Page 6 of Love vs The Ooze Monster!
“Out of the goodness of your heart, you’re going to sink your family and make me a success, huh?”
“You’re already a success. I’m just going to make youmoreof one.” She stressed. “And Sly is not my family.”
Boyd wasn’t buying it. “If you’ve got nothing to hide, why did you hide the fact you were Lew’s daughter?”
“I didn’t hide it. I just didn’t advertise it.”
“Bullshit.”
Boyd always modulated his language around her and quickly corrected any crass slipups. This time, he left the vulgarity sitting there between them.
Mabel frowned, as if suddenly realizing how well and truly pissed he was. “Well, you wouldn’t have hired me, if you knew I was connected to Sylvester.” She defended.
“Probably not.” Boyd agreed coldly, some of his anger finally seeping through in his tone.
“So, Ihadto lie.” She nodded, as if willing him to see her point of view.
“No.” He said again and shook his head. “Youchoseto lie. Which makes me wonder what else you’re choosing to lie about.”
Mabel’s frown deepened. “I don’t appreciate you questioning my intentions towards you, Mr. Cassiday. I’ve been a very good employee. I’ve done nothing but help this organization.”
“On the surface. But what’sreallyhappening inside that head of yours.”
Mabel seemed offended. “What’s happening insideyourhead?” She snapped back. “Half the time, I can’t even tell. You try to hide all the deepest parts of yourself from me.”
“Look who’s talking!”
Now, she was getting steamed. “How can you be accusing me of sordid things, with no evidence?”
“Because you lied about your entire identity! Because I always wondered why you were fucking here with me, in the first place.” He stumbled, automatically retracting the oath, because it had been a bad one and she was still a lady. “Why you were… uh…heckinghere with me, in the first place.”
“I’m here because we’re good together! You see that, too. Youmust. What other reason could there be?”
He watched her broodingly. “Honestly, until this morning, I figured you had an illegitimate kid someplace and your parents had tossed you out on the streets. I figured the docks were the only place you could go.”
Volstead’s fancy people lived in the center of the small city, in enclaves of Victorian houses and a bustling downtown. The perimeter of Volstead was divided into the docks, the railhead, and the trucking depot, all of which were controlled by criminal syndicates.
The railhead was the Irvings. It hadsomesocial acceptability, because of Lew’s money and because even rich people needed trains. Mostly, the town had left Lew alone.
The trucking depot was Wilson Carmine’s. He was an ambitious weasel, but Volstead’s collection of paved streets was fairly new. Not everyone had a car and the roads were spread out through the countryside. Carmine could hide a lot of his sleaze from moralizing citizens’ groups, because he could move his operation around.
The docks were a different story. Boyd controlled those and everyone in Volstead knew they were bad news. The docks didn’t move and no one respectable needed them for travel. Society folks steered clear of the grimy wharf and sketchy inhabitants. The docks had always been the poorest part of town. If you were down on your luck, running from the law, or completely out of options, the docks were where you washed up.
“Lew would never have thrown me out over anything.” Mabel said with the absolute certainty of a treasured daughter. “He loved me.”
ThatBoyd believed. Anyone would love Mabel.
“I came here because Iwantedto. Because…” She trailed off, the beginning of genuine worry on her face. “Because of Lew.” She chewed her bottom lip. “And I really thought you and I were reaching a mutual understanding.”
“About what?” Boyd scoffed, mad at her and himself and Lew and the world.
Hazel eyes stared at him intently. “Maybe I was wrong.” She finally murmured.
As apologies went, that wasn’t much of one.
Boyd was still fuming and hearing her lack of remorse wasn’t helping the situation. He didn’t trust anyone, but he’d instinctively trusted Mabel. He’d relied on her. He was stuck on this girl, like he’d never been before. Late at night, he’d sit in his big empty house and think crazy impossible thoughts about her. About having some kind of future, where she’d smile at him, and work fearlessly beside him, and her cultured voice would tell him everything in her interesting head.
But now he learned it was allbullshit.
