Reaper Unleashed (5 page)

“Yes sir,” she said, watching him nod and storm out of the room. Sammy entered the back again looking worried.

“What happened?” she demanded.

“That witch who spilled her drink told Hal I did it.”

“Damned bitch! I wanted to pour the whole pitcher of water over her head when she was yelling at you to get your ass over there to fix it. I can’t believe she actually told Hal that you did it,” Sammy said, her blue eyes lit with indignation on Sarah’s behalf.

“I did too. She was not a very nice woman.” Sarah stood up, sighing when she felt the pain from standing on her feet for too many hours again. If it was allowed she’d wear sensible shoes but Hal wouldn’t allow them to. He was very adamant that women wear dress shoes to work. Sarah moved towards the door; time to get back to work.

Sammy was still standing in the doorway glaring after Hal who’d entered his office in the back of the kitchens. She needed to prevent the other woman from doing anything stupid. “So what happened with tall, rough and handsome?”

“Ha, he wasn’t interested. Said he’s married. That’s the story of my life, all the hottest men are taken.” Sammy sighed when Sarah laughed, looping her arm with Sammy’s.

“It’s not like you wanted to keep him, Sam. You just wanted a good hard ride.” Sarah laughed wickedly at her friend.

“Eh, it’s still the story of my life. They’re all tied up with a woman or ugly as fuck. I swear that every man in this town is taken,” Sammy told her as they exited the kitchen.

“Well maybe not every good looking man. You seem to find a lot of them at that bar you hang out at. You know, the one you’re always trying to get me to go to with you,” Sarah said in a low voice.

“Yeah, that’s cause you need to get laid, Chica!” Sammy said quietly before heading over to wait on one of her tables after throwing a cheeky grin at Sarah over her shoulder. Shaking her head, Sarah went to relieve Meg, Hal’s sister, who normally covered their breaks and ran the register.

It was three hours later that things began to wind down for the night. It was about eight thirty and the diner was a ghost town. They were cleaning the tables and hoping that no one else came in when the bell above the door chimed and a man walked in followed by three others. They all looked like bad news and Sarah hoped they didn’t sit at her tables. Sammy was wiping down one in her section watching the men warily.

Hal was at the counter writing in the ledgers and glanced up at the men before going back to the accounts. He was never bothered unless the men were wearing cuts. These men weren’t. That didn’t, however, reassure Sarah or Sammy. They were both worried the men would sit in their section because neither of them wanted to serve the mean-looking men.

The first man sat down and Sarah wanted to cry. Of course they’d chosen her table. Otherwise she’d have been able to head home after she’d finished cleaning her tables. Sammy came over to the table she’d been wiping down and asked, “Want me to stay so you can get home to Josh? I know he’s with that new sitter.”

Sarah wanted to say yes and leave, but she felt bad because she’d left early last night and apparently they’d gotten busy after she’d left. They’d run Sammy ragged all night. Sighing, she shook her head. “No, go home. I got off early last night and I know you’re planning a night out because you’re off tomorrow.”

Sammy grinned, hugging her. “You’re the best! I’ll finish cleaning this one, go help them then I’ll get out of here, my side’s done.”

Sarah nodded and headed over to the table to get the men’s orders. They were whispering about something and when she stood next to the table one of them grinned cockily at her. Damn, they were going to be assholes, she thought grimly. Just freaking great!

“Sweet stuff, you’re looking fine tonight.”

“Thank you. What would you like?” she asked politely.

“For you to suck my cock,” said the man across the table, his almost black eyes looking at her evilly. She just waited; having learned a long time ago if you ignored comments like those they would normally stop making them.

“Nothing to say, sweet stuff?” the first man asked again.

“Would you like some drinks while you decide what you’d like to eat?” she asked again politely.

“Oh, I see she’s going to ignore what we say. So I guess we can be really vulgar then. Well, Grant here wants a blowjob, but I’ll take a burger. Mark, anything for you?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one of both. The food then the blowjob,” he said laughing.

“I’ll take a soda and a basket of fries myself,” the last man said.

