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“I met your mother,” she says, blowing smoke out of her nose. “She came in to buy some booze. She asked about you. But don’t worry, I covered for you while you were on your little date with the Landry boy.”
Every detail of last night’s date with Tommy is still vivid in my mind. Afterward, I thought it was him…the person who murdered Daniel. I was completely vulnerable when he held that knife to my thigh, controlling my every move, utterly exposed. And similar to how I was with Remy when he had me in his bed, I liked it.
I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Mama didn’t say anything about it.”
She stubs out her cigarette before walking to the counter. “I told her you were in town running an errand for me. She wasn’t thrilled you were gone, but she seemed to believe it.”
As she speaks, two men enter, their boots covered in mud—farmers from the looks of them with their overalls—and she waves at them.
They stroll by, keeping their eyes on me as they move toward the milk fridge. One of them gives me a toothless grin as he passes. The teeth he does have are black like tar.
Mrs. Holly doesn’t seem bothered by her unsightly customers and continues pestering me about Mama. “What’s her story? Widowed?”
“No, not widowed.”
She snickers. “Scorned then. She looks like a scorned woman.” Her eyes darken. “I don’t mind covering for you…but if you need me to do it again, it’s going to cost you.”
Ignoring the two men, I turn and face her. “I don’t have any money, Mrs. Holly.”
She gives me a sour look. “Your mama’s starting to get a reputation in town. I saw her the other day at bingo. I don’t want any trouble, girl. If she comes in drinking like that, it will scare off my other customers.”
“It won’t happen again.”
After the two men pass, casting a lingering, lascivious stare my way, they go to pay and leave. Unsettled, I inhale deeply as soon as the door closes behind them. Something about them felt wrong.
Mrs. Holly looks at me. “I need you to cover the till for the rest of the night. I’m heading out.”
My stomach sinks. She’s just leaving me alone, knowing those two men are around?
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
She watches me for a second. “Don’t go stealing anything from me.”
“I won’t, Mrs. Holly.”
“And don’t you dare go running off with Tommy.”
I stare past the door but see nothing but dust and darkness. The two men are gone. I’m probably paranoid. “I promise I won’t.”
My stomach flutters thinking of what Tommy and I did last night. How intense he was…and how badly I want him inside me.
It’s dark by the time Mrs. Holly leaves FreshMart. No one has entered the store since the two men in overalls. At least we close early on Sundays. Mrs. Holly only keeps the store open to serve the locals. Marty sometimes drops by to see how I’m doing, but I haven’t seen him today.
I sit at the till and eventually open a box of crackers and dip them into a honey jar. I can’t eat too much, because Mrs. Holly threatens to fire me daily, and I believe she’d do it. I suck on the cracker while looking down at my math textbook.
There’s a full moon tonight, and it’s clear, so I head back to get some fresh air. A gentle breeze kisses my face, and I instinctively raise my head when I notice a shadow moving in my peripheral vision. “Hello?”
Wind and silence.
“Hello?” I say again. I swear, I heard someone…saw shadows dancing in the trees and switchgrass.
I hitch a breath as a man in a burlap mask takes a step forward, wearing all black, and seems to steal the light from the moon itself. He places his fingers up to his mouth, telling me to be quiet.
Pure, primal fear washes over me, and I stand there confused.
This doesn’t seem like a joke. The air itself is heavy, suffocating, like this man is stealing my soul from the look he’s giving me, stealing the life out of me…until I see the boots. I know those boots.
Remy.
