Greetings from Sugartown (4 page)

I wipe the fresh sheen of sweat from my brow, and help Ana to her feet. As she walks to the bathroom, her thighs tremor, and I smile to myself. I’m gonna marry that girl, if it’s the last thing I ever get to do.

T
HERE’S SOMETHING
strange going on with Elijah, and I’m determined to find out what the hell it is, even if I have to screw a confession out of him. This feeling has been irking me for days. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but there’s definitely something off about him. Putting aside the fact that he shot me down when I was half-naked and begging for him to sleep with me—which, by the way, has never happened, ever—he’s been acting shadier than the cast of Others on
Lost
.

He’s quiet and moody, and twice now I’ve walked into our room to find him hovering over the dresser, only to have him slam the drawer when he notices me standing there. One time he even caught his fingers, but he wouldn’t let me come near him. Did curiosity get the better of me, when I was putting away his laundry? No, it’s not like I’d ever—yeah, okay, maybe I did have a quick peek into his sock drawer. Obviously, I found nothing. I can’t decide if coming up empty was worse than all the terrible things I imagined: scary Dino porn, dirty knickers from some Asian vending machine, a little black book … It’s driving me crazy not knowing what’s going on with him, but lately, every time I try to talk to him he runs out with some half-arsed excuse about running late, or helping Jack with something.

I stare out the shop window and over at Bob’s. I can see Elijah working beneath the hood of some old bomb. His shirt is off, and the giant skull tattoo does nothing to hide the definition in his back and shoulders, even from here. I think back to early this morning when I traced my cold fingertips over the bold outlines until he woke and pinned me beneath him, kissing me and warming me both inside and out.

Really, it’s ridiculous how much I want to jump his bones. I just wanna go over there, straddle him on the hood of that car and practise making pretty little Elijah and Ana’s. I lean over the counter, fantasising about riding my boyfriend in my dad’s auto repair shop, and ignore Holly’s tirade about our annoying “new” neighbours. She’s referring to the pizzeria that opened next door more than a year ago. Antonio and his family are lovely, and they do make great pizzas, but that great pizza fills our previously saccharine-scented diner with the scent of tomato, garlic, and freshly wood-fired dough. Not so good when you’re trying to tempt patrons with fries, pies and milkshakes.

“Uh-oh,” Holly mutters, and I pull myself from my daze long enough to stare at her.

“Uh-oh what?”

“Nothing,” she says, but her gaze darts to the window, and away again. I glance out the front and see a trashy blonde strutting across the road, wielding a pizza box that’s practically bigger than her body.

Nicole
.

She started working at the pizzeria two weeks ago. Apparently she got fired from some fancy pants secretarial position for a law firm in Brisbane, and her skanky arse has been sullying up Antonio’s ever since. And yes, even after all this time, she still makes me feel stabby.

I know Elijah was more to blame than her. He should have come to me that night instead of leading who’s-a-skank into the bathroom and nailing her to the wall, but the truth is, I’ve never really gotten over it. I don’t think I ever will.

I forgave him; I got it. He was hurting. I was hurting. Together we only hurt one another, and we were on a break. We weren’t in the place back then that we are now. We’ve both grown up a lot, we’ve grown together, but I still can’t see past my hatred of her. Every time I see her I want to vagina punch her into infertility.

She prances into the workshop wearing an Antonio’s shirt that comes down too low—and covers too little of her boobs—a skirt that’s a size too small, and heels. Heels, for God’s sake! Who the hell wears heels in hospitality?

Elijah turns, and from here it looks as if he’s giving her a megawatt smile. This manic, piercing panic sets my chest on fire, as if I’ve swallowed burning coals. It’s the same feeling I had last week when I ran into them coming out of the supermarket together, laughing and pretending like they hadn’t fucked one another that night a few short years ago, and that it hadn’t torn my whole world apart.

“Oh hell no,” Holly says from over my shoulder.

“She’s just delivering a pizza,” I rationalize, but then of course my mind runs away with me, and I untie my apron and throw it on the counter. “That bitch is delivering a pizza to my man.”

“There you go,” Holly says and picks up my apron, slapping me on the arse with it, and drawing the eye of every customer in the diner. They go back to enjoying their pie soon enough though.

