Chapter 4
On Saturday, I’m in a good mood all day, looking forward to Cade showing up in the evening.
Most of my fucks aren’t terrible or traumatic. They’re perfunctory. Maybe a little uncomfortable but not always so. They feel like work though. Every job has parts that are less pleasant than the rest, and fucking customers is that for me.
I don’t usually think about it very much, but I’ve never before been excited about a fuck at the end of a shift.
But Cade doesn’t really feel like work to me.
I’m smart enough to know I need to be careful. Our time together might be mutually agreeable, but it’s also transactional. He’s paying for my time and my body, which means that’s his only responsibility toward me.
When he gets bored or wants to move on, he can stop paying and that will be that.
I’ve never been a particularly naive or sentimental person. I learned early the only person I could ever trust was my grandfather.
But I’m still excited as Saturday afternoon progresses.
Which is why it’s a major crash when opening time rolls around and Cade isn’t here.
He’s always been one of the first in line.
It doesn’t mean anything. There could be any number of reasons for it. My stomach shouldn’t be clenching into a hard knot the way it always does when I sense unnamed doom approaching.
Forcing myself to focus on the customers who did come early today, I smile my fake smile as I take orders and carry drinks to tables.
Where the hell is Cade?
If he waits too long, he won’t even be able to get through the door this evening. Saturdays are often completely full.
As usual, my section is filled with militia types. They’re as loud and arrogant as always, and one of them is particularly obnoxious. He’s got an overblown muscular body and a mustache with no beard, which I almost never see anymore.
I’ve noticed him before. Two weeks ago he was annoyed that I wouldn’t agree to fuck him. But he seems louder than normal this evening.
He’s going to cause trouble. I can see it coming.
I do my best to smile sweetly at him to neutralize any macho aggression, but it doesn’t work. The third time I’m forced to dodge his hand coming for my ass, I tell myself if he does it again, I’ll get Trevor.
At the bar waiting for another round of drinks, Pete gives me a knowing look. “That mustache guy gonna be a problem?”
“I don’t know. It’s looking like it. I’ll tell Trevor if he grabs for me again.”
He pours out a shot of our cheapest whiskey—the kind we only serve to folks we don’t like—and turns his back to spit in it. Then he hands it to me with a wink. “Here’s his drink.”
I stifle a giggle as I take the shot glass and carry it in my left hand so I don’t get it mixed up with the others.
Mustache man looks pleased when I hand him the glass first, like it’s special, before I serve the others their second drinks.
“Your big ole hillbilly isn’t here tonight, babe.
” He gives me a grin I’m sure he believes is appealing.
“Looks like you’re in for a treat because you’ll be fucking me instead. ”
My smile doesn’t falter, although I’m tempted to smash my tray into the side of his head. “I haven’t decided who it’s going to be this evening yet. But don’t get your hopes up.”
He doesn’t like that last comment. I can see it on his face.
I shouldn’t have said it. I’m usually smarter than this. But I’ll be damned before I fuck that guy, and where the hell is Cade?
He said he’d be here this weekend like normal.
Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he’s spent enough of his hard-earned possessions on me.
I turn on my heel and hurry away before mustache man can respond. I need to get bowls of stew to one of the other tables anyway.
When I stop at the bar to set the tray down, Pete glances over as he efficiently fills glass after glass with beer for a large table in Danny’s section. “Where’s your woodsman?”
“I don’t know. He’s usually here by now.” The knot in my gut sinks lower as the sense of impending doom intensifies.
He’s not coming tonight.
He’s done with me.
It’s fine. It’s all fine. I was fine before he started showing up, and I’ll be fine now that he’s gone.
I’m distracted by the thoughts, so I don’t notice the mustache man’s approach until he’s cupping my ass. “You’re gonna be rethinking your choices for tonight.”
I try to jerk away from him, but he’s trapped me against the bar. Acting aggressively is always the wrong strategy with men like this. I know it from long experience. So I paste on that saccharine smile again. “I’m still thinking.”
“Hands off, buddy.” That’s Pete, as mild and nonchalant as he always is. “Until she makes her choice.”
“She’s already made her choice.” He’s leaning his whole body into mine. The only way to get away would be to give him a shove, and I’d rather avoid that if I can. “Haven’t you, babe?”
I open my mouth to say something—anything that might miraculously defuse this situation and get this gross man out of my face—when he’s suddenly dragged off me by force.
Someone grabs him by the back of his leather jacket, hauls him backward, and then tosses him several feet toward the front door.
Cade.
The mustache man stumbles several steps, can’t catch himself, and ends up on the floor. He jumps up almost immediately with a roar of outrage.
“Throw a punch and you’ll be banished,” Pete tells him. “You got what was coming to you. Nell has no tolerance for brawling. You won’t get another warning.”
