Wheels of Steel, Book 2

by Pepper Pace

  Mrs. Monkfort from church had nodded happily. “Your Daddy is fighting for his life. He ain’t going nowhere, Robin. That man is as stubborn as a mule! When he gets something into his head it is there.” Later she would wonder why people try to convince you that the impossible is possible? But in that moment Robin wanted to believe with all of her might that her Daddy was not living his last hours on this earth and that he would go into remission one more time and they’d take him home once again.

  The church ladies talked her into sleeping in her own bed that night because the foldout chair was too narrow and uncomfortable and her back was paying the price for the last week of lying in one uncomfortable position.

  At home she fell into an exhausted sleep, her body had been hanging on by mere threads. She hadn’t realized just how exhausted she actually was. She went into such a deep sleep that the phone shrilled forever before she realized that she wasn’t just dreaming. And then she glanced at the clock and quickly answered.

  Mama said. “Robin, baby. Your Daddy died…”

  Robin could not remember that drive to the hospital and the long walk down the hospital corridor until she reached the room where Mama paced angrily. “They didn’t wake me up They let him die while I slept and then that nurse had the nerves to shake my arm and say, I’m sorry Mrs. Mathena but your husband just passed. Why didn’t they wake me up before?!” Mama pointed to the couch. “I was only asleep for twenty minutes Robin…just twenty minutes. Damn! I wanted him to see me.” Tears splashed from Mama’s eyes, frustrated, angry tears. She would not break down and cry, though. And so Robin had just wrung her hands and looked on at her father’s lifeless body; her eyes completely devoid of tears.

  Robin sat on the floor with her back against the door and her hand clenched into tight fists. Had her Dad opened his eyes that one last time and looked around for them? Maybe wanting to leave them one last message but no one had been there to witness it; to receive it? Maybe he was afraid, maybe he needed someone to hold his hand and help him to pass, maybe he needed to say ‘I love you’, maybe he just needed to look into the eyes of someone that loved him.

  Robin buried her hands into her short hair and she cried. Was that how it had been for Miss Lucille? Had she waited for her to come just one more time? The idea haunted her, that Miss Lucille had wanted her, maybe even asked for her. That she hadn’t said goodbye.

  Robin jumped to her feet and rushed to the bathroom. Her stomach tumbled and then vomit erupted from her body, choking her and causing her to lose her breath. She spent many long minutes voiding her body into the porcelain bowl.

  When her cell phone shrilled a while later, Robin opened her eyes tiredly. She was leaned over the sink, cold water running into the bowl where she had her fingers dangling. She had splashed her face and it helped some. She thought fleetingly of not answering but thought about Jason becoming worried. She straightened, her stomach sore, either from the vomiting, the IBS or her ulcer. She didn’t know and right now she didn’t care. She moved gingerly back to the living room for her purse.

  ***

  Belinda and Amberly had gone to the school’s production room in order to look at the video that Amberly had filmed at last night’s concert. She had set up a camera without telling anyone and had filmed the entire party with the idea that it would make a great concert DVD to sale. They were going to give it to the boys later when they met to talk to the agent. Amberly and Belinda were hyped about the interest that Wheels of Steel had gotten from a real recording agent. And even though they realized that they were no longer a part of where Jason and Peter were headed, there were still things that they could do to make the trip as successful as possible. And so they were turning what had been filmed into a DVD.

  Belinda had been thinking about the drinking that she had done the night before and how foolish she felt about the things that she had said and the way that she had acted. Amberly had told her upon picking her up that she was acting like an out of control infant. Her only response had been a dismissive scowl. But then Amberly had given her a solemn look and said, ‘No one likes a sloppy drunk, especially not Peter.’ She had almost snapped out a hurtful response before she shut her dumb mouth.

  She, more than most, could not use drugs and alcohol to hide behind. With a grim shake of her head she apologized. She had suggested that they go kidnap Robin from Jason and spend the day doing some female bonding. She was going to make up for her bad behavior to her newest friend.

  But Amberly made a face at the suggestion. “I don’t want to do that.” Belinda gave her a serious look.

  “Were you shitting Robin about being friends?”

  Amberly continued to look forward at the street as she drove. “No. I just want to work on the DVD, which is the only reason that I came to get your drunk ass, so we can get it finished.” Belinda looked at her a moment longer but didn’t say anything else.

  And so they worked most of the morning splicing and editing. The two girls worked well together, knowing just what was needed without having to do much conferring. They were artists in their own rights—as much as Jason and Peter were.

