“This is a date with a millionaire. He has flown his ass to LA just to see you. He wants to take you to a fancy dinner and get to know you.” I gesture to her surroundings, my implication obvious—she can do better than this. “This is a powerful guy.”
She shrugs. “Whatever. Same bullshit, different restaurant.”
I take a deep breath. “This is a good opportunity. He has money and it doesn’t look like you do.”
“Umm, that’s what you said the last time.”
Kobra.
“Kobra has money,” I say, more to myself than to Crystal.
“He’s a straight-up criminal.”
“Did something happen on that date?”
She nods. “Let me tell you about that fool. He took me to some warehouse by the pier. He has a tricked-out loft inside. It’s sketch as hell and full of drugs. When we showed, he was throwing some party with his homies. Booze, drugs, girls. You get it.”
I nod. Sounds romantic.
“I don’t want anything to do with that. I signed up for this to get out of that lifestyle. Enough motherfuckers like that around here.”
“Understandable. Sorry about that.”
“I was cool, just gonna ride it out and have a few free drinks. But dude was showing off big time.”
I just let her keep talking.
“They’re all high and he’s like, ‘Wanna see my snake?’ I was like, ‘Hell no, brother, this ain’t that kind of date.’ He laughed like it was the funniest thing ever and he brought me downstairs. He had all these snakes and shit, like zoo animals. One was this pure white python with yellow stripes. I wouldn’t wanna see it through glass. Pure killer. No soul.”
“Oh my God.” This is shocking but somehow not. What else would an asshole with millions who fancies himself a snake charmer buy?
“Next thing I know, he lets the snake out. It slithers out and he does some sort of ‘snake charming’ shit, which was, like, nothing. That snake didn’t give a damn about him. Him and his buddies laughed like a bunch of idiots and forgot about it. I asked for a ride home and he was like, ‘Later, baby.’ ”
“What an idiot.”
“You’re telling me.” She shakes her head, her eyes still big and her expression grim. “An hour later, the python wrapped itself around one of the other guys—Pedro, I think. Pedro was high as fuck, pretty much passed out. The snake just wrapped itself around him. I started screaming and yelling and some of the homies all freaked out. Kobra tried to get the snake off him with some sort of magic.”
She shook her head.
“Did Pedro live?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t wait to find out. I ran out of there. It ain’t a good neighborhood late at night, but…I didn’t trust that motherfucker.”
No wonder Kobra was looking for her.
She stops talking and the sounds of Walmart fill the void, including a woman yelling at her kid that he can’t have more candy. The whole scene feels surreal.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be. I thought you knew these guys.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. But, I swear, you’ll love Jules. He’s not a drug dealer, and his business is legitimate.”
Crystal looks like she’s teetering on the edge, and then my phone pings with a text. Bitch, you owe me.
Could Kobra sense that we were talking about him? I look wildly around the Walmart, completely paranoid.
Owe you what?
Crystal and Max stare at me. I look at them evenly and smile. “Are we ready to go?”
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
We are not ready to go. I guess I’m not surprised that Crystal doesn’t trust me to set her up on another date given what a disaster the last one was. She’s lying back in a patio chair in the gardening section like she doesn’t want to get out of it. Like she just needs a damn break. Don’t we all. As soon as I get Crystal out the door, I’m going to take a break. At least a little one.
“I spent the afternoon with Jules yesterday and he’s super nice. And handsome.” I shake my head despondently. “I’m so sorry I set you up with Kobra. I don’t know how that happened.”
“No shit, girl. I knew he was a dealer the minute I laid eyes on that fool. And not even anyone with style. A redneck meth dealer.” She shakes her head dramatically and murmurs, “Uh-uh.”
I don’t dispute that point. Bad move, former self.
I look meaningfully at her outfit. “Do you have anything else to wear?”
“You got a problem with how I look?”
“No. But you’re going out with a wealthy man who’s going to Instagram your whole date.”
She looks up at me from her slouched position, 100 percent who gives a fuck.
“Don’t worry. He’s just going to look cute in his underwear for you.”
“Oh my God.” Crystal takes a deep breath. “At least I’ll get a free meal out of it.”
Crystal has the biggest fucking chip on her shoulder in the history of chips on shoulders. Maybe another date wasn’t the best way to make her feel better about the last one.
I’m about ready to ask the girl in aisle 5 if she wants to go on a date with Jules Spencer, the underwear mogul, when Crystal manages to drag her ass out of the patio chair. “I’m gonna go splash some water on my face.”
I don’t know if she’s doing that to prepare for the date or to recover from talking to me.
“I need to make a phone call,” Max says from behind a potted palm. I’d almost forgotten he was there. “Chan from the lab keeps calling. I think he might have figured something out.”
I think Walmart just reminded him that he wants to be a scientist, but I wave him off. “See you in a minute.”
I hurry after Crystal and see her disappear into the women’s restroom. I push through the door and knock some kid in the head. “OMG. I’m so sorry!” The little girl bounces back and then runs out of the restroom, unperturbed. I feel a pang of jealousy. Damn kids and their bouncy, resilient brains.
Crystal is washing her hands when I walk in. I see her face reflected in the mirror and she looks bone tired. Not, like, didn’t get enough sleep tired, but tired in a way only other women can understand. When I peel off her layers of frustration and rage, I realize that she’s me. She’s everyone: trying to decide whether to give up or keep fighting.