Page 14 of Bad Seed
“Don’t.” A blur and the man’s arm is pinned back to the bucket. I stare at his palm and where it nearly landed on my ass. His face is gnarled up in pain from Aubry squeezing his forearm to paste.
“Fuck you, man. I wasn’t doing anything. Your girlfriend’s a fat cow bitch.”
I sigh at the familiar taunt but Aubry’s eyes blaze with fire. Instead of letting go, he pins his hand under the man’s chin and lifts him off his feet. “If I were you, I’d apologize to the lady.”
“S-s-sorry,” he cries out to Aubry.
“Sorry, what?” Aubry prompts.
“Ma’am.”
The ride worker plummets to his shaky feet. He keeps massaging his jaw and wincing. Aubry drapes a protective arm over my shoulders. My heart’s pounding, and I rush into his protective bubble, placing a hand on his chest. Just as we walk away, the worker sucks in snot.
Aubry snaps his head back, staring the man down. He has no choice but to swallow the loogie he was about to spit at us.
People give us a wide berth as we walk away, but I can barely feel my feet. I’m not exactly a small girl, but being by Aubry makes me feel like a tiny fairy cuddled in his hands.
“So dinner?” I ask. “How about tomorrow night at 6?”
He’s huffing like he’s carrying the outrage for me as we press through people. Just as I spy my friends watching us from a distance, he says, “Sounds great.”
?
CHAPTER SEVEN
?
AUBRY
I trailed the Bells for five hours. Around the parents holding squealing, exhausted children. Over the pavement baking everyone’s insides to a zesty parmigiana. Always just on the other side, always keeping an eye and never drawing close until at last, as the festival is wrapping up, I catch them on the other side of a brick wall.
“Well?” That’s Red. A voice of gravel and never one for multi-syllabic words.
“I didn’t see him,” Green answers followed by a long slurp.
“Stop that.” Red must have slapped the drink from Green’s hand as it hits the ground with a plorp. Juice spreads across the ground for my feet, and I pull them in closer. “And wipe that damn shit off. What would the boss say if he saw you with a butterfly on your cheek?”
“That it’s pretty,” Green says.
I press my back tighter to the brick doing my damndest to blend in while listening to every word. People lumber to their cars, weary and complaining about sunburns or their lighter wallets. I have to hear if they’ve found me.
“We sticking around?” Green asks.
“Don’t be stupid. A fucking eggplant festival? He’s fucking with us. Again. First that one-way ticket to the Philippines, now this.”
“I’d go to a bell pepper festival,” Green says and gets another slap from his brother.
“We’re wasting time. If we don’t get his ass back to Mr. Ato before November…” Red leaves the threat unsaid. I don’t have a clue what Ato’s got hanging over their heads, but I can take a guess.
In another life, I’d have been the one to dish it out.
“We’ve got another lead. North. Let’s go,” Red declares. “And don’t lick that damn slushy off the ground.”
“But it was really good,” Green whines, their footsteps echoing down the alley.
So they think I’ve gone north. Or they knew I was listening and lied to throw me off. Red could do it, but not Green. Either Red didn’t tell his brother, or they don’t have a clue.
I’m risking a lot on a maybe. Still, it’s best to hunker down for a few days, then make a break for it.
