Page 15 of Side Hustle
She broke out into a grin and I could see that she would have been very pretty in her youth. “Are you a pair of balls?”
She cackled and I lost all the blood in my face.
Shit. Over two decades since I’d seen my mother and the first time she laid eyes on me I was dressed as a hairy ball sack? Kill me now. I’d imagined this day more times than I would ever admit. I’d be tall, thin, and somehow uber successful. She’d beg me to forgive her and I’d barely spare her a glance before moving on with my glamorous life.
But no. Here in reality, I was a paycheck away from starvation, single, still five foot three, and sweating my ass off as a mascot for un-manscaped male privates.
“It’s for a good cause,” I croaked out, mad at her for laughing at me. Mad at her for returning to Auburn Hill and not even asking for me. Mad she’d left me.
I stood up, the anger and newfound electrolytes coursing through me, giving me courage. The sweaty hair sticking to my forehead didn’t matter. Hell, she didn’t even recognize me, her own child. I was so lost in my anger, I didn’t notice a group had formed around us. It wasn’t until Rip’s voice cut through the tension that I realized I didn’t have my mascot top and sunglasses on to shield my identity.
“Well, we wondered where you went off to, but now we know.” Rip put a hand on the back of my head, smoothing the hair away from my neck and face so gently I looked over at him. The grin on his face slid away the second he saw my eyes.
“Hazel? What’s wrong?”
“Hazel?” my mother, finally realizing what was going on, piped in.
Rip’s head swung toward her, but I couldn’t look away from him. He was my lifeline, the only thing tethering me to the here and now without completely losing my marbles over a woman who shouldn’t matter to me. His jaw clenched tight, and if I knew him at all, there was murder written all over his face.
“What’s going on here?” Amelia came charging in, pulling back only when one of the pubes in my costume almost stabbed her.
“Hazel, honey? Is that you?” Her voice held a heavy dose of shock and a sunshine quality as fake as her hair color.
Rip started stroking up and down my back, as far as he could reach with this ridiculous costume in place. I appreciated it as it steadied the tremors that had taken over my body. My mother leaned forward to stare at me, along with everyone in the group that surrounded us. I had to respond. Had to say something to end the charged silence.
“Yeah, Hazel is me. I’m Hazel. My whole life.”
Great, that was just flipping great. First words to my mother in twenty years and I sounded incoherent. Rip leaned in close, oblivious to the pube-shaped knives sticking out every which way.
“Want to get out of here? Just say the word.”
Escape? Hell, yes. That sounded perfect. I nodded at him and he didn’t waste a second grabbing my bag that lay at my feet. He somehow got an arm around me and pushed me in the direction of the parking lot.
“Wait! Hazel! I’m back, baby!” My mother’s voice took on a shrill quality that made the nervous tremors accelerate. She was going to cause a scene.
Rip must have felt them too as he picked up the pace. I darted a quick glance over my shoulder. The rest of our friends formed a wall behind me, effectively blocking out my mother’s attempts to get closer. The sight made me want to collapse in relief for friends who knew what I needed even when I didn’t know what I needed for myself. The dirt parking lot loomed just feet away, though my car was parked on the street in the opposite direction.
“What’s going on here?” Rip’s dad suddenly blocked our escape to the parking lot, his fancy mayor suit out of place at the race without a single speck of dust. Of course he hadn’t run in the race. Wouldn’t want to get himself dirty supporting a good cause.
“Not now, Dad,” Rip growled and turned left to go around him.
The mayor shifted too, blocking us again. Something about the way he stared at Rip with such disgust made me snap out of my own fog of misery. How dare he look at Rip like that?
“You’re seriously carousing with…this?” The mayor’s top lip pulled up so far it was in danger of closing off his nostrils’ airway. He waved a dismissive hand at me in all my testicle glory.
I took a step forward, away from Rip’s steady arm bracketing me. I got so close to the mayor that one of my pubes poked him in the chest. That sounded weird, but then again, this was Hell. Weird was what we did.
“You need to move,” I snarled right in his face.
Holy shit. I didn’t know I had it in me to snarl, but hot damn, it felt good. Maybe should have tried out the bitch-itude on someone a little less mean than the mayor of our freaking town, but hey, at least I did it helping out a friend. Because yeah, I decided, Rip and I were friends. With a twisted history.
The mayor’s eyes went freaky dark, like his soulless body took a quick trip to the pits of hell and returned here to earth just to fight me. I’d totally win in a scuffle, though. This costume was hella padded and I had pube knives at my disposal. I’d never been more prepared for a fight. Hell, I’d never been prepared for a fight ever, so this was a really convenient time.
“At leastshehas a set of balls.” Rip’s quiet voice cut through the late afternoon air, holding everything dark that was in the mayor’s eyes.
Rip looked like his dad, but normally acted like his quiet, yet kind mother. This Rip, the one with the Batman deep voice, was all Benjamin Bennett.
And it was fucking hot.
