Page 40 of Road Queens
“Oh. Well. That’s a relief. There’s nothing more reassuring than a grown man screaming denials as he scrabbles at my door in his rush to escape.”
“I’m fine! Nothing to worry about!” He was fumbling with the knob. “I’ve been taking up too much of your time as it is!”
“Not really.”
“And I have to check the mail!”
“Okaaaaaay.”
“Fine! I’m fine!”
She crept closer. “Sure, sure. Anyone seeing what you’re up to right now would think everything’s okey dokey. I’m not trying to hinder your escape, but could you take it easy on the door? Abraham Lincoln was still walking around when this house was built. Don’tclawat it. Thumb the buttonabovethe doorknob while simultaneouslyturningthe ... annnnd you’re gone.”
She listened to his footsteps as he bolted. Then she went back to the kitchen to finish her malt and plot their next meeting.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The door was still closing behind him when Sean booked around the corner and leaned against the wall, unable to go a single foot farther. Amanda’s Hole shared the alley with a liquor store, and when the rear door slammed open beside him and someone chucked half a dozen empty booze boxes into the dumpster, he still couldn’t move. He idly wondered if they were going to go back and break down the boxes or file that chore under “It’s the garbage man’s problem.” Then he wondered what the hell was wrong with him.
Are you all right? You’re acting like a diabetic who can’t find his insulin.
Christ, if she only knew. To be so close to her after all this time! He had a thousand questions but could think of no quicker way to scare her off than to appear obsessed.
“Appear” obsessed?
The roof of his mouth still tingled from her touch, which was the most ridiculous thing. The roof of his mouth hadnevertingled like that, not even the time he sucked down a ghost pepper. Then, as now, he thought he’d need to sit down very,verysoon.
And it all came back to a kindness she and her friends did his sister years earlier. Another battered spouse to them; a darling baby sister he couldn’t protect to him.
He’d run into Amanda years ago, when OpStar was packing his sister’s belongings. His scumbag brother-in-law was in lockup. Rumor had it that the shithead showed up for the booking rocking two black eyes, which saved Sean the trouble of a couple of punches, but Operation Starfish didn’t waste any time. There was no telling when the asshat abuser would show back up. So in, pack, out, gone. Often (but not always) never to return.
“I know this is opportunistically gross, but she’s got Jimmy Choos! In. My. Size! Oh my God, they’re purple! Youknowpurple clashes with my hair, which is why I get off on wearing it, and also, I think she should lend them to me because wouldn’t they look great?”
“You’re right,” her friend said, tossing a box marked “winter gear” in the back of the van. She had the most dour expression Sean had ever seen on a teenager; he wondered if she was an old high school senior or a young college freshman. “It’s opportunistically gross. And you’re babbling, which makes my head hurt. Heads up, pal.”
“What—” He rubbed his elbow as the shoe gal bustled past and clipped him with a stack of shoe- and cardboard boxes. “Oh.”
“One side, sunshine,” the petite dynamo sang out. He steadied the boxes; they were piled so high that he couldn’t see her face. “Time is money. Money is money, too, but that’s beyond obvious, which is why it’s not a saying.”
“Waytoo early for your babble, Amanda.” But her friend was smiling a little.
“Well, that’s just a lie.”
He realized who they had to be: the women who got Dinah out of the House of Fists. They had a code name of sorts ... Operation Meteor? Star? No. Starfish.
He’d come by just to get a look at the place before Dinah put it on the market. He wasn’t even sure why he’d come; Dinah wasn’t there. Neither was the SOB she’d married.
Guess I just wanted a look at the scene of the crime. Crimes. All the crimes.
He pulled the first three boxes from her stack and put them in the back of the van to be helpful and to get a better look at her. The slight redhead looked to be in her late teens, with skin so pale he imagined she’d burst into flames if she even thought about going to the beach. Her pointy chin, wide-set, pale-green eyes, and cheerful grin made her look like a cross between an elf and an alien, in all the best ways.
“Thanks, we’ve got it covered.” She plopped the last of the boxes into the rear of the van, then climbed inside and started organizing the boxes. “Sidney? Are you still outside or did you go back in the house?”
“Since I can’t teleport, and it’s only been three seconds, yes. I am still outside.”
“Sidney!”
“Jesus.What?”
