Page 2 of Direct Action

She slammed her locker, bopped over to me, and kissed my cheek. “You’re gonna love it.”

I wasn’t, but I did love seeing my friend smile.

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off. “See you out there.”

I heard the door close and dropped my chin to my chest. I was exhausted. So tired I was becoming delirious. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up this pace.

“We’re going to have to move him, Chloe. We have no choice,” my mother had shared with tears in her eyes.

We did have a choice—me working two jobs so I could help pay for my father’s home that the insurance didn’t cover.

I’d looked at the home the insurance company had suggested. Over my dead, broken, tired body would my father move an hour away from the women who loved him and live in a small white box of nothing. And that was what the rooms were—boxes. White, boring nothingness.

Hell to the no.

The truth of my situation penetrated my fatigued brain—I was going to have to work at the Vault.

For my father, I’d dance around half dressed.

For my mother to keep the love of her life close, I’d swallow my pride.

I swiped away the only tears I’d give in to and headed out to the floor.

“Hey, mama, when you get a chance, I need a refill,” a blond dude, who was trying his best to look like he was a surfer, called out when I hurried past his table.

And ‘mama’?

Gross.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some men could totally pull that off—like some men could pull off a darlin’ or babe. But the pretend surfer guy could not. No, rewind, he absolutely could not.

I fought a lip curl and smiled instead. “Sure thing, buckaroo.”

Surfer wannabe didn’t have the mouth control I had and frowned at my purposely ridiculous comeback.

Sigh.

There went my tip.

I was at the drink station when Poppy came up next to me and knocked her hip against mine.

“Did he seriously call you ‘mama’?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“Not gonna lie,” she started, “if Rio called me ‘mama,’ my panties would drench. But Mr. Sex Wax needs to stop scrolling social media.”

Poppy was referring to Rio from the show Good Girls. Not that I’d seen the show, but it was impossible not to see the viral memes.

“If he tells me to get into the car, I won’t be able to stop myself from laughing in his face,” I told her, mentioning the other, arguably more popular clip.

“Who’s telling you to get into the car?” Ryan asked.

Good God, the man was silent on his feet.

“The guy sitting at table eight,” Poppy shared. “He called Chloe ‘mama.’”

Ryan blinked in confusion. Poppy didn’t miss this and unfortunately went on to explain. “There’s this show called Good Girls—hot guy Rio calls Elizabeth ‘mama.’ It’s got the ladies on Insta shivering. There’s also this reel where he tells her all sexy, ‘Get in the car—’”