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Chapter 1
“Ms. McKenna, what are you doing in here?” Gracie looked around the small room and then back at the man standing over her. She asked him if this was the break room or not. “You know very well that it is. However, I asked you a question first. What are you doing in the breakroom at…” He looked at his wrist, which didn’t seem to have a watch on it. “It’s too early for you to be sitting down for a break. So, for the third time, what are you doing in the breakroom at this hour?”
“I’m not trying to be smart or anything, but I’m on break. And it’s not too early for me to be having one. I’ve been here since four o’clock yesterday afternoon. It’s now four o’clock—twenty-four hours later, and I’m taking my first break. I don’t need to point out to you that I’m entitled to thirty minutes during each eight-hour shift, so that gives me at least two hours.” She put her phone away and picked up her lunch, which was now old and yucky. “I’m also off the clock now, and I was eating something before I took myself home.”
“You didn’t clock out, did you? I hope you haven’t, for your sake.” She said that she had, that her shift had been over sixteen hours ago. “Well, I guess it sucks to be you. I need you to cover another shift. You’ll need to take your timecard to your supervisor and have them fix it so that you’re still on duty. Which means you’re very lucky that I’m not writing you up for taking a break when you should be working. In case it has escaped your knowledge, you’re not in charge here, I am.”
Gracie put her lunch things back in her bag and stood up. She loved that she was able to tower over the man, Mr. Gardener, about a foot. It had him stepping back, and of course, an added bonus that it was pissing him off as well. It was like an extra perk that she’d not been aware that she was going to get. As she headed to the front door, having had enough of working four days in a row with only eight hours off, she was going to go home. For all she cared, they could fire her if they wanted.
“Did you hear what I said to you, young lady?” She stopped at the front door and turned to look at him. “If you walk out that door, so help me, I’ll fire you. And we’ll see about you getting paid for all the work that you supposedly did, too.”
Without a word, and there were so many that she could say right now, she turned again and headed out the door. Of course, he followed her, yelling for security as he came out the door right behind her. Even as she made her way to her bike, wondering if it would start again, Mr. Gardener grabbed her arm and swung her around. If not for the sign saying that she was in the motorcycle parking lot, she would have fallen back on her ass. As it was, he gave her a shove, and she hit the hard sidewalk anyway.
Gracie saw security holding back Mr. Gardener from kicking her. He had his foot poised and his body in a position that told her had he been able to connect with her head, he might well have hurt her badly. Sitting up, she asked what had happened.
“He kicked you while you were down, the son of a bitch.” She loved Marty, the only female and the toughest security personnel that she knew. “I saw him chasing you, too. Threatening you with firing you for not staying over another shift. Did you tell him that you’d been there for an entire thirty-six hours already?’
“I was here for only twenty-four this time. Marty, I don’t think that I’m feeling all that well.” Lying down on the hot concrete, she felt her belly lurch up. Leaning over into the grass, Gracie threw up everything that she’d just eaten. Holding her head, she noticed that her hands were covered in blood. “I think he really hurt me.”
Whatever went on after saying that, she didn’t know. Bits and pieces were there for her to see but she couldn’t have commented on anything even if she could have. There were bright lights, questions being hurled at her, and someone screaming. That part she was able to figure out. Mr. Gardener was the one yelling.
She couldn’t find her phone when she woke up again. It had been in her lunch bag to keep it from being lost, and of course, that didn’t work. The sucker was about eight years old; the screen was broken in about five places, and it wouldn’t hold a charge for more than a few hours. Even if she wasn’t using it. Someone handed it to her, and she had to work hard at focusing on the person before she could make out who it was. Lucky for her, the man spoke before she tried to make guesses as to who had answered. Then everything went black.
Waking up again, she knew that she was in the hospital. And that there was someone, someone that she thought that she knew, in the room with her. Not being able to see anything, there was something over her eyes. She asked who was in the room. Then, when her head started to explode in pain again, she asked them if they would please be quiet, too.
“It’s Jenson, honey. Jenson Strong. Your friend, Marty Simon, called me when you got here. How are you feel—”
“Too many words.” He told her that he understood and was no longer a shadow over her. Or he was a good deal shorter than she had ever thought. “Where am I? I think that I was hurt. By that man, Mr. Gardener.”
