The next morning dawned far too bright and early for Elle. After that…interaction with Honey she hadn’t been able to get a wink of sleep, tossing and turning, sweaty and needing and unsatisfied. Finally, just as dawn had begun to break through the Colorado mountain range that ran along the horizon in the distance she drifted into a fitful slumber, haunted by images of him. Of Honey. Of his hands and his lips and his body. She’d woken up an hour later, gasping and trembling, and even more unsatisfied than before.
She was in a foul mood as she tromped to the kitchen to brew a pot of tea, and she blamed it all on Honey. With a huff of frustration, she tied her pink robe closer around her and sat with a thud at the small table. Her thoughts were distracted, tangled up in him like a fly caught in a spider’s web, as she took an unheeding sip of the steaming hot tea.
“Ow. Darn it!” she hissed as the too hot liquid touched her lips, burning her tongue and she set it down with a clatter, sloshing some of the tea over the rim. Elle blamed him for that too. Her turbulent thoughts crashed and warred within her. She couldn’t spend a whole day with him. Not after what had happened. She just couldn’t.
The thought of it made her stomach clutch painfully as anxiety flooded her, the same anxiety she’d battled since she was a child. Slowly, her resolve hardened. She shouldn’t have to put up with him. She would just call Carla and tell her that she couldn’t work that day.
Guilt joined the anxiety at the thought. She hated to let down her friend but she just couldn’t face him. That crippling sense of claustrophobia set in just at the idea of it and without waiting another minute she picked up the phone and dialed Carla’s number.
“Uh…Hello, this is Carla, can you hold one moment?” her friends frazzled voice came over the line and before Elle could respond the slow, rhythmic beep of being put on hold met her ear. Elle tapped her fingers in time to the sound as she waited. And waited. Finally, after an interminable minute, as guilt battled her anxiousness in an endless circle, Carla was back.
“Hi, sorry for the wait, how can I help you?”
Elle’s mind raced, suddenly wondering just how, exactly, she was going to explain why she couldn’t help at the farm today.
“Um, Carla?” Elle said, then forced a few coughs, “It’s Elle. I think I…ah...I think I must have caught a bug or something…cough, cough…I probably shouldn’t go to the farm today. I’m, uh, I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Uh huh,” was all Carla said after a long, drawn out silence. Elle waited for her to say something else, covering the uncomfortable tension with another fake cough.
“Well, I uh, I should probably get some rest.”
“Oookay, Elle,” Carla said, drawing out the word, “You better do that. I hope you feel braver– I mean better, in the morning.”
Elle cringed at Carla’s supposed slip, knowing full well that her friend wasn’t fooled for a minute by her act. Without saying anything else, she quickly hung up the phone, that guilt once more rearing its head as she took a sip of her tea.
Less than an hour later Elle looked up at a knock at her front door. Curiously, she answered it, blanching as she found herself face to face with her best friend. Carla’s gaze swept over her with a knowing look before she held out a Tupperware bowl.
“I come bearing gifts. Of soup. And friendship.” Carla smiled, and it didn’t ease Elle’s guilt at all as she opened the door a little wider so the other woman could come inside.
“Thanks, Carla. You shouldn’t have,” Elle said with a forced smile of her own as she took the soup and brought it over the fridge, tucking it towards the back. It was where the stuff would probably stay. She’d been unfortunate to have Carla’s cooking before and it hadn’t been good.
It took a few minutes for her to have the water heated up and then another moment as she poured the tea into two china cups and carried them into the other room.
“I know,” Carla said with a shrug as she plopped down with a sigh on the overstuffed couch in the living room.
“You know what?” Elle asked distractedly as she concentrated on setting down the fragile tea cups with sloshing any of the steaming liquid onto the coffee table.
“I know that I shouldn’t have.” Carla gave her a look from under her dark brows and Elle gave in with a small sigh as she took the seat next to her friend.
“Carla, I…I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I’m, well, I’m not actually sick,” Elle forced the words out and watched in horror as Carla threw her head back as she let out a loud, belly laugh. Her shoulders were still shaking with mirth as she looked back at Elle.
“I know! I’m sorry Elle, but you’re a terrible liar.” Carla’s humor made a smile of her own growacross Elle’s face and, after a moment, they were both giggling.
“It was pretty bad wasn’t it?” Elle asked between laughs.
“Bad? It was awful!”
They both went off again, laughing so hard that Elle had to clutch her ribs they hurt so bad. Finally, the humor dwindled enough for Elle to take a sip of her tea and she was surprised by the serious expression on Carla’s face when she looked over at her.
“Listen, Elle…” Carla started slowly, obviously searching for the right words to say, “I know you lied about being sick, but…why?”
It was such an honest, direct question that Elle found herself answering before she’d even realized the words were coming out of her mouth, “It’s Honey. I can’t…He’s impossible to work with.”
“Look, I know I said I wouldn’t ask any questions–”
“You promised, Carla.”
“And I won’t,” she finished with a pointed look, “But I want you to know that I’m here for you, okay? If you ever do decide you want to talk it through. I’m your friend, Elle.” Carla reached out, grasping one of Elle’s hands in her own for a brief moment before releasing it, “The truth is, though, I really, really do need your help at the farm. We’re so short staffed and we have all of these orders that need to be processed…”
Carla trailed off, taking another sip of tea and Elle could see the worry lines crease her forehead.
“How? How are you so short staffed? I thought you had the Dirty Cruisers at your beck and call so to speak.”
Carla was silent for a long moment, her worry deepening into concern before turning back to Elle, “There’s been…some problems.”
“Problems?” Elle prompted when Carla grew reluctant to go on. Finally, with a sigh, she did.
“There has been a split in club.”
“I don’t understand,” Elle said, shaking her head in confusion.
“Do you remember Viper? Short guy, real greasy?” Elle just nodded, vaguely remembering the crude man, “Well, he’s been saying that Joel is taking the club in the wrong direction. Of course, he used more…colorful language, but that’s the gist of it. They’re worried about taking on a legit business.”
“Why? Why wouldn’t they want to not be criminals?”
“They don’t see it that way, Elle. Yes, a lot of what they’ve done is not strictly legal,” Elle snorted at that but Carla went right on, “but that’s the way of life they’ve chosen. Not owing anyone anything. Being free to do whatever you want. That why most of them joined the Dirty Cruisers in the first place.”
“So, what…there’s a mutiny, or something?” Elle asked and Carla shook her head slowly.
“Thankfully, it hasn’t come to that…yet. But things are getting tense. According to Joel, about half of the crew is behind Viper, who’s gone against Joel’s orders, and a lot more of them are torn.” Carla paused for a moment, “And that doesn’t even take into account the other crews.”
“What other crews?”
“There are some local clubs, like the Nomads, that are getting just as nervous about the profit that Joel will make. They’ve started putting so pressure on him to sell directly to them at cost.”
“But that’s–”
“That’s not going to happen,” Carla said, her voice hard, “Hot Wheels is talking with Sparkplug, one of The Nomads, and some of the other clubs to make sure everyone knows that we won’t fold to their demands.”
With another shake of her head, Carla rose to her feet, “Well, I better get back to the farm.” She gave Elle a rib cracking hug before pulling away, “Take the rest of the day off. Do what you need to. But come to work at the farm tomorrow? I really need you, Elle.”
“I…will, Carla,” Elle said.
“Promise?”
Elle looked at her, and then reluctantly nodded her head. Carla knew that she would never go back on her word, “I promise.”