“From where?”
“The bar.”
“I can’t do that…” I struggle with what to say to her that will make sense without having to tell the truth. “Can’t we meet somewhere else? Or maybe you could call the police if there’s something bad going on.”
“I can’t call the cops… I did something… Look, this is really important,” she pleads and it sounds like she’s crying. “You know that guy that I’ve been dating? The one I met from AA?”
“I remember you vaguely talking about him.”
“Well, he and I… well, we’ve been hooking up a lot and I thought I was falling in love with him and everything… But he wasn’t what I thought he was and he got me into some trouble. And I… Look, I really just need you to come get me. I’m hiding out in the back room and I need you to drive me to my place so I can get some stuff and then go to the bus station. I have to get the hell out of town now.”
“What about River?” I ask. “Is he there?”
“No, he never showed up for work tonight,” she tells me and she starts sobbing so hysterically I can barely understand her. “And I don’t dare walk into the bar anyway. I need to lay low… make sure as few people see me as possible.”
“Where’s your car?” I ask, glancing at the clock. “How did you even get to the bar?”
“My car’s home… he dropped me off here… or more like kicked me out,” she says sniffling. “Maddie, I really need you right now. Please?”
I want to tell her just to take the bus, but it makes me feel like an ass**le when clearly she’s upset. I knew I should have never made friends with anyone. There’s this unfamiliar sense of obligation to help her out, even if it means getting into trouble. Beside, maybe if I go to her, I can convince her to talk to the police and help eliminate that suspicion toward me. Although, it still won’t explain my fingerprints in whoever’s blood is painting Bella’s house.
“Fine, give me like twenty minutes and I’ll be there,” I say grabbing my leather jacket from my closet.
“Okay,” she says, her voice hoarse. “Thank you so much, Maddie. It means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome,” I say and hang up, only realizing the alarm is going to go off like a firecracker on the forth of July the moment I open the door. “Now, what?” I ask my reflection as I pull my hair back into a ponytail and put some eyeliner on.
“I’m not the one who told her I’d come get her,” my reflection replies as I apply some red lipstick. “And honestly, the whole thing seems sketchy to me.”
“Yeah, me too…” I shake my head as I pick up my keys. “But I still think I should go down there, even if it is to check on her. It’s important… I need to see… to know if she’s real for myself.”
“Then go,” Lily says with a shrug. “Your mother’s not going to do anything when the alarm goes off—she never does.”
I consider it, but not for very long, then I slip on a pair of boots and I head out of my room. At the front door, I take a deep breath and hesitate before I turn the doorknob. The alarm sounds off and I throw my hands over my ears, running out of the house and to my car parked at the end of the driveway. By the time I have the engine started, my mother’s looking at me from the front doorway. She’s wearing her pajamas, her hair undone, and beneath the light of the porch she looks exhausted. I wait for her to run out and yell at me, but she just scrutinizes me with a look like I just shattered her heart into a thousand pieces. Like I’m about to vanish from her life, like I did six years ago. Like she’s given up on something, perhaps protecting me.
“She could call the cops,” I say, buckling my seatbelt with my eyes glued on my mother. “Technically she owns this car.”
She won’t.
“I hope so,” I say, putting it into reverse and backing down the driveway. “I really do.”
I drive to the bar in fear, constantly checking my rearview mirror for flashing lights and listening for sirens, but they never come. Maybe Lily does know what she’s talking about.
When I reach the bar, it’s around two o’clock, nearing closing time, yet there’s still a lot of people loitering around outside and crammed in the inside. The place is packed, lights low and flashing, and the air smells like must and beer. The music is throbbing, and there are people dancing everywhere, the bar on the stage is empty. The dancers are by the tables instead. As I squeeze my way in deeper, my eyes instantly go to the office window above and I breathe freely when I see that the lights are off. I focus on heading for the back room to get Bella when I get intervened by the waitress who was giving me dirty looks the last time I was here.
“Hey,” she says, rushing over to me like we’re friends. “I need your help.”
“I’m just dropping by,” I say, my gaze skimming the thick crowd. “Nothing more.”
She ignores me, grabbing my arm and tugging me to the bar area where men are crowded around waiting for their drinks. She grabs a few shot glasses and turns them right side up.
“It’s been so busy here,” she explains, getting a bottle of tequila from the shelf behind the bar. “I’m so glad you showed up.” She starts filling the glasses with the golden liquid. “I really needed help tonight.”
Shaking my head, I start to back away, ignoring a few perverted remarks from some of the men sitting in the barstools—nice ass, let me see those tits—I’ve heard it all. “I said I didn’t come here to work. I just need to check in the back room for something.”
I notice her hands are shaking as she pours the drinks and she ends up spilling as much tequila on the counter as she gets into the glasses. “Good, then you can take one of the many guys, who’ve been requesting to go back there, with you,” she says, taking some money from a tall man with a beard for the shots. “I can’t keep up with all the madness.”
I pause, arching my brow. “And why is that my problem?” I ask as she strides to the back wall to put the tequila back on the shelf with the rest of the hard alcohol.
She shakes her head, looking frazzled as she wipes her hands on the sides of her skin tight jeans and releases an unsteady breath. “Maddie, I’m so sorry for being such a bitch the other day… Please just help me out with this and I’ll owe you a huge, epic favor.”