Page 13 of Absolute Valor

“Miss Claire is a smart woman, from what I’ve seen, she gets what she wants.” Folding the money in half, I tucked it into the pocket of my sweater. Tonight would be the first time I wouldn’t hand the majority of my pay over to Lucas. A few more weeks of sleeping on the floor and stashing away this money and I could move on, taking what’s mine and disappearing.

“You’re right, she is brilliant.” Picking his bag off my desk, he slung it back over his shoulder. “Some days I wonder what the hell she’s doing with me.”

I pretended to shutdown my computer, but had plans of watching some movies later tonight. “Dylan, I figured out a long time ago, Miss Claire is on a mission from God. And your momma pays her well, like she does me.”

Dylan pushed the door open with his back, “Ha ha ha, very funny.” Placing his ball cap on backward, his sunglasses useless with the sun is skirting the early evening horizon. “But if my Momma is payin’ ya, you got gypped. Nana paid better.” He pointed his index finger at me as the door closed.

Bread and cheese married together with heat and butter, is the fruit of the gods, I tell ya. Eating on a cold floor with nothing more than a napkin and a can of diet coke would be considered a new level of destitute. For me it was a step toward heaven. Closing my eyes, I soaked in the silence, smiling every time I heard the blower of the air conditioning turning on. I watched a dozen videos on the computer before I worried one of the Morgans would drive by, seeing the light from my computer. I didn’t need, or want, to explain why I was in the office while the building was closed.

After I let the hot plate cool down and put my food away, I took the flashlight Dylan threw out and settled into my spot under the stairs, losing myself in a book written about a family of time travelers. I was about to take a bathroom break, when I heard the driveway alarm go off. Praying it was someone using the well-lit area to turn around, I turned off the flashlight and waited for the second chime. My pulse quickened as the seconds collected, the second chime still not sounding.

Jumping up, I pulled the door shut, and held my breath. Whichever Morgan had arrived would be able to smell the food I had cooked. Trying hard to listen and not make a sound, I waited, hearing nothing at first, and then the sound of the lock clicking, followed by the three beeps of the door opening. Fear pulsed in my chest as I waited to hear the alarm code punched in. Chase had assigned everyone their own unique four digit code, something he’d learned in his training. If you didn’t enter your code, or you input the wrong one, the alarm would chirp for fifteen seconds before a silent alarm was triggered. I had accidently set off the alarm one morning when my finger slipped and I hit the wrong number. Luckily, Dylan had pulled in behind me and was able to call off the alarm company.

Hearing the four numbers being entered, my hands began shaking, tears started forming behind my eyes. This was going to end badly, I would be out on my ass with no job and no place to live if they found me. I began praying for whomever it was to get what they needed and get out, without spending any time looking around.

Struggling to keep my tears silent and my praying from turning to begging, I nearly missed the female voice muttering, “Motherfucker.” Not just any female voice, one I hated with everything in me. I wanted to storm out of this closet, but thought better of it. If she was here, then Chase could be as well. I waited a second longer, closing my eyes to concentrate on the voice, thankful the blower wasn’t running at the moment.

“Fucking cunt!” She shouted and I heard the glass container of paper clips from my desk crash to the floor. I waited to hear Chase try and soothe her, or laugh at her stupidity, but it never came.

Had I locked the drawer with the cash box? I couldn’t remember securing the bottom drawer of my desk. There was forty thousand dollars in cash in the box, and while it had a lock, it could be pried open with enough patience.

Not caring if she heard me or not, I threw open the door, ran around the corner, and down the hall. Virginia could call herself anything she wanted, Ginny, Dragonfly, Harmony, hell Mother Nature if she wanted, but stealing from the Morgans was not going to happen, not if I could help it.

Standing at the end of the hall, her hair in a ponytail with hot pink strands she had added to match the new tattoo covering the underside of her pulled up hair. Dressed in black, her spray tanned legs and ass cheeks hung out of her booty shorts. With both feet on the couch and a hand supporting her against the wall, she had the neck of Chase’s guitar in the other, lifting it from the safety of the mount which held it.

