Page 51 of Broken

The harshness of his words made her tense up. Mythwasn’t joking. He didn’t slash her tires, and it wasn’t some stupid joke. Hesounded serious, and she began to glance around, but outside the parking lot, itwas dark.

“Myth, what is going on?”

“I want you to get back in the diner, lock thedoor, and stay there.”

She began to walk to the diner, hating thefeelings swirling inside her gut. This was not good. Fear crawled down herback, and her hands shook as she got to the diner.

She was sure at some point she heard footstepsbehind her, but when she looked, no one was there. This is why she hated thefucking dark. This was all bullshit.

Entering the diner, she turned on the lights,which made it impossible to see outside.

“What do you want me to do?” Petal asked.

“I want you to stay there, go in back to theoffice, and listen, I’m going to call Dirty.”

“Why are you calling him?”

“Because he put himself on diner protection duty,and I haven’t seen him, which means he’s close by.”

She wanted to ask what the hell that meant, but hehad already hung up.

She hated this feeling. Something was clearlygoing down.

Petal got to the office, unlocked the door, andstepped inside. She took a seat, feeling like a fucking coward. This is not whoshe was, but fighting a shadow in the dark was equally terrifying.

This was not going well. Next time, she wouldleave when Burto left, or anyone who stayed late.

Someone slashed her tires, but who? There was nota single customer complaint today. No one sent any food back. It was actually areally good day, which was rare.

Why were her tires slashed? Was it someone justvandalizing property? Myth seemed to know there was someone out there.

Her cell phone went off, causing her to jump andlet out a little scream.

“Get your shit together, Petal,” she said toherself, answering the call. “Hello.”

“Dirty’soutside waitingfor you. He doesn’t have your number,” Myth said.

“Are you going to tell me what is going on?” sheasked. She left the office, locked the door, and made her way through. At thedoor, Dirty stood close enough for her to see.

“I can’t. You need to talk to Warden.”

And like so many other times when Myth didn’t wantto be bombarded with questions, he hung up. She wanted to say something snarkyor sarcastic, but nothing came to mind. Instead, she shoved her cell phone intoher bag. This was the first time she had come face to face with Dirty sincethat morning when she hit him.

“Hey,” she said.

“Are you all right?” Dirty asked.

“Yeah, I am. It’s just my car. The tires wereslashed.”

“Myth told me.”

“Where were you?” she asked.

“I didn’t slash your tires,” Dirty said.

Petal laughed. “I didn’t think you did, I was justwondering.”

Dirty rubbed the back of his head. “I was riding.I hadn’t gone far, but I didn’t want to scare you. I’ve got my bike if you’reready.”

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