Relentless Habit: O-Town Series

by Karen Renee

  Her cheeks flushed if I wasn’t mistaken and a small, naughty smile played at her lips. “Yeah, but seriously, CeeCee. You’re fabulous. You always have been, and you always will be. No way he can do better, and I don’t just say that because you’re my sister. So quit being so down on yourself.”

  “All right, all right. I’ll stop being so down on myself. Um, before you go, do you have time tomorrow or really late tonight to talk to me again?”

  Another small smile curved her lips, but this one wasn’t naughty. “Yeah, but um, just to say, whatever’s bothering you... you could talk to Mom or better yet, MeMaw about it.”

  I smiled. “You’re right, but MeMaw doesn’t FaceTime well. How ‘bout you teach her for me, huh?”

  “Some other time, Cecilia. Marigold’s got things she needs to see to right now,” Razor said in the background.

  Double ugh. “Bye, Neil.”

  She grinned. “Bye, Cecilia.”

  WITH A SMILE, I ASKED a teen-aged girl guest, “Would you like your receipt in the bag or with you?”

  “In the bag,” she mumbled.

  I put the glossy paper inside and handed her the bag. As she took it, my manager and a new cashier, who was part of the Disney College program, moved in beside me.

  “Switching your drawer, Cecilia. Thought you could use some time on the floor for a change of pace, and Sierra needs more time behind the register,” Margo, my manager said.

  I smiled at them both and nodded.

  Being on the floor made my day every time I had the chance to do it. I wandered over to the stuffed animals. It was a sure-fire spot to find kids and the young at heart.

  A mother of three —possibly four— children, it was hard to say since she stood behind a double stroller which may have hidden a toddler under the light blanket, or that seat might be holding bags. She looked frazzled, tired, and at her wit’s end as a three-year-old girl wailed at her feet.

  A Goofy puppet caught my eye. I grabbed it and did my best impression of the talking dog.

  “Well, hot dog! You came to see me. Do you watch Mickey’s Clubhouse?”

  A little girl, who was a slightly older sibling, saw me crouched close and she moved to me, reaching for Goofy. I smiled but tried to communicate with my eyes not to touch Goofy, since the crying little sister had calmed and had rapt attention on Goofy.

  “We only see Mickey’s Clubhouse at Granny’s. Samantha loves Goofy. Can I hold it?” Samantha’s sister asked.

  “In a minute,” I whispered.

  Smiling brightly at Samantha, I opened my mouth to speak when a man rushed up with a school-aged boy.

  “Let’s go, Wanda. I’m hot, tired, and fed up with taking this boy to the bathroom every twenty minutes.”

  I stood and, strangely, thought he looked familiar. With as many guests who came through the gift shop every day, it was easy to think everyone was familiar to me. Yet, something was different about this man.

  He glanced through me at first, but did a double-take. Then his eyes flared, but he quickly hid it. Not from me, from his wife.

  She was busy loading a cranky Samantha into the empty seat of the stroller.

  The man watched her. “Let’s go. It’s late and it takes three hours to get back to Green Cove.”

  A glimmer of a drunken memory hit me and I knew he had been a drive-by customer. At least Brock wasn’t here to feel my tense vibe.

  Smiling at all three kids, in Goofy’s voice, I said, “Gosh! I hope you had a swell time at the Magic Kingdom.”

  I tucked Goofy back on the display stand and moved through the throngs of guests to the other side of the store.

  It hit me, this was the thing holding me back. What kind of man would let it slide that I had been a prostitute? And it wasn’t lost on me the day before in the shower that Brock kept me from getting on my knees in front of him. He hid it well by insinuating he wanted us both to get off, but I knew better. A man didn’t typically deny a woman who was ready to put her mouth on his cock. They damn sure didn’t deny one who swallowed. I should have confronted him about it yesterday, but he was good with his hands too, so it slipped my mind in the shower. Then he told me he loved me and that definitely pushed it to the back of my mind.

  We had to talk about it. If we didn’t, it was going to grow and fester, none of which would be good. Had Razor not interrupted us, I would’ve asked Tennille about it, but she was right. I needed to talk to Mom or MeMaw, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew MeMaw would have a fresh perspective on it.

