The General Store: Where Innocence Goes to Die

by A. L. Moore

  “Just discussing stamina,” Robyn chuckled, straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair out of the clip when John walked over. “It looks like John is the one with the staying power.”

  John gave her a crooked grin from across the fire and exchanged a loaded look with Tyler.

  “Hold on to this,” Robyn said, sticking the bottle in my lap. “I’ve got to pee.”

  She barely managed to get to her feet without falling back down. I watched warily as she reached for a tree that was too far away.

  “Woah,” Liam said, catching her just before she face planted the ground. Her tanned arms circled his waist. They looked at each other for what felt like forever, but what was really a few seconds before he released her to her own stumbling feet.

  My stomach knotted as Liam neared. I could only make out his face as he walked closer to the fire. His clothes blended in with the night. As impossible as it was, he looked even better now than he had in the house. I took another drink, watching him join Tyler and John. I didn’t realize I was staring until his lips curved a questioning, half- smile that nearly did me in. I felt it deep, looking quickly away to where Robyn noisily approached. She pulled at a twig, tangled in her hair. I patted the ground next to me, but she didn’t stop. Her eyes were focused in a look I was all too familiar with. She went straight to John and turned on the charm. I’d seen her do it before, more nights than she knew. It wasn’t necessary tonight. By the look on John’s face, he was sold already.

  I watched expectantly as she brushed her hair off her shoulder and touched his arm and chest, casually, laughing at whatever he was saying. I wondered how they would make their escape unnoticed, but they didn’t seem concerned. No one did. John already had his arm around her shoulder, whispering into her ear as she giggled, brushing her lips across his neck. I waited for one of the guys to pipe up, but no one said a word.

  Tyler took the bottle from my hand and finished it off, collapsing with a thump next to me. His arm was wet against my neck, and he smelled like the yoga mats at the gym.

  “That was an impressive show,” I said, nonchalantly trying to push him off me.

  “You liked that?” he grinned, brushing the hair away from my face.

  His lips left a wet trail along the side of my neck. It might’ve bothered me, if I hadn’t caught sight of the sidearm peeking from his hip. He froze as I ran my hand around the rim of his belt, the pistol warm and weighted. His hand covered mine before I could pull it out of his jeans.

  “I want to shoot,” I said around his eager lips.

  “Now?” he asked incredulous, nibbling on my lower lip. “Let’s go to the house first,” he suggested in a low, seductive voice. “You haven’t seen the bedroom?”

  Following Tyler’s line of sight, I saw Robyn and John all over each other, barely making it up the deck steps. I was surprised John wasn’t carrying her.

  “Come on, Justice,” Tyler urged, kissing his way back to my throat. “I want to get a shower.”

  I took him by surprise, letting my tongue explore his mouth long enough to distract him. “Go get in the shower,” I said, maneuvering the gun from his jeans. “I know how to use it. I’ll meet you later.” Lying was getting much easier. The words came smoothly, not hitching as they left my tongue.

  “I’m headed that way,” Liam said from across the reaching flames. “She can tag along.” Tyler shot him a look and Liam raised his hands in innocence. “Just trying to help you out.”

  “I won’t be long,” I said, attempting to imitate Robyn’s seductive smile as I pushed up onto my knees in front of him. Tyler took a ragged breath, his eyes reading what he wanted to see.

  Shooting Liam another death glare, he squeezed my thigh and said, “Come to the last door on the right when you’re done. I’ll leave it unlocked.” I realized as I watched his eyes roam over my body that he would’ve said anything to get me to the cabin this weekend. He never intended on letting me off the hook. He was humoring me, and everyone had known it but me.

  I nodded, secretly hoping he would pass out. If he didn’t… I couldn’t even think about what would happen if he didn’t.

  The darkness swirled around the trees when I tried to stand up. No wonder Robyn couldn’t walk a straight line. Reaching down for the ground when gravity began to set in, my backside hit the ground with a thump. Thankfully, Tyler was already walking away and missed my mishap. I played it off until he was out of sight. If he had thought for one second I was wasted, he’d have thrown me over his shoulder.