“Bring me a soda too, then you can give me that sweet mouth.” Turning on her heel, Sarah went to put the orders in and make the drinks. Sammy was walking from the back, her purse in her hand. Sarah must have had a sour look on her face because the other woman glared towards the men before she demanded, “What did they do?”

“They were just being men. Nothing I can’t handle. They’re probably here to try to get into one of the biker clubs or maybe they came from that strip club that’s a few blocks away. I’ll be fine. Go, get out of here,” Sarah told her, pushing on her shoulder.

“Are you sure?” Sammy asked, looking as if she’d put off her plans. Sarah didn’t want that. She could handle the stupid jerks. They were just being assholes.

“Yes, now get out of here!” Sammy kissed her cheek and told her to watch herself and to have Hal walk her out. She nodded as she watched the other woman walk out. Sarah got the drinks and brought them to the table. After a few more vulgar comments, she left them to refill the salt and pepper shakers.

She was just finishing up when their order was up. She grabbed the plates, glancing at Hal who was still sitting at the opposite end of the counter doing the books. He didn’t even glance up. She wondered absently if she was attacked if the man would even notice. Taking the plates over to their table, she set them down and asked if they needed anything else.

“Yes, sweet stuff, I do. I need you to sit down here and talk with us while we eat. Then we can go out back for those blowjobs.” He grinned darkly at her.

Sarah shook her head. Enough was enough; these assholes needed to be told to fuck off. “Sorry, look, I am not interested in sitting with a bunch of men with small pecker syndrome. Eat you dinner and get out.” She turned on her heel and headed to the counter to continue refilling the condiments. She was halfway there when someone grabbed her arm, twisting it hard.

“Bitch! I told you to sit with us. I should beat that hoity toity attitude out of you. You think you’re too good for us? Do you, bitch?” It was the one who’d demanded a blowjob who held her and Sarah felt herself trembling. He was going to hit her she realized. Fear was causing her heart to pound in her ears.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Hal demanded, now standing beside her. “Let her go.”

Sarah sighed in relief when the man let her arm go. Hal’s wife was standing in the door of the kitchen holding a rifle on the man. She hurried to step closer to Hal, almost behind him.

“I don’t want trouble but this bitch just insulted us. I’m about to join the Blue Bandits as a prospect and this little bitch insulting me isn’t something I will put up with,” the man growled.

Hal turned his glare on her. Great, just freaking great. Sarah tried to edge back; this was not going to be her night she could see. This was going to end up with her losing her job. She could see it on Hal’s face and right now she couldn’t afford to lose her job.

“I’m very sorry. I will handle this. You go on back to your table and eat. Tell Reaper I took care of it, okay.”

Sarah knew what was going to happen and she felt tears threaten her eyes at she watched the man return to his seat. Hal took her arm, gently steering her into the back. He looked oddly sympathetic.

“Look, Sarah, I’m sorry. I have to let you go. I know that out there wasn’t likely your fault but if he’s joining the Bandits I don’t have a choice. They always take care of their own, you know that. You need to watch your mouth.”

“Please Hal, don’t fire me. Please, I need this job,” Sarah pleaded even though she knew it would do no good.

“I’m sorry. You need to leave when they’re still in here. I can’t guarantee that you’ll make it safely home otherwise so get your stuff and get out of here. Come by next week for your paycheck for the past two days,” Hal said, letting her arm go.

Sarah wanted to scream. She should have let Sam stay. She was an idiot for opening her mouth. How many times had she opened her mouth and said something stupid. Grabbing her things, she walked out of the back headed to the door with her head down, her eyes filled with tears.

“Where are you going, bitch? Did he fire you! Ha, that will teach you to keep your smart mouth shut! Or on my cock!” he said, making the other men laugh. She hurried to the door without even glancing at them. She exited the building, rushing to get to her car in case they followed her. She was opening the door when she saw him walk out. She got in slamming the door and prayed her car would start.

When she cranked it and it was idling, she slammed it into gear and tore out of the parking lot, checking behind her for headlights all the way back to the motel.