  A frazzled, sweaty mother wandered up to me and asked where the nearest restroom was, effectively pulling me from my thoughts. I directed her, and then focused on finishing the rest of my shift.

  WHEN I PULLED INTO my complex at eleven-fifteen, I debated calling MeMaw, but my debate was short-lived. She’d been helping PaPaw run a bar since they were in their thirties, so I knew she’d be up. Even before they opened the bar, MeMaw said, she was a night-owl.

  The phone rang twice before she answered, “You all right, Cecilia?”

  “I am, MeMaw, and hello by the way.”

  “Hello to you too. I’m just surprised. Go from nothing, to meeting your hunk-of-hot-man and now I get a late night phone call. What gives, girl?”

  I sighed, but she spoke again before I could.

  “Now, none of that. It can’t be that bad, can it?”

  I chuckled. “It can be, but you’re probably gonna tell me it isn’t.”

  “Well, of course not. It’s like I always tell you. We don’t have any problems.”

  This was true the way MeMaw meant it, which was in the biggest scheme of things I had no problems. But, no matter how much she told me this, I couldn’t get out of my head enough to not fret about all of my little mundane problems.

  Rather than argue with her about it, I launched right in. “Brock says he loves me.”

  “And he should,” MeMaw muttered.

  I exhaled sharply, part-chuckle, part exasperated with her. “Well, as I asked him, how could he?”

  MeMaw sighed angrily. “Now that is a fool question if ever I heard one, Cecilia.”

  “The heck it is, MeMaw. A man like him... he could have, and for that matter should have, any damn woman he pleased.”

  “You’re right, so if you’re the woman it pleases him to have, then you should take that as a resounding indication that you’re worth it.”

  I sighed. “MeMaw, I’m not a product by L’Oréal.”

  “Nope. You’re a hundred times better than that. You just need to believe in yourself and see what he sees. Hell, what me, your mother, your hard-headed father, your sister, and everyone else does too.”

  I lowered my voice to just above a whisper. “A former john was at the Disney gift shop I work at today.”

  “Oh, honey.”

  “I’m just glad Brock wasn’t there to see it.”

  “That man say something to you? Worse, do something to you?”

  “No,” I said, and shook my head. “But, I know he knew who I was, and honestly, MeMaw, I only knew who he was because of a cloudy memory.”

  “You’re off work now, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He may know where you work now, but honey, he has no way of knowing where you are otherwise.”

  I nodded, not that she could see it. “Yeah, you’re right, but...”

  “But what, sugar?”

  “How do I know that will be the last time? What if it happens again and Brock’s with me? What then? Why on earth would he stick by me?”

  She sighed. “You’re borrowing trouble, my dear, but I’m not ignoring your concerns. Have you talked to Brock about any of this?”

  “No.”

  “Well, you have to start there. The rest of it, don’t you worry about it until it actually happens. I mean seriously, you’ve got a really good job and all, but those Disney people don’t charge an arm-and-a-leg for their tickets, they’re so greedy they want two-arms-and-a-leg before
anyone can afford a ticket into the park. I can’t imagine anyone from your past coming to hunt you down in the gift shop.”

  “Thanks, MeMaw. As usual, you’re right.”

  “Of course I’m right, now don’t forget to call your mother sometime tomorrow. Debbie will not be best pleased to find out I spoke to you and she didn’t.”

  “She’s sleeping,” I nearly snapped.

  “You’re right, but she won’t care about that. Especially something this juicy. That good-lookin’ boy loves you. Can’t tell you how thrilled I am knowing both of you beautiful girls landed equally beautiful men.”

  I sighed and tilted my head. “Strange. Early this afternoon, Tennille was saying how looks don’t matter. It’s about being able to spend time with one another.”

  MeMaw scoffed. “Now, I doubt she said it quite like that.”

  I thought back, and realized MeMaw was right. “Well, no, but the insinuation was clear.”

  “Honey, I love you. Call your mother tomorrow, hear?”

  “I hear. I love you, too, MeMaw.”

  She hung up, and I gathered my things, got out of my car and went up to my room.

