That explained why they didn’t look related. “Good reasons, I guess.” I chanced another glance in the girls’ direction. The pair in the booth were avoiding eye contact and had kept their whispers quiet enough that I couldn’t make anything out over stupid Gus on his phone.
Cliff chewed a bite of his meat. “Tell you what. I could use a little of that action.” He nodded in the girls’ direction.
I ignored the comment, shrugging and taking another bite of my pie.
He grunted again, hitched up his pants, and strode over to the girls.
I didn’t care to watch this train wreck. They struck me as way too smart to want anything to do with Cliff. Hell, I couldn’t think of many in this town who would take an interest in him.
Gus stood and moved to the register, where he talked with Nell while cashing out.
Nell laughed at something Gus had to say.
I didn’t hear Cliff’s exchange with the girls over Nell and Gus until I looked over again.
“Get lost,” Blondie told Cliff, loud enough to halt Nell’s laughing with Gus.
Cliff marched back to his stool with a scowl that could freeze water. “Stuck-up bitches,” he muttered loud enough for them to hear it.
I was no prize catch, but I had more class than that.
Nell headed over to the girls’ booth, probably worried about this yahoo bothering her regular customers.
“There must be girls in this town that aren’t as stuck up as those two.”
I cut another small piece of my pie instead of answering.
“Well, are there?” He wasn’t going to accept silence on my part.
“I dunno,” I offered.
“Figures… You look like a fag.”
I took a calming breath. “You’re not my type.”
“You’d probably like to be the bitch, faggot.”
Silence wasn’t working for me. “You might try Cindy, the waitress at Pete’s. Blond, big rack—I don’t think she’s stuck up.”
That settled him down.
Nell appeared on the other side of the counter with her hands on her hips. “You can leave,” she told Cliff.
“After I eat,” he growled back.
“You’re bothering my regulars. You’re not welcome here. I’ll get you a box.” She left for the kitchen.
“I think later tonight I’ll teach her not to mouth off to me that way.”
“You have a death wish?” I asked him.
“I didn’t figure you for such a pussy.”
“She belongs to one of the Howlers. You mess with her, you mess with them.”
“Howlers, huh?” His bravado wilted like paper in a heavy rain.
Nell returned with a box, complete with plastic silverware and a napkin. “And don’t come back,” she spat as she dropped them in front of him.
With Spencer and his boys behind her, Nell didn’t back down to any man, regardless of size.
Cliff had been chewing his lip and keeping his mouth shut since I mentioned the Howlers. He’d be happy to take me on, but he wasn’t dumb enough to go up against a dozen angry bikers.
The story on the street was that the last guy who’d crossed them in a big way ended up in pieces, scattered across three states. It could have only been a story meant to sow fear, but if so, it worked. Nobody messed with them.
Cliff finished loading his meal into the box and left while Nell was in the back. “See ya ‘round.”
I nodded rather than encourage him with words.
Debbie
“You should be more careful,” I told Annie after the door banged closed behind stinky Scarface. She’d driven me here after work, and we’d taken my usual booth, but things had been quite a bit more intense than my usual diner experience.
She shrugged. “What, and let him down easy? He practically called us whores.”
She wasn’t wrong. “I’m just saying, you don’t want to have a problem if you run into him out on the street.”
“If we run into each other, he’s going to be the one with a problem.” She pulled her pepper spray out of her purse. “And, just for good measure…” She pulled her Taser out next. “This to the balls.”
“Ouch.” Mama Garcetti had encouraged us both to get the little Tasers, but I wasn’t sure I could use mine.
“You don’t mess with me and get away with it,” she said with a grin.
I smiled back at her, but it evaporated quickly on a sigh.
She put her weapons away. “What’s got you down?”
I couldn’t tell her the whole truth. Admitting to robbing a bank, even though I’d been forced to by Dom, wasn’t happening, even to her. It’d probably make her an accomplice or something.
“Dom is being a jerk.” It wasn’t the whole story, but it was certainly the root of my problems.
“That’s just the same-old same-old, isn’t it?”
“This time, he took my keys.” Earlier I’d told her my mom had driven me to work, but not why.
“He can’t do that.”
“He did.”
“Why? Why ground you?”
“I talked about moving out, and now I’ve got no wheels.” Moving out didn’t sound as dramatic as my actual plan to leave this state behind.
“Steal the keys back and get your own place.”
I was ashamed to tell her my situation, so I went with something simple. “I don’t have enough saved up yet for first, last, and security.”
“You can stay with me until you do.”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile that would make her think I’d consider her offer. But in reality, her place wouldn’t be far enough away to be safe. I wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than several state lines between me and the madman Dominic.
“I’m saving up.” For a long time, I’d given Mom most of my extra money, but I’d cut that back after realizing she’d never agree to leave. The psychology of an abuse victim was something I couldn’t understand, even after witnessing it.
Nell returned with our drinks.
“How’s your sister doing?” I asked Annie when we were alone again.
She started to explain her sister’s issues with the new baby.
It gave me time to zone out, considering my plan to leave.
I still gave Mom some money to keep her from getting suspicious. Twice now, Dom had found my hiding place and cleaned me out.
My new system was better. I deposited most of my cash, when I could, in the bank branch inside the supermarket, and put the rest in my hiding place in my room.
If Dom found the money in the house, he’d think he’d gotten it all and be satisfied. Having nothing hidden would be too suspicious. But between feeding a little to Mom and hiding some in my room, my savings account was a slow grower.
The bank account was paperless, though, so as long as neither Dom nor Mom saw me, that money would be safe until I was ready.
“I can see those wheels turning,” Annie said, sucking on her straw.
“Just thinking about how it will be to be on my own.” No joke. I lived for the day I could escape.
Annie nodded. “I hear ya. It’s both liberating and nerve-wracking. Nobody tells me when to go to sleep, or to finish my vegetables, but on the downside, if I don’t do my laundry and clean the bathroom, it doesn’t get done.”