CHAPTER NINETEEN
Myra
I woke up Thursday luxuriating in the knowledge that I didn't have to set foot in The Riff Raff at all that day. A coveted and elusive day off was finally mine, and I planned to do nothing at all if I could help it, especially after the prior day’s shenanigans.
I’d made it home with the unnecessary chaperoning of Curtis, courtesy of a rather enthusiastic and ironclad mandate from Ravi.
As if that weren’t ridiculous enough, Sasha and Laney, unwilling to be left out, had decided to accompany us too, as though we were going on an adventure and not potentially walking into a dangerous situation.
I’d half expected Yael to appear from nowhere and round out the nightmare, but he hadn’t, making it four days since I’d seen or heard from him.
A quick check of my phone confirmed his ongoing absence.
I should have been relieved, but I wasn’t. Instead, a strange sense of disappointment coursed through me at his lack of contact. I reminded myself that it was because returning home was the end game, and I couldn’t get there until we tracked down his sister. He was simply a means to an end.
I texted him another message, asking where he was and what the fuck was going on, then crashed back down on my bed and stared out at the foggy morning.
Two seconds later, the vibrating of my phone pulled me from the unease growing in my chest, and I snatched it off the nightstand to see if he had finally responded.
Instead of the contact name I’d give him—‘The Devil Himself’—looking back at me, I saw another ID altogether.
One that told me just how fucked my day was about to be.
“Sasha,” I said with a groan, “they call it a day off for a reason. It means that, for at least twenty-four glorious hours, I actually don’t have to work.”
“I’m familiar with the definition, Myra, but unfortunately for you, Renault got himself fired—and you do NOT want the backstory on that, I promise you—so Ravi has to cover for him in the kitchen instead of working out front for you, which leaves us a server down.”
“And?”
“And I need you to come in.” I opened my mouth to start in on her, a bevy of angry retorts fighting on my tongue, but she cut me off before any could take flight.
“Before you start yelling at me, understand that Ravi doesn’t know I called you.
He really wants you to have the day, but we’re getting hammered in here, and if you can’t do it for me or Laney, who’s already cried no fewer than five times since she walked in the door, could you maybe do it for him? ”
Bringing my loyalty to Ravi into the mix; a low but effective blow, indeed.
“Fine,” I replied, scrubbing my hand over my face, “but I leave first.”
“Agreed.”
“And I need food waiting for me, or I’m stabbing the first customer who looks at me sideways.”
“You’ll do that anyway, but point made. Consider it done and done.
Now, I’m sending Curtis to pick you up because I don’t need Ravi freaking out that we let you walk over alone after yesterday.
He’d kill me, and I’m too cute to die. Curtis is going to steal the keys to the van from Ravi’s office now, so you have maybe ten minutes tops to get ready. Seeyousoonokaybye-eeeee.”
She hung up as quickly as she could after dropping the time-frame bomb, leaving me to stew as I rushed about the room.
I gathered up semi-clean clothes to wear to work, twisted my hair into a bun, and hopped into the shower before it could fully warm up because I didn’t have time to spare.
Cold water had never bothered me when I lived in the frigid sea, but that morning, it felt like a certain kind of torture, so I scrubbed at lightning speed, then jumped out, shivering as I dried off.
I could hear the rusted-out muffler of Ravi’s old delivery van approaching from two blocks away, so I stuffed my still-damp legs into my tight black jeans and hopped across the room to snag a bra off the edge of the bed.
By the time I fought its failing clasp into submission, pulled my t-shirt down, and threw on my boots, Curtis was downstairs honking the horn.
I grabbed my phone and jacket and hurried down the stairs to find him waiting with the windows down, smoking a fatty.
“Got any more of those?” I asked by way of greeting.
He shook his head, not willing to exhale yet, and handed me the blunt. I inhaled deeply and leaned my head back against the headrest, hoping maybe it would help me relax before we arrived.
Then I shot back up as fire scorched my throat.
I coughed violently, trying to expel the inferno from my lungs as I searched the van for something to drink.
“Oh, shit,” he said, grabbing something from the driver’s side door, “I totally forgot this was a ‘special’ one.” He tossed me a bottle that I chugged back as quickly as my hacking would allow. “My bad, Myra.”
“My bad?” I wheezed. “I almost combusted, Curtis!”
“I mean, you technically wouldn't have erupted in flames. It just feels that way, or so I’m told. Fire doesn’t really affect me like it does the rest of you.”
I glared at him like murder was imminent, and he quickly pulled a U-turn in the middle of the street.
“Says the dragon shifter who can’t shift.
” He flinched a bit at that one, and I instantly regretted saying it.
I, more than most, understood what it was like to be born for an environment you could no longer live in. Mine was the sea; his was the sky.
“I really am sorry, Myra.”
“I know you are, and I’m sorry I said what I said. But all these sorrys don’t help replace the lining of my throat, now do they?”
“Sasha can make you something to help with that. She’s done it before.”
“Done it before?” I asked with incredulity dripping from my voice.
“How many people have you given the ‘special’ joints to by accident, Curtis?” He shot me a sheepish sideward glance, telling me all I needed to know.
Shaking my head, I muttered, “new kid’s a menace,” before I nestled back into the seat again.
“Yeeeeah… so, since you’re already pissed, I probably should just go ahead and tell you now that the burn isn’t the only kick it has.”
I leaned forward to look at him. “I beg your finest pardon, but what the fuck does that mean?”
He bit his lip as he pulled onto the main road. “The side effects will be equally strong.”
