by Bijou Hunter
I know the feeling.
With the truth out, I’m short on time to get Common Bend under control. If the place flounders, Hayes will look weak and the Brotherhood’s current management might get ideas about taking what Howler’s wanted for decades.
Forty Four - Ruby
The new restaurant’s outer walls are up. On the inside, plumbers and electricians climb over each other to ensure work gets done on schedule. The Hallstead women have little sympathy for delays. Piss them off, and suddenly work permits get yanked, licenses revoked, and the IRS wants to audit.
Across the street, we meet with Clara, Eloise, and the De Campo’s old chef. Sally is half asleep from working double shifts at her current job before she came home to work with me for a few hours on the proposed menu. We didn’t finish until after midnight, so Mom is lucky she isn’t drooling on herself.
I hand the women and Chef Aaron copies of the menus I made at the UPS store that morning.
“This isn’t what I imagined,” Aaron says in a snooty tone.
Sally stops yawning long enough to mumble, “Hickory Creek already has a decent Italian restaurant. What all the Italian places in this area have in common is they’re geared for adults.”
“To compete in a saturated market,” I continue, “we should be a family restaurant where parents can come with little ones without worrying about making noise or mess.”
“I like it,” Clara announces. “The Brotherhood wanted to stick a strip club here, but we’ll build a family restaurant instead. Yes, I like that a lot.”
Sally gives me a side glance filled with uncertainty. The Hallstead women remain so focused on pissing off the Brotherhood; we can’t help wondering what happens when they eventually make peace with Mojo and Howler. Will this restaurant be tossed aside and us with it?
“I don’t cook for children,” Aaron says.
“Listen,” I say, losing my patience with his pissy little frown. “If you can’t handle making good food for little people, you need to find another job. Or maybe you could think of this as a challenge. Can you make a veggie lasagna good enough for a kid to eat? Can you manage tiny breadsticks? Just think outside of the box, okay?”
Clara and Eloise turn their amused gazes to Aaron who shows no reaction.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he finally mutters, clearly remembering who signs his checks.
“I’m sure you will,” Eloise coolly says. “We want to create a Hickory Creek staple, not just any old place.”
“We can name the new place La Famiglia,” Clara says, smirking. “It’ll be entertaining to force Howler to mangle the name every time he complains.”
I peek at Sally to find her struggling to keep her eyes open. She’s so tired that I doubt she’s worrying about anything besides climbing into bed for a few hours.
I finish up with the sisters and Aaron as quickly as possible so I can drive my mom home. She shuffles off to her trailer, mumbling about mini-meatballs and raviolis.
I head into my place and pile dirty clothes into a basket to take to Bonn’s condo. I do love his laundry room but not enough to leave Lush Gardens.
While waiting for the laundry to finish, I mop the floor and vacuum and do a lot of other pointless work in the already clean condo. No doubt I fear if I sit down in the comfy couch and watch TV on the big screen that I might reconsider my current living arrangements. Even the view out the third-story condo lures me into dreaming bigger than I should. Who wouldn’t want to wake up every morning to the sight of a pond filled with geese?
By the time I return to the trailer, I’m desperate for a distraction but Elle will be at school for another hour.
Folding clothes, I smile at how long it’s been since I washed one of Bonn’s shirts. I recall how he’d done work on Mom’s trailer, getting filthy in the process. I’d taken his shirt to wash while he walked around shirtless. I couldn’t get enough of that view.
Today, I admire the fabric on his black T-shirt and think about how it slides over his wide shoulders and down his hard chest. Eventually, I stop molesting the shirt long enough to exchange it for mine. Standing in front of the mirror, I ignore my silly smile and instead think about how much I love having Bonn back in my life.
Reality startles me away from the mirror when I hear Harmony arriving home early. I peek out the shades to find her fumbling with her keys. Even from across the walkway, I can see she’s been crying.
I hurry outside and help her with the keys. She thanks me through her sobs.
“What happened?” I ask, walking inside with her.
Her voice cracking and tears spilling down her already red-stained face, Harmony says, “Anita died.”
“How?” I ask, hugging her to me.
“She was taking her afternoon nap on the living room couch. I checked on her every fifteen minutes. During one check, she was sleeping. During the next, she was gone. I tried to revive her, but she was just gone.”
Harmony worked as Anita Hall’s health care aide for nearly two years. I know she loved the disabled old woman like family. My sister’s always been a sensitive soul, and I often worried about her reaction to this inevitable painful day.
Later that afternoon, Bonn takes Elle and Keanu to McDonald’s, so I can take care of Harmony. Soon, Daisy arrives and Mom orders pizza. In the kitchen, Betty makes mojitos, but no matter what we say and do, Harmony only stares at the wall.
I brush her blonde hair and tell her everything will be okay. How she took such good care of Anita who is now safe in Heaven. I say all the normal stuff, but Harmony heard them years ago when Keanu’s father died.
Mojitos, pizza, and cheap uplifting words won’t ease her pain. Only when a smiling Keanu returns home with his Happy Meal toy does Harmony perk up. Focusing on her son reminds her of a future when her mind only wants to suffer with the past.
