by Freya Barker
"You're gonna kill him!" Tanya is obviously not inclined to 'fuck off' just yet and seems intent on saving my sorry ass.
"Fucking hell, woman, would you shut your dumb trap and get back inside."
Grateful for the distraction Tanya provided, I manage to slam a fist clenched around my car keys on the knee of the leg that is holding me down. Stupid fucker should've taken care of my arms too. When his knee buckles with a howl, I slip from under his boot and keep rolling until I find myself under my truck. My body feels like a giant aching wound. Blood from somewhere on my head is running into my eyes and mouth and I'm having trouble breathing. In the distance I can hear sirens. I can only hope Tanya's hollering drew more attention than they bargained for. I don't have a lot of fight left in me.
"Fuck!" I hear Matt spit out from the back of my truck, and there is no mistaking the glint of the gun when I see a figure bend down to look under the chassis. "One word, you cocksucker. One word, one move, I end her and that little brat of hers. You hear me?"
I can't even answer, I'm gasping for air by now and I can feel darkness creeping in. Last thing I see is are his boots, limping away.
I'm giggling my ass off. Don't ask me why, but everything is frickin' hilarious. All I have to do is look at Emma who is sitting on the couch, looking like some goddamn Buddha, looking all serene and shit and I about wet myself laughing. Emma, whose little compact body usually is charged with energy, is sitting there like she's grown roots. I burst out laughing again. I think I'm supposed to rub the Buddha's belly aren't I?
"Hey Caleb! Where are ya?"
Walking in from the new extension out back, Caleb takes one look at us and shakes his head, grinning.
"Christ, you two. You're high as kites."
"Caleb, aren't you supposed to rub Buddha's belly? For good luck or something?"
"That's what some folk believe yeah. Why?"
"See, I told you." I say to Emma who sits there and simply smiles at me. I'm a little worried, so I wave my hands in front of her face. "Emma, I gotta rub Buddha's belly for good luck. I really need some good luck."
Since she just keeps smiling, I pull up the edge of her oversized shirt. "Here, hold this up, will ya?"
Emma doesn't question me at all, she just pulls up her shirt as high as she can. Just as I rub my hands over her belly, tears of laughter running down my face, the front door opens and Gus comes in.
"What. The. Fuck."
Uh oh. I don't think Gus is happy.
"Hi honey." Emma smiles, her shirt still up under her chin and my hands are still on her belly. I can hear Caleb snickering behind me.
"Emma, why do you have your shirt up."
I feel I need to explain this, so I raise my hand. "Uhm. It's for good luck. I need it."
From the puzzled look on Gus' face, I see my explanation fell short somewhere, but apparently it was funny ‘cause Caleb is now laughing out loud so I join him. Christ, I feel happy.
"Caleb. Wanna explain why my woman is exposing herself? And why the girls are baked out of their brains?"
Caleb is trying to keep a straight face but he seems to have a hard time with it every time he looks over at Emma and me. I'm still rubbing her belly 'cause I need all the luck I can get.
"Sorry, Boss. The girls had one of Emma's truffles for dessert. I thought they were sharing one, but I have a sneaky suspicion they each had a whole one. Arlene thinks Emma looks like Buddha and wants to rub her belly for luck." Not able to hold back any longer, he bursts out laughing.
"Fucking brilliant." Gus runs his hand through his hair and mutters under his voice, but he can't stop the smile teasing the corner of his mouth. He walks over to us, kisses me on the head and Emma on the lips and gently tugs her shirt down. "Enough rubbing, Arlene. You're gonna wear out a spot."
That has me rolling on the couch again and this time I have to hold on to my own stomach, which is starting to hurt from all the laughing. "Where is Seb?" I want to know. I want Seb, but when I look at Gus I see a concerned look on his face.
"He's home. You'll see him tomorrow at the diner. Let's get you girls to bed. You can shack up in our big bed. I'll sleep on the couch."
I'm a little sad, but I am so tired that I'm happy to crawl into bed. Before I doze off, I can hear Gus telling Caleb something about their lead in Cortez. I hear nothing after that.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"Shit!"
