I shook my head.
“See? He took you in. Just like a stray.”
That was the first time I considered being there as anything other than a violation of my free will, and Preppy made me see that.
“I mean, yeah, he saved me,” I conceded. “But on the other hand, he also expects me to pay off a debt that isn’t mine by bending to his psychotic will.”
“There are two sides to every argument. Two ways to be wrong. Two ways to be right,” he sang as we passed the fire pit in the back yard. It wasn’t just a hole in the ground as I’d previously thought, but a large brick circle built a few feet off the ground. Beyond the pit, at the end of the huge yard, was a wooden dock with mangroves threatening to swallow it on either side. From the dock was the mirror calm waters of the bay surrounded by nothing but nature.
No other houses. No other docks.
A bird took off from a nearby tree, shaking the branches. It hovered just inches above the glassy water. A small black snake dangled from its beak.
This place was as confusing as King. Hard edges, unfinished and unrefined, yet mysterious and beautiful in it’s own way.
A tattered frat house in some ways and a complete paradise in others.
“Who else lives here?” I asked as we entered a side door to the detached garage. Tarps at different stages of fading covered rows of what I assumed were cars and bikes. They hung thick with dust motes, like everything was wrapped a dirty fog. Specs of debris came alive in the one ray of sun that invaded the otherwise dark garage, through the corner of a broken window.
“It’s just the two of us in the main house,” Preppy said, lifting the tarp off of a shiny black sedan that looked like something right out of a movie from the fifties. “But Bear keeps an apartment here in the garage. He crashes here when he doesn’t feel like being at the clubhouse, which is a lot lately.” He gestured to the door at the far end of the wall that was covered from top to bottom with random bumper stickers.
Preppy started the car then ran to open the garage door. He drove the car out of the garage and put it in park so he could repeat the garage door routine except this time he closed it.
He rolled us down the driveway at an extremely slow pace. “Don’t want to kick mud up onto Busty Betty,” Preppy informed me, lightly smacking the steering wheel.
“You named your car?”
“Um…yeah, of course. Everything important should have a name.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” I said, no longer referring to the car.
“Oh come on. You are important. And you do have a name. We just don’t know it yet. Maybe, your name totally sucks. Like it could be Petunia Peoplebeater or something. You should be grateful that you are possibly avoiding a total name tragedy,” Preppy joked.
“I guess Doe is better than Petunia Peoplebeater,” I agreed with a laugh.
“Damn right it is.” Preppy accelerated once we reached the end of the driveway and turned onto the road.
The only town I’d been to before Logan’s Beach was Harper’s Ridge. Along with being a much more populated area further inland, it also held the dubious distinction of being where I had first woken up in that alley. Where Nikki had first befriended me, if you could call it that.
Fucking Nikki.
Something tugged at me from deep inside when I thought about her. A part of me wanted to mourn her loss like I’d known her all my life, instead of a few weeks. A piece of me wanted to cry for her, but I shook those thoughts away because she didn’t deserve my tears. She’d abandoned me.
The bitch shot me.
Preppy gave me a tour as he drove. When we crossed over a steep bridge, I learned that it was ‘The Causeway’ referred to by the graffiti on the side of the house.
I found myself sticking my head out the window like a dog. When I opened my mouth, I could taste the salty air on my tongue.
I could be back on the street at any minute, so I decided to enjoy the time I had free of the burden of my immediate survival.
Our first stop was at a tiny well-kept home with white siding. Preppy put the car in park. “Stay here,” he ordered, before getting out and slamming the door.
I leaned back in the seat, preparing to wait for him when he startled me by suddenly appearing at my window.
