by C. L. Stone
Gretta sat on one of the arms of the couches, poised in black slacks and dark gray blouse, a fashionable purple sash in her hair to give her some color. She always downplayed her own wardrobe, which I was familiar with, given our similar careers.
“Let’s get acquainted, shall we?” Gretta said. She pointed to a lanky girl sitting on the first couch. “Local debutant, or socialite slash local celebrity…and also the target of attempted murder.”
The girl grimaced. “Ahh,” Celeste said. “Kinda. Maybe.” She had a doll-like face, dainty features and lips that seemed always slightly puckered for a kiss. I wasn’t sure if that was natural or if she was more poised and at the ready all the time and used to it. She wore an oversized t-shirt where the collar had woven gemstones that glittered, another Gretta creation, along with some slouchy cotton pants. Refined, but cozy.
“No maybe,” Gretta said to her. “Don’t downplay what happened.” She reached out to her to touch her arm. “Not to mention when you uncovered some shenanigans within your own father’s company.”
Celeste frowned, making creases at her lips and between her brows. “I should have caught it happening.”
Gretta turned away from Celeste and motioned to me. I crossed my arms, sitting back on the couch, on which I sat alone. It was oddly sounding more like a therapy session. Maybe we needed it after what we’d been through.
I’d worn a loose-fitting, bleached cotton mesh top above a more comfortable halter tank shirt, and shorter jean shorts than I was used to, but Gretta thought looked cute. I also wore large sunglasses for the brightness of the room hurting my eyes, and also to hide dark circles that even makeup wasn’t able to hide.
I’d trust no one else to such opinions. I’d become more reliant on her picking out my clothes the last few weeks while my mind had been preoccupied.
Gretta introduced me. “Evelyn. Atlanta transplant. Fashion wardrobe coordinator and whistleblower for the industry.”
“I make no claim to the second,” I said, lifting the sunglasses to show her I was concerned with her phrasing. “I just spoke my mind.”
“And drew quite a lot of attention,” Gretta said. “Including the attention of someone who manipulated everyone around him using you as bait. Used you for his amusement while you went through some personal humiliations, one after another, and ruined your career.”
I retracted my head and rolled my eyes, and then slowly lowered the sunglasses to hide behind again. “While I might disagree with the phrasing, it is completely accurate.”
“And Rainee,” Gretta said, turning to one of the two girls on the couch furthest away. The taller one poised herself, crossed her legs at the ankles as her name was mentioned.
The woman next her hooted. “You tell them,” she hollered. She was the only one that refused a fashion treatment by Gretta, instead choosing to mix and match to her own body some bright, tight clothing and a healthy adornment of gold jewelry. “She’s a crazy bi—”
“Future!” Rainee raised a smooth two fingers at her. With a calm and collected tone I was in envy of, she spoke. “Wait, cousin,” she said. “Remember, we’re amid local royalty here. I ain’t never seen a finer collection of high quality. We must be civil. Let’s practice some restraint on our language here.”
Future bounced her head a few times on her neck. “You’ve got that right. We are the finest ladies here in the city. Don’t mind the gun in my skirt, girls. Right now I’m joining your team. Team Kick Some A—”
Rainee sent her one terrifying look, and Future jerked her head and then mouthed the rest of the vulgarities she wanted to convey to us.
Gretta continued, “Rainee is the most well-known woman in local event circles. She’s part of every charity event, even for the local boys only clubs objectifying…” She coughed shortly. “Let’s just say romanticizing a history well not worth the effort.”
“That ain’t all,” Future called out. She elbowed her cousin next to her. “Tell her about the people we’ve had arrested.” She didn’t wait for her to talk. “All those hellions who wanted to bring her down because she was a woman. Or black. Or beautiful. Or sexy.”
Rainee wore a sarong dress, red and tied in such a way that accentuated her curves. She also wore her hair up, tied with a similarly colored cotton cloth, but open so her natural curls flowed out the back like water. She was the most poised, the most eloquent of us all, I felt. “My dear Future, we don’t boast about the misfortunate and misguided individuals.”
