“What the fuck for?”
“She needed to drive the thing for a half hour or so to make sure the battery was charged, I gave her a twenty and told her to take her kid brother out for some fast food for a change.”
“Oh, good call. I’ll get you back next time I see you.”
“Fuckin’ yeah, you will.”
“Cheap bastard,” I accused.
“Dumb cunt. Anyways, her principal or some shit came out to make sure I wasn’t some kind of pedo. I think he was keepin’ an eye on her from inside. He didn’t look any kind of thrilled about one of us showing up for the save. Better watch your ass. Maren may be a good kid, but she ain’t what you gotta worry about. One of these well-meaning bastard’s will be the ones to have you up on charges and AZ was downright liberal compared to these bible thumping assholes out here.”
I rolled my eyes, “I get you, bro. Later.”
“Bye.”
I hung up with Arch and sighed. My hands ached some, and I still had some clean up to do. I’d do it, and then I’d call Maren, see what I could get out of her. I’d heard that little cock-weasel on the line clear as day, threatening my girl. Something wasn’t right. That wasn’t nobody and it sure as hell wasn’t nothing.
I stripped down my table and threw the sheets in the in-house washer, tossing in a couple pillow packs of soap. I’d turn it on first thing in the morning. Then, between massages, I’d throw the shit from the washer into the dryer. By the time my second massage of the day was up, they’d be dry and ready to use.
I made up the table tonight, that way it was one less thing I had to do come first thing in the morning. I drank down a bottle of water from the mini-fridge, crushed down the bottle, capped it, and tossed its little carcass into the recycling underneath one of my cabinets where I kept it alongside a gallon jug of massage oil. I washed my hands at the sink in my area and dried them off before picking up my phone to call my girl.
She picked up on the fourth ring, “Hello?”
“Hey, Angel. Heard your car started right up.”
She blew out an explosive breath and said, “Yes, thank you. I’m sorry I had to call you. I promise to pay better attention to what I’m doing in the future.”
“It’s no problem. Archer treat you okay?”
“He’s… intense,” she said and I laughed.
“Yeah, yeah he is. Always been that way, too. So what are you doing?”
“Um, took Sage out for Taco Tuesday and now we’re at the table doing our homework.”
“Aw, shit! I missed Taco Tuesday?”
She laughed. “Yeah, yeah you did.”
“How’s homework going? Almost done?
“Yeah, it’s almost bedtime for us. What about you? Late night at the office?”
“Yeah, Tuesday nights aren’t usually, but I been trying to fit one or two extra massages in to clear up the gift certificates from over the holidays. Been putting in some tens rather than my usual eights.”
“Going home to get some sleep yourself then?”
“After we talk about what I heard earlier, yeah. Can I come by?”
Silence on the other end of the line, and finally she murmured, “Tonight isn’t the best night.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, disappointed, and sure now, more than ever, that something wasn’t right. “You guys got much longer on your homework?”
“Not too much longer. Like I said, we both need to get to bed soon.”
“Tell you what, I’m gonna head back to my place, fix some dinner and by the time I do that, and grab a shower, you should be in bed. Call me or text me when you are and we’ll finish this conversation that way… and Maren?”
“Yeah?”
