About that time Ruby looked up to find Sex-On-a-Stick watching her eat. Instead of being offended or caught off guard, she grinned at him. She lifted her home fry and swished it through an ocean of what looked like ketchup and mayo mixed together and waved it at him before shoving it in her mouth. “Hi! You gotta try this!” she said, indicating her sandwich before taking another bite, closing her eyes, and chewing in what appeared to be almost an ecstatic state.
Jaime watched her for a second more before stalking into the restroom and turning on the water to wash his hands and face. He braced his hands on the sides of the sink and looked at himself in the old mirror that hung there. He couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t fucking believe it.
“Fuck me,” he mumbled, before filling his hands with cold water and splashing it on his face. He picked up the bar of soap and used it to lather his hands. Once his hands were clean as they could be with the grease stains in the creases of his skin and beneath his nails, he rinsed them before lathering them again and then using that lather to wash his face and the back of his neck before rinsing both. He looked at himself in the mirror again before shaking his head, deciding it was all his imagination and heading back out into the diner.
The minute he opened the door, he smelled her again. Felt it again. “Fuck!” he exclaimed.
Ruby jumped at his shout, then watched him, her eyebrows raised, as he stalked to the kitchen.
“Mildred! I’ll take mine to go!” he yelled, as he stomped to the front counter.
“You didn’t tell me what you wanted yet!” she yelled back at him.
“Don’t care!” he answered.
“Fine. I’ll give you what Ruby’s having,” she said, without looking up at him.
His eyes flashed to the woman at the table in the back of the diner. Ruby. Her name was Ruby. Fitting.
Ruby was still watching him and slowly raised her sandwich in salute.
He didn’t respond, just stared her down.
Ruby smiled at him slowly as she licked the tomato sauce from the side of the sandwich again and took another bite.
He watched her, couldn’t stop watching her. And when she licked the side of her sandwich, he didn’t realize he reached down and adjusted himself again.
But Ruby didn’t miss it. In fact, she grinned and winked at him as she took another bite.
Mildred handed him a brown paper bag, filled with the same sandwich Ruby had, home fries and an extra large lemonade.
He looked at Mildred.
“She says it’s good. Looks good,” Mildred said, shrugging.
A rumble left his chest before he turned and stomped out of the diner. “Too damned good,” he grumbled, before the door slammed behind him.
Ruby grinned as she set her phone back on the table. She managed to snap a quick picture of his ass as he stomped past her table yelling for Mildred. And another of his scowling face right before he left the diner.
Moments later Ruby heard the engine of a very loud truck start up out in the parking lot as she approached the front counter. “Miss Mildred? Could I have another please? Well, maybe just a half. I do think it’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
Chapter 2
Jaime thought about the redhead he’d stumbled on at the diner. Ruby, Mildred had said her name was. He reached into the bag beside him with one hand and drove with the other. He pulled the sandwich out and looked at it, his eyes going back and forth between the sandwich and the road. Meatloaf, on a sandwich? Who the hell did that? He shrugged and took a bite. He chewed, smiled, then took another bite. The garlic buttered Texas Toast gave it an added flavor he hadn’t expected. He swallowed and took another bite. His mind took him back to the diner, Ruby, and the fucking scent that he could pick up with no effort at all. It sang to him. Over the meatloaf, over the old men and their cigars, over the smell of the soap he’d washed with and the cleaners used in the bathroom. Over everything. It was there. Calling him. And fuck if he didn’t want to answer. But nope. Wasn’t going to happen. No. Way. In. Hell. Wasn’t going to happen. And what the hell was up with her snapping a picture of him. That’s what she did with her phone, right? “Crazy woman,” he mumbled. He made a mental note to stay far and wide away from the diner unless he knew for a fact that Ruby wasn’t inside.
“Nope! Not going back when she’s there!” he said aloud to himself. “Not gonna happen.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Mildred swung the door wide, stepping back out of the doorway for Ruby to enter ahead of her. “Here ya go. Ain't much, but it’s a roof over your head. No bathroom, but you can use the one in the diner. You got a key to the back door on the ring I gave you along with the key to this door here.”