The voice startles me. I've been laying here, I don't know how long, floating in and out, barely aware of my surroundings. I try cracking my eyes open but it's like they've been glued shut and every time I move a muscle on my face it hurts. I gingerly use my fingers to try and pry my eyelids apart. Just then, a narrow beam of light hits my face, sending a hot poker of pain straight into my brain. "Fuck!"
"Seb, buddy. The fuck happened to you?" I recognize Caleb's voice. "Let's get you out from under here."
With some shifting and pulling on Caleb's part and a fair amount of swearing and groaning on mine, I find myself staring up at a dark sky instead of the underside of my truck.
"Jesus. You've been worked over good. Let's get you to the hospital."
"No. No hospital!" I manage, grabbing hold of Caleb's arm. "Just take me home."
"Listen, your face is a bloody mess, your speech is slurry. You need to see a doctor. Don't know what other injuries you have."
"Get me home, then I'll explain." I bite out, teeth gritted against the pain.
Caleb's brute strength, my one good leg and more colorful swearing gets me situated in the passenger side of his SUV, where he has reclined the seat all the way.
"How'd you find me?" I want to know, once we are on the move.
"Checking out a lead on Julie's disappearance, and you can imagine my surprise when I saw your truck in the dark parking lot of Koko's; the place I was supposed to be checking out and appears to be shut down tight. You decide to do some snooping of your own?" He throws me a questioning look. "Why don't you give me a short version of what happened while we drive. I'll get you home and have a look at the damage."
"Fine. The bartender's name is Tanya. She denied knowing Julie but was lying about it. Found out her brother runs the joint. When I asked if he would know Julie, she asked me to leave, which I did. It told me enough. I was getting in my truck to head home when I was taken down from behind. I managed to get a few swipes in, but most of the damage had been done. I did pick up the brother's name is Matt and he made sure to let me know that neither Julie nor her little boy would make it if I spilled."
Caleb slams his hand on the steering wheel. "Fucking hell!"
"That is why no hospital. Besides, I remember every spot he got. Probably a concussion, nose and maybe cheekbone, a rib or two, knee and he gave my kidneys a good work-over. As long as I don't cough up blood, I'm good. I've had worse."
"You know Arlene is gonna kill you for not getting medical help, right?" The smirk on Caleb's face should piss me off, but oddly it doesn't. Feels more like brotherly ribbing now, and I find myself kinda liking it.
"Not sure Arlene's gonna care much at this point. She’s pretty upset with me."
"She cares, buddy. Make no mistake, she cares a whole lot."
Oh good lord, I feel like crap. A dull ache lives behind my eyes and when I try to move my body it's like I'm dragging my limbs through molasses. Great way to start back at the diner.
When I look beside me, I see Emma has gotten an early start. Typical. She's probably in the kitchen whipping up something brilliant, which is fine as long as I get to eat it. I am starving. A quick shower clears some of the cotton-wool from my head and when I get to the kitchen, I find Gus and Caleb sitting on stools and Emma pouring coffees.
"Seriously? I am the last one up? I can't believe you all beat me to it." Grumbling, I pull up another stool and plop down next to Caleb as Emma slides over a coffee for me. I spot a plate of muffins and snatch one. Still warm… bliss. I close my eyes and enjoy my little moment. When I notice the silence, I crack a
n eye to find three grinning faces staring at me. "What? What are you all looking at?"
"Morning sunshine." Emma says, laughing out loud now, the others following her lead. "How is your luck holding out this morning?"
"Ah dammit. Y'all can kiss my ass!" I say as I pick up my mug for a sip of coffee, hiding my smile as I drink.
"Tell me again why we are all heading into the diner this early?" I want to know when a virtual convoy leaves Emma's house. Fine, there were two vehicles, but still.
"We aren't. Caleb is. We are driving you to your appointment, or had you forgotten?"
"Crap. Yes I had. I'm not in the mood right now."
