Page 42 of Feverburn

It was then that Rosie approached the register, folding her arms.

“I uh…” I hesitated, looking up at the menu. The Dirty Reno was nowhere in sight. In its place was Rosie’s next trap. Clearing my throat, I continued ordering with as much indifference as possible. “I’ll take TheValakas.”

“The idiot?” Rosie said cheerily, picking up a cup.

“Oh, is that what that means?” Andrea asked, staring at the tablet with a scrunched brow.

Rosie shrugged, “Yeah, it’s in Greek or something,” she quipped, cocking an eyebrow at me before walking off.

Way to slap me with my own hand.

That was damn cold. Was I an idiot? Maybe. I certainly felt like one at this event as I waited with my ganja granny while some local townie cried into a karaoke mic about her boyfriend asking her to have a threesome with their Waffle House waitress. The second I escorted Viv to an empty seat by her book club pals, I escaped, shooting Rosie one last glare while plopping my full cup in the garbage.

I waited a couple of days for my nexttrap. One night, Rosie got off work in the evening andburstthrough the front door without the pretense of introducing herself to Skyler. “Again? Really?” she shouted.

I leaned against the counter, taking a long sip from a coffee cup, glad to see her burns were gone. She eyed next to the chest of rocks where I had set up a Keurig with shitty coffee and an even shittier sign that saidFreeCoffee.

She ripped the cup from my hands, taking a bold chug. She gagged,“This tastes like Satan’s ass crack. Better stick to selling nuts and bolts while scowling at people.”Skyler chuckled while she poured the rest into a potted plant by the newspapers.

I gestured at the fresh crime scene.“That couldkillthe plant.”

“Not my problem. Get better coffee.”She pushed the cup against my chest and left, Kiszka whimpering hot on her trail this time.

I caught up and lunged my arm in front of the loftentrance.

She scoffed, “I don’t know who pissed in your gyro, but you’ve got to take it down a notch.”

“Oh, a Greek joke I haven’t heard yet. What’s next, a Windex pun? Be lucky I don’t call you Glitter Tits in front of the whole town, lord knows that’s how I met you.”

Even in my fury, the flashback of her and Rambo made me want to laugh.

She twisted and glared up at me, fury in her voice.“You will regret this.”

“It sucks when someone fucks with your business, doesn’t it? Or when they disrupt your life for no reason other than torturing you.”

“You genuinely think I set the loft on fire on purpose?”

“It’s quite the coincidence.”

Kizzy barked at me, stomping a paw on the toe of my boot.

She shoved a finger at my chest.“I would never do that. You have no fucking clue what put me here and how much is riding on this. I didn’t have some business handed down from mydaddylike you did.”

I seized her hand, gently holding it between us.“Don’t,” I said through gritted teeth as I continued, my speech clipped, “don’t, for one second, think I haven’t earned every fucking square inch of this place. Don’t ever accuse me of not working to get what I have in life.”

Realizing her hand was still in mine, I kissed it, then dropped it, knowing my action didn’t match my tone.

She stared at me, her face jerking.“Fine! But leave me thehellalone! Let me have somedignityto get into my fucking loft! What happened to the gentleman who helped me get home drunk?”

“I don’t know, what happened to the funny girl who talked to me for hours while painting the damn mural?”

We stared at each other, and then Skyler yelled for me to help, forcing me to leave.

Days passed, and I tried to put her out of my mind. I’d sometimes hear her come and go, but I never exited my office to make small talk. When I saw her cross the street, I’d try not to watch her saunter, hips rolling, hair swaying in the sunlight. And when I thought of something I wanted to tell her, I had to remind myself I didn’t do that anymore. We didn’t talk like we used to. That hurt the most.

I tried to forget all about Rosie, but it wasn’t working.

One afternoon, a package came for her. She had the day off work. I could tell because I heard her cleaning her place earlier, blaring Garth fucking Brooks. When the delivery person dropped it off, Iplayeddumband signed for it. I figured it would be a great excuse to visit her, hoping to find a middle ground.

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