Something snapped inside of me—anger hotter than the hinges of hell bubbled in my gut, giving me the courage and rage I needed to stop her from stealing the memories of a young boy. Chase had touched something deep when he shared how he felt guilty at being able to turn on a light switch or water faucet while so many go without. He would love to be able to travel around the globe, punishing those who profited from the pain of the less fortunate.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I moved close enough to tap the silent alarm with the tip of my bare toe. Chase had shown me how to trigger it without being noticed. The signal would go to all three of their cell phones, an unmistakable ring which would send them running in my direction. Once they arrived, I knew what would happen. They would find me in my pajamas when I wasn’t supposed to be in the building, much less living here. I hoped it was Chase who got here first so he could see the person he was tossing his family away for. There was a chance I would go to jail with her—trespassing is illegal and I didn’t have permission to be here. But after today, seeing the side of Chase I had, it would be worth it.

“Fuck me in the goat ass, what are you still doing here?” She had the guitar in her hands, but was still standing in the center of the couch. Leaning down slightly, she planted her left hand on the back of the couch and moved her feet to the floor.

“I work here. The real question is, what are you doing here?”

Harmony looks at the face of Chase’s guitar, running her finger over the signature of a country icon. “Did you know I had a brother?” She moved the guitar away slightly, and then turned to face me. “His name was Frances, but everyone called him Cash.” Looking back down at the guitar, she flicked a string with her fingernail—hot pink to match her hair with a rhinestone throwing tiny flashes of rainbow around the room. “We were put into the system after Cash killed our daddy for trying to fuck me one night. He said I was big enough to do what our momma couldn’t, being how she was buried in the cemetery. Cash stabbed him in the throat before he shoved his dick in me. I told the cops some guy had broken in, and they believed me. My brother had been saving me his whole life, not that I didn’t repay him. That was the real reason Cash killed daddy. Big brother had claimed my pussy the year before, when momma was still alive, too drunk or stoned to give a fuck what her son did.” It was hard to tell if she was telling the truth or not. She was a nasty bitch when she came around the trailer. Lucas loved her because of what she could do for him, in and out of the bedroom.

“First time I met Chase, he was this piss ant of a boy, scared of his fucking shadow. Cash wanted a piece of him, but then Dylan stood up for him, made Cash so mad he took it out on me. I got blamed for that rich bitch Pricilla choosing them over us.” Harmony looked to the window beside my desk, the blinds closed as the afternoon sun would blind me if I kept them open. “He beat my ass good after the lights went out, told me I should have tried harder to get her attention, then we could have been living in her big fucking house.”

Returning her glare back to me, her eyes were full of hate and venom, like a cobra ready to strike. “I’ve waited a long time to get my revenge on the Morgan’s, first for ignoring me and picking the wrong kid to adopt, and then for killing my brother after he done served his time for fucking with that bitch. They had no call to kill him like they did, and I’m gonna make them pay.” The Harmony I knew outside of these walls was a drug dealing, sex crazed, conniving bitch. After listening to her brief history, this had to be the tip of the iceberg in the evil she possessed. This woman was lethal, and I believed she was capable of carrying out the threats she spewed.

“I’d watch my back if I were you. Lucas is looking to get back at Chase, showing him what happens when you mess with him. He wanted me to come and pay you a visit, remind you what would happen to Grace if you didn’t keep your fucking mouth shut. But I don’t work for Lucas, he eats my pussy, not the other way around.” Pointing at the center of her ample chest, her black shirt barely covered the man made tits spilling out of the top. “I have plans for getting back at Chase myself, starting with this little gem.” Tucking the guitar under her arm, jumping off the couch and coming toward me.