  Brock

  The last week and a half had been hectic for me and for Cecilia. I pulled three overnight shifts, which at first I thought would be a walk in the park from my days being a DJ, but trying to sleep during the daytime after that third consecutive shift nearly kicked my ass. When I moved to a three-to-eleven shift, that was when Cecilia moved back to days.

  To say we hadn’t connected much was an understatement. Yet, thanks to texting and Snapchat, I didn’t feel like it had been two weeks since I last saw her. While I had heard from her, she was careful to a fault when she signed off on a snap or a text. By careful, I meant that she ended her side of the conversations being friendly, but not saying she loved me or she liked me a whole helluva lot. That was fine too. I knew when I laid that on her, I had freaked her out. It didn’t mean regretted it though.

  My phone rang, interrupting those thoughts. Pulling it out of my back pocket, I saw Vamp was calling.

  “Hey, man,” I answered.

  “Hey, Brock. You got time off comin’ soon, right?”

  “Yeah. Beginning tomorrow I’m free until Monday morning.”

  There was a pause, but when my brother spoke I could hear a smile in his voice. “You up for a triple date?”

  “Run that by me again?”

  Vamp sighed. “Razor cornered me at the clubhouse today. Said he and his woman were takin’ a ride, would Rainey and I like to come. That bastard is trickier than I realized because, little did I know, Rainey was in earshot. She agreed without asking where we were headed.”

  I shook my head. “Like that matters. You woulda found out where or how long this ride was gonna be regardless.”

  “Yeah, and when Razor mentioned it was a ride to Disney, Rainey was so excited I wanted to shoot the man.”

  I chuckled. “Sounds like you don’t know how to keep your woman happy, Cary.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” he muttered.

  “So, you’re in town already?” I asked.

  “Yeah. So, you up for a triple date? You, me, Rainey, your girl, her sister, and Razor for lunch... or dinner, whatever you want man.”

  I plonked my keys down on my dresser. “Yeah, it’ll probably have to be a dinner because Cecilia’s workin’ days again.”

  “Okay. Figure it out with Cecilia. You two are locals, so find us somewhere good to eat. Let me know and I’ll tell Razor when and where to bring his woman.”

  “I’ll do that, but feel free to dial it back on the bossy, there, Cary.”

  “Fuck that. I’m your big brother and I’ll always boss your ass around.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered. “Where are you and Rainey stayin’?”

  “I Pricelined a hotel for us.”

  I shook my head. “You didn’t need to do that.”

  He chuckled. “Get where you’re comin’ from, so thanks for that. But you’re wrong, I definitely needed to do that.”

  I sighed “Fine. I’ll get with Cecilia, and let you know.”

  THE FOLLOWING EVENING, Cary, Razor and I were sitting inside El Patron at a round table with three empty seats. It was close to both the outlet shops, where Tennille and Rainey were shopping, and to Disney so Cecilia could meet us when she got off work. I knew Cecilia was on her way, and Rainey had called to say she and Tennille were already in an Uber.

  The waitress dropped off beers for all three of us, just as Cecilia settled into a chair next to me.

  “Hey, honey,” she said in a low voice as she kissed my cheek.

  “Hey, Sunflower. You know what you want to drink?”

  She caught the eyes of the waitress. “Club soda with lime, please.”

  The server nodded and left.

  She greeted Vamp and Razor, but turned back to me. “Where are Rainey and my sister?”

  “Shopping,” Vamp said, as if he had been dragged along with them.

  Cecilia nodded.

  Razor caught her eyes. “So, no more uncomfortable run-ins with former clients, right?”

  My eyes were on Cecilia as she unfolded her cutlery, so I watched her face drain of color while her eyes bugged out.

  “I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

  Razor looked to me, then back to Cecilia, before he muttered, “Shit.”

  “What’s he talkin’ about, Sunflower?”

  She narrowed a glare at Razor. The look softened when she turned to me. “Last week–”

  “Last week?” I interrupted.

  “Yes. Last–”

  “Whatever this shit is, it happened last fuckin’ week and you’re just tellin’ me about it?”

