SNAP (The SNAP Trilogy Book 1) (9 page)

"It's the only explanation that makes any sense," I mutter and pick at the loose fuzz on the couch.

"How did Bobby end up on the couch with you? Now that doesn't make sense." Cady asks with a slight giggle.

"I thought you could tell me." I lift my head and her face goes blank.

"I don't remember much of last night." Her brow pulls together in concentration, but she's not connecting any dots.

"That's what I was afraid of." I sigh and lean forward propping my elbows on my knees.

"What do you mean?" she asks scooting forward and looking at me.

"Those fucking pills." I shake my head. "They are going to cause a lot of trouble."

"Oh stop. Last night was the first time I tried them. Erick and I had some awesome sex though. I remember that. Well some of it." She laughs, but I don't see the humor. I know what it's like to have sex on those pills. Of course, at the time, I didn't realize I had taken them.

"Would you have been able to stop yourself?" I ask her this because I'm truly wondering if I could've done more to prevent what happened that night. Or if I did it because I really wanted to and didn't want to admit it to myself.

"Why would I have wanted to stop?" She laughs again, but she's confused.

"Just answer the question, Cady. While on that drug, could you stop it from happening?" Cady's eyes bounce back and forth between mine before they still. Her face says it all. She understands now why I'm asking.

"Phil…did he…. Oh my God, Hazel." She scoots over next to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders.

"I'm not entirely sure of everything that happened that night," I whisper. I'm confused by it all myself. Although a part of my mind was screaming at me to stop, I couldn't stop responding to his advances. It was as if I had no control over my body, completely immobilized. The knowledge that I enjoyed some of what he did – no, some of what he did felt good, but I didn't enjoy it.

"Hazel, look at me," Cady says firmly. I turn my head and stare into her anger filled eyes. "He raped you. He slipped you that drug and he raped you knowing full well you wouldn't be able to fight him off."

"Cady," I pause for a moment trying to bring myself to speak the next words. "I'm not sure I can call it rape."

"I don't care what you say, Hazel. That motherfucker took full advantage of the situation and got what he wanted. And now he thinks he owns you. It all makes fucking sense now. I'll be damned if he gets his way. There is no way Roger or Erick is going to let anything happen to you. You can add Bobby to that list now too."

"There is no way I'm asking or letting Bobby do anything for me." I stare her down.

"He likes you, Hazel, and he's a genuinely good guy."

"I just met him. I know nothing about him and I'm not looking for anything right now."

"So let him be your friend. You could use some more friends, especially now."

The pleading in her eyes has me rethinking my stance in the world right now. I don't have many people in my life. With Phil running amok, anything could happen. I don't want to put people at risk, but I don't want to put myself at risk either for being foolish. If I had more friends, there would be more eyes on me. Someone could be a witness, someone could call the cops if he strikes again. Not if, when. Because I know he will do it. I fear to what extremes he will take it next time. My heart pounds in my chest as anxiety grips me. I push myself off the couch and begin pacing the room. Cady's worry filled eyes follow me back and forth.

"It's all going to be okay. I promise. We aren't going to let anything happen to you," she says, trying to ease my fears.

"What's going on?"

I turn and see Dustin standing in the doorway still half asleep. He looks between Cady and I waiting for an answer that I don't want to give. I don't trust him.

"My tire was popped last night," I tell him.

Dustin walks over to the window and looks outside at Erick and Bobby changing my tire.

"Someone got it out for you?" he asks, still looking out the window.

I turn to Cady and mime zipping my lips shut. She nods her head and sits quietly.

"Not that I know of. Probably just some punk being an asshole," I respond.

He turns and looks between us. "That shit doesn't happen outside my house. I'll ask around and see if anyone saw anything as they were leaving."

"Thanks."

No one would've seen Phil do it. If someone vandalizes someone else's property, they are going to make sure there are no witnesses.

"You're not gonna involve the cops are you?"

Dustin is worried. He should be, but not because I may call the cops. Phil is fucking psycho and he's working for him. Who knows what Phil would do to Dustin if he steps out of line. I'm concerned for his well-being as much as my own. I can't tell him any of this, though. Their relationship is a mystery to me. Dustin could just be a dealer, or he could be one of Phil's best friends. Opening my mouth before I know where Dustin and Phil stand could make things worse for me. They could make things bad for Dustin too. I can't bring this shit down on him.

