Page 8 of Stone Cold Bad
She totally ignored him and picked up another shirt.She pressed it to her face.“It’ll have to do.”She tossed it to me.“Put this on.You look hungry.”
“I could eat,” I said.
“Good, I brought some muffins.Do you like blueberry muffins?These guys don’t.They don’t like anything that isn’t covered in bacon grease and hot sauce.”
“I like muffins.”I sat up to pull on the shirt.
Colt propped himself up on his elbows and glared at Amy.“I need to put a fucking lock on that door.”
I pulled on the t-shirt.
“Looks good,” Amy said.“Let’s go.”
Colt looked up at me.I shrugged and kissed his forehead.“Thanks again for the body heat.”
“Fucking great.”He collapsed back.
I followed Amy out to the kitchen.The kitchen was smaller than Ray’s walk-in closet.Of course a primping rooster like Ray had an unusually big collection of clothes.He’d had an extra large closet built to accommodate his fashion obsession.That was something that had always made me cringe— his time in front of the mirror.Once I’d told him he was like a thirteen-year-old girl with the way he was always standing in front of the mirror.He’d backhanded me before I had a chance to move out of his reach.My lips swelled up, and I’d never teased him again.But inside my head, I was always having a good laugh.
Four mismatched chairs, one with a leg that was duct taped in several places, sat around a plastic table, the kind you’d find out on a patio instead of inside a kitchen.Dishes were piled high, and rather than wash them, someone had bought an extra large package of paper plates.There was a white bakery bag in the center of the table and a Styrofoam cup with steaming coffee.
“Pull up a chair, but avoid that one.”She pointed to the one with tape.“Do you want some coffee?”
“That’d be great.”
“Don’t be shy.Grab a muffin.You’ll find in this house, if you don’t get grabby with the food, you’ll end up with crumbs.”She turned to the sink and rinsed a cup out.She sat down across from me and poured half the coffee into the cup.
“Do you live here?”I asked.
“Me?God no.Not that my place is any better.I’m the neighbor.I live with my mom.She’s loco, but she stays out of my way, and I make sure she doesn’t do anything nutty like stick her head in the oven.”She propped one foot on the chair and picked at the muffin she’d pulled from the bag.She was bone thin and there were circles under her light brown eyes, but even then, she was extremely pretty.
She reached up to her neck and swiped her fingers across it to remind me of the marks left behind by Ray’s hands.“Are you on the run from an abusive man?”
I nodded and took a bite of muffin.
“Looks like a good decision.Nothing worse than living with a sonavabitch.My mom and I did for ten years and then my dad fell off his fishing boat.I tried not to smile when they came to the door to tell us.But, it was better, you know?These guys had the same problem.We all grew up together figuring out ways to dodge our old men.”She lowered her voice.“They had it a lot worse.Did you see Colt’s back?”
I was confused.“No, why?”
“You’ll know when you see it.They’ve all got the same scars.I still remember them showing up to school on an icy winter day without coats and socks.I at least had a coat.I was living like royalty compared to the Stone brothers.”
“Hey, Street—” I could already recognize Colt’s deep, smooth voice, and I realized it fit him perfectly.
“Yeah, what?”she called back as she took a joint from her pocket.
“Shut up, I’m trying to sleep,” Colt replied.
“Yeah, all right.”She leaned forward.“Colt doesn’t like it when I talk about stuff like that.They’re all assholes, and they hop from girl to girl, but none of them would lift a hand to one.Even with their shitty childhood, and with the shady crap they’re into, they wouldn’t hurt a woman.I love that about them.The rest of the town is scared of them, but I think they also kind of admire them, you know?It’s a small town and a lot of people have lived here forever.They know how it was for them.”She lit the joint and squinted at me through the smoke before offering me some.I shook my head.
She held the smoke in while she talked through her teeth.“What are you going to do now?”She released the breath, and the strong sage-like aroma of weed filled the kitchen.
I broke off a chunk of muffin.“Not too sure.I left with just a backpack, and I even lost that.”
“That’s right.I was going to get you some clothes.Yours are still on the porch with your boots, but you’re going to need something to wear.I’ll go home and grab a few things.”
“That’s really cool of you, Amy.I’ll get them back to you just as soon as I can.”
“Street—” this was a different deep voice.“I’ve got a problem.”