“Marty said that he literally kicked you while you were down. Also that he grabbed you, knocking you over in the first place.” She started to nod and thought better of it. “She’s been calling here every twenty minutes since you were brought in. making sure that you were taken care of and that you filed a report against him. I did that for you. I didn’t want him getting away with hurting my buddy like that.”
“Thank you, Jenson. The fucker wanted me to work another shift.” He asked her how many she’d worked before today. “I’d have to look at my notebook. The fucking prick said that he wasn’t going to pay me either if I left. I’ve finally had enough. Where am I? Did you tell your parents?”
“You’re in the emergency department and have been since yesterday afternoon. They waited until I could be reached before they decided to move you to your own room.” He handed her the notebook that had all her shifts in it, but she was too sick to read it even if she could see it. Jenson took it from her with a short laugh. “You’ve been working…Christ, Gracie, you’ve been working around the clock for the last thirty-six days? What is the matter with you?”
“My head hurts, and I feel like my ribs have been kicked around. And I know about how many hours…he said he wasn’t going to pay me any overtime.” Jenson snorted, telling her that he’d take care of him. “Are you still helping out homeless women and the working class, Jenson? Didn’t I tell you that you need to have a home life, too?”
“Look who’s talking. How much of a home life do you have working all the time?” He laughed a little harder. “My parents are both here. Also, my wife. You knew that I was married, right?”
“Yes, I read about it in the paper, Mr. Congressman. She must have been very desperate to have married you. I’m guessing since you’re all married up by now, so where does that leave me? Broke and lonely, that’s where.” She had to stop cracking jokes, or she was going to be sick again. “Did you call in anyone else?”
“No. I didn’t call them. No one knows that you’re here but some of my family.” She nodded, then cried out. “They’ve put some stitches in your head and cheek for you. It didn’t improve your looks, by the way. Still as ugly as you’ve always been, you know.”
“Jenson Strong. What a thing to say to someone. Especially one of your oldest friends.” Gracie knew the voice, but it was the wonderful scent of lilacs that told her that it was Mrs. Strong. “Oh honey, even with the stitches in your cheek, you’re still a beautiful woman. Jenson, introduce your friend to your wife. Then, I’m going to tell stories. These two, Jade, were like two peas in a pod growing up.”
Before any stories were told, someone else came into the room. Mr. Strong. He had always smelled like Old Spice to her. She didn’t know if he actually wore it, but that was what he reminded her of. When he kissed her on the forehead, he whispered that he wouldn’t allow Lisa to tell the embarrassing stories. She was grateful for that. There were some really embarrassing ones of the two of them. By now, her head was pounding harder than she thought it ever had before. And that was saying a lot for her.
“They said you can have something for pain if you want it.” She said that she did before she puked on him. Jenson laughed and told her that he’d have Jade take care of her. “My wife is a doctor, too. I hit the jackpot with her. I can’t wait for the two of you to get to know one another. I’m going to make sure you stick around this time.”
She knew as well as Jenson did that she’d not stick along more than she needed to. Now that it was out there that she was around here, back on her own stomping grounds, she’d have to move on, or her uncle would come around her friends as well. Not that she didn’t think that Jenson and his brothers could handle themselves, they could. But she knew that her uncle wouldn’t stop at just knocking her around but spuing nasty lies about Jenson and his family.
“I’m giving you a little extra, Gracie. I know how redheads can be.” She felt the pinch and then the mellowing out of her body. “There you go. Don’t let it get ahead of you. When you need meds, don’t be shy and not ask for them.”
If Jade said anything else, she didn’t hear it. Gracie not only felt her head stop pounding, but also, her body didn’t seem to be screaming in pain either. Christ, she was happy that she’d been in the hospital if simply for the better, quicker drugs.
When she woke up this time, she wasn’t in the emergency department. While she didn’t know how she knew that, she also had a feeling that she’d been in her room for more than a couple of hours. Looking around, being able to do it because her eyes weren’t covered up again, she saw Jenson in one of the chairs reading something and Mr. Strong sitting in the other.
“What’s a seven-letter word for stockpile? It starts with the letter ‘h’?” Gracie answered Mr. Strong before thinking about it too hard. “That’s right. Hoard. Thank you. How are you feeling, dear?”
