by Nicole Fox
Her sadness and fear swiftly turned to anger. She crunched up her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “I’m not gullible!”
“No? A beauty queen in a small town who thinks a complete stranger is just going to be nice to her because she asks him to? A young lady who’s trying to run away from her mother and thinks the best way to do it is to get on the back of my bike and ride to the next town? Sorry, Bambi, but you’re too eager to believe the world is a nice place.”
“I know it isn’t,” she sneered, but she took a step backward to increase the distance between us. “Even the tiny little world I’ve been living in isn’t very nice. My mother doesn’t let me do anything I want, and she never leaves me alone. Even the other girls in the Peach Festival Pageant are horrible to me, simply because I won. The people of the town want to pretend that I’m so loved and adored just because I won a crown, but I’m just their little puppet.”
Leaning against the door, I grinned. “Yep, you’re just proving my point. You’re gullible. You’re too innocent. You’re never going to make it like that in the world.” I had been young and innocent once. I was only twenty-five, but I had learned a lot of hard lessons and most of them had come early. My stepmother had been sure to teach me the ways of the world when I wasn’t yet old enough. I didn’t mind at the time, but I knew now what it was to be taken advantage of. Since then, I’d kept everybody in my life at arm’s distance or even a little further.
“That’s exactly why I’m trying to change!” Bambi insisted. “Maybe it was stupid of me to go with you. But at least I had the chance of making a mistake, which my mother would never let me do. Now I know, and trust me, I won’t be going anywhere with you again.”
Maybe it was something about the way she looked when she was pissed, with her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Maybe it was because I knew she was a challenge like I’d never had before. I couldn’t be sure, but Bambi was irresistible. I jumped forward to wrap her in my arms, pulling her tightly to me and kissing her once again. I expected her to squirm away, to slap me or punch me or try to kick me in the nuts. But to my surprise, she melted into me.
I let the kiss last a long minute as I explored the smooth planes of her back and the soft wisps of her hair. I pulled in the sweet scent of a clean woman, taking as much of it as I could. When I finally broke away, she looked up at me with softness in her eyes.
“Then why do you let me do that?” I asked.
She blinked, as though she had suddenly woken up and couldn’t remember where she was. “What?”
“If you’re so determined not to have anything to do with me, then why do you kiss me like that?” I didn’t mind, but I didn’t quite understand, either. “You talk like a woman who wants to leave, but you behave like a woman who can’t help but stay.”
Bambi closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “I don’t know, Snake. I don’t know what I’m doing at all.”
Running my hand across my chin and feeling the stubble that had grown there over the last few days, I wondered just what I had gotten myself into. No doubt the rest of the MC members were in the surrounding motel rooms, listening at the walls. They would give me hell for a long time if they knew what was really going on in here. Still, I wasn’t the kind of guy to force myself on someone. No matter how much I would have liked to, I couldn’t do this to her. She was young and vulnerable, and this afternoon had already changed her entire life.
I stepped to the side, giving her free access to the door. “Then maybe you should go.”
She gaped at me for a moment. “You don’t want me to stay?”
I sighed. “Sweetheart, I don’t have time for games. You want to stay, you want to go, and then you want to stay again. You make up your mind and let me know.” One thing was for sure, I was going to run out of patience before too long.
“I just thought you were going to make me stay, that’s all.” Bambi took one hesitant step toward the door and then another. When she had her hand on the knob, she turned around to look at me. “Um, I don’t have any way of getting back to Myrtle Creek.”
For the trouble and the frustration she had caused me, I should have just told her she was on her own. Plenty of people would be thrilled to help a beautiful woman in distress, and she would have been able to bum a few dollars off anyone she met. But I found myself reaching into my back pocket for my wallet and pulling out a little cash. “Here. Get a cab.”
Bambi looked at me then with such love and adoration, her eyes wide and her lips soft, that I must have been her hero at that moment. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
I didn’t like being put in the spotlight, even if it was only between the two of us. “You need to go.”
She scrambled out the door and was gone. I stared at the closed door for a minute, realizing I had now lost the bet for sure.
Chapter 6
Bambi
I found a payphone at a nearby gas station. I knew I probably could have asked to use the phone in the motel office, but I wanted to get away from Snake and the rest of his men as quickly as possible. It wasn’t easy to make my escape in heels and on broken pavement, but I had been wearing tall shoes since before I hit puberty. I dialed a cab company and waited.
Leaning against the side of the gas station, I went back over the events of the afternoon. I had gone from riding in a convertible and waving to a crowd to tossing my tiara from the back of a motorcycle. Snake wasn’t pleased with me, and I couldn’t blame him. In hindsight, there could only be one reason a man like that would ask a woman like me to come with him. How could I have been so stupid? I was just a dumb girl, like Snake had said.
