Chapter 2
Nero’s Neapolitan Pizzeria was crammed between the back end of a department store and a government office building. Carter had told Avery all about the dorks he worked with and the truck drivers and paper shufflers who patronized the place. It had been enough to ensure she’d never go there, until now. This was the only place she could be sure to find him today.
Her station wagon lurched down the small access road winding around the department store. Pulling into the pizzeria’s parking lot, Avery sighed and put her hand to her head when she looked at Kendra.
“Just stay here and play with your phone. It’ll be a good alibi for when the police pick you up later.”
Kendra ignored her, and Avery slid out of the car and approached the small, orange building. A chime went off when she opened the front door. Looking up at the counter, a red-haired, pimple-faced geek was already gawking at her. Avery rolled her eyes and immediately regretted coming in here. The guy’s lips were twitching, and she could tell his brain was frying from the effort of trying to come up with something to say.
“Ok, let’s get this over with. Gimme your best shot,” she said, crossing her arms. The young man, whose nametag read Michael, continued to twitch until he sputtered out a few words.
“I’ve got a spud gun that can fire a potato at over sixty miles an hour.”
“That’s what you say when you’re trying to hit on a girl? Oh my God! I hate to break this to you, but you’re probably going to die a virgin.”
Avery shook her head, drained of all enthusiasm. Michael actually seemed to relax now that the pressure of impressing her had faded.
“Look, I’m trying to find Carter. Is he back there?” she asked, peeking around him to the kitchen, where a couple of boys were playing with homoerotic-looking action figures on rolled out pizza dough.
“No, Carter’s not here,” Michael replied.
“Did he tell you to say that? Is he in the back somewhere? Don’t fuck around with me, dickwad. I have to see him!” she said, putting her hands on the counter.
“He’s not here, alright?” the boy whined. “In fact, you just missed him. He came in here at the beginning of his shift to quit. He went on this foaming rant telling us we could all go fuck ourselves, that he didn’t need this job anymore because of all his money, and that he’d been splooging in our freebie pies for years.”
Avery had to stop and think. It wasn’t like Carter to just spontaneously quit his job or tell people off. Something had hit him hard, and it made her shudder to think she may have been the cause.
“Which is strange because I always thought he was into making us free pies. They always tasted like Cool Ranch Doritos. Now I don’t know if he was grinding up the chips or if he had a bottle of the seasoning, but we always loved it when he’d make pizzas for us. We’re pretty broken up about it,” the boy rambled. An outburst of cheering came from the gaming nerds behind him.
Avery stepped away from the counter to think. If Carter wasn’t here, he could be anywhere. They could sit outside of his house, but he was much too popular to be home. The entire day was starting to seem like a big waste, and the longing in her heart intensified into a dull thudding that shot through her with every beat.
“If you want I could get you a slice,” Michael offered. When she looked at him, he was squeezing a pimple.
“No, I’ve eaten enough semen for today,” Avery replied, rejecting his attempt to cheer her up. She motioned to leave, but the sound of him clearing his throat brought her back. He had that dumbstruck gaze, and she knew he was going to make another pass.
“Now that Carter’s gone, we do have an opening. I could put in a good word for you.”
“Me? Making pizza? I’d never degrade myself like that! I’d sooner work in a Mexican whorehouse. At least then I’d get to travel.”
Anxious to get away, Avery slipped out the door and slid into her car. She leaned back in her seat and stared at the concrete wall facing her. The urge came to bash her head against it, but instead she just sulked and slumped back.
“How’d it go?” Kendra asked when she finally noticed Avery had returned.
“Not only is he not here, he quit!” Avery groaned. “This is turning into a nightmare. I’ll never find him.”
“Well, you can bet he’s probably going out tonight. When was the last time the boy stayed in? It’s just a matter of which club he’s going to.”
Kendra had a point, and sadly it was all Avery could scrape together. Just yesterday they were a happy couple who did everything together, and now she couldn’t even find him when she desperately wanted to. How had it spiraled out of control so quickly? The horror of it made her groan.
“Where could Carter possibly be?”
Loose Lips Sink Ships Page 3
