I yank my keys from the ignition and slam my car door open. I never expected Abel would take this to the store, but he’s fucking unhinged, so really, he’ll take it wherever the fuck he wants, just to teach me a lesson.
“We don’t know each other,” she snaps. “Go away.”
“Aww, hey, girlie. You look pretty. Shoot anyone today?”
“Shut up,” she growls. “Strangers don’t say that to each other.”
“Which bit? That you’re pretty, or the shooting bit?”
“Both of them. Get me that mayonnaise, won’t you?”
His laughter slows my steps twenty feet from the front of the store. I push my gun back into the waistband of my jeans and stop against the brick wall.Nope, a little old lady in floral print and hair rollers totally didn’t see me almost shoot up a grocery store.
“You don’t wanna know me, but you need my help getting the mayo from the top shelf? You know what I call that?”
“Smart?”
We both laugh.
“I call that being a user. But…” Grunting, I imagine him reaching to the very top shelf. “I also call it innovative. And Ilovean out of the box thinker. Whatcha doing with mayo and chicken?”
“Oh, ya know. I thought I’d shove it up my ass and see if it works in reverse. It’s a new diet I’m trying. They’re gonna patent it after me. The no-fat, no-shit diet. I haven’t gained a single pound since I started. Haven’t lost a single pound yet, either. But it’s early days.”
I love her.
I can’t believe I fell in love with this woman who speaks of shit as easily as she does.
Hell, I can’t believe I fell in love with this woman who snaps at criminals and cops and everyone else in the universe with absolutely no regard for her life.
Fuck.
I was smiling.
But now I imagine her in a room with Abel.
I think of her inability to shut her trap. Then I imagine Flynn stepping in as coldly as he did with Lisa.
Jess wouldn’t stand a chance. She wouldn’t know to be quiet, and the Infernos crew don’t give second chances.
I ignore our vow of secrecy and walk through the front door of Jonah’s store.
Mayo.
She’s getting mayo.
I head for the condiments aisle and come eye-to-eye with Eric, my neighbor. He knows me. I know him. And when I stop at the opposite end of the aisle and meet his eyes, his lips twitch with knowledge.
“Oh, I see now.” He gives an exaggerated nod like he’s talking to someone with hearing problems. “Chicken and mayo for dinner. My mistake.”
Jess follows his gaze until her face pales. In the time I’ve known her, I realize we’ve never once been seen in public together, except at Infernos, which doesn’t actually count, and the truck stop, which of course is where she took me so we wouldn’t be recognized. Our entire relationship – if one could actually call it that – has consisted of clusterfuck on top of clusterfuck, but none of it has happened in the eye of the regular public. Everything we’ve ever done, every conversation we’ve ever had, was under the cover of darkness, at Infernos, or in my apartment.
So seeing her in a regular store, carrying a shopping basket instead of a gun, wearing heels and a skirt instead of jeans and sneakers, proves the giant fucking chasm between her world and mine.
It reinforces my reasoning for tonight’sdate.
She’ll be taken on a date that’ll never be replicated. A date she’ll never forget.
Moving toward the couple, I snag a bag of potato chips and toss them into her basket. Brushing shoulders with her, but not touching her otherwise – since she’s so fond of not being attached to me in public – I stop in front of my downstairs neighbor and nod. “We good here?”