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As she talks—it’s so smooth and impressive—she switches the drinks. Then she takes a big, big sip of hers. This seems to please Ralph. He takes a big sip of his own, too.
Suddenly, Ralph wants to leave. He’s grabbing at Mia’s arm. She smiles demurely, then shrugs in a flirtatious way. I wait until they enter the corridor, then quickly jump from my seat and run to the main entrance. I push out into the parking lot, spotting them emerging from the other side, the back entrance.
Keeping close to the wall, I move closer to them. It’s fast-acting stuff. Ralph is already stumbling.
“Ralphie?” Mia says. “You don’t look so good.”
“Is he okay?” I say, walking over.
Ralph turns to me, blurry-eyed. “Lexi?”
“I’m picking Mia up,” I tell him as he struggles to stand, his eyes bobbing closed as he veers from side to side. He’s fighting the sedative. “Are you okay?”
“Picking her up… already?”
“It’s been an hour, Ralph,” Mia says, giving me a look.
“An… hour?”
“I think you should call a cab,” I tell him. “How much did you drink?”
He rubs his face, narrowing his eyes, looking at us like he’s trying to make himself believe it. His slow, unimaginative brain struggles to think how else this could’ve happened. Any other man might think, Crap, she switched the drinks, but Ralph is too arrogant. He couldn’t believe a woman like Mia could trick him.
“I…” He shakes his head slowly. Maybe the drugs are making this easier for him to accept, too. “Yeah.”
“Come on, Mia,” I say.
“Bye, Ralph. I had a great lunch!”
Mia and I walk across the street. In the passenger seat, she smiles and waves at Ralph as he stumbles over to his car, opening the backseat and throwing himself down, clearly for a long nap. When he’s no longer looking, Mia shivers and shakes her hands.
“I never knew what cooties were before,” she says. “No, this is one step up. These are radioactive, flesh-eating cootie demons. I hope he doesn’t wake up.”
“This is bad,” I murmur.
“Thank God you were there.” She touches my hand. “Who knows what he would’ve done?”
“It doesn’t take much imagination.”
“Yeah, but with you, he didn’t…” She bites down, wondering how to phrase it. “It didn’t cross that line, right? At least, from the sick stuff he was saying.”
“No, but he was a kid. Maybe he’s gotten worse.”
She shivers again. “It makes me sick.”
“What was he saying?” I ask.
“Nothing, bragging, trying to touch me all the time. Going on and on about his pimpmobile. Do you think we should go to the cops?”
I curl my hands into fists, looking out at the street. It’s easier than looking at Mia and maybe seeing the judgment there, easier than explaining.
“Or my cousins?” she says. “If we went to Elio or Luca, we wouldn’t need to go to the cops. There wouldn’t be a trial. There wouldn’t be any platform for Ralph to talk about things you’d prefer to keep in the past.”
I look at her, nodding. “You really are a mafia princess, Mia. That’s cold.”
“He deserves cold,” she snaps. “Whatever he was going to do with me wasn’t good.”
“You’re right,” I say. “Somebody, once, did something to Ruby. I almost did something crazy about it. After it was…” I pause, looking for a good euphemism for Luca killing that bastard. “… all handled, I was glad it was over. There’s something different about him. I don’t want him to win.”
“How would that be him winning, though?” she asks. “The end is the end, right?”
“I’d only be doing it because I’m scared of him, Mia. I’m scared of what he’ll say and of people knowing and judging me. He would brag in court. With nothing to lose, he’d love it. His big moment to shine. That’s the sort of person he is.”
“So let’s call Elio right now!” Mia says passionately. “There are rules, Lexi. At least, there are supposed to be, and one of them is you don’t fucking hurt little girls!”
Mia is suddenly ultra passionate, her cheeks bright red. She sits back and folds her arms roughly. “Are we going to sit here all night?”
“What about your car?”
“I don’t care. Just drive around the block or something. I feel gross just being close to him.” After I drive for a few minutes, she says, “Sorry for yelling.”
“It’s okay. I agree. It’s what he deserves.”
“It’s not my choice to make,” Mia says. “You got a video of him spiking my drink, right?”
“Yep. I’ll show him on Monday. Rub his face in it.”
“Is that the best idea?” Mia says. “What if he goes nuts at work?”
“I’ll do it on the showroom floor. Then I’ll walk out of there and tell him, if he causes any problems for me, I’ll send it to the news. I’ll ruin his life.”
Mia looks over at me with a small smile. “You seem excited about that.”