Gus chuckles in the front seat. "Not something there is an appropriate mood for, Arlene. All that's required is that you show up. And we're making sure of that."
"You are pains in my ass. You know that?"
Emma and Gus look at each other in the front seat and burst out laughing. Whatever.
When we get to Cortez, I'm curious. "So what are you going to do while I see this therapist?"
"We're going out for breakfast." Emma says with a smile.
"You can have breakfast at my diner."
"Actually, this is a breakfast we planned on having months ago, but never got around to. I kind of got run over. Remember? We figure we'd follow through on those plans now and Mr. Happy is just around the corner from your therapist's office."
"You do realize you guys are weird, right? Normal people would avoid any memory of an event like that and you two go and highlight it with a celebratory breakfast. Weird."
"Sure Arlene, and yet who has an appointment with the shrink?" Emma chuckles.
"Oh for Christ’s sake! Kiss my ass!" I yell at her, hopping out of the car as soon as it rolls to a stop in the parking lot, leaving the two of them to laugh at my expense. Asswipes. But I love ‘em anyway.
Forty-five minutes later they are standing in the same spot, waiting for me, smirks still on their faces as if they had never been gone.
"So how was it?" Nosy Emma wants to know.
"Like I'm gonna tell you."
"I don't want to know what you said, you dipstick. I want to know whether you think it will be helpful."
I can't help the small smile that escapes. It actually had been helpful. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have a long road ahead of me, but it had helped laying everything out, including the debacle with Seb's confession and talking about how and why I respond the way I do. It at least gave me some more insight into myself and that is a start.
"Yes, it will be helpful. Now, can you drop me off at the diner please? Or at home so I can pick up my truck?"
"We are coming to the diner with you."
"Why would you do that? We're gonna only be short Julie so we should be able to manage fine."
"The boys have something to discuss and they wanna stick close, and I want to do some baking, which I haven't had a chance to do yet this week. I can do it just as easily at the diner. Gives me a chance to run the counter at the same time. Now, would you quit questioning everything and just go with the flow for once?"
My most appropriate response is to stick out my tongue at her, which makes Gus snicker.
"Good to have you back, Arlene."
"Don't push your luck, Mister." Which only makes him laugh harder.
No respect.
Getting there I’m surprised to find only Caleb in the kitchen doing prep. When I ask where Seb is, he offers to go check upstairs. Of course I head for the big coffee machine first. That is a necessity. Mindlessly moving through my morning routine, it takes me a while to clue in that Seb is still not here. Instead, the 'three musketeers' are in the friggin’ kitchen doing the breakfast prep, whispering among themselves.
"Ok, folks. What the fuck is going on? Where is my cook?"
The schooled blank look on the guys' faces and the one of guilt on Emma's tells me something is up.
"Come on guys. Spill."
Caleb is the one to speak first. "He had a rough night. Letting him sleep it off. Best you do the same."
As I look from Caleb, to Gus, to Emma and back to Caleb, I know they're holding back on me.
"Like hell." I say, marching past them out the backdoor and up the stairs to Seb's apartment. Half expecting to find him half-drunk in bed with some floozie, I burst in ready to kick some ass but when I open his bedroom door, what I see almost brings me to my knees.
Last night Caleb managed to get me up the stairs to my apartment, clean me up and look me over. Already starting to turn all shades of black and blue, he said there was hardly any flesh tone left on my already colorful skin. He was painfully thorough in his exploration of every possible damaged bone, but by his uneducated guess, I had no broken bones save for a couple of ribs and a badly swollen knee. A cut above my eye was taken care of with some butterfly bandages and the hand I fisted around my car keys to pound on that cock sucker's knee was pretty torn up. I likely have a concussion so he spent the night on my couch after giving Gus a call and a brief report.
This morning I wake up feeling like a truck ran me over and backed up on me just for good measure. The urge to piss forces me to haul my ass out of bed. That maneuver is just as painful as I imagine. Fuck me. Relief at seeing no blood in my urine, I shuffle into the living room where I find Caleb already gone. On the kitchen counter is a glass of water and a hand-full of pills. Figuring they're for me, I don't question, just pop them all back and wash them down. Just then Caleb walks in the door.