Gretta coughed once to get our attention. “Local social snobs tried to have her committed to an insane asylum.”
At this, Rainee looked away. “I barely escaped.”
“The point is,” Gretta continued, “we’ve a problem in this town. Some of the boys have been very, very naughty.” She straightened. “No one gets to misbehave in this town. Unfortunately, the ones we’re going after, the city sees them as perfect angels. And they’ve tainted our reputations. Time to return the favor.”
“Darn tootin’,” Future said. She pointed a long, red-painted fingernail at the armrest of the couch. “You’re lucky you called me in. Rainee had the common sense to get some help with this.”
“You’re very welcome to join us,” Gretta said. “And I’ve called in some extra help, so we’re waiting on them to arrive. In the meantime, I thought it was worthwhile if we caught each other up on what exactly happened, and who the major players are.” She motioned to me. “Evelyn, why don’t you start?”
I coughed delicately, unsure where to begin. “I don’t know. It’s a little unbelievable.”
Celeste shook her head and sat back in her space on the couch. “No worse than mine.”
“Did we not mention the insane asylum part?” Future said. “Did you hear that?”
Rainee leaned in, a sympathetic pout forming on her face. “Darlin’,” she said softly, “I understand if you’re nervous, but I think we’ve all been through some bad times. If you don’t want to talk about it now, I can go.”
“Nice of you to offer,” I said. “But I’ll go. I don’t mind sharing.”
And I did.
DUST
A couple months earlier…
I stood near a bus station sign on a gravel lane. Sweat soaked through my clothes. The snap to my Hermès Dogon Duo wallet was wearing down with how many times I opened and closed it, waiting for signs of life. The shorts’ pockets were too snug for it, but stuffing the wallet into my drenched bra could damage the leather. It was too big for that anyway. Holding it in my hands or leaving it beside me on the ground seemed to be my only options.
New life lesson number one: Hitchhiking might be the best way to disappear without a trace, but it comes with hazards.
My cheeks caught fire as I recalled the phone call I got from a friendly neighbor, warning me not to go home.
“The police are piled up outside your door, inside your apartment,” she’d said with disdain oozing from her voice. “There’s camera crews lined up around the street.”
Word was that my boyfriend—ahem, ex-boyfriend—was selling prescription pills when I wasn’t home.
I was floored when I heard and caught a live feed link on Twitter. The police streamed out of my apartment with everything I owned: my pink T-shirt Feral Childe dress, my cotton cashmere M. Patmos pants, and other precious designer clothing crumpled into clear little plastic bags to be locked away.
He’d kept his stashes in the pockets of my clothes and inside my shoes. I had to watch as garments were carried out. The ones in the very front, on display in my closet. Very special garments I wore with care, as they were the most expensive. Did he stash them in all of them? Did they have to take in the actual clothes? Couldn’t they just take the drugs?
What an idiot! We had a good life. I had a great job. He had a great bod. And he didn’t mind that I occasionally went away on weekends alone to some beach resort or sometimes to vineyards or spa retreats. It worked for us. He wasn’t for forever, but was my good for the m
oment.
There was no way my job would take me back after the fiasco ended up on the evening news. There was no way I’d take him back after destroying everything. Scandals weren’t in my five-year plan. I needed a clean slate.
And a better taste in boyfriends. Or did I even need one?
It was as good a reason as any to make a sudden life change, only my dream of disappearing into the night to start a life somewhere else with a fresh slate wasn’t working out so hot.
More like too hot...
Miles from nowhere. Everything was baking, sweltering. The Georgia summer sun spared me no mercy. It was going to take a lot of damage control to fix my skin. I wanted nothing more than an aloe bath and a gallon of ice water.
