Broken & Burned

by A. J. Downey

  “I need a vacation.” I said weakly and Dray laughed.

  “You ain’t lyin’ Em.” He said and drew back to get a good look at me.

  “I’m sorry.” I said miserably.

  “Don’t be. Your life is a little upside down at the moment. We’ve all been there. Just know I’m here to help get you through your low and I’d really like to see getting’ you to one of your highs.” He winked and I laughed at the double entendre. He leaned down and kissed me gently and I returned it but we didn’t linger. I had to get to class. I got into the car and he started for the college.

  “Can we stop at Renaissance?” I asked he gave me a sideways look.

  “You just left your coffee stand. Why do you want to stop at a coffee shop?” he asked. I rolled my eyes.

  “Renaissance Café is real coffee. The shit Eddie buys is bargain basement cheap ass blend that tastes like it. I need real coffee if I’m going to get through class.” He raised his eyebrows, a slight smile playing across his lips. I pulled down the visor and checked my makeup in the vanity mirror, relieved that it was only slightly blurry around the edges of my eyes and not tracking down my face. I blotted fresh powder onto my T-zone to take off the shine and repaired my eyeliner.

  “Let me ask you something.” He said gently and I looked at him.

  “Of course, anything.” I said.

  “Will stopping to get you real coffee make you smile?” he asked. I smiled.

  “Yes.”

  He pulled into the café’s lot and I got out. I leaned into the car and gave him a smile, he’d more than earned it.

  “I’ll be right back.” I promised and jogged inside. I ordered and thrust the three drinks into one of those cardboard cup holder thingies and went back out handing him one.

  “You look like you could use it.” I said honestly and it was true. Dray was looking a little haggard. Dark circles were beginning to form like bruises beneath his dark eyes and he looked like he was in sore need of a nap.

  “Yeah thanks.” He sipped from the plastic lid and blinked.

  “Good huh?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he sniffed, “That’ll wake you up.” I smiled.

  I’d ordered him a Robusta blend. Robusta beans contain more caffeine than the Arabica beans most Americans are used to. By like almost two-hundred percent. The coffee’s flavor ended up being more robust and earthy and also a little more bitter than that derived from an Arabica bean but the caffeine jolt when you were sorely in need of it more than made up for the darker, richer taste. I’d added heavy cream and a little bit of sugar to try and thwart some of the bitterness and it seems to have done the trick. I figured he wouldn’t want it straight black if he was more a fan of sugary energy drinks like most of our generation seemed to be.

  “You need two?” he asked eyebrow raised as he backed us out of the parking stall.

  “No one is for my girl Mandy. We have class together on Wednesdays.” I took a drink of my coffee, usually I got a vanilla latte which was sugary and sweet but I needed the caffeine if I was going to make it through Mr. Warren’s dry as hell lecture style in mathematics. Mandy’s usual double white mocha looked a little forlorn as the lone soldier standing in the cardboard cup holder. Dray drank his coffee and drove and when he pulled up to the curb in front of the college he turned in his seat to look at me.

  “Dinner and I think we’re both going to bed early.” He commented dryly. I nodded.

  “Sounds good.” I said quietly.

  “Any idea what you have a taste for?” he asked.

  “Where ever and whatever is fine.” I said. He searched my face.

  “Be here at six.” He said and I nodded.

  I got out of the car, slid my coffee into the holder kitty corner to Mandy’s and shouldered my bag.

  “You need anything text me or call me, I’ll be at the garage.” He called.

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  “Hey Dray.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  “Yeah.” He gave me a once over that made my blood sing and I shut the door. Once I was safely up on the curb he pulled away. I sighed and went to my classroom and set the coffee down on Mandy’s desk in front of her. She set down her notes.

  “The Lord bless you and keep you.” She said and made the sign of the cross with the blade of her hand. I rolled my eyes and slung Dray’s back pack onto the desk next to hers.