Cade has placed his body between mine and mustache man’s. He’s glowering fiercely although he hasn’t said a word.
The mustache man is furious, but he must know Pete’s threat is real. And the possibility of losing access to the Pub is too risky a gamble. He scowls at Cade, muttering, “You and me aren’t through.”
Cade still says nothing, and the mustache man summons what’s left of his dignity before he strides toward the exit.
Good. He’s leaving. I hope he stays away a long time.
“Y’okay?” Cade asks, turning around to search my face. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. He was just being an asshole. I’m fine. But thank you.” My eyes drop as pleasure floods my chest and saturates the rest of my body. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“Course I was.” He frowns at me. “Had a couple of problems on the road.”
“Oh. I’m glad you’re here.” I glance toward my section. “Your table is still empty. I’ve got to grab some food, but I’ll get your drinks as soon as I can.”
“Sounds good.” He pauses, his eyes moving from my face to the floor and to my face again. “You sure look pretty today.”
After that, my mood has a remarkable uplift.
The mustache man doesn’t reappear, and Cade is here after all, sitting in his normal spot, his eyes following me everywhere I go.
So all is well again.
It’s getting toward closing time, and I’m anticipating taking Cade upstairs as I wipe down the tables in my section that have been vacated, when I notice a fluster over near the door to the kitchen.
Pete strides over, moving quicker than I normally see him, and stands at the doorway to see inside. Danny is closer than I am and must be able to see what I can’t. He drops an empty tray with a clatter and sprints into the kitchen.
Stiffening with a rush of anxiety, I hurry over too. Since Pete is still holding the door open, he steps aside to let me in.
It’s Poppy. Something has happened to her. She’s on the bench against one wall, hunkered over awkwardly. Danny has his arm around her, and Marsha, an older lady who washes dishes, is leaning over and saying something.
“What happened?” I ask, rushing over to sit on the opposite side of Poppy. “What is it?”
Danny meets my eyes bleakly over Poppy’s bowed head. “She was taking out the garbage and that fucker raped her. Right there in the backyard.”
“Oh no. Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” I bend at the waist, leaning forward so my face is on the same level as Poppy. “Can you talk to me for just a minute? I’ll understand if you can’t.”
“I can,” Poppy says, lifting reddened eyes to look at me. “It took like a minute. He grabbed me and was at it before I knew what was happening. Then it was over before it started. But it was—”
“It was horrifying. I know. I’m so, so sorry. Was it the mustache man?”
“Y-yeah.”
I’m so angry I’m shaking with it. I try to stop so I can stay calm for Poppy. “Did he injure you while he was doing it?”
She shakes her head.
“And I assume he didn’t use a condom?”
Her face twists. “No. No, he didn’t. Oh shit. Oh shit.”
“It’s okay.” I give her messy hair a light stroke, and when she doesn’t pull away, I do it again. “Danny, can you go tell Nell and get the pills? And we need Rick and Trevor.”
As Danny jumps up, I say, “Nell has all kinds of stuff stashed. You’re not going to get pregnant.”
“O…kay. What will—what will happen?”
“Rick and Trevor will find him. They’ll make him hurt, and then he’ll be banished forever from here. You’ll never have to see him again.”
“You’re… you’re sure?”
“I’m sure. I promise. This doesn’t happen often, but it has happened before, and Nell never gives anyone a second chance.”
I sense something—vibes or tension—from the door to the kitchen, so I glance up to see if it’s still Pete.
It’s not.
It’s Cade. Standing there, filling the doorway, staring at me and Poppy on the bench.
I gulp and open my mouth to try to explain.
I don’t have to.
“Was it him?” Cade asks with an edge to his tone I’ve never heard before.
I nod. “Mustache man.”
Poppy makes a sobbing sound, and I wrap both arms around her, pulling her against me so I can hold her as she cries.
I would never in my life want to be the target of the look on Cade’s face right now. Without a word, he disappears from the doorway.
I know what he’s going to do, and I’m not a bit sorry.
Shifting back to what’s most important, I focus on Poppy again. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“It’s okay,” she gurgles. “It could have been worse.”
“I don’t care if it could have been worse. It’s still not okay. It’s not even close to okay. But we’re all with you. And one day it will be okay again.”
Cade returns a half hour later, finding me still in the kitchen with Poppy and Nell, who came to sit on the bench and now has Poppy’s head in her lap.
“Did you find him?” I ask Cade when Pete lets him in.
He nods.
“Is he dead?”
He nods again.
“Good,” Nell says. “That’s what I’d do every time if I was allowed, but the militia is always cramping my style. You might get some of his buddies after you now, so be careful.”
Cade shrugs. “I’ll deal with them.”
He’s looking at me even as he speaks to Nell.
So I mouth to him, Thank you.