Sarah was still shaking when she pulled into the parking lot beside her and Josh’s room. She was relieved to see that no one who’d been behind her had turned into the parking lot after her. She’d been worried that they’d follow her. She sighed in relief before she burst into tears. Having been scared out of her wits while driving back here, she hadn’t let the near hopeless state of her and Josh’s future hit her. Now that the adrenalin was exiting, she was breaking.

She wiped the tears from her face and got out of the car. Having another pity party wasn’t going to help. She would just have to find another job. It was the only way that she’d be able to live with herself. She supposed if things got really bad she could ask Sammy if they could stay with her. Not that she wanted to do that; Sammy was a good friend and she didn’t want to take advantage of their friendship. Sammy lived in a one-room apartment on the other side of town and she wasn’t going to live there with her unless it was the last resort.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to live with her, it was more that Sarah was against asking for a hand-out. Her mother had done that most of her young life and Sarah refused to be her mother. She’d loved her mother dearly but she’d always thought that everyone she knew should take care of her, that they should be her crutch, and so Sarah’s first sixteen years had been difficult. She’d been moved from home to home, living off other people’s charity, and she refused to raise Josh that way.

Sarah walked to her door, opening it to see Josh laughing as he played patty cake with Derik, who sat cross legged on the floor. Derik turned when she opened the door and smiled. “Look, Josh, it’s your mommy,” he said getting up.

Josh jumped off the floor and raced over to her and she caught him, lifting him into her arms. He peppered her face with kisses making Sarah laugh. “Mama,” he said, holding her cheeks in his palms.

“Hi, baby. I take it you had fun with Derik?” she asked. Seeing him smiling was reassuring. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him smile when she’d gotten home from work when he’d stayed with Marta.

“Played, mama. Appiesauce,” Josh said giggling.

“Ah, yes. I think I might have overdone the applesauce a bit. He finished the bottle you opened this morning. He kept asking and I just couldn’t tell him no,” Derik said looking sheepish. Sarah smiled, feeling relieved that Josh had been taken care of. Maybe more than half of a forty-six ounce bottle was a bit of an over indulgence, but she’d rather him have enough to eat than be starved as he had been in the past few weeks while staying with Marta.

Sarah shook her head still grinning at him. “I see you got suckered, huh?” she teased.

Derik laughed; it was a deep full-bellied laugh that was infectious. “Yeah, I think I did. He’s just so stinking cute. I love kids and well, me being me, I don’t get to spend much time with them. It makes it hard to resist the cuteness.”

“Well, just don’t let it happen next time and we’ll let it slide,” Sarah told him, still smiling.

“Sure thing. Do you need me to keep him tomorrow night?” he asked looking hopeful.

“No, I’m off,” she fibbed, not wanting to tell him that she’d lost her job.

“Oh, well, I’m off the day after tomorrow so if you need me to watch him then I can.” He looked a bit disappointed. She had a feeling it was because she’d told him she didn’t need him to keep Josh. She would bet he thought that she didn’t want him to keep Josh because of his fashion choices.

“Actually could you keep him during the day that day? Just for an hour or two while I go out?” Sarah asked him, because she couldn’t very well take Josh on her job search.

“Yeah, sure. What time?” Derik said grinning widely. It made him appear much younger than she’d thought and she wondered how old he was.

“Around two maybe?” she asked and he nodded.

“Okay, I can do that. I’ll be going so you can get this little man into bed then,” he said, making faces at Josh again. Josh giggled, “Dek, funny.” Sarah laughed.

“Guess you’re Dek, huh.”

“Seems so. He couldn’t say Derik.” Derik shrugged before he headed to the door after another little wave. “Night, Sarah. Bye buddy, I’ll see you on Thursday.” He shut the door and Sarah was relieved that at least one part of her night had gone well. She was sure that her son truly liked Derik and he seemed to be really good with kids. That was one less thing to worry about.

She quickly got them ready for bed and lay in the dark with her mind swirling around, wondering what the hell she was going to do now that she didn’t have a job.