I wondered just what I was going to do with myself. I couldn’t go home, not after the stunt I had pulled. Mother would be furious, and I didn’t have the strength to put up with her wrath. She would want to know every detail of what had happened. Even though things could have been much more complicated than they were, I didn’t want to let her into that little part of my life. I had rebelled; I had done something completely idiotic, and that hour was mine alone.
The cabbie jeered at me when he pulled up to the curb. “Hey there. You the one that needs a ride?” His eyes roved up and down my body.
I got in the back anyway. I couldn’t stay at the gas station forever. “Myrtle Creek, please.”
“You got an address?” He watched me in the rearview mirror.
With a heavy heart, I replied. “1220 Maple Street.” There was no choice but to go home. I had tried to run off, and it hadn’t worked out. I was back to my original plan. I would go home, make up well enough with Mother that we could tolerate each other for a few more months, get a job, and move out. I would wait until I had a safe place to go, a place all my own where I could do what I wanted.
The driver nodded. “You got it. Tell me, where’s a pretty girl like you going in a dress like that in the middle of the afternoon? Don’t get me wrong, I get all kinds in this cab, but you’re a little different.”
I was sure there really had been all kinds of people in the taxi, and judging by the state of the upholstery they hadn’t been very considerate patrons. Dark stains blotted the brown fabric, and several cigarette burns stippled the console. “It’s just been a very long day.”
“Whatever you say, doll.”
But when the cab pulled up to the curb, my stomach lurched. Full garbage bags sat slumped in the yard, and I recognized the clothes hanging out of them. Everything I owned—everything my mother couldn’t claim as her own—was out on the lawn. My hand was numb as it reached for the door handle. “Wait here for a moment, okay?”
“Meter’s running,” the driver reminded me.
I walked slowly through the lawn, staring at the scene before me and unable to believe it. The front door opened, and Mother was on the porch with her arms folded. “What is all this?” I asked.
“What do you think it is?” She didn’t bother trying to start off nice. Her shriek echoed on our street, and I knew the neighbors were probably wa
tching. “I’ve done everything for you, young lady. I’ve sacrificed everything to give you the best life possible, and you go and ruin it all in two seconds. I’m done with you and your attitude.”
“Mother, you don’t understand. Look, I was wanting to talk to you about this. I think we need to change the way we do things around here—”
“That’s exactly the attitude I’m talking about!” she screamed, coming down onto the grass. She had dressed in a long, flimsy blouse and leggings, attempting to look younger than she really was. The afternoon’s makeup was smeared across her eyelids. “You think you run this place, but let me tell you something: this is my house. You aren’t welcome in it unless you’re willing to live under my rules.”
She was never going to change. She was never going to listen. Monique Bidwell was the same person she had always been. “I just need you to understand—”
“No! Don’t you dare go trying to make me the bad guy. You embarrassed the hell out of me, and you shamed the whole town with your antics. I didn’t spend the last nineteen years taking care of you just so you could be an impertinent slut.” Her arms were straight down at her sides, her hands fisted.
“You know, what? Fine.” I didn’t yell back. No matter how mad she made me, I just couldn’t. But I could stop this from happening again. “You don’t want me here, so I’ll go. You won’t have to put up with me anymore.” I turned on my heel and walked back to the cab.
“Don’t you dare leave, Bambi Jade Bidwell!” Mother’s screech raked down my back and howled in my ears. “You get your butt back here and apologize.”
Tears flooded to my eyes, but I knew I was making the right decision. I could have my little fantasies about leaving on my own terms, but she would never let it happen. It would always come down to something dramatic like a screaming match in the front yard. I yanked the door of the cab back open and got in.
I looked out the window just in time to see Mother storming toward the curb. “Go! Please go!” I urged.
The cabbie obeyed, laying on the accelerator and taking off with a squeal. “Where to now?”
I didn’t really know, but if I didn’t find someplace to go soon I wouldn’t be able to pay the fare. “Um, Meadow Ridge Street. 309 Meadow Ridge Street.” I had to hope that this would work out.
Giving him the money from Snake when we reached the house, I didn’t look back as I headed up the sidewalk. The street might have had a pretty name, but the houses on it were far from beautiful. This neighborhood had been built decades ago when the town had boomed due to local coal mining, but it had fallen into disrepair sometime over the last twenty years. Large homes had been split into apartments, and old cars sat in front yards. It was the wrong side of the tracks, the bad side of town that I wasn’t allowed to go to. Still, that hadn’t quite stopped me from making friends who lived here, and I could thank a small public school system for that. I lifted my fist and knocked.
Misty blinked at me when she opened the door and ran a hand through her messy hair. “Bambi? What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?” She rubbed her eyes.
“I was in the parade, and I ended up over in Johnson City with this biker. He thought I wanted to stay with him, but I didn’t, and I thought I was going to have to stay anyway but he let me go. I just can’t go back to my mom’s.” The words came out in a jumbled mess, and even I didn’t quite understand what I was trying to say.