"No. No reason to. Unless they offer to buy me a new tire, and I don't see that happening."

Dustin visibly relaxes and laughs at my joke. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

I walk over to the window to check on Bobby's and Erick's progress. They've gotten the new tire on and are putting away the tools. I want to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible. I don't feel safe here.

"Looks like they are done changing the tire," I say as sit next to Cady on the couch.

"Good. I need cigarettes. That's where we were going when I noticed the flat," she says to me.

I reach into my purse and pull out my cigarettes. "Here." I hand them to her. "Have one of mine."

We both pull one out and light them as Erick and Bobby walk through the door, hands covered in black stuff. They walk straight to the kitchen and wash up.

"I'm starving," Erick says when he walks back into the room. "You guys wanna get some breakfast?"

My stomach grumbles at the mention of food. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon.

"I'll take that as a yes," Erick laughs.

"Just as long as we don't go to Maggie's," I tell him as Bobby enters the room.

"Awe, but Maggie's has the best breakfast in town," Bobby says.

"I agree, but I'm never making her go there on her day off again." Cady stands and stretches before gathering her things.

We say our goodbyes to Dustin and he invites us to come back anytime. I think he's lonely in that big ol' house by himself. Bobby tells me it's Dustin's grandma's house. She was recently put in a nursing home when her illness took a turn for the worse. Bobby got to spend quite a bit of time with her before she was moved. He has a lot of love for that woman too. Dustin stays there taking care of the place and visits her several times a week. Bobby tags along sometimes. They are pretty close to one another for Bobby to say, "We've been through some shit." It's nice that Dustin visits her regularly, but I wonder what she would think about her grandson turning her home into a drug den and having all kinds of sketchy fuckers coming and going out of it.

As we head back toward Trinity, Bobby and Erick are cutting up in the backseat, but mind is churning with everything that's happened. Different scenarios that could happen in the future play through my mind. The hot guy from the bar keeps popping into my thoughts too. Who is he? Is he still in town or was he just passing through? What did he say to Phil? What did he do to Phil?

I picture his chocolate brown eyes and his lips. The way his powerful body felt pushed against mine and the way his hands felt on me. They didn't feel creepy or malicious like Phil's do. I'd like to see him again, to say thank you. Who am I kidding? I'd like to just look at him again. I got the feeling that that man is complicated though. A loner by nature. No, he's probably long gone by now.

Hazel

"Roger, it's time to have that talk," I say as I go over the schedules at the bar Monday morning. I'm so frustrated trying to fill these shifts I want to pull my hair out. This morning's sales are through the roof and the staff is dragging from working six days a week. I've overheard several of them say when they didn't know I was listening that they were looking for another job. Everyone is overwhelmed, myself included.

"Hazel, I can't –" he starts to say.

"Hear me out, Roger. Sales are up. And not just the past few weeks. Look." I pull out sales reports from the past year. "This is not a fluke. Since last summer sales have increased. It started out small, but in the last three months we are pulling in double what we were the same time last year. You are wearing everyone out. With the overtime you are paying out to your highest paid employees, you could've hired three more people. It would alleviate call-ins, people could take their vacations without worrying you will cancel them because we don't have the people to cover, and everyone will be less stressed and happy to come to work. Did you know that Jimmy, Mandy, and Angela are talking about leaving? What are we supposed to do then?"

Roger takes the report from me and leans against the bar reading it. I slide the overtime report next to it and point to the total for the year. My name is at the top of the list for most overtime worked, then Mary, Jimmy, Mandy, and Angela. He's killing us with the hours we have to pull.

"I'll make you a deal. You hire three more people, and if in two months you see that they aren't needed, we will let them go. But I bet you will see that sales increase even more having more people to do the work. As a matter of fact, I bet we will have to alternate weeks where each person still has to work a sixth day. What do you say, Roger?"

He glances up at me over the top of his reading glasses and runs a hand through his salt and pepper hair. The man has no other choice than to do it. The tired lines around his eyes scream that even he needs a break. And he could have one if he agrees to this. This would free me up to learn more about the business and help him run it. Lord knows he needs a new perspective on business.

