them dirty looks that would still their bones.
“I don’t know what for, you’re not all that,” I responded.
I was only joking, trying to get back at him for the Avril Lavigne comment.
Dreux narrowed his eyes, and within the blink of an eye, he advanced toward me. In seconds I was airborne and then over his shoulder.
“Ahh!” I screamed. “Let me down!”
“No, what was that? I’m not all what?” he questioned, spinning around in a circle in an attempt to make me dizzy.
I should’ve been scared, but I could feel Dreux’s muscles as he kept a firm grip on me. No matter what, he would not let me go. I just knew it.
“Nothing!” I swore.
“That’s not what I heard.”
Dreux spun around in another direction and I ended up laughing as I reached out to swat his ass.
“Oh, now you’re dead!” he declared. “It would take—”
“Ahem.”
Dreux froze, and by the tone of voice, I just knew it was Angela at the back door.
Dreux set me down and I turned to see his mother and her continued disapproval.
“Go ahead on lunch, Saylor.” Her eyes were glued to me as she leaned against the doorjamb. “You get on back to work, Dreux.”
“Actually, I’m about ready for a break too,” Dreux spoke up. “I’ll show Saylor around.”
Angela looked like she wanted to protest, but she didn’t.
“Be back in half an hour,” she told me before disappearing back inside.
Dreux offered me a small smile. “Come on, I usually grab something at Marty’s.”
A break from his mother sounded nice, so I followed behind him as he circled around front and began crossing over onto Marty’s parking lot.
Marty’s was an expansive supermarket, making the area where the barbershop, hair salon, and liquor store were look like a lone trailer.
Even if it were small in comparison, it seemed like good marketing. You could get your hair done and then run errands all in one setting.
“What are you hungry for?” Dreux asked as we stepped inside. Madonna was playing and he seemed to nod along.
We were passing the floral department where Cas was out straightening up her roses. When she noticed me, she offered me a big smile.
“Hey, Saylor,” she said as she greeted me. Her gaze flickered to the boy beside me. “Hey, Dreux.”
Of course they knew him here.
I was on the fence about Cas, but by her peppy demeanor, a part of me thought of her as a good candidate for Scott since they were both single.
“Hey, Cas,” I replied.
“You here to see your dad?” she asked me. “He just left at three.”
“We’re just grabbing some food.”
“Oh, don’t let me stop you.”
Things with Scott were still messy, but I didn’t clue her in as I accepted her help before following Dreux over to the prepared foods department, where the smell of fried food hung heavy in the air.
There were a couple of people in line before us, but I didn’t mind, it gave me time to choose what I wanted to eat.
In their glass case was a good variety of food.
Fried chicken, baked chicken, fried fish, baked fish, chicken tenders, chicken wings, as well as a good amount of side options.
In the end, once it was our turn, I opted for baked chicken wings, veggies, and mashed potatoes while Dreux went with fried fish, veggies, and macaroni and cheese.
Instead of going back to the salon, we sat in the café at a table across from each other.
Cameron hadn’t lied, Dreux liked putting ketchup on his fried fish. A sight that almost had me gagging.
But who was I to judge? I liked hot sauce on my mac and cheese.
“She paying you?” Dreux asked curiously.
“I’m guessing my first week is free labor, but after that yeah,” I said.
Dreux smiled. “See, not so bad.”
I nibbled on a chicken wing, comfortably numb to all that my life was turning out to be.
Well, almost.
“So,” I began as I gathered my Cherry Coke. “What’s the story between you and Bonham?”
Dreux’s face fell as his eyes lowered to his Styrofoam plate. “Why?”
“Oh, come on.” I sat back and groaned. “Either you two are ex-lovers, or something big happened.”
Dreux rolled his eyes. “Saylor.”
“Dreux,” I shot back. “Come on, give me something. I’ll tell you what I did to land here.”
This seemed to perplex Dreux. “Scott didn’t ask you to come?”
“No, I got in trouble.”
Dreux sat back and focused on me, his dark eyes burrowing into my brown ones. The serious look on his face made him that much more handsome. He tugged on the hooped earring in his ear. “My parents’ split did something to me.”
In LA, I’d seen a few kids lose their shit over their parents splitting up. “I can imagine.”
Dreux hung his head, losing contact. “My dad’s a dick. He’s always been a dick. Ever since I can remember, he was putting my mom through shit. He fussed with her about everything, so much I used to run outside and sulk on our front porch.”
“That’s when Scott stepped in,” I noted.
Dreux agreed. “Yeah, I was a kid then, but it got worse during the later parts of their marriage and when my mom got sick. My dad’s this big lawyer, and he’s cocky about his wins. My mom was sick with chemo and my dad started steppin’ out. They fought about it and he denied it, but we knew.
“When my mom went into remission, he just turned into an even bigger asshole to her. He’d complain about what wasn’t ‘good enough’ around the house.
I hated him for what he was doing to her, and to me.
I needed to blow off some steam.” His eyes met mine once again.
“This was summer before last, when I was friends with Bonham.”
This was quite the revelation.