  She sighed. “You’ve been on second shift and,” the look on my face must’ve given her pause because she hesitated. Then she said, “Whatever. I had to be on the floor. A mom with two kids was struggling, I tried to entertain them, when the dad showed up. He didn’t say or do anything, but a hazy memory hit me. I knew he was a former client —as Razor put it— and he quickly got his wife and kids outta there.”

  I ground my teeth together and tried, but failed to completely calm my shit. “Why’s he know and I don’t?”

  She gave a small shrug. “I’m guessing MeMaw or Mom let it slip to Neil.”

  Razor but in. “No, not quite. I walked into your parents’ kitchen to overhear your Mom and MeMaw talking it over.”

  A look crossed her face and she looked down at the table.

  “Okay,” Vamp said. “Let’s get back to the real issue here. You’ve left the life, but did that asshole come back for you in anyway?”

  I didn’t think that was the real issue here, but my brother was right. Whether this guy wanted something from Cecilia was important.

  “No, Vamp. He didn’t. And just to say, Disney is crowded all the time. No way he’d do something like that.”

  “Not sure I would say that, but a married man who pays for that sort of service isn’t an ordinary man, either.”

  “What’s your point?” I asked.

  “Her pimp wasn’t great, but he also didn’t let men run over his girls, or beat them,” Vamp said before sipping his beer. He swallowed “The asshole who took Marco’s place took all his girls. And he does let scumbags do whatever the hell they want.”

  Cecilia looked uncomfortable. “So, I’m lucky I got out when I did. Believe me, I know that. Almost every NA meeting reminds me of it.”

  Razor shook his head. “You need to be on guard far more than you have been. Byron’s dragged at least three women back into his stable. And two of them had helped the narc who took down Marco. Those girls got special treatment from Byron, personally. Hell, one of ‘em nearly died.”

  “How do you know this?” I asked.

  Razor glanced at me, but held Cecilia’s eyes while he answered. “’Cause that narc visited Neil, at work, to tell her. In telling her, he also shared Cecilia needed to watch her back.”r />
  “And you’re just now tellin’ Cecilia?” I demanded, my fury obvious.

  That got me Razor’s eyes. “No. Told her the minute we knew, which was months ago when she was in rehab. My point is, Byron isn’t above paying for intel. That john needs money, a hit, whatever —knowing where you are has value. You need to be careful.”

  Cecilia shook her head. “That shit isn’t going to happen.” Vamp and Razor made noises to interrupt her, but she raised a hand. “Hate to say this, but having been there and done that, I can tell you whores are a dime a dozen.”

  Vamp looked from Razor to me, and then settled his intense gaze on Cecilia. “Sad to say, you might be right, but hear this. Your safety is not a dime a dozen.”

  I grabbed her hand, and her head swiveled to me. “No, Sunflower. He’s got that shit wrong. You aren’t a dime a dozen. You’re one in a damn million, so take it seriously.”

  Her eyes flared at me, and her lips tipped up. She curled her hand around my neck and pulled my face toward hers. At my ear, she whispered, “You’re really fuckin’ great, Brock.”

  I pulled back and caught her eyes, and she added, “Really. Honey.”

  Before I could say anything, Rainey drew up to the table declaring, “It is official. The traffic in Orlando is not to be believed. I mean, even the side streets are jam-packed. It’s ridiculous.”

  My brother chuckled. “It is rush hour, baby.”

  Tennille pulled out a chair next to Razor. “You’re right, but so is she. There is no excuse for the amount of congestion on so-called thoroughfares that aren’t the interstate.”

  Cecilia chuckled so low, only I could hear it. “Should we tell them?” she asked.

  “Tell them what?” I asked, just as low, and was surprised by how husky my voice sounded.

  She grinned, and turned to her sister and Rainey who were sitting next to one another. “They’re tourists, Neil. Love ‘em most of the time, but when they get in cars, they’re likely to be the death of those of us who live here.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cotton Candy Sweeter

  Cecilia

  It had been nearly two weeks since I last saw Brock; but listening to him get all growly-protective of me, and knowing he loved me, I couldn’t deny it any more. We had a great beginning, which led to a bumpy falling-out, but when we were together I loved it in a way I knew there would be no one else for me. I wasn’t sure that was the definition of love, but with him things were right in a way I never knew was possible.