"Okay," he says and huge smile spreads over my face. "Don't get too excited. You have two months to prove to me it'll work. You're responsible for the hiring and firing if it doesn't work out since it's your idea and I want weekly reports on my desk every Monday showing that this is worth my money. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." I jump off my bar stool and wrap my arms around his neck squeezing him tight. "You won't be disappointed, I swear."

"Alright, alright." He pulls my arms away and pats my shoulder. The old man is blushing. That's something I've never seen. "Get back to work."

I walk through the kitchen with a bounce in my step heading to the office. All the kitchen staff watch me wondering what has made me so happy. I wag my brows at them and they look at each other and smile brushing me off as they go back to their tasks.

Jimmy follows me toward the office and says, "What's got you in such a great mood all of a sudden?"

"You'll see," I sing out. I pull out the bottom drawer of his desk and dust off the Help Wanted sign. I grip it from the corners and come dancing out of the office with it. Everyone's eyes widen as smiles break out across their faces.

"No way," Jimmy exclaims. "Seriously? He's letting you hire another person?"

"Not just one. Three." I smile at him and everyone in the kitchen starts hooting and hollering.

"Pinch me, I must be dreaming. You are a goddess." Jimmy wraps his arm around my shoulder and squeezes.

"I still have to hire people and train them. You guys are on the same schedule for the next couple of weeks. After that, it should be smooth sailing. Wait it out, guys. It's going to get better. I promise."

As I leave the kitchen, Mary and Angela watch me while waiting on tables. They heard the commotion coming from the kitchen, but they don't know what's happened yet. I walk toward the door and hang the sign. With a smile on my face, I turn to see Mary's and Angela's mouths dropped open in shock and surprise. They look at each other and smile before rushing me.

"I can't believe you finally got through to that man," Mary says, giving me a hug.

"How many people is he hiring?" Angela asks.

"Three."

"Three?" They say together. I nod and Angela starts doing a little dance.

"We will be able to have two for the kitchen, and one to waitress so that we can shuffle someone over to the bar side on weekends."

"It's a miracle." Mary claps her hands together and lets out a sigh of relief.

"Lunch time is coming, ladies. Let's get back to work," I say heading for the kitchen to make sure prep is caught up. "I'll bounce around as usual. Holler if you need me."

"You know it," Angela says as she gets back to her tables.

The afternoon is busy, just like I knew it would be. I spend time helping in the kitchen, busing tables, bringing orders out to customers, and rotating breaks out. Although we are busy, there's less stress since the announcement that we are hiring more people. Everyone is happy, working side-by-side with smiles on their faces and dancing along to the radio. I've missed this place being like this. After the majority of the rush is over, I start dinner prep and get ready to rotate breaks to the servers.

Jimmy comes back from his lunch break and takes my spot finishing dinner prep. He's full of energy and raring to go. I tell him where I left off and he waves me away telling me he's got this. Although Jimmy's a fast worker, he's not normally this fast, especially after working a couple of doubles back-to-back. Standing in the doorway, I watch him work at a furious pace. He turns to grab more product and catches me watching him. A smile spreads over his face, but it's his eyes that worry me. They are wide open, along with his pupils. Black saucers would be a pretty accurate description.

I want to say something to him, but I fear he will get angry and deny his drug use. Instead, I just smile back and leave him to work. I've never seen him like this before, so hopefully it's just a onetime occurrence. He's having a rough go of it right now, and surely hiring these people will allow him to get some rest and not rely on drugs to keep him going. If not, he could destroy his little family in the process of destroying himself. Making it a point to be more observant of Jimmy, I walk into the diner to break out Mary and Angela.

As Mary tells me about her last two tables, I glance up and see a familiar face sitting in her section. I latch onto chocolate eyes that are drinking me in. My stomach tightens trying to control the butterflies fluttering around. I take this time to check him out in the daylight. His dark hair is in messy disarray the way guys like to wear it these days. A bit of shadow darkens his face where he hasn't shaved. The white t-shirt he's wearing is fitting, but isn't skin tight. His finger starts tapping the table top to a beat I can't hear and then stops suddenly drawing my eyes back up to his quickly. He smirks and my face warms. I turn my attention back to Mary and take the pad from her hand tucking it into my back pocket.

"Go ahead to break, Mary."

"Thanks, Hazel." Mary walks away as I look back to him. His forearms rest on the table with his fingers laced together as he looks out the window watching traffic.

