Page 24 of Truths

Pulling out her card, she swipes it on the machine and stares at it until the little APPROVED message appears.

“Here's your number. We'll bring it out when it's ready. Oh, here's the drink cup.”

He turns away from her after she takes the cup and table number, and she knows he has no idea. This works to her advantage because she can sit and watch him without him noticing. To take in everything and mentally compare them.

She's lost in thought after she sits down, and when the tray slams on the table, she jumps. “Here's your food,” Ryan says, his eyes barely looking at her.

“Thanks,” she says, but he's gone before she can even get the word fully out of her mouth. “I'm not even hungry.”

Staring at the food, she picks at it, trying to see if a few bites will get her appetite going. It doesn't seem to work, but it gives her something to do as she watches Ryan in the back, doing everything possible to do nothing at all.

They have the same mouth. She noticed that right away. He's missing a few teeth, but his younger mug shots she saw had his full set. They also have the same teeth. Or had. His last incarceration was for grand theft auto and intent to sell meth, and based on the scars on his face, it’s pretty easy to make the conclusion that he uses what he sells.

His eyes are different, though. She gets her hazel eyes from her mother. He has striking blue eyes, and she wishes she could have inherited those. It's one of the only redeemable qualities about him.

Sutton has no idea how long she's been sitting down when Ryan plops down at a table near her with his own food.

“On break?” she asks, feeling immediately stupid for opening her mouth.

His eyes land on her. “Yeah. Everyone gets them. Even us lowly food service workers.”

Shit.“I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry,” Sutton tries to backpedal.

“It's cool,” Ryan says and takes a large bite of his burrito. With three of his four front teeth missing, she can't help but wonder how he eats so effortlessly. It seems as though it should be a struggle.

He ignores her for most of his meal, and just as he finishes, she finally gets the burst of confidence to ask, “Do you know Grace Larson?”

His head snaps up and stares at her. “Yeah, I know that bitch. She can rot in hell for all I care.”

Eyes wide, Sutton knows without a doubt how stupid this was. “I see.”

“She sent me to prison when I was twenty-four because she got mad I was pissed she fucked some skeezy biker dude. Stupid whore.”

Cannon. He's talking about Cannon. And considering the situation where her mother was not only sleeping with two men but lied about which one got her pregnant, it's not exactly a false statement. Not exactly nice, but not false.

“Are you here to make amends or something for her? Is she in a program somewhere?”

“Uh, no, she's not.” What kind of program would have someone else making amends for someone?

“Is she dead?”

The excitement shining in his eyes as he gives her his toothless grin terrifies her. Every hair on the back of her neck stands up. “No, she's very much alive.”

“Then why-”

“I have to go. Thanks for the chat. I hope you have a good day,” she says and runs out without dumping her food tray.

She knows he'll be angry about it, considering his assumption when she said the only stupid thing she could think of to breakthe ice, but for the first time in her life, she's afraid her mother was right about something.

Sutton meets Lex and Hannah for ice cream after leaving the taco place. She nearly bursts into tears when she sees them, and Lex wraps an arm around her in such a comforting way that it makes it harder to keep the tears at bay. Especially because her mother never hugged her this way.

“What happened?” Lex asks. “Your text was a little vague.”

“I almost want to slap you for being so alarming, but it kind of looks like it was warranted,” Hannah says, her spoon dropping into her glass of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “What happened?”

Sniffling, Sutton takes a few deep breaths to get herself under control. “I met Ryan.”

“How'd it go?”

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