Ruby walked through the door and into the dark space. She couldn’t see anything and swiped her hand up and down the wall on either side of the door. “Where’s the light?”
“Hold on,” Mildred answered, walking past her to the middle of the room. “Only light’s on the ceiling fan. Gotta use the pull.” Mildred pulled on the string, and the small space was bathed in a yellow-hued light.
Ruby looked around, while the sound of the slow-moving ceiling fan lazily began its revolutions around the bare, tobacco-stained light bulb mounted in the center of the fan blades.
The floor was swept, mopped and spotless. The bed was made and the linens on it seemed fresh and clean. It was low to the floor, and the two pillows on it were more flat than fluffy, but again, the pillow cases on them appeared to be clean and freshly laundered. There was one small window in the wall to the left, and another in the wall to the right. The door behind them was the only way in or out of the small building, but there was a peep-hole in it to allow you to see who was knocking, should someone knock.
“It’s fine. Thank you, Mildred. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You ain’t tried to sleep in here yet. Gets hot as the devil’s armpit in here in the middle of the day. But if you open both windows, you can catch a breeze in here sometimes.”
“It’ll be fine. I don’t plan to be here much anyway.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re going to be hiking. Make sure you take a gun with ya.” Mildred pinned Ruby with an authoritative glare. “You got one, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. I do.”
“Snakes out there, and lord knows what else. Gotta be prepared, girl.”
“I can take care of myself,” Ruby said, walking over to the tall chest-of-drawers against one wall.
When Mildred didn’t answer, Ruby looked at her over her shoulder. At seeing Mildred’s raised eyebrow and skeptical expression, Ruby smiled. “But I’ll be extra careful while I’m out.”
“Yeah, you will,” Mildred answered.
Ruby was opening and closing the drawers in the chest-of-drawers and found a couple of old t-shirts. “I think the last renter left some clothing,” she said, lifting one of them to show Ruby.
“Naw. No other renters in a while. That was likely left behind by my nephew. If he wanted it, he’d have taken it. You can just shove it to the back or throw it away.”
Ruby put it back in the back drawer and pushed it closed.
“Does he not live in town anymore?” she asked, conversationally.
“He does. But has his own place now.”
The back door of the diner opened, and a male voice called out. “Mildred! People’s getting hungry in here. I ain’t cooking!”
“Hold your horses, Clarence. I’ll be there in a minute!” Mildred snapped out.
“You go on, I’m fine. I think I’ll just rest a little and go out right before dusk to get ready for any bats leaving their hidey-holes this evening.”
“You can rest all you want, but if you think to go out into the desert at dusk, before you scouted around in the daytime, you’re more foolish than I thought.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that. I’m going to drive around a bit, see if I can find any sites that look promising, then just park right off the highway and wait for dusk to see
if any of my winged, furry little friends exit their colonies for dinner. If they do, then I’ll go scout it out tomorrow morning.”
“A’right, then. I have to go feed the masses. Kitchen closes tonight at 9:00 P.M., opens again at 6:00 A.M., eat between then or don’t eat.”
“Thank you, Mildred,” Ruby said, tossing her duffle bag onto the bed.
As soon as Mildred pulled the door closed behind her and Ruby was alone, Ruby headed over to the windows and opened first one, then the other. There was, as Mildred had told her, a small breeze, but it was still hot. Ruby lifted her duffle bag from the mattress and unzipped it, turning it upside down and allowing its contents to spill out onto the bed. She tucked all her clothes away in the old chest-of-drawers — panties and bras in one drawer, shorts and shirts in another, sleep shorts in another and jeans and the one dress she’d brought with her on top of the jeans in the bottom drawer. Ruby put her flip-flops by the bed and kicked her tennis shoes off, leaving them by the chest-of-drawers. She placed her hiking boots by the door. She picked up her backpack and unzipped it. Ruby carefully withdrew her most valuable possession. It was silly really, but it had kept her company and made her feel safe since she was a little girl. It was the reason she wanted to be a Chiropterologist. She held the small, stuffed, black-leather bat up in front of her face. She smiled at the faded royal-blue fur that was inside his ears and lining the ridges of his wings. “This is home for a while, Rufus. What do you think?” she asked the stuffed bat, holding him up and moving him about so that he could ‘see’ the room.
