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Turning on the faucet, I splashed some water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror, trying to give myself a pep talk. Then, somewhere behind me, I heard someone move. Glancing in the mirror, I saw only one stall with the door closed. I turned and squatted down, seeing no feet in any of the stalls.
Standing back up, I shook my head. "Get it together, Guy."
I had been paranoid since the murder at work and all the things that had happened since then. Attempted kidnapping, beating up a cop, attacking Ryder's now soon-to-be wife, the dead severed hog's head. But the most prominent thing to be paranoid about at that moment was the crazy girl waiting for me in the restaurant.
I turned off the water and grabbed some paper towels, drying off my face before tossing them in the trash. I tightened my tie in the mirror but froze when I heard another sound. It was similar to the sound the top of the toilet made when it was sliding, porcelain scraping with porcelain.
Turning back to the stalls, I glanced around nervously. "Hello? Am I alone in here?"
When no one responded, I walked over to the first of five stalls, pushing the door open. The first was empty. The second was empty. I reached for the third, my anxiety rising. I pushed it open hard, but it was empty as well. The fourth door was all the way open. I chuckled to myself as I approached the last stall, knowing I was scaring myself for no reason.
I put my fingers on the fifth stall door and glanced around. "Alright, ghost of the Italian bathroom. Last chance to reveal yourself."
Chuckling, I swung open the fifth stall and stumbled back, covering my mouth. "Oh god. Clarence."
Sitting slumped on the back of the toilet, his legs bent and posed with his shoes on the toilet seat, was my driver. His head was back, his throat slit. His front was covered in blood, and a knife stuck out from his chest. Pinned by the knife was a letter, the words put together from cut-out letters from newspapers.
"The surfer was a washout. The biker got his happiness but barely. Let's see what we can do with you, Guy. Secrets, secrets everywhere. Your past haunts you now, but wait until I get ahold of you. Have fun on your date. You might have to catch a cab home."
I shook my head, turning and grabbing the sink, immediately vomiting the little bit of whiskey I had in my stomach. I wanted to get out of my date, but murder, as a reason, was taking it a bit far. Though, from the way things were going, my date might want to get out while she could.
One Big Mistake
A Forbidden Romance
Prologue
Guy
She said yes!
I smiled when I received the text from Ryder. He had found love with someone he cared deeply for, and I was happy for him. As for me, I wasn't looking for anything in particular. If it happened, I would know it. So far in my life, everything boiled down to money sooner or later—if you have it, people will want to be around you and give you what you want. Being the oldest guy, people tended to set me up a lot. Especially my little sister, who couldn't keep herself from meddling in my love life regardless of who got hurt.
Take that night, for example. I was sitting at a quaint table in an Italian restaurant, waiting on a blind date I had done everything to get out of. My sister had met this woman at a festival and for some reason, thought we would be perfect together. I wasn't sure what brother she had come to know all those years, but I never put off the vibe of wanting to date a festival chick.
I had no problem with the events. They actually sounded like something the guys and I would have had a ball going to in our early years. But now, I felt like I'd be the creepy old guy at the party. The Matthew McConaughey of current-day festival life. But that wasn't me. I was chill, I liked sports, and I played in a local men's basketball league when I had time. So I barely went out with the guys anymore, much less to weekend festivals where sleeping involved the ground and a tent.
But there I was, waiting for her to arrive to appease my sister. I tried to keep an open mind, and even though she was a bit younger than me, I knew age wasn't always a factor, within the law, of course. I sent Ryder back a congratulatory message and shoved the phone back in my pocket. The front door opened, and a woman walked in. Her hair was long and curly, her smile very pretty, and she wasn't wearing anything crocheted or something made of a patchwork quilt, which surprised me..
She spoke to the hostess, who nodded, and they walked back toward me. I stood and put out my hand to introduce myself. However, she immediately leaned in and kissed both cheeks as if I had somehow fallen into a bakery in Italy. She was already giggling, and I hadn't even said anything.
"I’m Chelsea. It's so good to meet you," she said with an overly excited smile. "Your sister is so sweet."
The valley girl tones in her dialect were making me grit my teeth. "It's nice to meet you too. My sister told me a lot about you. Can I get you a drink?"
The waitress walked up, and the woman's facial expression changed from happy-go-lucky to snide and judgmental. "Uh…yes, please. Can I have a seltzer, three ice cubes, and a lime wedge on the edge of the glass? Not in the water."
I could see the restraint on the waitress's face as she smiled and walked away. Chelsea dug around in her purse, finally pulling out a tube of lip gloss and pulled back her hair, exposing a small star tattoo under her left ear. I stared into the abyss of excess, finding both hippy and upscale overbearing snob all wrapped up in a petite package. She was a trickster with her downhome beauty but valley attitude.
"So," I said, clearing my throat. "My sister says you are a vet tech."
She nodded. "I am. Though I just left my last vet office. They were really insistent that vet techs were responsible for waste removal, and I didn't spend two years in school to collect poop."
"Wow, two whole years," I replied, sighing deeply.
"Mhmm," she chirped, shaking her head. "I mean, can you believe it? Whatever. It's more time for me anyway."
I pulled my phone halfway from my pocket and smiled. "If you could excuse me. I must use the restroom."
