AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something in my stomach released at the sight, allowing me to breathe again.
“Your pop was Tenor? He was a good man.” Silas said; there was no tension to this question, as if the threat that was on their threshold vanished, no longer needing him to be on guard.
I smiled wistfully. “Yeah, Daddy died, gosh, seven years ago now.”
Viddy’s arm went around my shoulders and pulled me in tight.
We loved our Dad like crazy, and still thought about him every day; if Dad were still there, we wouldn’t have had to worry about what our crazy brother would do next, because he’d have had his shit straightened out at the first sign of a misstep.
“We had a pretty good relationship with them when Tenor was still there. Then the old President died, followed by your Dad that next month, and the new leadership came on and we haven’t spoken much to them since.” Silas explained.
I was nodding my head in agreement and trying my hardest not to shutter. “Yeah, we moved away after my father died. It was really hard for us to be there after both of our parents were gone. When Viddy found a school to work for here that taught the blind, and I found a high school job with Benton High, we figured that was a really good opportunity to spread our wings. It’s been six years now, and we haven’t been back to Lone Star since.”
“Here you go, gentlemen; ladies, yours will be another few minutes.” Shannon said airily as she set down the food.
I eyed Kettle’s steak that had onions and mushrooms smothered over the top and wondered why I’d ordered chicken when I could’ve gotten that.
The corn on his plate wasn’t as appealing, but when he lifted the cob to his mouth and took a bite, I could see the merit of the butter. Especially melted butter when he licked his lips, and then his fingers free of the melted goodness.
“Here y’all go. I took the liberty of giving you the low-fat cheese and sour cream since you didn’t specify what you wanted. For you, I got the low fat ranch dressing.” Shannon said as she placed Viddy’s baked potato, and my hot wings down in front of us.
That dig was directed towards Viddy more than me, since Viddy was busy carrying on a conversation with Trance, whom it was more than obvious Shannon had a thing for with the lingering touches and the shy glances, but I still took offense.
“Uhh, in fact, I would like it if you brought us both out the real kind. The other stuff doesn’t taste as good.” I all but growled, causing the table to chuckle.
I was pretty particular about food.
I liked it to taste good, and I liked to eat a lot of it.
Silas handed over his ranch that he wasn’t using. I thanked him readily.
“Are you hungry?” Trance asked me while eyeing my plate of chicken wings.
“A little,” I said picking up a hot wing and devouring the meat from the bone.
At one point, I’d had to stop due to no more ranch, and had to resort to the low fat shit that Shannon had brought earlier.
“Ick,” I said after my first taste. “I need some more real stuff.”
Deciding to risk it, I started to scarf down my wings like a man. Only after I’d finished nearly half of the hot wings did I realize that I really should’ve waited for the ranch. My mouth was on fire, and I started panting. It wasn’t surprising that I had no drink, either.
I wasn’t sure who gave it to me, but a cup of half-eaten ranch was sat on the table beside the shitty ranch, allowing me to finish my meal without having to wait twenty minutes for Shannon to get back.
After finishing the very last wing, I fell back into my seat with a groan, brought my fingers up to my mouth, and was in the process of licking them clean when I realized the entire table was staring at me as if I’d grown horns.
“What?” I asked as I finally settled on Kettle to look at.
He only shook his head and went back to his half eaten steak.
“Did I eat too fast or something?” I asked warily.
Viddy, the cruel bitch, chimed in at that point. “No, you just did your Hoover Vacuum impression in front of a bunch of hot guys that make a living being bad ass. You also ate the hottest wing on the menu without even batting an eyelash. They’re just impressed.”
“I didn’t eat that fast.” I grumbled, tearing open my wipe package and cleaning my fingers of the stickiness.
“Actually, you did. You’ve got sucking the meat off a hot wing down to a fine art.” Dixie said, waving his hand in front of my face wildly.
Then I saw Kettle shift, move his hand down to his crotch, and adjust himself before he cut into his steak again, causing my face to flame.