The bat was nothing more than a child’s toy, a stuffed animal Ruby’d received from their housekeeper one year at Halloween. She’d loved the cute little toy and had immediately become attached to it. She’d kept it all these years, her one constant possession. Big enough for her to hug when she slept or when she cried, and small enough to tuck away in her clothes undetected when she packed her things to move from one place to another. The leather was cracked and split in some places from her hands rubbing it over the years, the royal-blue fur mostly gone and what remained faded, but it didn’t matter to her, he was still her Rufus — keeper of all her secrets, drier of tears and snuggler extraordinaire.
Ruby kissed him and placed him on the pillow next to the one she later planned to use for herself. Then she tugged her shirt over her head, unbuttoned her shorts and dropped them to the floor, then lay out on the bed in her panties and sports bra to try to rest a little before heading out later in search of real bats.
The moment she closed her eyes, she saw Sex-On-a-Stick. She smiled to herself. That’s what she’d named the man who’d stomped into the diner earlier. She thought he was the same mechanic she’d seen working on a car when she’d driven in, but she wasn’t completely sure. The grease under his nails and staining his hands had her thinking he was, and the unruly, dark, wavy hair that fell just to his shoulders confirmed her thoughts, but she’d only glimpsed the man on the way in. There was something about Sex-On-a-Stick. He was like a magnet to her. The minute her eyes had locked with his, her body responded like a switch had been thrown. She licked her lips, thinking of the things she wanted to do to him, or better yet, have him do to her. Those dark, brooding eyes looming over her, his strong, sexy hands on her skin, those perfect full, pouty lips parted, preparing to ravish her. Her heart fluttered and she sat up, the dampness of her body not fully due to the searing temperatures. She sighed deeply and reached for her phone. She pulled up the photos of him she’d snapped and quickly forwarded them to her sister’s message account. “Sex-On-a-Stick” she labeled the message. She held her phone close to her face and enlarged the photo. “Dayum. Beautiful man,” she whispered. But it was more than just his looks. There was a feel about him that had her hoping she’d see him again soon. Her heart skipped a beat, and her stomach felt funny. “Or not. Scares the hell out of me. Don’t need any man that makes me feel. Not emotions, anyway.” She turned her attention to Rufus. “Trying to rest is pointless. I’m going to go see what I can find to get into until dusk. You rest here.”
Ruby dressed, opting for her tennis shoes again instead of her hiking boots, she’d just be scouting the area today and tonight, not actually hiking. She closed the windows halfway to still allow a small breeze inside, then headed out, locking her door behind her.
She went in the back door of the diner and filled up her water bottle in the bathroom there, then stopped by the front counter on her way out of the front of the diner.
Ruby waited politely for Mildred to finish waiting on some of the local folk who had come for lunch. When finally it was her turn, she smiled warmly at Mildred. “I can’t rest. Too much on my mind. I’m going to go look around town a bit.”
“That’ll take you about thirty minutes,” Mildred said.
Ruby laughed. “Then I’m going to drive around and scout some areas to watch for bats tonight. I locked my place up. Do you need the key?”
“Nope. I got a spare. But long as you’re here it’s yours. I won’t be going in unless you’re missing or dead.”
Ruby was surprised by that comment. “Do many go missing or dead?”
“Some do. Hoping you’re not one of them. Seem smart enough, so probably won’t be you.”
“Let’s hope not.”
Mildred stood there, waiting to see what else Ruby had to say.
Ruby handed her a slip of paper. “Here you go. This is my cell number in case you need to reach me while I’m out and about.”
“Can’t imagine I’d need to, but okay,” Mildred took the paper from her and folded it, slipping it into the cash register drawer.
“Are there any other stores or anything in town?” Ruby asked.