My old friend opened the door wider to let me in. “Come on. Let’s get you out of those clothes. Are you hungry? I just got up and I’m ready for breakfast. I’ve been working third shift over at the factory since May.”
“I’m really sorry to intrude on you like this.” I stepped inside, horrified at the scene. The couch was covered in laundry, and I couldn’t tell if it was clean or dirty. Food wrappers and newspapers were strewn on the coffee table, and several months’ worth of dust had accumulated on the lampshade. It was nothing like the pristine conditions at my mother’s house, but of course, Misty had the freedom to have a messy house. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve been able to see each other.”
She eyed me over her shoulder as she led me down a short hallway to her bedroom and began sifting through a closet. The bedroom was just as sloppy as the living room. “It’s okay. I know you’ve had your own thing going on since graduation. To be honest, I kind of thought you’d go off to some Ivy League college somewhere.” She handed me a faded T-shirt and began looking through the dresser drawers.
“That would have been nice.” Had I had the opportunity to do that, I might have been living in some dumpy dorm room, staying awake half the night and eating fast food all the time. It smelled bad, but it sounded wonderful. “I’ve been right here, though. If I’m lucky, I won’t be for long.”
“So what’s all this about a biker?” Misty handed me a pair of yoga pants since none of her jeans were long enough for me. She ran a hand through her mop of curly hair and sat on the corner of the bed.
Wiggling out of the dress, I pulled on the clothes she had offered. Rarely did I get the opportunity to dress down so much, and it would have felt good if I wasn’t feeling so sorry for myself. I did my best to explain—more calmly this time—what had happened. “It was just this wild notion, and I acted on it so quickly that I didn’t even have time to think about it. When we got back to that motel, I realized what he was expecting of me.” I shivered at the thought, but I didn’t know if it was one of pleasure or fear.
She quirked up one side of her mouth. “Sounds like it could have been fun. Why didn’t you stay?” Getting up, Misty led me back down the hall and toward the kitchen.
“I don’t know. I guess I just want things to be different, and in the moment I thought I could change it all with just that one act. It was stupid. I know that now.” I cringed at the state of the kitchen. The counters were covered in dirty dishes that looked as though they had been there for several days. I could see why Misty only seemed to eat food that was cooked elsewhere.
“Maybe, maybe not. I mean, it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, but it could have been worse.” Rummaging through the fridge, Misty emerged with half a pizza and a few cans of soda. “This work for you? I haven’t been to the store in a couple of weeks. It’s actually Steven’s turn, but he never does anything he’s supposed to.”
“Steven? Steven Roberts?” I remembered that the two of them had always been good friends. They used to sneak out behind the high school gym and smoke during our lunch break. Sometimes, they would let me come hang out with them even though I never smoked.
“Yeah.” Misty rolled her eyes and plopped the pizza box on the counter and cracked open a soda. “I thought he would be the perfect roommate because we had always been so close, you know? But he’s a total pig, and he’s always late with the rent money. He has a good job, but he just kind of sucks with money.”
“At least you get to be out here on your own,” I reminded her. “I’m so tired of my mom. She thinks she can control me.”
“At least your mom was around,” Misty countered, speaking around a big bite of pizza. “My mom was constantly working when I was a kid, and I had to take care of myself way too early in life. I was good at it back then. I always had the dishes washed, the laundry done, and the floor vacuumed. But I think that was the problem. I had all the burden on my shoulders so early that I got burned out. I just don’t care anymore.”
I pulled a slice of pizza out of the box. Misty hadn’t bothered to heat hers up, so I didn’t either. I took a bit and studied the toppings, wondering what they were supposed to be. There was so much cheese that I couldn’t quite tell. “That’ll probably change. Maybe you’ll get married and have some kids, and then you’ll care more.”
She made a dismissive sound and rolled her eyes. “You think someone’s actually going to want to marry me? I doubt it. I come with too much baggage.”
“Like what?” The pizza was good. I couldn’t believe how long it had been since I’d ind
ulged myself. I grabbed another slice.
She waved her hand in the air as though her problems were floating above her head. “Take your pick! My horrible childhood, my massive credit card debt, my general lack of enthusiasm for life. I’m not the sweet, perfect little housewife type. I’m not like you.”
The cold cheese and meat in my mouth was suddenly not so delicious. “Why do you say that? My mother is plenty of baggage on her own.”
“Any guy would gladly overlook her if they got a chance to sleep next to you every night. Face it, Bambi: You’re what every guy wants. It doesn’t matter if it’s that biker dude or some nice guy in a suit with a good job. You can have your pick.” She ripped off the last of her piece of pizza and tossed the crust in the box. “Every guy wants you, and every girl wants to be you.”
“Maybe, but they wouldn’t like it if they got what they wanted. I don’t know what to do, Misty. I can’t go home.” Tears threatened to spill over again. Misty had welcomed me into her home, but we hadn’t discussed whether or not I would be allowed to stay there. I couldn’t quite bring myself to ask her. I already had so much more than she did.