  “You ready?” Liam asked. He hovered over me like the swaying trees, an amused look curving his lips now that Tyler was gone.

  I reached for his hand with a timid smile, but he shook his head and grinned crookedly. “Get up, Justice,” he said arching his eyebrow. “You’re with the big boys now. We don’t ask for help.” He didn’t know what he was asking. Then again, judging from the smirk, maybe he did.

  I needed to find a focal point. At least that’s what I’ve always been told to do when I had motion sickness. Focusing on a large knot on the front of a massive pine tree, I pushed off the ground. My feet stumbled forward before deciding the ground wasn’t on a conveyor belt, but at least I didn’t fall.

  “There,” I said proudly,” starting toward the trees, away from Liam. “I’m up.”

  I could hear his heavy boots close by, snapping twigs and crushing pinecones along the way. When I reached the spot where I remembered the targets to be, I couldn’t make out my hand in front of my face. I knew they were there, because I could hear the wind rustling the paper. Dark clouds had overtaken the few dimly lit stars from earlier. Liam grabbed headphones as I aimed the pistol toward the rustling paper, my hand wavering in a weak stance. Just as my finger curled the trigger, Liam’s hand spread the length of my stomach.

  Chapter 10. Payment

  The intake of breath was audible in my chest. Chill bumps covered the length of my arms as Liam's moved to steady my hands.

  “Pull the trigger,” he said, his voice deep and as smooth as the metal in my sweaty hand. His chest was hard against my back.

  There was no doubt he felt the affect he had on me. My body was as stiff as the drink that swam in my stomach. My hands shook, nearly dropping the pistol. Liam’s fingers braced mine, his index finger applying gentle pressure. We squeezed the trigger together, breaking through the still night with one audible blast. The sound ricocheted around us and then fell silent. Unlike with Tyler, the force didn’t send me flailing. Liam’s strong hold kept me in an immovable embrace.

  “Again?” he asked, the heat from his hand still burning into mine.

  The thought of him letting go was pure agony, but there was no way I was going to be able to pull the trigger again with him touching me. If not for his body against mine, I’d have surely been on the ground by now, and the alcohol had nothing to do with it. His touch had intoxicated me well beyond a few swigs of whiskey.

  “Justice?” His voice touched my ear.

  I shook my head, answering him and shaking away the chill that rippled down my spine. Liam took the gun in one hand, holding me tightly around the waist with the other, and fired off the entire round into the darkness.

  “I’ll check the targets,” he said, his hand hesitant to let me go. “Can you stand?”

  I swayed slightly but felt much more sober than I had at the fire. I stretched the tightness from my fingers as I watched his dark figure blend in with the darkness.

  “Did we hit anything?” I called after him.

  “Nothing worth bragging about,” he said, turning his black ball cap around. “Are you ready to head inside?”

  There was no way Tyler was asleep yet. I stretched my fingers again, bending my hands at the wrist. They were steadier without Liam touching me.

  “I want to shoot.”

  “I thought you were done?” he asked arching an eyebrow.

  “Second wind,” I said, not looking him in the eyes as I reached for the gun.

&n
bsp; He handed it over and started behind me, but I stopped him. “Let me try it by myself.”

  “No way.” He smirked, his hand already inching around the waist of my thin tank top. “It’ll knock you on your ass.”

  He took the same position as before, his body hard behind mine. I started to tremble, the weight of the gun too much for my hand to hold up.

  “Never mind,” I said giving up, my arm dropping to my side.

  “Are you always so indecisive?” He tightened his hold. “Just shoot it,” he said. “I won’t help you aim this time.”

  “No, really,” I said, the added pressure of his hand only making my shaky nerves worse. “You go ahead.”

  “Justice, fire the damn gun,” he said, irritation lacing his voice. “This was your idea.”

  “Your hands,” I said frustrated, trying and failing to push him away. “I can’t concentrate with you touching me.”

  He looked at me warily before emptying the clip. “You’ve had too much to drink.”

  If only that were the problem.