  Mandy was everything that you expected an Irish girl to look like without actually being Irish. She had a wealth of red hair in coarse tight corkscrew curls that erupted from her head in a fiery riot of color that hung past her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright green with a starburst of golden brown around her pupil that made the green that much greener. Her milky skin was scattered with a generous helping of light brown freckles that almost gave her a mottled appearance but unlike most red heads who abhorred their freckles she loved hers and rocked them.

  “That’s my line as the raised Catholic, all though as a Preacher’s daughter, I suppose you can get away with it.” I complained. She snorted.

  Today she wore golden brown leggings that ended in a pair of brown ankle boots under an over long thick cable knit cream sweater. She’d pulled on a denim jacket over the sweater and looked as pulled together as a girl could get.

  “So why haven’t you been answering your phone?” she asked. I heaved an even greater sigh and slid into my seat.

  “I caught Jerry cheating last week.” I said.

  “No!” she gasped.

  “Yep. It was the worst day ever. Late to work, ass chewed by Eddie, burned my hand, car broke down, left stranded at the mechanic because Jerry was in our apartment, on our couch fucking some ho bag stripper without a condom.” I shuddered in revulsion.

  “That son of a bitch!” She looked around self-consciously to make sure no one had heard her and I smirked. “Wait. If you were stranded at the mechanic then how do you know…” she stopped and looked up from my face frowning at something behind me.

  “Can we help you?” Mandy asked politely.

  I turned to see a slim girl our age standing at my desk. She wore black from head to toe and her short pixie cut platinum blonde hair was parted on the side and smoothed tight to her head. Her hands were planted on her hips and her bright blue eyes fixed on the motorcycle club patches on my bag.

  “Yeah, you can tell me who’s Old Lady you are.” She said and her eyes flicked to mine. Her eyes were familiar but I just couldn’t place them.

  “I’m no one’s Old Lady.” I said frowning and her light eyebrows shot into her hairline.

  “What’re you doin’ with a bag with Sacred Heart patches all over it then?” she demanded.

  “The Vice President, Dray, gave it to me.” I said and my eyebrows knit together. Mandy bit her lower lip and her eyebrows went up.

  “Dray!?” the blonde girl asked surprised her cell phone appearing in her hand.

  “Now I know you’re lyin’!” she exclaimed and her phone was ringing on speaker in her hand. We still had a half an hour before class but still, I was nonplussed. Not only had she interrupted the conversation with my BFF, she had called me a liar in her next breath. I was getting pissed.

  “Yellow?” a male voice through the phone line.

  “Hey Cuz, you’re not gonna believe this. There’s this bitch in my class with a backpack covered in Sacred Hearts patches and she’s trying to tell me Dray gave it to her.” She looked at me with cold blue eyes and it was right there at the edge of my mind.

  “Mmmm Shells?” the male voice asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “You got me on speaker?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Girl there?” he asked.

  “Oh I’m here.” I said and my voice was strained with the suppression of my temper.

  “Irish!” The voice crowed, “That you!?” I closed my eyes.

  “Yeah Reaver, it’s me.” I said and put my face in my palm.

  “Hey Shells, i
t’s totally cool! Dray licked her, she’s his. I saw it with my own eyes!” he sounded entirely too happy about it and people in the classroom including my best friend were turning to look at me. My face flamed with embarrassment.

  “No shit!?” The blonde pixie haired girl asked.

  “Uhhh do I carry a knife every day of the week?” he asked.

  “‘nuff said. Thanks Cuz!” the mysterious ‘Shells’ said and hung up on him. She dropped into the seat on my other side and beamed at me.

  “Reaver’s your cousin?” I asked.

  “Yep! Sorry, so Dray licked you and you’re his now? How does that work?” she asked all trace of hostility gone. I sighed.

  “Yes Everett. Do tell.” Mandy crossed her arms.

  “As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” I said pointedly looking at ‘Shells’

  “Shelly.” She stuck out her hand. “I guess you could say my official title is Sacred Heart club whore, I’m no one’s Old Lady, but no one messes with me on account Reaver would flay them alive.” I shook her hand and settled on doing some damage control with Mandy before she throttled me from the suspense.

