Chapter 6

Adelaide

“First, you need to eat the damn muffin, so you don’t collapse.”—I closed my eyes a moment, admitting to myself that he was right— “Second, you’re not paying me; and third, by the time I get back, you need a plan on where to go, because I’m not leaving you in this city with whoever the piece of shit is that did that to you.”

“I don’t know where to go,” I admitted.

“You don’t have any family?”

I shook my head no. “My Uncle died a few months back and my Mama passed away a few months before then. There’s no one else. I only have one friend in this city and I have to keep her out of this,” I explained.

He growled under his breath. “Then you have till I get back to figure it out, Honey, cuz I’m not leaving you here, and I ain’t taking you across the country with me.”

“That’s fair,” I let him know.

“What’s your name, girl?”

I glanced around to be sure those closest to us were occupied. “Adelaide,” I croaked.

He nodded, sliding his hand across the table open, in offering. “Beck,” the introduction was curt and short. I met his hand across the table and we shook. He held my hand firm. “Before we part ways, you’re gonna tell me who this motherfucker is,” I swallowed and nodded. He returned the gesture and I pulled the wrapper off my muffin once he released me. I broke the bottom from the top before breaking it into bite-sized pieces. I was so incredibly hungry, but my emotions and my headspace were fighting against the act of eating. It felt wrong to try to fulfill my most basic needs.

Beck watched me carefully, and I put a morsel to my mouth, popping it in. I swallowed, my sore throat tightening, as tears threatened to spill over. “Thank you, Beck. You are my guardian angel today.” He nodded quietly, letting me sit in my feelings before I pulled out a pen, and wrote the dollar amount I wished him to withdraw, and PIN. I reached into my shirt to pull my debit card out of my bra. I know, very ladylike, but I never claimed to be a lady. Thats what wanted, I had played the part for a while but not anymore. Beck just rolled his eyes, as I slipped it under the napkin with my details scrawled out on it. When he reviewed what I wrote, his eyes widened, and I folded my arms under my breasts.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, Ma’am, where is the closest ATM?” he asked.

“Three blocks south, next to a little diner called Jan’s Spot, It’s a red building,” I informed him.

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