  ***

  I woke before anyone else the next morning and slipped into the quiet bedroom for my bag. Tyler was passed out, his mouth hanging open against the white pillowcase. He never made it into the living room to look for me. I changed quickly, still pulling my shirt into place as I walked down the hall. I cupped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming when I spotted Jayson sitting on my make-shift bed on the couch.

  “Where’d you come from?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said, eyeing my short, cotton shorts and t-shirt.

  I reached around his massive frame for my pillow. “It’s not what it looks like. I slept here.” I said, sitting at the opposite end.

  I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the face, not after seeing him with Tonya and knowing what Robyn had done last night. Betrayal wasn’t my forte, and although I didn’t know Jayson very well, I still felt I was betraying him.

  “Tyler still asleep?”

  I shrugged. “I guess you could call it that.”

  “Where’s Robyn?” he asked, cracking his knuckles and breaking the stillness that filled the house.

  I looked nervously down the hall, hoping he didn’t decide to go wake her. Jayson could probably beat John to a pulp. “Still sleeping?”

  “No,” Robyn’s green eyes smiled over a coffee mug in the kitchen. She was dressed in a long t-shirt that nearly reached her knees, but her hair looked freshly washed. Black eyeliner made the green in her eyes pop. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, pulling out a kitchen chair. “You said, ‘bright and early’ and here it is almost one, and you’re just now getting here.”

  “I’m sorry, Babe,” Jayson said, running his hand over his hair. “You know I had stuff to handle.”

  Robyn played coy as he sat down at the table next to her. “Did you miss me last night?” she asked, shying away when he tried to kiss her. It was like watching a cheesy soap opera. I wondered if they’d have looked as transparent to someone who didn’t know what I knew.

  I didn’t hear Robyn answer because Liam came through the front door. The summer heat followed behind him and made the air-conditioner kick on. He was dressed in fresh jeans and a grey t-shirt, with a cardboard box tucked to his side. Seeing me, he tossed the box into a chair and took Jayson’s place on the couch. Before I could draw my legs in, he grabbed them and stretched them across his lap.

  “Don’t move on my account,” he smiled warmly.

  The embrace we’d been in less than twenty-four hours ago was much more involved than his hands on my ankles, but something about being so close in the light of day made it feel more intimate.

  “I thought you were still asleep.”

  “You would’ve stepped on me if I were,” he said. “I crashed on the floor here,” he said, tapping his boot on the coffee table.

  “I didn’t realize,” I said, embarrassment running across my cheeks at the thought of him seeing me passed out like Tyler.

  “I wasn’t in the mood to crawl into bed with Tyler either,” he winked.

  Liam had just called me out in front of Robyn and Jayson! I glanced in the kitchen in time to see the smirk on Jayson’s face. Robyn didn’t look up from her bagel, but she had to of heard him. Liam wasn’t being very quiet.

  “Not your type?” I said teasingly, hoping to pass his remark off as a joke.

  “No, I’m more into drunk high school girls,” he said, patting my leg.

  “I wasn’t drunk,” I insisted, giving him a swift kick, only to have him catch my foot. “I wasn’t sober either but definitely not drunk. I remember everything that happened last night.”

  “Right up until you passed out on the couch,” he added with a wry smile.

  “I didn’t pass out,” I countered. “I went to sleep. There’s a difference.”

  “Okay,” he granted. “You went to sleep. You face planted the pillow, with your shoes still on and went to sleep. Right.”

  “I took off my shoes,” I said glancing down at my bare feet.

  “I took off your shoes,” he said, bringing me up short.

  “What’s all the commotion?” Tyler asked, stretching his arms to the top of the doorframe next to us and yawning.

  “You look like hell,” Jayson said, drawing Tyler’s attention long enough for me to wiggle free from Liam. “I thought y’all were going to save the serious partying for me.”

  “Nothing a little hair-of-the-dog won’t fix,” Tyler said, pulling a shot glass out of the cabinet. The shadow across his chin had grown since last night, and the back of his hair was plastered to his head. “Besides, I didn’t really start drinking until Justice decided to play Cowboys and Indians with your brother.”

