So. Long(219)

“Get in that room, you ungrateful bitch.”

Fuck. That was definitely Lou’s mom, Candace.

“Lou, you there?” My blood curdled.

“Who’re you calling? That boy? You think he can help you? You think he cares about you? You stupid girl, no one cares about you. He wants the same thing D’Jon wants, that pussy.”

“Momma, no!”

The connection crackled, and my heart thumped as I pulled the door of my truck open and jumped in. “Where are you, Lou?”

“Gimme that damned phone.”

“Momma, please!” Lou’s voice hit a high pitch on the last word.

“I said get in your room!” The phone went dead.

I hit the gas and sped toward Lou’s house.

I slammed on the breaks and threw it into park. I didn’t even turn the engine off before I ran into the house.

A touch to my arm pulls me from my second darkest memory. The day my mom died was the first. I swipe a hand across my face.

“Hey, Sugar. She’s in the back. She’ll be on stage in about twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to figure out how to get her to come with me instead of stepping on that stage.





TWELVE





My stomach crawls, pushing on my lungs, making it almost impossible to breathe. I have to give a lap dance to fucking Lonnie Fisher, the worst reminder of everything I was trying to leave behind when I left the first time. But, this dance has to happen before he’ll let me take the stage.

The stage I can handle. I mean, there are enough lights and enough people that it seems so much less personal.

Sassie—damn, I hate having to remember to call Sadie that—tells me lap dances get easier when you see how much money you make from them. Supposedly, that’s where I’ll make my real income.

Well, fine. I’ll just pretend Fisher isn’t the same shithead who called me names, asked the most inappropriate questions in the library, and leered at me every time we passed in the halls. He was two years ahead of me. I was never so glad to say goodbye to a graduating class, so I could finally get some peace.

I’m sure Buck was happy too. He got in a lot less fights after Lonnie left campus. There was still the occasional guy who looked at me funny or laughed at the wrong time. Buck always took offense on my behalf faster and more often than I ever did.

Hell, I knew what I was. Loula Mae Fontaine: daughter of the town’s dirtiest, low-down, white trash. Loula Mae Fontaine: not even good enough to be considered white trash. According to the people in this small town, with their even smaller minds, my daddy was too dark to be with my white momma—or so I was told. Hell, for all I know, he could’ve been a dark-skinned Martian. I never even laid eyes on him or saw so much as a photo.

I fluff my hair and dab on a bit more lip-gloss.

Maybe I can pretend Lonnie is one of the guys from my unit, I’m fully dressed, and we’re all playing around, being ridiculous out by the fire pit. Just have to get my head on straight. I can do this. For Aunt Delores, I will do this.

The music thumps through my chest. I shake out my hands. Taking in one last clean breath before I have to defile myself on Lonnie Fisher’s fucking lap, I push through the curtains dividing the back hallway from the individual rooms reserved for lap dances and private parties.

Thank God the lights are low. Maybe I can get through this if I don’t see his fucking face.

I swish my way across the room to Lonnie. He waits in the chair, leaning back, all comfortable and relaxed. The exact opposite of me. I cross behind the chair, and run my hand along his shoulder.

That’s surprising; more muscle than I’d have thought. My fingers tip-toe down his arm as I move around to the front of the chair. I turn and put my ass to him, shaking it for all I’m worth. I have to get him to approve me so I can get on that stage and start making some money.

A large hand lands on my ass. I spin back, and smack him away. “No. No. No. No touching.”

I lean forward to give him an eyeful of my breasts as they almost spill out of the little bra trying to contain them. As my face comes close to his, my mistake almost knocks me over.

I trip. “You’re not Lonnie.”

“Fuck no, I’m not that douche. So glad you noticed.” Buck stands, pulling me into his arms.

I struggle against him. “Let go. What are you doing here?”

He walks me backward until I’m trapped between him and the wall. “I’m here to take you home.”

“The hell you are.” I try to struggle out of his arms, but he’s got brute strength on me.

So, I’ll just have to take him with the element of surprise. I tuck closer to the wall, pulling back before I lunge forward and head butt him. Pain flashes through my forehead.