Forty Five - Bonn
Moot shows up twenty minutes late, leaving me tense from too much time planning shit that hasn’t happened. A tall, kinda scrawny guy, he runs his hand through messy, blond hair and rubs his bleary eyes. Thinking he’s hung over, I’m instantly extra pissed.
Moot gives me a sleepy smile. “I got a cold running through my house. Kids were up all night, coughing and rubbing snot everywhere.”
Nodding, I force my tense shoulders to relax. “Are you ready?”
“All business, aren’t ya?”
“Hayes isn’t paying me to look pretty.”
“Don’t go spoiling him with your work ethic and make the rest of us look bad,” Moot says, running both hands through his hair in the hopes of corralling a serious case of bedhead.
“I want to get this over with, so I can start looking for a house.”
“Why would you want to move to Common Bend?” he asks, following me down the broken concrete path to a long-abandoned factory door.
“This is where I work, so I figure it’s where I’ll live. Besides, I can’t stay in Hickory Creek much longer.”
“Naw, I bet the Brotherhood ain’t happy to have you around.”
Pausing before opening the door, I exhale slowly. To my right, Moot wraps a blue bandana over his messy hair.
“How come you never worked for the Brotherhood?” I ask him.
“They were too high class for my taste.”
I can’t tell if he’s kidding or not, but I guess it doesn’t matter. Once his hair is properly hidden, I open the door and walk inside to where two dozen people wait.
These dealers and top prostitutes in Common Bend are now my problems. Employees in a way, they’ll make or break my reign as Hayes’s henchman.
I scan their faces while Moot makes a beeline for a particular meth dealer. He punches the twitchy asshole in the stomach. A few women gasp, but the rest of the people put on their best professional faces. Moot drags the guy to me.
Having never been a violent man, I lost most fights in my life. I’d always lacked the blood lust to hurt my opponents in the way they needed hurting. Today will be dif
ferent.
Rather than hate this piece of shit standing before me, I focus on how he’s an obstacle to my family’s happiness. Much like how I thought about Ruby and Chevelle when stripping so that I could ignore the seedier elements of my job, I now think of them while punching the dealer in the jaw.
He falls to the ground, spitting up blood and cursing my mother. I kick him in the ribs and then land my foot hard against his scrawny left leg. The bone cracks under the pressure, startling a man nearby.
“Hayes now owns Common Bend,” I announce, using my foot on his cheek to keep the dealer from moving. “He expects me to run the day to day. I guess that makes me your boss.”
“Is this your way of making us like you?” a dark-haired prostitute asks.
“Cheeze here skimmed from the profits before sending them to the Reapers. All of you have skimmed,” I say, scanning their faces. “That’s the past. You stole from the Reapers, but you won’t steal from Hayes. If you do, you will receive one warning like Cheeze is now. After that, you will be replaced.”
I dig the heel of my boot into the meth dealer’s ribs, making him cry out.
“Hayes is a businessman,” I continue. “He expects you to behave as business people. You have merchandise that costs you a certain amount and sells for a certain amount. Those numbers better make sense to a businessman like Hayes. If you think you can cheat him, you will be replaced. If you do your job, you will make money, he will make money, and the law will stay out of the way.”
Cheeze slaps my leg, wanting me to get off him. I move my foot from his chest to his throat and give him a warning nudge. He quiets down.
“We are all replaceable. Every single one of us. Don’t ever think you’re special. You are a cog in the machine. If you do your job, the machine is happy. If you misfire, the machine will replace you with a new part.
“Finally, I know you have spent the last year with several different bosses. The various sheriffs have run from friendly to hostile to the current weakling. You’ve got it in your head that you can do whatever you want if you keep your head down. You think you can take more clients than you claim and steal the money. That worked fine with your former bosses, but Hayes has eyes everywhere. Your clients, your neighbors, your kids’ teachers, anyone could snitch you out. If you do wrong by Hayes, there will be nowhere to hide. Simple as that.”
I take my foot off Cheeze’s throat and extend a hand to help him up.
“As far as I’m concerned, you are all on my shitlist,” I say, scanning their faces again. “I know you’ve stolen from the Reapers, and I assume you’ll try to do the same with Hayes. You’ll need to prove you’re worth keeping around when I could easily get someone else to do your jobs. Now I suggest you go home and think long and hard about how you’ve run your businesses and whether you want to continue working in Common Bend.”
I gesture for Moot to follow me and he does while yawning widely.
“Nice speech. You sure you don’t want to kill anyone to make a point?”
“Not yet. Give them a few days to mull over their options. The first one to test us will suffer a messy death. That ought to get the rest of the hold outs in order.”
“Hayes didn’t say anything about muscle in Common Bend. Are you planning to use the cops or bringing in your guys?”
“I know a few big guys who could use the work. They got on the wrong side of the Brotherhood which I think works in our benefit. We don’t want the club thinking they have friendly faces in Common Bend.”
“What about the cops?”
“What about them?” I ask as we now stand next to my SUV.
“They think they run this place for the Reapers. Are you planning on telling them different?”