  Robyn choked on her coffee, spitting it back into the cup.

  “I came back in, but you were already asleep,” I said.

  “Was that you firing off rounds?” Tyler asked, wiping milk from his mouth.

  “It was so dark," I started, glancing to Liam. The sudden memory of his hand splayed against my stomach heated my face. "Liam shot more than I did,” I added, quickly averting my eyes and crossing my arms over my chest.

  "Why didn't you come to bed?" Tyler asked, mussing my hair and then gesturing for Liam to take off.

  "I did," I lied smoothly. "You were all over the place."

  Robyn rolled her eyes and carried her plate to the sink, letting it drop with a loud clatter.

  Tyler’s shoulders relaxed as he leaned into the couch, his arm bringing me closer. "Sorry about that," he said, rubbing his coarse chin. "I'll make it up to you tonight."

  "No way, Man," Jayson chimed in. "We had a deal. That bedroom is reserved tonight. You and Goldilocks can take the smaller one. The roof is only leaking in one place."

  "That's okay," I said quickly to Jayson before Tyler could argue.

  "We had a deal this weekend, too. Right?" I reminded Tyler under my breath.

  His lips formed a hard line. "Must've slipped my mind."

  ***

  The guys took off with rifles as soon as they finished the eggs Robyn whipped up. I’d never made eggs for anyone but my family, but Robyn hadn't batted an eye as she'd whipped two dozen eggs in a large mixing bowl. She was in a cheerful mood, leaving me to wonder if I was the only one with a headache this morning, or a conscious. Then I saw her sipping from a martini glass.

  "Is it really true that drinking makes a hangover go away?" I asked, stacking the wet dishes onto a towel.

  She chuckled, "No, but it makes you not care as much."

  She offered me the cup and against my better judgement, I took a large gulp. Anything had to be better than the weight in my head. Robyn went back to cleaning, reminding me of my mom. She acted so much more mature than my other friends. It was hard to believe there was less than a five-year age difference. Her confidence never ceased to amaze me. She could have anyone, and she knew it. It was as if she could see through people. See what made the
m tick. Even with Jayson, she was perfectly at ease this morning. There was no hint she’d just crawled out of bed with John. I could’ve never sat across the table from John and ate, with Jayson next to me, and kept a straight face. Robyn had provided a Grammy worthy performance. John was less convincing, but no one seemed to notice his preoccupation but me.

  Robyn and I finished in the kitchen and sat down in the wooden rockers on the front porch to wait for our remedy to kick in. Even without the sun it was hot, miserably so. I could already feel sweat beading at my hairline. I twisted my hair to the top of my head and fanned it over the chair.

  "Did John go with the guys?”

  "He's around," she said, watching me curiously, over the rim of the glass in her hand. "Why? Are you thinking of slumming it, too?"

  "What?" I sputtered into my cup.

  "Look, Justice, this isn't high school. In the real-world things aren’t always black and white. I get bored, too. You know?"

  "And that was you bored?"

  She took a long drink, emptying her glass and shook her head. "No, that was me pissed off. I've been around long enough to know how the game is played. I'm not stupid.” She stared out through the grass, the breeze catching wisps of her black hair and blowing them around her face. “Do you think I don't know Jayson stayed back last night to be with someone else? Tyler could have asked John, or Liam for that matter, to stay and run his little errands."

  "Doesn't it bother you?" I asked, wondering if I should tell her about Tonya, but deciding she probably already knew.

  "At first it did, but I know he loves me," she said, drumming her fingers on the rocker. "He just needs a jolt sometimes."

  I nearly chocked on an olive. "A jolt?" I asked, bringing my feet to the porch to stop the rocker. "And that's okay?"

  "Do you remember when you said you were bored with Wally?" I nodded, not bothering to correct Mason’s name. "I feel the same way sometimes.

  “Don't get me wrong. I love Jayson, but mixing things up keeps life interesting."

  That didn’t sound like much of a relationship, but what did I know. I’d only ever been with Mason.