Sarah climbed into her car and drove towards the other diner in town. It wasn’t as nice as Hal’s and didn’t pay as well. She hoped, just hoped, that they had an opening. She would try for one of the office positions that she’d found on the job listings for the area which were posted on a billboard near the motel, but she knew from experience that it never worked out. She wasn’t good with numbers. She got them mixed up sometimes and it had caused more than a few problems for her.

She wasn’t stupid, it was just that sometimes the number she meant to write came out wrong and Sarah didn’t notice. She could still remember how embarrassed she’d been when one of her employers had asked her if she was stupid in front of everyone in a meeting before firing her for her third mix-up. She’d decided then that office jobs weren’t for her.

She was good with credits, that wasn’t the problem, it was just that when she wrote things down sometimes it was wrong. Sarah sighed, pulling up to the diner. There had only been three jobs on the board that hadn’t been office jobs: Hal’s, which she wasn’t going to get for obvious reasons, a waitress job for the Blue Bird strip club that she would like to avoid, and a daycare job that she thought was ideal. She’d set up an interview for five.

Not one to put all her eggs in one basket, she’d decided to drive to the other local diner to see if they had any openings. She was also going to check the restaurant that was on the next street. Getting out of the car, she walked to the door and stepped inside.

The place was rather run down and looked like it hadn’t been given a good scrubbing in a long time. She watched as a woman wearing an apron and a blue striped dress came towards her.

“You can sit where you like,” the woman told Sarah.

“Oh, I actually wondered if I could speak to the person who does the hiring.”

“We don’t have any openings,” the man behind her growled as he moved up behind the woman. “Especially not for someone who’s been fired.”

Sarah was shocked; how did he know she’d been fired? “Um, may I ask how you know that?”

“Sure. We were warned. Feller came in here yesterday telling us that we shouldn’t hire anyone fitting your description cause she was fired for rudeness and dumping stuff on people. We don’t want none of that here, missy. Now have a sit and eat or get out,” the man growled glaring at her.

Sarah was shocked because this must be the work of that asshole that she’d insulted last night. The man was trying to prevent her from getting another job. How dare he! He’d come in here and told these people she might come in and request a job. She was pissed.

Leaving the diner, she drove to the restaurant only to get told the same thing. She was livid but at least she still had the interview for this afternoon. She glanced at her watch. She’d have just enough time to go to the last place on her list, a cleaning company that took in laundry.

Sarah was beyond mad when she discovered that the man had also come to the cleaners with the same story and she wondered if there was a single place in this town that the man hadn’t gone to and bad-mouthed her. She was about to head to her interview when her phone rang. Not knowing the number, she answered hesitantly.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Miss Banner?”

“Yes, this is Miss Banner.”

“Perfect. I hope I caught you before you left to come to your interview with us at Sunshine Day School. If not, I am sorry. I’m calling to let you know that we actually just hired the last applicant who showed up and won’t be needing you to interview. We appreciate your interest,” the woman said and Sarah wanted to cry. She’d been counting on the interview, hoping that he hadn’t gone to the daycares too. Only now it looked like she wasn’t even going to get a chance.

“Oh, well, um, do you want me to interview anyway in case this person doesn’t work out?” she asked, hoping they’d say yes.

“No, thank you for offering but that’s not necessary. We will keep you on the call list and if another position opens up, you’ll be on the list for us to call first. Thanks again, Miss Banner, and we will call you if we have an opening.”

Sarah woodenly thanked the woman and smacked her head against the steering wheel. Damn, now what was she going to do?

That was when a sign across the street caught her eye. It read Blue Bird Strip Club and Sarah stared at it for a long moment. She closed her eyes. This was crazy but she was sure that asshole wouldn’t have walked into a strip club and bad mouthed her. Then again he’d said he was soon to be a prospect with the Blue Bandits and everyone around here knew that they ran the Blue Bird.

She knew that she could pack up Josh and just drive away when her paid weeks at the motel were up, go to another town and get a job, but she’d miss Sammy, and she’d never had somewhere to call home and she wanted that. Being here with Sammy over the last three years had kept her strong. When Cody had handed her the credits and told her to get the abortion, she hadn’t known what to do. She was alone with a baby on the way and she’d known damned good and well that she wasn’t going to kill her baby.