Page 16 of Small Town Beast

Alarms blared in Tanya’s head. Some shit was about to go down. Tanya jumped down from the back seat, her legs wobbling. Her pelvis was loose and still ached. She righted herself in the pile of weeds the truck was parked in, grabbed her purse and held it close.

“I’ll talk to ‘em. You just head back inside,” the man said. He wiped his sticky hands on his jeans and his eyes hooded. “You on the pill or something?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Just my fucking luck.”

“Are you serious?” she said furiously. “I got enough problems, mister, I don’t want your damn baby either!”

“Hush,” he snapped, squinting through the windows and checking the derringer again for bullets. Tanya shut up. To hell with this shit. She needed to get out of here and find a drug store…and a clinic.

STD tests cost money, even at the clinic, that annoying sensible voice in her head said.

This was so bad. She could feel the man’s warm sperm inside her. A thin trail ran down her leg. Bad, bad, bad! What if she got pregnant for real? What if she got AIDS?

“Come get your trouble, Bailey!” the drunk man shouted, and fired his gun in the air.

“INSIDE,” Tanya’s trick snarled at her, shoving her hard in the back so she stumbled. “Through the trees.Now.Wait for me.”

Inside? What if he didn’t make it out of this gunfight? There were four of them, and only one of him.

Not my fight, mister rich redneck. Sorry.She had Amari to think about. She was going the fuck home. This mountain beef had nothing to do with her! This had been a disaster from start to finish.

Make it to the main road, then call Bee.

She’d keep to the treeline and sneak down the sloped parking lot through the shadows. Then she’d call Bee and wait in the trees until she saw the Ford focus. After making sure she wasn’t pregnant or about to get some disease, she’d go home and never, ever do this wickedness again.

But she was still five hundred dollars short of what she needed for Amari. The other five hundred was in his pocket, and he had promised…

“What about the rest of it?” she asked with a boldness she didn’t know she was capable of.

He stared at her. It was like a sudden ugly thought had crossed his mind. Tanya didn’t like that look, not one bit.

“I see now,” he said, leaning close into her face. His scar was like a crater swallowing up his human features. Tanya froze in fear as he grabbed her shoulders suddenly, dragging forward her by force until they were nearly nose to nose. “You’re on the link with the Snatch Hills– you set me up.”

“Let me go! You’re hurting me!”

“You connivin’...” he flung her away and she caught herself against the side of the truck. He seemed even taller than before, his arms looking huge and deadly. Tanya’s knees were jelly, but she stood her ground and fired back, “It was your idea to come out here, not mine. You’re out of your mind. I don’t know who those men are– back off me!” She remembered the knife in her purse.

“He’s got a girl back there,” one of his opps jeered from behind the truck. “Bring her out, Saverin. Maybe we can share.”

Ha ha ha.

“See?” Tanya snapped. “They don’t know me, like I told you!” Her fingers felt around her purse.Where is that damn thing?

“You’re a great actress. If you ever stop whoring, try Hollywood. Get out.”

“And what if I’m pregnant?”

His eyes were murderous. “Pray you ain’t.”

“I hope they shoot you,” she choked. She beat a rapid course into the trees, holding her purse to her chest. She stopped only to kick the heels off, and with them dangling from one finger she hurried down the bushy slope barefoot with only the moon to guide her.

She’d have to get the money some other way. This was never gonna happen again. What the hell had she been thinking? She felt utterly humiliated.

“Hey, cousin,”sneered Hiram Snatch as Saverin stepped around the vehicle. “It’s been a while.” He pointed his CZ straight between Saverin’s eyes. “Put that thing down.”

Saverin did not put the pearl-handled Derringer down. “Four on one,” he observed. “Got enough backup with you, Hiram?”

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