The feel of his arousal against her stomach must have made her aware first of their surroundings, because she broke the kiss breathlessly trying to push him away.
Reluctantly, he let her go. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"My mother was coming around the corner," she explained. "I didn't want her to see me and I didn't know what else to do." She looked him up and down. "You aren't from around here, are you?"
He wiped his mouth, as if the taste of her disgusted him. "That's none of your fucking business," he sneered.
"If kissing me was that bad, why didn't you stop it?"
"Shut your mouth, little girl."
"You're the one out of your neighborhood, cracker." She started walking in the opposite direction from her home.
He watched her walk away, wanting to say something, but too upset at himself for acting like a child to call her back. Had she been spying, too? Did she know about what they planned on doing to Nanna? Marvin said the kid was protective of the old woman and the detective had said the child had a lot of smarts.
He wanted to know more about her.
Chapter 2
Byron knocked on the glass for the third time. "What the hell is wrong wit' ya girl?" he snapped.
Cleo came to her defense from behind her. "Shut up and git your change elsewhere ya big bully."
Bryon's beady little brown eyes gave Cleo a "why-don't-you-shut-your-mouth" glare. "Cause I can get it here, whore."
Being called a whore didn't bother Cleo. "Don't you read, asshole?" She pointed to the sign above Nicole's head, which read, "NO CHANGE OVER TEN." Marvin had instilled that rule because some of the cashiers were being short changed.
Byron looked directly at Nicole. "Give me the change, Nick, or I'll tell your Unc you've been giving out favors like your whore friend does."
Nicole took the twenty he slid under the bullet-proofed glass and changed it out quickly in the drawer. When she set the bills back under the glass, Cleo grabbed two dollars.
"Give me my money, whore," Byron ordered, pounding on the glass.
Cleo giggled. "That's change cashing fees, asshole." She threw the bills in the tip cup by the glass. "Now get your scrawny self out my face."
He hit the glass with his fist one last time before walking away.
"What's gotten into you, Nicole?" Cleo asked.
"Nothing."
"You've been staring at page two of that book for the past hour and there's nothing wrong? Is your uncle pestering you again?"
Nicole blushed, looking over at Cleo. The woman had worked here for the past year. This was her second job next to working at KFC across the street in the afternoons. She had six kids and paid the bills however she could. Cleo was in her late twenties, but she looked older because of the cigarettes and liquor she’d took in all her life. Her smoky black eyes, with a red-yellow hue around them, seemed old and dull, while her nappy short hair that she kept in a low-bleached blonde afro seemed weary. There was a girth about her from all the bastards she had produced, but that didn't stop the men from coming in real late at night and putting a twenty in the money slot when she worked the window.
All Cleo would say is, "I'm going on break, Nicole," as she stuffed the twenty in her blue jean pocket and went out onto the floor. The man would follow her into the women's bathroom and for twenty minutes, Cleo would get their rocks off.
When Nicole asked her what exactly she did to those men, Cleo went into detail about her oral escapades. "If I want more money, I hold their balls when they’re good and tight and I ask them if they want to fuck me for twenty more. Most say, “Yes,” and I give them a good ride while they sit on the toilet. Then I don't let them come in me, but I put it back in my mouth and spit it out in the toilet after they come. They think it's good."
After pushing away her disgust about the whole thing, Nicole thought the idea of it was kinky, but she would never do it. Sometimes, the ones who had only heard of Cleo came to the window when Nicole was there. When they would shove the twenty in the money tray, she wouldn't even look up at them, but point to the sign. They would get the message and leave or wait around until Cleo came to the window.
She answered Cleo's question. "No, he hasn't lately. He's been in my mamma's drawers."
"Oh yeah, it is Tuesday. Is that what's bothering you, child?"
"No." She moved away from the window to help Cleo finish folding the clothes. They also did dry cleaning and private washing for a lot of the sick and elderly in the area for a monthly fee. She told Cleo of the stranger she saw sneaking around the neighborhood that morning.
"You kissed him?!" Cleo cackled.