“I’ll have a quick conversation with the sheriff, but there’s no need to make a big deal out of it. They weren’t running shit when they claimed to be calling the shots. If they were, I wouldn’t be here now.”
Moot scratches his covered head. “Hayes wants me to stay close to you until you’re set up. He isn’t sure your balls are big enough for the job.”
“Good. I’d worry if he trusted me so easily.”
“Dude, he barely trusts me and I went to prison to protect his business. The guy has issues.”
“Wouldn’t be where he is if he didn’t,” I say, giving him a smile. “Thanks for the help this morning, but maybe you better get some rest.”
Nodding, Moot yawns again before heading home. I think about how Hayes called the guy a work horse. Moot is no flash, only results. I’d be glad if everyone I worked with was as competent. I suspect they won’t be, and I’ll need to spill blood again.
I’m not a violent man, but I will cross nearly any line to make a good life for my family. After today, I’m one step closer.
Forty Six - Ruby
Bonn stands at the pond, wearing a shit-eating grin that pisses me off. He’s turning into Hayes, and I didn’t sign on for that crap. I need my sweet as sin Bonn.
Well this isn’t entirely true. My sweet boy buckled under the pressure of becoming a father. The new Bonn knew what he wanted and defended his family. While I appreciated his newfound focus, the big dog arrogance rubs me in the wrong way.
“I know it doesn’t matter now, but I wanted to come clean so you’d know and wouldn’t think I was hiding anything,” I say, hoping to start trouble.
Bonn glances down at me, smiles confidently, and makes me want to slap him. He’s got everything he wants now. Bonn sees the past as insignificant and figures I ought to forgive and forgot.
“I had a one night stand years ago,” I lie.
Bonn immediately shakes his head. “No, you didn’t.”
I’m instantly angered by his complete certainty that I’d never find a single other dick to ride in the entire world. No way am I telling the truth now.
“It was at a party and he was from out of town. Just a quickie and not good enough for me to mention to anyone. So, we’re not so different. You had Kim. I had this guy.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not,” I growl, hating his stupid, arrogant expression.
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t remember. I think it started with a ‘J’ but who knows?”
“You’re full of crap,” he says, suddenly standing too close.
“Stop crowding me.”
“Tell me his name.”
“I told you that I don’t know.”
“You had sex with a guy whose name you didn’t know.”
“I’d been drinking.”
“What did he look like?”
“What does it matter?”
“Tell me.”
“Why?”
“I want to find him.”
“What for?” I ask, walking away.
Bonn instantly follows me, remaining too close for comfort. “I want to see the man who knows your body.”
“Why?”
“I need to hurt him.”
“Can I hurt Kim for knowing your body?”
“Sure. Now who is this guy? I don’t believe you don’t remember. You never drink enough to forget things like that.”
“I did that night.”
“No.”
“Stop following me.”
“Tell me.”
“Stop bugging me.”
“Ruby, tell me now,” he demands and uses my shirt to tug me to a stop.
“Back off,” I say, grabbing a handful of dirt off the ground. “I’m not kidding.”
“Go ahead and throw it. I’m still finding out.”
Overwhelmed by how my ruse backfired, I realize I need to end this now. “There’s nothing to find out.”
“Tell me.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Tell me.”
“Ugh. I’m going inside.”
When I walk away, Bonn grabs my shirt and holds me still. “Tell me.”
“I was lying, okay? There was no one else.”
“Tell me.�
��
“I just did.”
“So, you were lying then or now. How can I know which?”
Glaring up at him, I mutter, “I’m not taking a lie detector if that’s what you’re suggesting.”
“Tell me.”
“Stop saying that!”
Bonn gives me a mournful sigh before sweeping me over his shoulder. “We need to figure this thing out.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“You started this by mentioning another man.”
“I’m so very sorry. I only wanted to mess with you because you got to have sex with someone besides me. Now let me down.”
Bonn says nothing, just keeps walking like a solider off to war. I think to fight him, but I really don’t want to fall off his shoulder and land on the hard ground. Why not let him have his stupid macho moment while I check out his ass flexing with every step?
“Did I miss something?” Sally asks when Bonn stops at her trailer.
“Can you watch Chevelle tonight?” he asks while our daughter walks around to see me hanging from him.
“Are you okay?” she asks, weirded out.
“Your father is a nerd.”
Elle smiles at me. “Are you in trouble?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Bonn corrects. “But you know I don’t spank, so she’ll be fine.”
Elle finds his comment hilarious, making me wonder what she’d think if he did spank. My kid laughs behind her hand and then runs away to likely snitch me out to Harmony.
Mom bends down to look me in the eye. “This is good?”
“Despite my current position, I actually have the upper hand here.”
Smiling, she nods and gestures for Bonn to keep going. He obeys and marches to my trailer. I know he’s taking me to the bed where he thinks he can bully me into admitting what I’ve already admitted. He really is a nerd.
Bonn dumps me on my bed and walks to the closet. I watch him while considering if making a run for it is worth the effort.
“Sometimes, a man can’t control himself,” Bonn says, climbing on the bed where I rest my head on a pillow.