  Belinda’s mind roamed as her fingers moved automatically to complete the necessary task and she began to take a mental tally of how much of an asshole she’d been over the last few weeks. With a sigh she picked up her cell phone and dialed Robin’s number. It rang so long that she thought it was about to go to voice mail, then it clicked over with no other sound. Suddenly there was a choking noise.

  “Robin?”

  After a moment there came a muffled response and she could barely hear what sounded like ‘Who is this?’

  “Robin? It’s Belinda. Are you…okay?” She turned away until her back was to Amberly. “Are you and Top doing it…cuz you know that you don’t have to answer the phone if you are actually having sex? Robin?” Belinda thought that she might have dialed the wrong number. There was a gust of breath and then Robin’s soft voice.

  “Belinda?” Her voice was totally unrecognizable, it was deep and rough.

  “Honey, are you okay?”

  Amberly finally looked up from where she had been splicing.

  “Not really.” Robin responded softly. Was she crying? Belinda straightened quickly.

  “What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is your ulcer bothering you?”

  “I’m okay. I’m just tired. My friend died today and I—” Robin said nothing more.

  “What’s wrong?” Amberly asked. She momentarily forgot about splicing.

  Belinda was shaking her head and frowning. “I don’t know, she’s fucking…”

  “Is she with Top?” Amberly exclaimed.

  “Is Jason with you?”

  “No.” There was suddenly the unmistakable sound of retching and then the phone went dead.

  “Is Jason okay?” Amberly asked again, this time she sounded fearful.

  “He’s not there. She said her friend died. Robin?!” But of course there was no response. She dialed the number again but there was no answer. She dialed it twice more and when there was still no answer she considered the possibility that Robin could be lying in a puddle of her own bloody vomit. “Come on, Amberly!” Belinda hurried to the door, looking over her shoulder to make sure that Amberly followed.

  “I can’t go anywhere with this mess left like this!” She threw Belinda her keys. “Call me!” Belinda had already disappeared out the door after catching the keys and was halfway out the room.

  She hurried to Amberly’s car. Unlike her friends she wasn’t loaded with money. A car and insurance cost money that she couldn’t spare. As it is, she was a frequent shopper of the thrift stores for her new wardrobe and her impromptu make-over had put a serious dent into her finances. She was putting herself through college and there would never be a Trust fund set up for her to fall back on.

  As she drove Amberly’s car, speeding down the street, she kept ringing Robin’s number. But there was no answer. Maybe she should call Top, or the cops. But instead she kep
t driving trying to remember which streets she had to use to get to her apartment.

  It didn’t take long but felt like years. She hurried up the apartment stairs past people that were sitting out on the stoop who moved out of her way as if she was a charging bull! At Robin’s second floor apartment, Belinda knocked and tried the door but it was locked. She hammered on it knowing that if someone was knocking on her door like this she’d be flushing her stash of pot.

  After a moment the door opened and Robin was standing there with her arm around her middle and looking like hell. Belinda’s mouth gaped open. She was the one that had gone on a drunk and Robin looked worse than her.

  She squinted at her. “What-? Belinda what are you doing here?”

  “You didn’t answer your phone! It doesn’t hurt to pick it up you know!” She snapped.

  Robin stepped aside to allow the girl inside thinking, ‘Oh my god with the phone again!’ “Sorry if I was busy puking my guts out.” Belinda wanted to smack her for not answering the phone and causing her to rush over but she was happy that she was relatively ok. She stepped over a bag of smashed muffins and gave Robin a curious look, because…was she actually seeing what she thought she was seeing?? The other girl had shuffled to the couch and was sitting on it gingerly.

  For the moment Belinda just stood there staring at her in shock. At the moment she wasn’t concerned about her friend’s possible perforated ulcer. She was more concerned with the bruising that was visible on her body. Belinda cocked her head in disbelief.

  “Robin. Who hit you?”

  “Huh?” She squinted in confusion, still gingerly rubbing her belly. Belinda stormed over to the couch and got into her face, but she was looking at her neck and not really at her.

  “Oh no. Who put their hands around your throat?!” Robin reached up and touched her neck then she stood and went into the bathroom where she stared at herself in the mirror.

  There was a bruise developing on her neck and chin, and angry purple marks on her upper arm, the finger prints still very evident even against her brown skin. Robin suddenly seemed to remember her hand and she looked down at it. Gravel was embedded in the heel of her palm and blood had sprouted in areas surrounding them.

  Belinda took her wrist and turned on the water again, holding her hand under the flow as she picked out the gravel. She met Robin’s distant eyes once. Belinda recognized that look. Her foster sister Lisa had the same look, and she supposed that she had as well. This time her voice was calm because that is how it had to be in order to stop the rage from taking over. “Who did this?”

