A Very Venom Christmas - Kristine Allen Page 0,20
screen, I saw that he’d ended the call. The dollar store was less than a block from home, so I held my phone until I pulled into my driveway. Then I called him back.
It rang, but he didn’t answer. The voicemail wasn’t set up. Of course it wasn’t. I tried again, but he still didn’t answer. What did he mean, he’d be here soon? He was easily three or four hours away. Glancing at the clock on the dash, I realized that would put him here in the middle of the night.
Idiot man.
Frustrated, I dropped my phone in my purse, grabbed my pizza, and headed to the back door. The front door was old, and real wood. Evidently age and/or the weather had caused it to warp or swell so I couldn’t get it to open. It was on my list of things to do, but it wasn’t a priority.
My back porch light had miraculously been repaired again, but I hadn’t planned on being out late, so I hadn’t turned it on before I left.
Something made my trash can move on the side of my detached garage, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Movement had me spinning toward the corner of the house as blood pounded in my ears. A yellow streak ran past my feet with a hiss, followed by a darker streak, and I laughed at my foolishness.
“Jesus, it was two damn cats.” I chuckled nervously as my pulse slowed, and I held a shaking hand to my brow.
As I turned back to go inside, a large body slammed into my back. I hit the ground hard with my purse, and the pizza box skidded across the driveway into the yard.
“Oof!” The wind was knocked out of me and my face was shoved into the concrete.
“Got you” was whispered in my ear as I started to scream before fingers dug into my neck and squeezed.
“Invincible”—Adelitas Way
Earlier…
After I’d packed up all of Grams’s shit that morning, I stopped to see Snow before I needed to leave. I’d convinced myself to stay away from Loralei. I’d decided it was better to let Snow and the boys check on her for me.
I’d been procrastinating leaving as I sat at DS Customs having a beer with Snow, Hollywood, and Reaper. Then Joker stopped by, and we started talking about ink. Next thing I knew, Hacker, Blue, and DJ came in.
We were chilling and laughing when Soap came into the shop. “Hey, Snow. Some chick is here to see you. Want me to tell her you’re busy?”
“Nah, let me see what she needs,” he replied before saying to me, “Do you need to go, or will you be okay to wait a few minutes?”
I glanced at the time. “I’m good if you’re not gonna be too long. I’d like to get on the road before it gets too late, but I’m not afraid of a little snow.”
He chuckled. “Maybe you should be.”
We both laughed, knowing he was referencing himself. “Man, get the fuck out of here.”
He got up and went up front while the boys and I shot the shit.
When Snow came back, he had a weird look on his face. “Everything okay?”
Turned out “the chick” was Loralei and it was me she wanted to talk to. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted her to know you were here. Then she said it was personal and a ‘delicate situation,’ and it put me on alert.”
Standing up, I dropped the bottle in the trash. “Let me go see what she needs.”
“I sent her on her way.” As he walked with me toward the door, he appeared to consider his next words. “Bro, I don’t mean to tell you your business, but what if she’s batshit crazy? Why don’t you call her first? See what she has to say, then maybe head over. Or not.”
Knowing he was right, I forced myself to breathe slowly and deeply. “You have a good point.”
He fidgeted briefly, and I wondered what was up. Finally, he sighed. “Look, I need you to know I looked into her after I remembered she’d worked for us.”
My hackles rose a bit, but I bit my tongue. “Why?”
“Well, when you had us help her out with her vehicle and her house, I thought she looked familiar. I remembered she’d been a waitress with us.”
“Yeah, you said that.”
“Well, there’s more. She did time down in Texas,” he reluctantly admitted.
“What? You must have her mixed up with someone else. There’s no way that girl