I walk to Mary's section and his head turns toward me, watching me like a predator watches its prey. A chill works its way down my spine as I pass him and check on the two business men sitting two tables away. They are finishing up their meals and ask for their check and to-go cups for their drinks. I leave their check behind as I go fetch their drinks. The entire time it feels like I'm being watched. It's exciting and creepy all at once.

"Here you go boys. Are you ready to pay?" They hand me the check along with cash and tell me to keep the change. "Have a great day," I tell them as I head to the counter and cash out their ticket and putting Mary's tip in my pocket to give to her later.

I walk back over to his table and it feels as though I'm entering the lion's den. He stares as I approach him and my heart starts pounding. I don't know how this man does this to me. I don't even know his name or anything about him. He could be a serial killer for all I know. I stop next to his table and can't bring myself to say anything.

"Are you going to ask me if I'd like to order anything?" The deep tenor of his voice is mixed with humor.

My face flushes and I pull the pad and pen out of my back pocket. Clicking my pen, I ask, "What would you like?"

"What do you recommend,
Hazel
?" My name falling from his lips causes my insides to clinch. He stares at me waiting for an answer.

I clear my throat and try to make myself focus. "Depends on what you're in the mood for."

He stares at me blankly, as if I'm not there and he's seeing straight through me. I take a deep breath and scoot into the booth seat across from him. A strange look crosses his face as he cocks his head to the side. I take a deep breath and push it out before I lose my courage to speak to him.

"Um." I glance down flipping the corner of the pages of my notepad. "Thank you. For the other night." I lift my eyes to see him soften a bit. He nods his head looking down at the table for a moment before meeting my gaze.

"You're welcome. I would hope your boyfriend learned his lesson and doesn't…
act
that way again," he says, watching me.

A sarcastic laugh escapes me when he says boyfriend. "He's not my boyfriend. Never has been, never will be."

He raises a brow and I can see questions swirling behind his brown eyes. Questions that I don't want to hear or answer. Especially to a stranger. Getting that out in the open eased my nerves.

His head follows me as I slide out of the booth seat. I open his menu on the table in front of him and point to a few of the popular items. He listens to me describe them and never once looks down where my finger is pointing.

"I'll take the BBQ bacon burger with fries," he says quietly, watching me write it on my pad.

"Good choice. It's one of my faves, as you can see." I slap the outside of my thigh and chuckle. "You're one of the only customers, so I'll have it out to you shortly."

I turn and walk toward the kitchen feeling his eyes on my backside the whole way. At the window I shout his order and hang his ticket on the clip before heading toward the bar. Grabbing a Blue Moon, I pop the cap off and walk back into the dining area. His eyes were waiting for my return. I smile at him as I wiggle the bottle back and forth. His mouth quirks up at the corner in a semi-smile, but that's all he gives me. I was hoping to see a full-fledged grin.

"Thanks," he says before taking a drink.

"No problem."

I walk back to the register and comp his meal. It's the least I could do after he saved me the other night, and saved the bar from having the cops called. I could only imagine how that would've turned out. Roger would've had so many questions. I do need to talk to him about having Phil banned, but I'm hoping after the other night he will stay away from Maggie's. There aren't any doubts in my mind that he will try something else. I just hope that he won't try them here.

Roger comes around the corner and tosses me some apps to keep below the counter for convenience. "So, you have any ideas of who you'd like to hire?"

"Well, I have one person in mind," I reply with a smile.

"If Cady wants to work here, she and I will be having a talk about her mouth first. I love her, too, but I won't have her running around here cussing like a sailor and pissing off the customers. Don't think I didn't see her order tickets Saturday when I got back."

He tries to give me a stern face, but I can tell he's holding back his laughter. I try to play innocent, but can't help the giggle the slips through. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Roger."

"Mmhmm, I just bet you don't. She still has to fill out an app for her file. Let her know that
I
will be doing her interview since you two are too close."

I get nervous for a second wondering if he will deny her the job. She really needs this, and we work together well. Cady would really be an asset to the bar side on the weekends. Everyone knows her and she has an easy going personality that we all love.

"I'll hire her, Hazel, but she needs to understand what I expect from her. I know you would tell her the same thing, but since you're friends I worry it'll go through one ear and out the other. She'll be on probation, so-to-speak, for the first couple of weeks until I see how this will play out with her."