  “The man at the Eldercare facility where…where my friend died.” Her light colored eyes looked down. Belinda took a deep breath. She felt like breaking something or somebody. But she kept her calm. Now she could see that Robin wasn’t right—not by a long shot, and maybe she had never been in all of the time that they had known each other. Which actually caused Belinda some comfort; because weren’t they all misfits in some way?

  “Sweetheart, what happened?” Belinda turned off the water and dried her friend’s hands, watching her intently. She still wasn’t sure if she needed to call the police, or an ambulance. But she knew that she couldn’t push. No one that had fresh bruises on their neck as if they had been choked should ever be pushed to talk.

  “Mrs. Babb died.”

  “I see. Mrs. Babb?”

  Robin lowered her hands. “I used to take care of her before Jason.”

  “Ok. I’m sorry. Was she sick?”

  Robin nodded slowly.

  “Robin. I need you to tell me something. Did someone choke you?”

  Robin nodded.

  Belinda walked out the room digging into her pants pocket for her cell phone.

  Robin’s head swung around. “What are you doing? You’re not calling Jason are you? You can’t tell Jason!” She followed Belinda to the other room.

  “No. I’m not calling Jason. I’m calling Chauncy. I’m about to get some boy’s together and we gonna roll on that muther fucker.”

  Robin placed her hand on her friend’s wrist. “Belinda. No.” She took a deep breath. “Don’t. Please.” Belinda stared at her but then pressed end and shoved the phone back into her pants.

  “Fine.” It took her a moment but she continued. “Why did this man choke you?”

  “I guess he was the security guard, or something.”

  “Security guard?”

  “I don’t know…he might have just been the front desk guy. He didn’t have a gun.”

  “Okay, you’re not making sense…but its okay. I think you’re in shock. So…tell me why the front desk guy would choke you?”

  “Because I was about to hit the nurse that murdered Mrs. Babb.”

  Belinda felt weak. “Should I be calling the police?”

  “No. She is hiding behind the fact that Mrs. Babb was old and had pneumonia and was kinda sickly.”

  Belinda frowned. “And that wasn’t what caused her to die? I mean…murder is a strong allegation. But that front desk guy still had no right to choke you! I mean…you are a girl!” Robin covered her face again and sighed and started crying softly. Belinda rubbed her shoulders.

  “Okay, let’s just sit down.” She led them to the couch. “What’s the name of that place?” Robin told her. “What’s that guy look like?” Robin looked up quickly and shook her head.

  “Just…let it go, please.”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re such a bad liar.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Liar.” Robin said, the hint of a smile finally appearing on her lips.

  “I don’t make promises, so how is it a lie?” Both girls smiled. Then they were laughing, maybe a bit too hysterically for Belinda’s liking but it was better than hysterical sobs. Robin got up and got water and then pills. She took them while Belinda made a quick call to Amberly. Robin gave her a quick warning that she better not be calling in Chauncy. Amberly was still working on the DVD and though she seemed relieved that everything was okay she did not seem overly concerned. Once she had determined that Jason was not in any way involved in Robin’s hysterics, then she was fairly blasé about it all.

  Well she would not have been had she heard the panic behind her words, is what Belinda told herself. She didn’t mention the bruises. When she was finished with the conversation she gave Robin a grim look. “Look, Robin. Do you want to talk about it?”

  Robin shook her head in embarrassment. “I’m okay now.”

  It wasn’t okay. Normal people didn’t go all shell shocked because an old sickly lady died. Normal people did not vomit blood and have freaking ulcers that chewed through their guts. Normal people didn’t get manhandled by some asshole and then act calm and…passive. What in the hell was wrong with her?!

  Belinda came to a sudden decision and she looked up at the ceiling gathering her courage. She closed her eyes and began talking. “I’m…I’m only telling you this so that you can open up and let me be a true friend to you. You can trust me. So I’m going to just tell you about this.”

  She sat down next to Robin on the couch as the girl looked at her curiously. “When we were in the hospital, and your mother was there and she was fighting for you, and being angry for you; I was so envious.”

  Robin looked surprised. “She embarrassed me. The things she said that day—it was so mean.”

  Belinda was shaking her head. “You have a mom that will say mean shit, and maybe even thoughtless shit because she loves you just that much. Remember that dumbass song that Will Smith made all those years ago; Parent’s Just Don’t Understand? Well it’s not parent’s that don’t understand; it’s kids. If you have someone that gives a shake about you then you have something that I never had.”