Page 44 of Hell's Kitten

Like half the people at the college, Alannah worked for a couple of years beforehand, so we both nod eagerly. Soon enough, we’re set up in chairs with our feet in warm, bubbling water, each with a glass of cheap but tasty Champagne in our hands as the lady starts working on Alannah’s nails, and I wait my turn. She’s got an LED lamp so she can see what she’s doing while keeping the atmosphere of the rest of the salon.

“So I’m Candy,” the woman says, “and this here’s been my pride and joy for over fifteen years. You kids at the college, I take it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say politely. “We’re both liberal arts majors on the cheerleading squad.”

Candy gasps and looks at me with glossy eyes. “No kidding?Iwas a Kitten back in the day! Oh my god, we’re sisters!”

Alannah and I both laugh, but actually the sentiment is warm and heartfelt.

“Cheers to that,” I say, clinking my glass against Alannah’s and then Candy’s coffee mug.

“Well, if any of your pals need a bit of glam, you tell them to come here for a discount, okay?” Candy says as she buffs and primes Alannah for her first coat.

Because of cheer, neither of us can have our nails long, but Candy has promised us gorgeous gels nonetheless. Alannah is going for an extremely cool sort of French manicure where her nails are mostly black with red tips. I think I might get little paw prints on mine because I’m nothing if not predictable.

“We definitely will,” I tell Candy, thinking of the many really nice members of the Kittens and ignore all thoughts of Tara and her minions. They would undoubtedly turn their noses up at a place like Butterflies. In fact, part of me wants to check their alibis for the time of the vandalism outside.

“I’m sorry about the damage,” I say sincerely. “The guy outside seems confident he can fix it, though.”

“Oh, you met Shawn,” she says excitedly. “That’s my boy, my angel. His daddy was a good-for-nothing cheating snake, but Shawn is the best thing that ever happened to me. I told him he can go anywhere he wants next year, but he keeps saying he’s gonna go to school here so he can stick around and help his momma. Such a good boy.”

Her tone is wistful, and my heart aches as I think about my own mom. We’ve talked a ton on the phone over the past few weeks. She knows school is going well and was thrilled I made the team.

But she doesn’t know about Nim.

It’s not that I’m ashamed or embarrassed by what we have. Nothing like that. I’m just not sure if there’s anything to tell. I know we spend a lot of time together, and the intimacy we share is unbelievable.

I’m just not sure if I can tell my mother I have a boyfriend or not.

Those thoughts aren’t helpful right now, so I shake them away. “He’s lucky to have you,” I say earnestly to Candy.

“Aw, shucks,” she says with a wave of her hand. “We’re a team. We do okay. It’s just lately…well, all this business with the mayor is damn hard onmybusiness. On everyone’s.”

I frown and glance at Alannah. But she shakes her head, so we both look back at Candy. “The mayor?” I ask. This is the first I’ve even heard mention of them.

She huffs and scowls, working on painting Alannah’s nails as she talks. “Oh, Mayor Durham has got some bee in his bonnet about us Cardinals. Thinks all bikers are suddenly criminals. We can’t prove nothing, of course. But ever since he started his reelection campaign, we’ve all been getting complaints and protests and shit like you saw outside. He’s just tryna drag us all down.”

My heart rate has picked up. She’s talking about Nim’s chapter. His family. “Us?” I ask.

She nods. “A bunch of the gang own businesses here in town, not just me. There’s the pub, O’Toole’s, Horowitz’s garage, the Toe Beans café?—”

“Toe Beans?” I squeak.

She nods. “The mayor’s damn wife is on a health and safety rampage, tryna prove the place is unsanitary. Horse hooey. Me and my girls go there every single Thursday for red velvet cupcakes before rockaoke at O’Toole’s.” She wags a finger at me. “If the Durhams try and mess with rockaoke cupcake day, there’s going to be serious consequences.”

I try and laugh along with her, but I can feel Alannah looking at me in concern. Nim hasn’t mentioned any of this. I don’t want to think he’s been lying to me after everything Parker put me through, but…

“I just think the mayor is tryna run us all out of business,” Candy continues. “That way, his buddy McKenna can buy up all the property and do nothing with it, as usual.”

“McKenna?” Alannah says. “I know that name.”

“Rafferty McKenna,” Candy explains. “He thinks Paddle Creek is his own personal Monopoly board. Doesn’t give a shit about the people. He’s just waiting until he’s got enough property so he can raze the whole place to the ground and start over with fancy gated communities and shit. Says the land is good but the eighties ruined all the real estate.” She snorts. “As if.”

“What?” I say in horror. “Why would he do that? Why wouldanyonedo that?”

Candy shrugs. “When you live up in your ivory tower, you lose compassion. Empathy. He probably thinks we’ll all thank him for it, like he’s the king of the castle, and we’re all just his peasants.” She gives me a sly look. “I studied history, though. The thing about peasants is that if you treat ’em badly enough, they eventually revolt.”

“Guillotine time,” Alannah says with a cackle.

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