Page 38 of The Wedding Driver
“I’m not your concern anymore.” She opened the bag. “Thanks for the food. Can I have some money?”
“You know I’m not giving you cash because you’ll spend it on drugs.”
“I could sell this for the same thing.”
Tonya noticed a large tear in her left thigh. She bent over and got a closer look. It wasn’t good. Puss oozed out of the wound. She tugged at Foster’s sleeve. “We need to take her to the hospital,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Her leg’s infected.” She pointed.
Foster pressed the back of his hand on Victoria’s cheek. “You’re burning up.”
“It’s hot out,” Victoria said.
“It’s seventy-five degrees.” Foster straightened, taking Tonya by the arm. “She hates hospitals and she doesn’t like it when I tell her what to do, especially when she’s been drinking.”
“She does smell like she bathed in a vat of bourbon.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Foster said. “I have to tread lightly because she can become belligerent and violent toward me.”
“Why don’t you let me try to talk to her?”
“I don’t want you in the middle and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
She curled her fingers around his biceps. “She needs medical attention. You’re right here. If she even raises her voice, you can step in.”
“All right. Thanks.”
Tonya blew out a puff of air and collected her thoughts. “Hi, Victoria. I don’t know if you remember me or not. I’m Tonya. I’m a friend of Foster’s.”
“I know who you are.” Victoria lifted her gaze. She struggled to twist off the cap of one of the water bottles Foster had bought. “You’re the chick who follows him around like a pathetic street cat.”
Tonya took the plastic bottle and opened it, ignoring the dis. “Does your leg hurt?”
“It’s more numb now, but it hurts if I try to stand,” Victoria admitted.
“You have a nasty infection and you need antibiotics. Will you let us take you to the hospital?”
“Does he have to come?”
Tonya glanced over her shoulder. “I know he’d like to, and looking at the cut on your leg, we might need his help.”
“Okay.” Victoria chugged. “I like your purse. Can I have it?”
“Foster. Give me a hand.” She ignored the request.
“Wow. You’re going to have to tell me how you got her to agree to go so quickly,” he whispered as he hoisted Victoria into his arms.
“Tony, watch all my stuff, okay?” Victoria asked the guy curled up on a mattress across from her things. “I’ll be back soon. I got some business to take care of.” Her words were slurred.
“You got it, sister.” The man waved a hand.
Tonya walked in silence all the way back to Foster’s truck. She climbed into the back seat with Victoria, who laid her head in Tonya’s lap. A million things raced through Tonya’s mind. One was how frail Victoria looked compared to the last time she’d seen the woman. Her skin was wrinkled and hung loose off her bones. She looked twenty years older than she was and the whites of her eyes were yellow. In some ways, it was a miracle she was still alive.
In other ways, it was a shame she still had to suffer.
“When she’s sober, she’s going to flip out.” Foster glanced in the rearview mirror. “Because she won’t remember agreeing to this. But worse, she’ll start going into withdrawal and that’s always a nightmare.”