“Yep. Gas station on the other side of town. Got some snacks and stuff there. Hardware store, feed store, clothing store and a grocery. Got a bank with a post office inside sharing the same space. They can do wires for money if you need it. School, jail. Couple of other little places, but not much.”
“Thanks, Mildred. I’ll go check it out.” Ruby smiled warmly at the woman and headed out.
Mildred watched her go. Despite her general dislike of most people, she liked this girl. She was genuine and kind-hearted. “Be careful, Ruby girl. Watch your back,” she said to herself aloud, before turning to man the grill and crank out the meals for everybody waiting on their food.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Jaime rolled his creeper out from under the vehicle he was working on and sat up with a curse. He still gripped his wrench in his hand and looked at the blood coursing down his wrist. “Sonofabitch!” he hissed. He wiped the blood on his pant leg and by the time he brought his hand up to look at the wound, it was already sealing shut, and the bleeding stopped.
“Damn it, Clarence! If you’d change the oil in this damn thing more often than once a year, it wouldn’t be so damned hard to pry off the filter!”
“No need for all that trouble. Bertha gets serviced once a year on her birthday. Today’s her birthday, so jest shut up and service her.”
Jaime huffed and lay back down, rolling himself back under the old ‘57 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe Clarence refused to sell, or to maintain properly.
“Got a new girl in town,” Clarence said, sitting on the bench outside the metal building the auto repair shop was located in.
“Don’t care,” Jaime said.
“Yeah. I noticed you not caring when you came by earlier for your lunch.”
“Don’t start, Clarence,” Jaime said firmly.
“I ain’t starting nothing. Just saying. She’s a nice girl. Pretty, too.”
“I’m sure she is.”
“Here to study Chirpytology.”
The pinging of the wrench against the steel underbelly of the car stopped. “Study what?” Jaime asked, thoroughly confused.
“Chirpytology,” Clarence said, putting more emphasis on the word as though he was absolutely sure he knew what he was talking about.
Jaime lay there quietly still bene
ath the car, a nagging feeling beginning to eat at his gut. “You mean Chiropterology?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said.”
“No. It’s not.”
“Yeah, it is. It’s bats. She likes bats. And she’s going to be a bat scientist. That’s why she’s here.”
Jaime went back to working on the car. He sighed deeply, huffing his irritation.
“You hear what I said, boy?”
“Yeah, I heard you, old man. Every fucking word. Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful.”
Clarence cackled like a hyena. “I thought so, too! It’s just right wonderful!”
Under the car, Jaime closed his eyes and shook his head. He knew full well that Bertha was only serviced once a year on her birthday. And today was not that day. Clarence just couldn’t wait to come tell him about the new girl in town and the fact that she loved bats. Nosy, meddling old man. Didn’t matter a bit what Clarence or anybody else in town thought. He was staying far away from Ruby. He wanted no part of her. No part of her or the damned prophecy the whole damn town had waited on for centuries. He would not be a party to it.
“Nope. Not gonna happen,” he mumbled to himself beneath the car.
Chapter 3
Ruby fired up her Jeep and resisted the urge to go track down the surly mechanic, aka Sex-On-a-Stick, intentionally driving in the opposite direction. Not ten minutes later and she was coasting past small private shops offering nail and manicure services, haircuts with walk-ins welcomed, hardware stores with long lumber racks easily seen out back, a very old two story natural-stone courthouse that looked like it was designed in the 1920’s, a laundromat, a clothing store that had prom gowns, work pants and school uniforms in the same display window and a grocery store that looked like it’d seen better days. On the side of the two lane road leading through town was an empty lot, framed on both sides and the back by a high chain-link fence. There were several fruit and vegetable stands offering their wares as well as a tamale vendor, a lady selling potted and hanging plants and a guy claiming to have fresh shrimp for sale. She wasn’t very sure about the fresh shrimp — they were in New Mexico, in the desert, landlocked — where the hell did he get shrimp? She shook her head as she pulled into the parking lot and parked her Jeep. She grabbed her wallet out of her backpack and headed over to the first booth.
Wings Page 2
