Page 57 of Cain
I walk to the other side of the bar to take care of a customer.
“I want to talk to you.” Paula bangs her hand on the counter.
Four men sitting at the bar look at her, incredulous.
“She a new dancer here, Faith?” one of them asks. He’s a truck driver. Comes here whenever he’s in this part of the country.
“I’m not a dancer,” Paula clips, obviously insulted.
“That’s correct.” Another man chuckles. “Her ankles are too thick, don’t ya think? I don’t think she can climb a pole.”
People who frequent Nectar are down-to-earth. They come for a drink, some entertainment, a greasy meal, and then go home.
Paula is mortified. She turns to me. “Now, Faith.”
The balls on her!
“I’m working.AndI don’t want to talk to you.” I pour three drafts and slide them in front of the gentlemen who don’t think Paula’s ankles qualify her to be a good pole dancer. “Nice and cold—just how you like it.”
“Thanks, Faith,” they say in unison.
The bar is busy, and I’m running around with Paula chasing me.
“Hey, you want to be here, you buy a drink. The entertainment ain’t free,” Ricky tells Paula.
She huffs and takes a seat at the bar, looking around as if she’s afraid she’s going to catch herpes just by being here.
Cain and Paula grew up in a middle-class home in a small town, and yet Melody and she behave like they’re socialites living in a luxury high-rise in Seattle.
While I worked at Ripley’s, I stayed away from the duo, and honestly, besides some snide comments, they didn’t bother me much.
They got serious when Cain and I got close. But I grew up in foster care and lived with Jamie for two years. These two were a walk in the park compared to what I’d been through…until they got me arrested.
“Cain and Melody had some drunk sex years ago, and now she prances around like she’s marrying him,” Georgia informs me.
“So…are they still together? Like on and off?”
“God, no. He won’t look at her, and she keeps throwing herself at him. She just wants a meal ticket. She thinks she’s some big-time influencer…makeup and whatnot. And Paula, the fool, she’s always been so easytoinfluence. She used to be a good kid, you know. But then she met Melody and…that was that.”
I can’t imagine Paula as a good kid. Since I met her, she’s been devoid of anything genuine. She is always playacting, so she can feel superior to others. I know people like her. Their meanness is a defense mechanism, a way to hide insecurities.
After making her wait for an hour, I say, “I have a fifteen-minute break.”
She scoffs. “Can we talk somewhere private?”
I take her to Ricky’s office. He’s on the floor, and I know he won’t mind. We’ve become…friends.What a concept!
But the truth is, Ricky and I have more in common than I ever did with Cain—or with this woman, clinging to her pride like it’s the last thing she owns.
Ricky grew up poor, and he worked odd jobs.
“Not all legal, yeah? But I played it smart. Now, I’m here. It’s good. And mostly legal. How about you, kid?”
“Always legal, but not always smart.”
He knows I have scars. He doesn’t pry. He’s just been there for me when no one was, and I’m grateful.
I sit in Ricky’s chair. It’s a petty way to show her who’s boss here.