“Side effects?” I asked with every ounce of dubiousness I could muster. “What kind of side effects?”
“Well, there’s the munchies, the length of the high… and the quasi-debilitating level of paranoia that should kick in any minute.”
“Goddammit, Curtis! How am I supposed to work like that? I can’t exactly eat everyone’s food before I deliver it to them, and I already have an unhealthy level of paranoia from living in this godforsaken place! I can’t function with more.”
His ambivalent shrug did nothing to help the situation. Instead, he flipped on the left turn signal and eased into the alley next to The Riff Raff. “I really am sorry, Myra.”
I groaned inwardly as he rolled to a stop and threw the van in park. “I know you are,” I grumbled as I jumped out. “Remember that when I’m stoned out of my mind and eating food off the line as fast as you can cook it, because I don’t want to hear a fucking word, understand?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Now, go drop a basket of fries just for me so we can try to get ahead of it, or at least the munchies portion of this shitshow.”
I rushed through the kitchen door and headed straight to the office to grab my apron and stash my things before anyone had a chance to talk to me.
There were so many tickets hanging that I hoped everyone would be too busy to notice me, affording me a chance to slip out front without interrogation.
I peeked out from Ravi’s office to make sure the coast was clear, then darted through the double doors and ducked behind the bar in a crouch.
“Made it,” I said to myself, wiping the sweat from my brow.
I looked to my side to see a pair of legs right beside me, and I followed them all the way up to Sasha’s baffled expression looking down.
“Well hey there, Myra. I really appreciate you coming in and all, but maybe you could try making your way out onto the floor and taking some orders instead of being a total weirdo back here? I’m sure Laney and Ravi would be grateful for that. ”
“No can do,” I replied, hugging my knees as I whispered, “I can’t let them see me.”
Sasha’s eyes rolled heavenward as she let out a sigh.
“Oh boy…” She handed a couple of pints to someone over the bar before glaring down at me.
“I should never have sent Curtis to get you.” She wiped her hands on her pants, then reached for me.
“C’mon, tweaker. Time to get up.” Hooking me under my arms, she hauled me to my feet while I tried to drop back down.
“Look at me,” she snarled under her breath before giving me a little slap.
“I need you to pull yourself together. You’re fine.
Everything is fine. I just need you to take section two and help Laney get caught up. Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah,” I replied, nodding my head a wee bit too enthusiastically. “Yeah, okay. I can do that… I think.”
“Great. Then take your little ticket pad and pen and get your sweet ass out there,” she said as she escorted me out from behind the bar. “Go get ‘em, champ. I believe in you!”
Clutching the pad and pen to my chest, I shuffled my way out into the chaos, telling myself to hold it together, but I was doing a shit job and was pretty certain it was written all over my face.
Everyone I passed stared at me like I was naked, and I checked repeatedly to make sure my clothes hadn’t fallen off as I approached the corner table on the far side of the room.
The party of six turned with eerie unison to face me the second I arrived, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
I threw the pad and pen at them with a squeal, then ran for the kitchen, slamming into Laney on my way.
I upended her tray, sending food everywhere before careening into the kitchen.
“They found me!” I yelled, arms wide to steady myself as I skidded to a halt. “I have to get out of here!”
“Myra?” Ravi called. “Why are you here?”
“Go do your thing, boss,” Curtis said, rushing over to me.
“I got this.” He ushered me toward the office, stopping to stick his head out into the bar for a second.
“Sasha, can I get a little help in here?” He sat me down in the single chair in the room and hovered over me like an impenetrable wall.
One look at him and I tried to bolt, but he caught me with ease and held me down while Sasha bulldozed her way past him, tiny vial in hand.
“You gave her the ‘special’ brand, didn’t you?
” she snapped at him as she caught my chin in her hand to pry my mouth open.
I wriggled against her hold, but she was unfazed.
She leaned forward and pinned me down with her knee as she pressed the glass to my mouth.
“This won’t fix things, but it’ll take the edge off and get it out of your system sooner.
You should start to feel better a few seconds after you swallow.
” She slammed my mouth shut as I bucked beneath her because she was clearly trying to kill me while Curtis watched.
But Sasha just held my jaw closed, pinching my nose for good measure.
I fought for as long as I could, but her tactics eventually forced me to ingest whatever poison she’d given me.
The second it went down, she released me, took a step back, and stared at me expectantly.
“Well? Do you still think I’m trying to kill you? ”
I considered her question for a moment, then shook my head. “Not any more.”
“Are you good enough to get your ass back out there and work now?”
“Yeah… I should be okay. Still jittery as fuck, but I can get it together.”
“Serves you right for sharing that shit with him,” she said in a scolding tone. “If we didn’t need you so badly right now, I’d have let you learn that particular lesson the hard way.”
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” Ravi shouted from the kitchen.
“Myra got high on Curtis’ secret stash and was freaking out. I’ve neutralized the worst of it. She’ll be fine. I’m going to take her back out now.”
“She’s not even supposed to be here.”
“Yeah, that’s on me. Laney was melting down, so I made an executive decision.”
I looked past Sasha to see Ravi frowning from behind the warming shelf. “All right, but she goes home as soon as the dinner rush is over. Now get back to work.”
Curtis and Sasha scattered, and I followed suit as quickly as I could.
I may have felt a bit more level-headed, but my body was sluggish, and I was starving.
As I made my way toward the swinging doors, Curtis walked past and stealthily stuck a container of fries in my hand before he slipped back into his spot on the line and gave me a wink.
With a smile, I popped a few in my face and disappeared out front.