Page 12 of Devious Lies

“Hey, you got any change?” an older man in tattered clothes asks from the stop he’s sprawled out on.

I can smell the booze reeking off him from where I’m standing, but who am I to judge?

“Hey Harold, how are you?” I say and reach into my pocket for a couple of singles.

“Good, Miss Maria, thank you kindly,” he replies and stuffs the bills in his pocket.

“Be safe, Harold.”

“You know I will. You too, pretty lady.”

“I’ll bring you some takeout later,” I tell him as I wave goodbye and jog to catch the bus.

By the time I arrive at the Den, my palms are sweaty, and I feel anxious. I don’t know what it is.

I mean, nothing happened at church.

No one recognized me or seemed to notice me at all. I made eye contact with Mami once when I received communion, but that was it.

I tug on the bottom of the silk tank top I’m wearing and smooth my palms over my tight black pants. On my feet, I have my most comfortable pair of leather boots.

Yes, I’m wearing boots in the summertime, but they’re practical for my job.

This is my usual attire for tending bar. There are no uniforms at the Vipers’ Den and I’m glad.

Half a dozen silver bangles clink together as I walk to the front door and the sound soothes me. Almost like bells.

I’m wearing two pairs of silver dangling earrings that match, and every time they touch my shoulders, I get shivers down my spine.

Biting my lip, I head directly for the bar.

“You’re late,” Antonio, another bartender tells me unnecessarily.

“Sorry. I’ll close tonight if you like,” I reply.

It’s my way of apologizing. Antonio nods. He’s married with two kids, and I know he likes to get home as early as possible.

He’s been working here longer than me, but I have been given just as much responsibility as he has, if not more.

“You’re a gem, Maria,” he says, and I smile, but it’s forced.

Maria is my middle name, and I feel like a liar using it without telling people that.

Like some underhanded, devious snake.

But it’s the best I can do, so I just swallow the guilt and my unease along with it.

By seven, the crowd is shuffling in nicely, and I am hoping to bring in a lot of tips. Mami’s newest medical bill just arrived, and it is a doozy.

I see Anna Fury and her friend, Giselle, sit down at the king’s table and I head over there. Time for me to make amends.

I sort of had it in my idiot head to catch Nico’s eye and maybe get him to have Matteo back off.

It’s been six years since I left home.

Six years since his brother and my father got killed.

I can still remember how scared I was after Papi’s funeral when Matteo got handsy with me in the back seat of his SUV.

---