Page 73 of Whirlwind

Sort of.

But mostly because that actual jumping off that cliff of themustn’t do that, that’s forbidden, that’s wrong, that’s badhad been a total high, an epic jolt. Aaron noticed that spark I suppose and immediately pushed for more. I’d said no way and sent him home.

For Aaron there were no such jolts ever. Just drifting from one feel good experience to the next.

Right now I wanted to burn that lazy grin off his lips. I crossed my arms. “I’m mad about your lack of a work ethic, becauseobviously,you have no concept of an ethic save for the ethic of what Aaron wants, what makes Aaron feel good.”

“You’re bumming because you turned me down that night, right?”

“Oh boy.” Shelby shuffled past us, filling a bakery box.

I wiped my hands down my apron. “Your responsibility is to be here on time and get your job done.”

“Oh, I’m getting the job done.” He topped a coffee with frothy milk. His tongue shot out and licked his bottom lip as he winked at me.

“You may think your dick is dipped in magic juju, but it’s not.”

He laughed. “You can’t know that for sure now, can you?” He handed Shelby two lattes, and dumped the wet coffee grounds from the portafilter.

Recently I’d seen him with a very young girl around town, and I’d spotted her here earlier as I’d gotten behind the counter. He jumped from older women, much older women, women his age, and jail bait on a regular basis.

“Is that today’s?” I pointed a finger, and everyone’s attention followed my finger’s direction to the young brunette, who happened to be talking to Wes. Was she a friend of Wes’s? The girl waved at me, a cold sneer etching her face.Facetious twat.Wes’s mouth dropped open.

“Yeah. She’s something else…” he chuckled as he covered a cappuccino with a plastic lid. My pulse sped up. Aaron did whatever the hell he wanted, screwed whomever he wanted all the damn time. No responsibilities, no consequences. Only orgasms. Only self-satisfaction.

“She’s just a teenager!” I spit out.

“Babe—”

“Don’t you fuckingbabeme!”

“Hey, hey! Calm down. Not now.” Grace stepped in between us, a hand on my arm.

I swallowed hard. The whole café stared at me. I’d gone overboard.

Grace leaned into me. “Violet, your mom just showed up. She’s in the kitchen. Something’s happened. Something’s wrong.”

29

Violet

“Don’t worry,Erica. Everything’s under control out there,” said Tania, another of Mom’s close friends and a biker wife like Jill and Grace. She must have shown up when I was blowing up at Aaron like an idiot.

“You don’t look so good, Erica. What the hell happened?” Alicia, Wes’s mother, was in the kitchen with Mom and Tania too.

“Plenty happened. And I was the only one who had no fucking idea about all that’s been happening.”

Mom using the F-word stopped me in my tracks in the hallway. She rarely cursed, maybe acrapordamn. That was about it for her cursing repertory. Not the F-word, though. Not once. I tilted my head to see inside the kitchen without being seen. Mom was pale, her features tight. She’d seen a ghost. She took a deep breath, and my mouth dried. She was gearing up for something unpleasant.

“I worked late last night here with Shelby and Violet, preparing all the cupcakes for today. Violet went out with a friend and spent the night with her. I went home, and Marshall wasn’t home. He called me and said he’d gotten a last minute invitation to a cocktail party with the directors of the mine and he was on his way there. I asked him if he wanted me to come. But he said no, he just needed to make an appearance.

“He didn’t come home until three in the morning, and I know because the shower woke me up and I checked the time on the bedside clock. He goes to a lot of cocktail and dinner parties, speaking events. But he doesn’t usually come home so late or take a shower after.

“The next morning, he didn’t wake up to go running. I’d gotten up early to prep dinner and set it in the slow cooker, and when I’d left, he was still sleeping. I got here, to the Grand, but then I realized I hadn’t turned on the cooker for tonight’s dinner in my rushing. So I left Shelby on her own, I knew Aaron would be in any minute, and dashed home to turn it on.

I got back to the house, and Marshall was in the kitchen, making himself a protein shake in the bullet blender. He was talking to someone on speaker, laughing. Then I heard a woman’s laugh.”

“Water—” Tania lifted her chin at Alicia, who turned to the commercial refrigerator behind her, grabbed a water bottle and tossed it to Tania, who opened it. “Take a breath, honey.” She offered her the opened bottle, but Mom only stared at it.

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