“I want to be your friend, kid,” he told me. “I feel real fucking sorry for what you’ve been through. I know what it’s like to go through shit and end up on the other side of it. I’m a nice guy, for the most part. But just because I’m nice doesn’t mean you should take advantage. You did that once, and I let that shit go. I just hope you’re not fucking stupid enough to do it again. So, this shouldn’t need to be said, but I feel like I need to say it anyway. Don’t go anywhere, ok? Don’t try and run away. Cause it doesn’t matter that you’re my friend. I’ll slit your fucking throat and leave you to rot somewhere no one would ever find you, mmmmkay?”
He tapped the tip of my nose and jogged up the driveway. Leaving me stunned in the passenger seat.
The front door partially opened as Preppy stepped up onto the porch, like the person on the other side had been waiting for him. Preppy shuffled sideways and disappeared into the house.
I sat back against the cushy leather seat. Thankfully, he’d left the car running and the AC blasting. Although there was a breeze on top of the causeway, here on flat land the air was stagnant, the humidity so thick I could see it rising from the grass.
I rolled my jeans up to above the knee in order to keep cool.
Preppy’s warning, although freaky as shit, wasn’t necessary. There was nowhere for me to go.
I’ll protect you, King had said.
And sometime over Preppy’s pancakes, I’d resolved to stay. King said he wouldn’t force himself on me, so all I had to do was enjoy the free room and board and not give into King.
You’re going to beg for it.
Yeah, right. He could keep on believing that while I kept on eating pancakes.
It was forty-five minutes before the front door opened. An older woman walked out onto the porch with Preppy and brought him in for an extended hug. She held his face in her hands and spoke to him intimately, her forehead almost touching his. Preppy gave her a kiss on the cheek and waved to her as he got back in the car.
“You okay?” he asked, turning the car back onto the road.
“Yeah. Why? Are you surprised I’m still here?”
“Nah, but there is just no cloud cover today. The sun is fucking BRUTAL even with the AC on high, and that took a lot longer than usual. Gladys, she’s a talker.” He gestured to my rolled up jeans. “But it looks like you worked it out.”
“I’m fine. Is Gladys your grandmother?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Preppy said with a devious grin on his face. “She’s business.”
“Business? What kind of business do you have that includes spending forty-five minutes in an older woman’s home?”
Then, it hit me. Preppy must have seen the recognition cross my face.
“What?” he asked.
“Did you have sex with her?”
“Oh my god, you think I’m a hooker!” Preppy pounded his fist against the steering wheel. He pulled over to the side of the road and wiped the tears from his eyes as he laughed himself into an uncontrollable fit.
“It’s not that funny,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Yes, yes it is, kid. What exactly did King tell you about me? Did he somehow mention I got a thing for old ladies? Because if he did, I’m gonna kick his fucking ass, cause it ain’t true.”
“No, he didn’t say that, but you were in there for a while, and she seemed to like you. A lot. If she wasn’t your grandmother, then I just thought…”
“Go ahead and say it. You thought I was a hooker, pleasuring her with my man meat and getting paid for it.” He turned toward me and leaned back against the driver’s side door.
“Well, yeah, but now that you say it that way, it sounds ridiculous.”
“That’s because it is ridiculous,” Preppy said, plucking a pack of cigarettes from the center console. He cranked down his window and lit one, turning his head from me to blow the smoke outside the car. He put the car back in drive and pulled onto the road. “I think I’ll like being your babysitter after all.”
I felt my face redden, “You don’t have to make fun of me. I may not have much of a memory, but I do have feelings, so can we please just pretend like this never happened?”
“Yes ma’am, I’ll forget all about it,” Preppy said, although the amused look on his face said that was never going to happen. Preppy pulled up in front of another house that looked almost identical to the first one, except this one was blue instead of white. “I’ll tell you what, kid. Why don’t you come inside and see for yourself what it is that I do?”
“No, thank you. I’ll just stay here and melt into the seat,” I huffed, sounding very much like the brat I was being.
“Nope. My reputation is on the line here. You’re coming in,” Preppy said, turning the engine off. With that, the AC let out a hiss as it expressed the last bit of cold air through the vents.
“I thought you were going to forget all about it.”