Page 74 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

TANYA

She was having a dream. A very nice dream. Driving up a great, tall mountain. Ooo, in a Cadillac. A white Cadillac. Her hair in the wind, yes God. Something was at the top of the mountain— something amazing.

Tanya woke up to see Saverin’s face leaning over her, and in his hands was a hamburger on a plate. Withfries. He set the whole combo down on the small clawfoot table next to the bed. All traces of exhaustion left her body.

Food! FOOD!

“Thank you,” Tanya whispered to her man with the most heartfelt gratitude she was capable of. “THANK. YOU.”

“Gwen brought it,” he grinned.

“Tanya!” A small face popped up over Saverin’s shoulder. “Hi, Tanya!”

“Absalom said they could come up here,” said Saverin dryly. “You know, with Rory being his cousin and Gwen being a pain in the ass.”

“Hey!” Gwen yelped. She was wearing a pair of rabbit ears, with sequins next to her eyes and blue eyeshadow smeared over the lids. Rory was dressed normally, though very drunk.

“We brought you some cracklins too, Tanya,” he contributed, holding up a greasy paper bag. “And some cupcakes— but they got crushed. You want some?”

“Um— hold on, y’all.” Tanya slowly blinked, her eyes adjusting to the strange light of the room. “Saverin, where the hell am I?”

“Roman’s bedroom. We’re still at that cursed fuckin’ party, but we’re leaving soon. Crash is coming back to drop something off and then we’ll head back to my place.” His eyes danced.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us about this party, Tanya. We could see the fireworks from the trailer park! It was incredible.” Gwen loudly sipped her icy drink. “Saverin says it’s about ten thousand dollars’ worth. Imagine amilliondollars’ worth, that would be crazy. Guess what, Tanya, honey? We didn’t tell anybody about the money. We kept it secret all day long. And guess what else? Rory proposed! Look at my ring! We’re gonna get a real diamond, of course, or maybe an aquamarine, to match my eyes—”

“I’m very happy for you, Gwen,” said Tanya wearily.

“Love you, babe! I’m so excited! We’re gonna be millionaires!”

“Do y’all mind giving me and Tanya a minute?” asked Saverin, looking at the ceiling as if praying for patience.

Wasting no more time, Tanya snatched up a fry and dredged it through the ketchup. “Oh my God,” she groaned as Saverin took a seat next to her and Gwen and Rory stumbled from the room.

“Good?” Saverin asked, smiling.

“It’samazing.”

“I’m real sorry about earlier.” His smile faded. “It shouldn’t have gone down like that.”

“I don’t even remember what happened,” Tanya confessed. “I had a really good dream, and before that I had a real fucked-up nightmare. Did I hit my head? I know I passed out.”

“I caught you just in time.”

“Aw, so romantic.”

“Yep, that’s me.” Saverin pushed a curl off her forehead. “Hey, Tanya.”

“What?”

He whispered, “Look under the plate.”

Tanya lifted up the plate… And screamed. She leapt out of bed and ran around the room before collapsing dizzily back in the bed. Saverin leaned over her and tickled her sides, making her kick her legs and shriek.

“My ticket! Saverin!”

“Congratulations, Miss Megamillions. Now you better put your John Hancock on that line so I don’t have to beat up nobody else for it.”

“Hiram— what did you do to him?”

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