“You keep being the quiet fucking mouse you always were and I won’t have to tell Lucas you’re holed up here. Tomorrow, I will pay Largo a visit and have him do another job for me, could work in your favor to be at the Silver Dollar pawn shop, do a little shopping if you know what I mean.” She began backing away, taking the last bit of Chase’s Granddaddy with her. I couldn’t let it happen. I know by showing my hand, I risk losing everything.

“Haven’t you stolen enough from him?” My voice sounded tougher than I felt. “You’ve fooled him into thinking you’re someone you’re not. Turned his back against his brothers, taken money from him, and his family, like it was yours to take.” Moving closer to her, I was ready to tackle her to the floor if I had to. Anything to keep her here until one of them arrived. “That guitar was a gift from his Grandad—the last thing he ever did with the man before he died. I’m sorry, Ginny, but I can’t let you walk out the door with it.” Rushing toward her, ready to do anything to keep her inside this room.

“Oh, I’m gonna walk out of here, and you ain’t going to tell Chase shit about this. Just try and open your mouth—see what happens. You think Lucas is cruel now, you ain’t seen nothing yet, you little bitch.”

Her expression was lethal and in any other situation, I may have shied away, letting her run out the door and into the night.

“Look at you, ready to fight for a man who doesn’t even know you exist. Chase is such a pussy, he might be covered in muscle, but he is soft as fucking cotton. I have him so in love with me, he turns a blind eye to everything I do. You think he’s gonna believe a bad word you say? You said it yourself, he has turned his back against his kin, you ain’t nothin’ to him, so don’t fool yourself into anything more.”

They say a hero lies inside us all, waiting for the perfect moment to come out. As I charged in her direction, pulling the guitar from her hand, I realize my actions are so out of character for me. I’m able to toss the guitar in the direction of the couch, hoping my blind aim is good and the wood isn’t damaged. I’ve never been a fighter; the only punches I’ve ever seen were exchanged between drunken men on television. Harmony is a scrapper; I’ve seen her fight several times when someone tried to get away without paying. This time is no different; as my grip on her arms is lost and I find myself tumbling backwards, my head hitting the edge of the table, pain hitting me like a wrecking ball. Instinct kicks in and I grab for anything I can as her fist connects with the side of my head. I assume I have her hair when she shouts for me to let go of it. I feel her fist hit me again on the top of my shoulder and then…nothing.

Opening my eyes, I see clumps of pink and blonde hair wrapped around my fingers. There is blood smeared on my wrist and the back of my knuckles, I cringe hoping it’s mine and not hers. Looking to the side, I see a pair of black boots and the thigh of someone wearing jeans. A cool hand touches my face, startling my attention back toward the ceiling. Deep blue eyes take up the vast majority of my field of vision. As I strain to focus, Chase’s features sharpen. “Audrey, hey. It’s me, Chase.”

I try to sit up. I have to tell him Harmony is getting away, but as the present comes rushing forward, I can see Dylan has her on the floor, hands behind her back. Austin is speaking into his cell and pressing keys on the alarm pad. Chase is checking me over, just as he did when Lucas hit me. Blue eyes search mine, thumbs pressing into the flesh under my eye, causing me to wince slightly.

“Sorry.” He whispers, but continues to check the rest of my face. I can’t look away, and neither can he as his thumb lands on my lip, pulling the flesh down slightly. My tongue peeks out of its own volition, the salty taste of his skin is erotic and I want to suck the rest of him in. How much of Ginny’s perversion has rubbed off on me if I’m thinking this way?

Clearing his throat, he pulls his thumb down but not away. “You’re going to have a hell of a bruise, but nothing’s broken. I can take you to the hospital if you want me to.” Worried eyes flicking back and forth between mine, dancing down to stare at my lips, and then returning.

“No, I’m okay, she didn’t have time to hurt me.” In the distance, I can hear the sounds of sirens. I chose to drink the moment in, saving it for the solitude I may be about to face, as I will no doubt have to answer the question I can see in his eyes.

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