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Travis backed away from the counter and shook his head hard and fast, blue eyes filled with wariness as they glared at me. It was then I noticed the split bottom lip, the bruise on his cheek and the cast on his left arm. “Go away Bonnie. Now.”
I frowned at him. “Why? I have money. I just need to see the doctor.” We both knew that was a lie because I’d yet to meet the physician he assisted after three visits.
“I don’t give a shit.” He held up his left arm with a wince. “I got Sadie’s message loud and clear. Sell to you, and I can say goodbye to living and breathing. No thanks. So get the fuck outta here.”
Sadie? That didn’t make sense…unless Cal had told her about our agreement. “This has nothing to do with—”
“Get out, I said. Scram.” I stood there, still stunned at his words. “Go! Now!”
Travis was so angry and afraid that I began to worry, but when he nodded to someone behind me, I knew it was more than that.
A big, burly man with a shaved head wearing an oversized t-shirt made his way over to me. Quick study that I was, I put two and two together and headed for the door.
“Fine. I’m out of here. Thanks for nothing, dick!”
“Right back atcha,” he called out just before the glass door smacked shut against the rickety frame.
My legs felt wooden as I stumbled back to the car, angry and stunned. Furious, in fact. I started the car and aimed it toward Glitz and Ashby Manor, mad enough to scream.
As the road changed from businesses and then homes, my anxiety ratcheted up until I was a shaking mess by the time turned into the driveway and shut off the engine.
I tried to calm myself, but it was no good. Every time I tried, the only thing I could see was Travis, bruised and broken. At the hands of someone hired by an Ashby, if not an Ashby himself.
My first thought was Calvin because he’d offered me a place to stay and to pay off my debt simply for staying away from the pills. And the powder.
But violence wasn’t Cal’s style. I could tell how much he’d been affected by what he’d done to Squeaker.
That left the one person I knew would issue the order without apology. Sadie. She was petite and well-dressed but it was all a façade because she was the real power behind the Ashby family. She would have no problem ordering violence to get her way. Yeah, I was frightened of Sadie, but still I headed her way.
“Where is she?” I demanded when I burst into the front door.
One of the housekeepers stopped dusting abruptly and pointed to the office where it seemed Sadie spent most of her time. Doing what? I could only imagine.
Sadie looked up when I walked in, giving a slight nod to Thomas, who smiled and left without a word.
“Bonnie,” she said with an icy smile, “what can I do for you?”
Sitting there all calm and relaxed, as if she hadn’t ordered someone to beat up Travis. My fear of her dissolved like an ice cube in a fire. “Who do you think you are?” I barked.
Sadie didn’t even blink. She was so unmoved by my outburst. “I believe I’m the woman offering you shelter and protection when your own parents tossed you aside like yesterday’s trash. Now tell me what I have done to offend you, Bonnie.”
What had she done? I wanted to shout all her crimes, but I knew that behavior would have the opposite effect on this formidable woman, so I counted to five and then back to zero before I spoke. “You hurt Travis.”
Sadie shook her head. “Travis hurt himself. He had a fair warning. He wasn’t to give you anything, not even one pill or there would be hell to pay. Instead, he chose the wrong path, just as you are determined to choose the wrong path, as in keeping the wrong kind of company.”
She shook her head again. This time I felt her disappointment internally. “You have to be smarter than this, Bonnie. What would have happened if Virgil and Cal hadn’t been with you the other night?”
She was right. Of course, she was right. “Apparently, I’m not smarter than that. Seems like my parents and Father Eric was right about me. Now I’m not only a stupid whore, I’m a junkie as well.” The last admission came out over a lump of grief stuck in my throat.
That was a hard pill to swallow, made harder by enduring it without the help of Oxy.
“Bullshit!” Sadie spat out. “You are a smart college graduate. You’re only a fuck up if you choose to be, and right now, you’re choosing it. Choose to be a better person, Bonnie, and you’ll become better.”