  “So my car died and I’m stranded at the mechanic’s shop I pulled into and the mechanic, Dray,” I said for both their benefit, “Gives me a ride home where I walk into the living room to see said hooker riding him bareback on our couch.” Mandy scowled and Shelly looked at her nails.

  “Did you punch him?” Shelly asked, making herself right at home in the middle of the conversation.

  “No.” I said scowling at her, “So I’m standing there and we’re getting into a pretty good screaming match and here’s Dray with my graphing calculator in his hand standing in my doorway. My bag ripped when I got to his shop and it fell out on the ride to my apartment.” I told them.

  “Did Dray punch him?” Shelly asked.

  “No. Yes! But not until the next day… Hold on, let me get there.” Mandy put her hand over my own. She could tell I was starting to get aggravated. Shelly rolled her eyes like I was being a drama queen and I wanted to punch her.

  “So what happened, where did you go?” Mandy asked me and I sighed.

  “I threw some of my shit into a couple of bags and Dray said he’d take me where I wanted to go except I didn’t have anywhere to go. I’d just paid rent and bills and I had like a hundred and twenty bucks. Anyways, I freaked out he let me freak out then he took me home like some kind of stray cat.” I rested my head on my desk in abject humiliation.

  “Meh, there are worse places to be than in Dray’s bed.” Shelly said like she would know with a shrug. I lifted my head and looked at her agape and blinked.

  “Why didn’t you call me!?” Mandy asked aghast.

  “You live with your parents, love, what could you have done?” I asked her honestly. She looked hurt for a moment then sighed resigned. Her father was a preacher and I mean that in the strictest and worst sense of the word. Mandy was on ever loving lock down ninety-nine percent of the time. Sometimes I felt like if it weren’t for me she’d have no clue how the really real world worked. Just this vague half notion of how it was supposed to go through her father’s hard core Christian-colored glasses.

  She nodded and opened her mouth to speak but the professor called for attention at the front of the class. I drank my tepid coffee and tried like Hell to understand what he was saying. Mandy was holding her own but barely, then I looked over at Shelly who was rapt. She looked like this statistics crap was as easy as breathing and I think that is what tipped me toward wanting to hate her more than anything else so far.

  The class ended in scraping chairs, rustling paper and the general chaos of every student trying to flee for their lives, or at least their sanity. I was no exception, unceremoniously shoving my papers, notebook and laptop into my bag.

  “Well Sister, you’ve got at least one less thing to worry about now.” Shelly said shoving her notebook into her bag.

  “What’s that?” I asked haggard.

  “I’m going to teach you and Red how to get through this with a passing grade. Call us even for me being such a cunt when I got here. Sorry about that, by the way, just looking out for the club.” She smiled beatifically and it had Reaver all over it. Clearly they were related. I eyed her warily.

  “Hey if I could teach Ashton how to do her own taxes after she became a millionaire overnight I can teach you how to do this. You’ve already won half the battle by even being in stats.” She stood up.

  “A bunch of the Old Ladies are doing a ladies night out this Friday. You should come, we’ll set something up then. Gimme your phone.” She held out her hand and I blinked. I unlocked my phone and handed it to her. She added herself as a contact sent herself a text and handed it back.

  “Call you with the details!” she sang out and breezed out of the room.

  “Why do I feel like you were just hit by a tornado?” Mandy asked me. I sighed.

  “You think she’s bad you should meet her cousin.” I said.

  “What the hell kind of name is Reaver?” she asked and her eyes darted around to make sure she hadn’t been overheard. I suppressed a laugh. She was trying to be more normal and had started with swearing but old habits die hard. It was sobering really. Her reaction every time she did it kind of made me afraid of what her da’ had been up to behind closed doors. I’d seen him in action a few times, all puffed up with his righteous indignation. It wasn’t pretty. I couldn’t wait to get my friend out from under her parent’s roof.

