Page 18 of 2204 Hunter Lane
In this light, she had an innocent glow to her. Like she was untouched by the world and was naïve to all duress. But I knew for a fact she had some type of ulterior motive. She wouldn’t still be here if she didn’t.
“Come with me for a sec, will ya Bambi?” I nudged my head over to the side of the store, walking away with the knowledge she’d follow.
“Are you always this demanding?” she bickered, flattening the creases on her white blouse.
I shook it off. “What are you still doing here?”
She clenched her jaw, looking back towards Payton who had her arms crossed throwing daggers my way. She didn’t intervene though,good woman.
“Bambi,” I rasped. “I asked you a question.”
Her arms crossed in evident frustration. “I have a name and it isn’t fucking Bambi, so I suggest if you want to speak with me you address me appropriately from now on.”
I leaned in closer, amused by the fire radiating off this woman. “Remind me.”
When she told me it was Marley, it didn’t come as a shock because I already knew her name. Bambi just suited her better, I don’t know. She looked like a fucking Bambi so if she thought I’d be calling her Marley any time soon she was dead wrong.
“WellBambi, now that we’ve got names out of the way,” I smirked sensing her agitation, “can I get an answer to my question?”
She stared at me with an inscrutable expression before sighing heavily. “I’m going to help Payton with her business.”
I couldn’t pinpoint what I felt in that moment. I laughed, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t say anything for a few seconds, glancing at Payton, the store, then back to Bambi.
“Helping Payton with what exactly?” I questioned, eyeing her with suspicion.What was she up to?
“Oh my God, just talk to her about it. I’m tired of this conversation.”
Hell no.“Bambi –”
“It’s Marley!” She snapped, swinging her puny little American Girl doll arms at me. “M-A-R-L-E-Y. Marley! Is that so fucking hard to understand, Hunter?”
Before I could react she continued to rip me apart.
“I’m helping her with advertisements to increase her business sales, because unlike you, I actually care about helping others not just antagonizing them until they break!”
My immediate reaction was poor. Very fucking poor.“What’s in it for you”almost slipped off my tongue before Josh interrupted, still holding my ice cream.
“Fuckin’ hell I wasn’t going to intervene but it was so entertaining I couldn’t resist. Finished my ice cream just watching the two of you,” he handed me back my cup and turned his attention to Bambi.
“Nice to meet ya little lady, I’m Josh. Hunter’s best mate.”
“Huh,” she smiled so sweetly I could’ve contracted diabetes. “At least one of you has some manners.” She extended a hand out to Josh and shook it politely. “I’m Marley.NotBambi.”
“Well MarleyNotBambi, Hunt and I are going to Cid’s Pub tonight if you want to join?”
“No,” we both said in unison.
I glanced at her quickly and she returned the gaze, her cheeks heating before she quickly paced backwards to meet Payton.
“Nice to meet you Josh!” She called back, completely ignoring my existence before escaping into the glass doors of P&D.
I caught myself staring at the empty space in front of me, the weight of her presence slowly fleeting away.
“Pretty girl,” Josh poked. “Think she’ll come?”
The store bells chimed and I half expected Bambi to come out and yell at me some more, but it was just an elderly couple holding a bag of tools and shit.
“I hope not.” I grumbled, swallowing back the frog in my throat.
