coffee. Some didn’t and knew Melanie had a soft heart, and she gave it out for free, but only if they came in with a good attitude and had recently showered. The ones who hadn’t, she still didn’t refuse them and had them sit outside with their coffee.
I wasn’t surprised when I saw a couple of our regulars.
Petey. Moira. Dwayne. All saw me. All raised their hands. All sent me mumbled greetings, but they knew this was my friend’s place, so they didn’t come over to talk any more than that.
Sasha was already sitting down when I got to the counter. Melanie was watching her, standing behind the counter with her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side. Her hair was pulled high and wound in a tight bun on top of her head, like right on top of her head. Red lipstick. Dangling earrings. Her shirt was pressed and the collar was folded over, cinched in with a pearl button.
My girl was dressed to work.
Without looking in my direction, she knew it was me and lifted her chin up toward Sasha. “She’s down.”
I looked over.
Sasha was sitting in a booth, thumbing through a magazine and her own lips were pressed together. She seemed almost bored, but then I caught how she closed her eyes for longer than a blink. It was brief, but she closed them, and her chest bent down in a sigh at the same time.
Mels was right. Sasha was down, but she was here, and she’d called me, so that was giving us the clues that she needed us to pick her up. I looked back, met Melanie’s gaze, and both of us raised up an eyebrow at the same time.
“Hmmm-mmm,” she hmmmed right back at me, though I hadn’t said a word. She was on the mental wave train right with me.
I asked, “Bar?”
She shook her head. “I’m thinking club judging by the way she’s dressed.”
I looked back and gave it some thought.
Sasha was wearing a black tank top that was tied around her neck, and when she shifted in her seat, I saw it was backless. It only covered her front, from high on her neck to her stomach, but the back was held together by two more strings, both looking as if they were tied together. One time a drunk guy thought he could slip the knot and that the top would fall free enough for him to see some boobs. Little did he know, the knots in the back were merely for decorations. They were sturdy motherfuckers, and the guy instead caused Sasha to swing at him with a firm right-hand hook. When the cops showed up, they weren’t sure who to haul off because the guy’s entire face was busted up. Sasha hadn’t stopped with that one punch. There’d been a left, another right, and maybe a knee.
Yeah, she was serious about whatever was going on with that top on.
Then her jeans.
They weren’t jeans at all.
She had slicked-on leather pants.
Oh yes. Club it was, but I said to Melanie, “We need to go hardcore tonight.”
“Got it.” Succinct and to the point. We were on a mission.
Her coworker walked out from the back at that point.
“Hey, Chey—”
When Melanie decided something, she moved fast. She interrupted, “My girl needs a girls’ night. Can you cover for me the rest of the night?”
Her coworker braked, opened her mouth, stopped and took both of us in. We both had full game-on expressions… we were set and determined to go. Consider these expressions our warpaint. And she closed her mouth. “Okie-dokie.”
Melanie pulled her barista apron off, closed out the till, and grabbed her purse. We were off.
“Have fun tonight.”
Melanie’s response was a grunt, her laser eyes never moving from Sasha.
I gave a smile and wave, but never missed a beat.
Sasha knew something was up when she saw us coming, noting Melanie’s purse, and my empty hand. “No coffee?”
No words were needed.
I grabbed Sasha’s purse and Melanie grabbed Sasha. Or, she took her hand, and pulled her from the booth. “Let’s go.” And Melanie was off, leading this charge.
Sasha looked over her shoulder at me, her eyebrows raised, but I just gave her a stern look. She knew better.
As if reading my mind, she sighed again, the first time in deep thought at the table all alone, but this time in surrender.
She knew what we were doing.
“Thanks, guys.”
Melanie’s hand tightened over Sasha’s and I dipped my head down to hers.
We were always here