  “A dangerous one belonging to a man who really, really likes his knives.” I said.

  “Oh my God! Evy! What are you doing with these people!?” Mandy demanded in a harsh whisper as we headed out of the classroom.

  “Mandy, don’t judge!” I said in a warning tone. “Dray has been taking really good care of me, driving me everywhere, and he hasn’t asked for anything…” I told her everything as we stood outside my next class’ door. I had an hour between classes and she stood listening rapt the whole time as people filtered in past us.

  “And you say he’s really hot?” she asked meekly. Good lord, my friend the virgin…

  “Mandy, he’s the sin of lust personified.” I swooned and she laughed then sighed herself.

  “Look, as your best friend I am telling you to be careful, to go slowly and to only do anything if it feels right. Don’t close yourself off to a possibility of something with Dray because of what that jerkwad Jerry did. At the same time, don’t rush into something because of it either.” She made a frustrated growl of disgust at the lost and confused look that I could feel on my face. “You know what?” she said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Just don’t over complicate things. Do what feels right and only if it feels right.” she said and shrugged.

  “Thanks Mandy.” I whispered and we hugged again.

  “I’ll see you after class. I want to see this guy for myself.” She said and went off to the library. I laughed and sat through the next class.

  Finally, at five forty-five I collected Mandy from the library. We pushed out the double glass doors of the college building’s entry way and stepped out under threatening skies.

  “Will this rain never end?” she asked and I shrugged. I liked it. Dray’s Trans Am was idling at the curb. Mandy eyed it.

  “That him?” she asked. The driver’s door opened and he popped over the roof. He folded his hands on the gleaming black metal and his dark gaze bore into me as I approached with Mandy at my side.

  “I hear you met Shelly.” He said flatly, and his eyes were angry, but I could tell it wasn’t at me.

  “Yep and you’re meeting Mandy. Mandy, this is Dray. Dray this is my best friend Mandy.” I said. He lifted his chin in acknowledgment and looked Mandy over once before his eyes settled onto me again. The heat in his gaze caused me to shiver.

  “Nice to meet you Dray.” Mandy smiled and waved politely. “Ev, good luck.” My friend said low and dubiously for my ears alone and she hu
gged me.

  “You need anything you call me!” she ordered. I smiled at her unease. She was like a kitten, my girl, and sometimes when we were outside her daddy’s sphere of influence, I felt like an overprotective mama cat. This attempt at role reversal amused me.

  “Thanks Mandy. I’ll see you later.” I promised. She left and I got into the car.

  “You pissed?” He asked me once the doors shut.

  “I’m hungry. I’m tired. I’m confused and I’m horny.” I answered truthfully.

  “Okay.” He said, voice light and eyebrows raised and he drove us to a nearby Mexican restaurant. When we were settled into a booth he leveled worried dark eyes on me and I leveled him with a calm gaze of my own. I was too tired to be angry.

  “So what happened?” he asked. I told him about the bag and Shelly’s less than stellar introduction.

  “She uh, she said there were worse places to be than your bed, so does that mean..?” he looked at me and his expression became shuttered, guarded…

  “I told you I did casual sex.” His hands rested on the table and I reached out and covered one with mine.

  “Not judging,” I said, and I wasn’t, Dray had told me he did casual sex and he had already said that wasn’t what he wanted from me. I took him at his word until he gave me cause not to. If he ever gave me cause not to. I would not let Jerry ruin my ability to trust. I just wouldn’t. Dray searched my face carefully and whatever he saw there caused him to nod carefully.

  “You really aren’t so what’s your concern?” he asked.

  “My concern is if she’s that proprietary over a few patches on a bag then um, does she have any of the same ideas about you?” He blinked and his mouth turned down in an expression that said that wasn’t at all what he’d expected from me.

  “No. Shelly is complicated. She’s a club whore but sort of at an elevated status. Somewhere between a club whore and an Old Lady.” He could see I wasn’t exactly following and sighed.