Cell phone dead. Dust was somehow getting under the rhinestone cover. I hoped it wasn’t broken, and at the same time, I was tempted to leave it behind. I didn’t want to turn it on later to field the calls or be told I was fired.
I didn’t need to be told. I knew I was.
Maybe I could sell it, but I’d still need to turn it on to delete the data.
I cried when one of my Valentino Rock Stud flip flops broke. Pure torture is piecing back together $300 shoes with a tiny bit of duct tape I recycled from a dingy truck seat.
Disappearing without a trace was costing me a fortune.
I debated walking or trying to wait things out where I was. It was around noon, so the heat was only going to get worse. I’d give anything for water and shade. I dipped my hand into my shirt, pulling the band of my bra to give my boobs some air, and raised my shirt all the way up to my chest. The more expensive the bra, the heavier it gets while sweating. I was tempted to take it off, but I didn’t want it to get dirty. I was hoping to salvage it. I’d need to look good if I wanted to land another job. Walking meant wearing the material out while it was wet, and I was already burned; I didn’t need rashes on top of it.
I sat down on a hump of gravel, propping up my arms with my knees and lowering my head. I needed to hide my face from the sun to prevent much more burning.
If I didn’t get out of this sun, I was going to die of heat exposure.
A far-off rumbling sounded like distant thunder, and my heart lifted. Rain? Perfect. I needed it.
Instead, in the distance, a cloud of dust was billowing, the source heading in my direction. It had to be a car.
Even better!
I sprung up and stuffed my dead phone into my pocket. I ran out into the middle of the road, waving my arms.
My heart thundered, echoing the sound of the car tires over the gravel. With the pot-holed gravel road, it was taking forever for the car to get close.
I was tempting fate again. It could be another jerk. The last person I climbed into the car with told me once we were out here in the middle of nowhere to give him a hand job. I refused, jumped out of the car when he persisted, and he left me stranded.
Maybe this time I wouldn’t refuse a hand favor if someone could at least get me to a town.
What had my life come to?
I waved more as the car got closer, and I put out a thumb. That was a sign for hitchhiking still, right?
The car seemed to speed up and turned slightly as if veering to go around me.
Was the driver going to try to pass me?
Don’t do this to me! Be a civilized human being, please!
I widened my stance, keeping to the dead center of the road. The narrow lane meant they couldn’t ignore me. There was a ditch on either side they couldn’t avoid unless they wanted to hurt the car.
Unless they planned to crash into me.
I clenched my jaw and waited, waved, and hoped.
The car zoomed toward me, and I suddenly felt like we were playing chicken.
Sports car. Old model. I made a wild, hopeful guess it was a man inside.
I took a chance and lifted my shirt, exposing my breasts to get his attention.
Desperate times...
If he wouldn’t stop to help out of kindness, I was pretty sure my boobs would at least get him to slow down.
When he was a few feet away and still rolling in, I was a breath away from leaping from the road. The driver jammed the breaks. The car skidded at the last moment and drifted sideways along the road. The side of the bumper stopped just a few feet away from me.
My pulse raced. An unpleasant taste took over my mouth. My hands shook. I could have died.
At least he stopped. I lowered my shirt and wiped my face to clear some sweat.
The car was a black Montego with shiny chrome trim around the underbelly, at the bumpers and around the windows. The vintage car was in great condition, besides the fresh white dust from the gravel roadway, enough to pile up around the Mercury logo.
The car door flung open and a guy popped out, a little over six foot with dark pilot sunglasses on his tanned face.
Brown hair, simple tapered to the nape style, with frosted blond highlights that stuck out in different directions, but it was hard to tell if the light color was natural from sunlight or dyed. Strong jaw with a stylish, two-day unshaven face, enough to make him look more mature and give shadow to his cheeks.
The surprise was that he was super polished. I could spot cultured elite from a mile away, and he oozed it, from his hair style, to the way he was standing. What was he doing out in the middle of farmland?
