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She slid onto the last stool at the counter, in the corner and out of the way then set down her plate and her travel guide in front of her. She was only allowed to read on breaks, but she was grateful for the distraction. She didn’t make it to the end of the chapter before the bell above the door jingled again. She sighed and pushed her half-eaten cheeseburger away with one hand and closed the book with the other.
She got off the stool, took a step forward, and almost collided with the man who’d come up behind her. He had black motorcycle boots, dark blue jeans, a gray t-shirt, and a face she recognized. She nearly stumbled back and used the stool behind her to keep herself from falling. She ran a hand over her still damp hair and cursed herself or maybe him. It was hard to be sure.
“What do you want?” she snapped.
The air seemed to vibrate around them, or maybe it was just her, shaking from anger. Easy moved forward, skirting her, and sat down on a stool as she watched in disbelief.
“I said what-”
“The usual,” he said. “Cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke.”
Daisy didn’t move, she only blinked at him.
“Delilah!” Joe shouted and she jumped.
She moved behind the counter to get him his Coke. Joe was trying to figure out how a man he’d never laid eyes on before today had a usual, but he slapped a patty on the grill anyway. Daisy took her cue from the ice she was scooping into his glass and let her sudden burst of anger melt away. She turned and slammed the soda down on the counter. She stood in front of him, silently watching as he wiped up a splash off the counter with a napkin.
If he’d said anything, she was ready to pounce on him, to kick his ass out of her town, run him out on a rail just the way he’d done to her. But he said nothing at all. Pretty soon Daisy was soundly reminded just how much Delay was not her town, such as it ever was, when the door opened and the lunchtime crowd started to trickle in.
They filled up the tables and the counter, barely grunting their orders to her. Soon she was too busy to wonder why Easy had come all this way just to yell at her. Except he wasn’t yelling at her. He was just… sitting there.
Tom Parson sent his egg salad back just to fuck with her, and she stepped around behind the counter to dump the nearly finished sandwich into the trash. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Easy reach out and snag her book. He slid it over the counter toward himself and inspected the cover.
Well, let him look, Daisy thought, bristling with anger. He could rest assured she’d never go back to Rapid City, corrupting his town and his friends with her wicked, wanton ways. Parson finished the second egg salad and tossed a quarter on the counter as he left. Daisy felt her face flush with humiliation as she was forced to pick it up and pocket it, if only to clear the space.
When she came back up front, Easy slid off his stool and slowly stood up. She held her breath, for what she didn’t know. He turned and walked toward the door. As he stepped outside, Daisy sighed and sagged against the counter. Her chest felt tight. She didn’t know if she was disappointed or furious, if she was going to scream or cry. Someone snapped his fingers at her as though she was a dog, and Daisy, caught up in a roil of emotions she couldn’t exactly identify, yelled, “I have a name!” Though it wasn’t clear who she was talking to.
She glanced down and saw that Easy had left enough for his lunch plus a five dollar tip, which was too much for the bill. It felt like a slight, a joke he was playing at her expense. She stood staring at it, not touching it. She was afraid to pick it up.
What will five bucks get me?
She grabbed it and shoved it into her pocket without looking at it in case anything was written on it. She’d never felt more like a whore.
Chapter 33
Easy had to leave before someone died or was beaten to a pulp at the very least. He’d spent the better part of an hour watching a slew of people treat Daisy like shit, talking down to her if they bothered to talk to her at all. One guy had tossed her some spare change after running her ragged. It wasn’t hard to see why she’d want to move to Denver and get away from that.
He started the Harley and headed toward the edge of town, back the way he’d come. He parked outside the tiny gas station and headed inside.
