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The waitress snapped her gum before taking two giant laminated menus and gesturing for us to follow her. Ellison seemed thoroughly annoyed and I couldn’t blame her. I had no intention of being the train wreck that always crashed into her life, but that’s what I’d become—another constant source of pain for her. I hoped that the way to her heart was still through her belly.
She hugged her arms to her chest as she slid into our old booth.
“Cherry Coke,” she said to the waitress.
“Short stack, with chocolate chips and whipped cream?” I said to the waitress. I cocked a brow at Ellison making sure that was still right.
“I can’t eat like that anymore, Cal. I’m almost thirty.”
“El, you look amazing,” I told her. It was the truth. She looked more beautiful than ever. I loved the added thickness she’d gained.
“I’ll have the chicken salad lettuce rolls,” she told the unimpressed waitstaff. “Please.”
“Well, then I’ll get the pancakes, and a side of fries with Ranch dressing on the side,” I added. “You can eat some of mine just for old time’s sake,” I said when we were alone again.
I noticed El still wore the bracelet I’d given her so many years ago. I clung to that tiny filigree bird in flight I’d made when my heart was still full of hope for our future. It was from a different time, a different place, from what seemed like an entirely different person.
“When did you get out?” Ellison asked me. Our food had arrived and El picked at her low-calorie meal.
“This afternoon,” I told her. She practically choked on her food. I reached over to pat her back and she pushed my hand away.
“And the first thing you thought to do was hit up a strip joint?”
“Oh shit. Fuck me.” I grabbed my head in my hands and tugged my own hair. Then I ripped my wallet out and threw down all the money the prison had issued on my discharge.
Ellison looked up at me with her huge blue eyes, like she couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Can you call Fox for a ride? I’ve got to take care of some business that slipped my mind. I’ll make it up to you, Ellison!” I said. I walked backwards to the exit and almost bumped into a busboy with a tray full of hot plates.
“Calvin Montgomery, are you fucking serious?” she yelled. The waitress was arriving with my pancakes and all I could do was shrug at the woman I loved.
She looked like she wanted to kill me. I didn’t have time to ponder it, cause if I did, death could very well be my immediate fate. I turned and trucked out the front door yanking the crumpled envelope from my back pocket.
I had one job to do. One job to secure my safety and peaceful transition back to civilian life and I’d mucked it up already. Couldn’t be responsible enough to follow through with a single drop to ensure my security.
If I’d had a phone, I would have texted Fox. If I’d had money, I would have paid someone else to do the drop. But as it stood, I had nothing, not even the cash the state had given to me to see me home.
But the only thing that mattered, was that I didn’t have Ellison.
Cavelli’s goon Max Fredricks himself met me outside of The Emporium. The drop, I now understood was completely symbolic in nature, probably wasn’t a single fucking thing in my now destroyed envelope.
His grin was sinister while he waited for me on the steps. I parked my bike and swung my leg off and made my way to Max, the envelope outstretched in my hand. I could tell he wanted me to grovel, to come crawling back with my tail between my legs. I knew I owed them, but I couldn’t give these asshats the satisfaction.
“Oops, I got lost,” I told the snake.
“Funny, Mr. Montgomery. Well, you showed the boss you can’t even complete a simple task.
“I can complete a task. Give a guy a break. After ten years in the box, I’m sure his ass would want to take the scenic route, too.”
“We have cameras, Montgomery. The issue is not so much the task now as it is the young Miss Kraft and Cavelli’s attachment to her. You stole one of his girls and Cavelli doesn’t take kindly to thieves.”
“Ellison doesn’t belong to Cavelli. Fuck that.” I spat at his feet. “If she’s got a debt, I’ll pay it. No one ever goes near her again,” I warned him. My temperature was rising.
Could I make it through one goddamned day in the real world? It didn’t look good.
“Miss Kraft is practically family. She’s been a loyal employee to Cavelli since this place opened. It’s not our fault if you cannot keep track of your things, Montgomery.”