"Hey, you're up. Good. Not gonna ask how you feel, I figure the answer will be 'shit'."
"Good guess." I say, leaning on the counter.
"So you know the gang is all here. Downstairs, that is. Arlene is bound to start questioning where you are soon enough."
"Don't want her coming up here. She has enough shit going on. She sees me like this it's just gonna add to her stress."
"Not sure if that's possible. We're talking Arlene here."
"Just give me until lunch and I'll be down. Taking a shower and giving the meds a chance to work."
Caleb taps his knuckles on the counter and leaves without a word. Damn.
The hot spray of the shower goes a long way in relieving some of the stiffness and aches this morning. I'm sure the painkiller helped some as well. As I'm drying off, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Jesus. My face is swollen almost beyond recognition and two dark rings are forming around my eyes, likely from the hit my nose and cheekbone took against the truck door. The rest of my body doesn't look much better. Bruising is wrapping around the side from my back distorting the intricate ink patterns on my torso. Makes me wonder what it looks like back there, that's where I took the full brunt.
Walking into the bedroom I rifle through my dresser to grab a clean shirt when I hear the door open behind me followed by an audible gasp. Shit.
"Oh my God, Seb. What happened to you?"
Arlene. Figures. When I turn around to face her, her hands cover her mouth and her eyes instantly fill with tears.
"Ah geeze, woman. Don't cry. Looks worse than it is." She's killing me with big tears now rolling down her cheeks. "Come here." I hold my arms open but she just stands there crying and shaking her head. "Spot, I'm ok. Come here."
Finally moving, she closes the gap, presses her face in my chest and wraps her arms around my waist, squeezing hard.
"Babe. Arlene. Gentle." I groan, almost crying myself now, my ribs yelling in protest.
"Oh. Sorry." She mumbles, loosening her grip and stepping back. I reluctantly let her go.
"What happened to you? Who did this?"
"I asked a few too many questions about Julie in Cortez. Apparently asked the right people."
"Wait. You went looking last night?"
"Needed something to do, Arlene. I was going nuts, sitting at home thinking about you. Worrying about us."
Not wanting to wait for her rejection, I turn back to my dresser for a shirt. It stays quiet behind me while I try to get dressed, but
it isn't easy or painless. When I sit down on the bed to pull on socks and boots, I'm still not looking at Arlene. Bending over to reach my feet I hiss at the stab of pain, courtesy of my battered ribcage. Cool hands grab the socks I'm holding from my hand and push on my shoulder.
"Sit back. Let me."
Arlene sinks down on her knees in front of me and takes my foot, sliding my sock on and doing the same with the other. She then manages to get my boots on and ties the laces. Not been able to say a word, I’m overwhelmed at the sight of her. When she sits back on her heels, I carefully stroke her cheek and she tilts her face into my hand. My heart jumps in my chest. For a while we just sit there, Arlene at my feet, her face in my hand. Just feeling. Being in the moment and I am so full.
Then the slam of a car door outside breaks through our little bubble and Arlene gets up, my hand falling away from her face.
"I better get downstairs. Sounds like customers."
"Okay. I'll be down in a bit." I am a bit deflated, I get the feeling something significant just happened, but I have no idea what.
"You sure you are up to that? We'll manage, you know."
"I'll be fine. I'll take it easy."
Arlene just nods and starts walking toward the door. Then she stops, turns and walks right up to me putting her hands on my cheeks.
"We'll talk later, yeah?"
All I can do is nod, and I am surprised to find my eyes wet. Must be allergic to something.
Arlene presses her lips to mine briefly and leaves. When I feel something tickle my cheek I realize it's a tear. Yup. Allergies for sure.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I've stuck to the kitchen most of the morning. After the shock I gave Arlene, Emma, and Beth, I had no desire to send our customers running or answer any questions, but by two o'clock, my ass is toast.
