“She’s in a real bad mood,” she said, her voice dry. “I think we should leave her alone.”
“Um, yeah . . .” I agreed. “She looks like she’s going to have a heart attack.”
“You’re not getting away with this!” Eva shouted suddenly. Crap. Danielle and I glanced at each other, and Danielle’s eyes started to dance. She loved drama like this, crazy girl.
“Run!” she hissed. We sprinted across the parking lot, and I very sincerely hoped that Danielle had her keys ready to go. I heard a man’s deep laugh behind us—Boonie? Sure as shit wasn’t Puck. Not that it mattered. We’d committed our crime and now it was time to get the hell out of there before Eva tried to kill us.
We reached the back of the lot, where Danielle’s Jeep waited. Thankfully, she’d taken off the doors for the summer, allowing us to jump inside. She stabbed the ignition with her key and suddenly the big tires were spinning as we pulled out of the lot and onto the old highway.
I grabbed the roll bar and turned around in my seat, climbing up onto my knees to see Puck standing next to Blake. He was scowling and Blake was smiling broadly. Eva had started screaming and shaking her fist at him like a cartoon character, which didn’t bother our (former) cook in the slightest. I spun back down and dropped into the seat, looking over at Danielle. She giggled, and then we were both cackling like crazy—as shitty as it was to be out of work, seeing Eva like that was sweet, sweet revenge.
God, that woman was a bitch. Served her right for not protecting her waitresses.
TWO
By the time I got home that night the laughter had faded, leaving behind my cold, unpleasant reality.
School had been okay—I’d actually gotten there early enough to talk to my instructor about losing my job, which was good because I had no idea what my next work schedule would look like. Finding something compatible with classes might be hard . . .
My school advisor had suggested I move out of Callup and into Coeur d’Alene, where I’d have more employment options. Took me all of thirty seconds to rule it out. I didn’t want to be away from Regina and Earl and Danielle and Blake. Not only that, there was the safety issue. Did I live in total fear? No. Did I still wake up some nights screaming? Absolutely.
I’d never have to worry about Teeny again, so long as I stayed in Silver Bastard territory. Throw in the fact that even the shittiest apartments in Coeur d’Alene cost three times what they were in Callup and it was a no-brainer.
I parked my ancient Subaru Impreza in the alley behind my apartment and climbed out across the passenger seat. The driver’s-side door had been broken as long as I’d owned it. Earl’s niece had sold it to me for $400 three years ago, and while it might look like hell, it ran like a top—especially for a car that had nearly 200,000 miles. Earl helped me do most of the maintenance myself out in his shop. The important parts all worked great.
I could handle a broken door.
Popping the hatch, I pulled out my groceries and locked back up. Danielle and Blake were due in an hour. He was bringing booze, she was bringing salad, and I’d be providing the pasta to complete the meal. Danielle had emailed me while I was in school, saying that she had a line on a new gig for us already, God bless her. I couldn’t imagine what it was, but figured so long as it was legal, I’d take it. When I’d checked my bank balance at the ATM there was only $22.63 left in the account.
I needed work, and I needed it fast.
Using my shoulder, I pushed open the door at the back of the building and started up the empty stairwell. The retail space downstairs had been for lease as long as I’d lived in Callup, but there weren’t any takers. Most of the downtown buildings were like that. Callup’s days of glory were long gone.
My front door was at the top of the steps off a little landing. There were two apartments, but one of them was currently uninhabitable because Earl had gotten a wild hair three years ago and torn out all the fixtures and cabinets. He’d decided to turn it into a luxury vacation condo¸ as if that would ever work. Then he got a new rifle and decided to go hunting instead, so now the place sat empty and collected dust like the rest of the town.
At least my apartment was in good shape. It was in the front half of the building, which was located on a corner, so I had lots of windows. There was a small kitchen in the back and a great big bathroom with a claw-foot tub.
I loved it.
The wooden floors were a hundred years old and the ceilings were high and covered in pressed tin. Best of all? The corner overlooking the street had a genuine turret built into it, curved glass window and all. It got bright, glorious sunlight almost all day.