His jaw was tight, with his nose flared. His disapproving scowl and heaving chest told me he was irate.
I retained my stance, drawing my head back to appear humble. I was desperate. I needed water.
“Are you insane?” His voice was silvery, yet there was a huskiness, and I wasn’t sure if the rough edge to it was natural or it was because he was stressed.
I spoke delicately as I could over the rumble of the still-running engine. “I need a ride. Or water, if you have it.”
He tilted his head, scanning me down to my chest and then back up to my face. An eyebrow lifted enough to arch over the sunglasses, and he twisted his lips. “Didn’t your mother teach you modesty? Someone worse than me could have been out here.”
Worse than him? I scoffed, ditching my dainty tone for something practical. “It’s hot. You were the only person who’s come by for hours... And then you were going way too fast and acting like you were going to drive through me.”
He whipped off his sunglasses, giving me a startled glare with wide blue eyes. “What? I thought you were hurt. I was trying to get here faster to see what the emergency was.”
The light blueness of his eyes stunned me, how they clashed with the even, deeply tanned skin of his cheeks. He had a country charm to his face. What caught my attention more was the disarming feeling that settled into me as those eyes showed he was genuinely concerned more than angry.
I had pictured him as rugged and possibly uptight while he had the glasses on. The eyes softened everything about him.
I relaxed my shoulders and breathed out slowly through my lips, giving myself a chance to calm. The heat was making me snappy, and that wasn’t nice of me given I was asking the favor. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was desperate. I’m sunburned and lost. If you have any water at all… A ride would be better, if you can.”
His irritated demeanor instantly evaporated and his face relaxed. His lips formed a loose smile, something on the verge of amused. He looked me over again, but this time he seemed more curious. My burned skin and dry, cracked lips proved I was earnest about being in danger. My dark hair was wild, as I hadn’t combed it out. The frizz levels had to be astronomical.
He fiddled with the glasses in his hand. “Where to?” he asked.
“I was heading to Charleston,” I said. It was as big a town that I could get lost in, but still held some refinement. I could find work. I could blend in. “But any place between here and there with water is fine by me. I just need to get out of this sun.”
“No kidding,” he said. “You look like a tomato.”
He might have been right, but he seemed to know just w
hat to say to cause a surge of embarrassment through my heart. I bit my tongue and forced a pleasant smile. “If you can’t help me, if you could give me some water... Anything. Please. I don’t have much cash on me, but I can pay for it. And maybe put in something for me in Uber. Or a cab. Anything.”
His lips tightened. His gaze went to the fields around us, and I wondered if he was trying to figure out how he could drive around me.
“How’d you end up out here?” he asked.
“It’s a long story.”
He nodded slowly, replaced his sunglasses, and waved to me. “Come on, tomato.”
A small wave of dizziness crashed over me, and I hoped this wasn’t a mistake. I could take a few crude comments if it meant I made it out of this place alive.
I stepped carefully over the gravel to get to the car, the rocks easily biting at my feet through the thin shoes.
He sprinted to open the passenger door, a gesture I took with some surprise. He might have some rough edges, but he was still a Southern gentleman.
I studied him as I approached. He wore jeans, G-Star brand. The T-shirt I couldn’t place. It was simple, slight V-neck, light blue, no logo. Looked like cotton blend. He had some bulk around the chest, but with the way the clothes went around, it was hard to tell if it was bigger pecs than his rib section or just his broad arms making that appearance.
I leaned to get into his car until I spotted the seat. Leather. Expensive. I paused, looking back at him. “I’m sorry…”
He gazed at me, an eyebrow lifting above the ridge of his sunglasses again. “Stop being sorry and get in.”
“It’s just that I’m sweat covered and your seats.” I motioned to the leather. “I don’t want to ruin it. That stitching looks expensive.”
He wrinkled his nose. The gruff to his silvery tone continued, and I believed it to be natural. “I thought you were dying. You’re worried about the seat? What’s wrong with you?”