“Everyone knows the way to Elijah’s heart is with pie and pussy, and she’s already given him one of those things. Nobody gives him food but me.”

“Go gouge her eyes out, tiger.”

“I’m gonna take her arse down.”

“Thatta girl,” she yells after me as I clear the counter, and head for the door. Several heads turn to follow my march of terror. “Once you’ve done away with the skank, make sure you take his arse down. Leave the door open, though—it’s been too long since I saw the two of you in action.”

I bite back the retort about how creepy that sounds, glancing instead at the guy occupying the last booth as I reach for the door. I’ve never seen him before, but he’s watching me closely. I give him a pained smile. Since we had that two-page spread in
Great Food Magazine
and the five-minute segment on
Sydney Weekender,
Belle’s Pies is kinda famous. Not bad for a rundown little diner in the middle of nowhere that had burned to the ground just three years earlier.

It’s not unusual to see strangers in here now, though something about this guy’s face is familiar. I tilt my head, trying to recall what it is, but then Holly makes this weird growling tiger sound, and reminds me of my very important mission. I turn my gaze back to Bob’s, set my shoulders, and pull back the shop door.

Of course, being a tiny street, both Elijah and Nicole hear the bell
ding
above the diner door, and they turn their heads in my direction. I stalk forward, a woman on a mission. Elijah’s grin falters.
Good. He knows he’s in trouble then.
Nicole’s mouth tips up in one of her smarmy smiles, and then she brushes his arm like a complete and utter slut, and shakes her arse out of the shop faster than I can angry-stride across the road.

“Ana,” she says by way of greeting as she passes me on her way back to the pizzeria. I grab her wrist as she walks by, which completely takes her—and, if I’m honest, me—by surprise. “Ow!”

“What did you say to him?”

“Let go, you psycho. Did you forget your meds this morning?”

“Why are you talking to him? Why are you even back here?”

She wrenches her arm from my grip. “We messed up a customer order, I remembered how much he loves it spicy, so I thought he might want.”

“He doesn’t
want
, you got it? Leave him alone.”

“Oooh, is there still a raw nerve there? You know, I think about that night often. You’re really lucky he took you back, what with all that slutting around you did with Scott.”

She did not just say that to me
. I don’t know if it’s just too much time spent with Holly, or the insane jealousy invading my brain, but I lunge at her.

“Holy shit.” Elijah throws the pizza box, it springs open, flinging greasy pizza onto the hood of the car he’s spent all morning working on. He runs towards us, wedging himself between me and the home-wrecking wench. “Ana, what the hell are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” I glare up at him. “What is she doing, Elijah?”

He barrels into my chest, forcing me to inch back. He clasps my face in his hands and stares down into my eyes, imploring me to listen. “Back it up, baby girl. You have a diner full of witnesses. Let’s not do anything that’ll get us all arrested, okay?”

He’s looking at me like I’m a crazy person.

Wait; I’m
acting
like a crazy person.

“Keep your bitch on a leash,” Nicole says to Elijah.

“Hey, she’s sorry,” he snaps.

“Whatever,” Nicole says and stalks away. “You two deserve one another.”

Elijah turns his attention to me. “Babe, what’s gotten into you?”

“What’s gotten into me? She just accused me of fucking Scott, instead of being raped by him, and you apologised to her?”

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, the next time you step in to save my arse, you might wanna make sure it doesn’t just need to smack some stupid, mouthy, bitch upside the head,” I say, and stalk back to the diner. Elijah’s exasperated sigh follows me to the door, and then I open it and push through, drowning out any further protests with the falsetto ringing of the shop bell.

“Wow, when you said you were gonna take her arse down, you weren’t kidding,” Holly crows from behind the counter, once again ignoring the fact that there’s an entire shop full of paying customers that I’d really like to not scare off. Though I did just go all WWWF on their arses, so I guess anything Holly says now is sort of Disney by comparison. I shake my head, and hurry behind the counter.

“God, I’ve been hanging around you too long. I just went postal on Nicole for delivering a pizza to my man.”

“You were kinda bad arse.”

“I just wanted to warn her to back off, you know?” I bury my head in my hands, and stare down at the scratched Formica. “But when she started talking crap about Scott, I just lost it.”

Holly’s mouth twists into a sneer and all trace of humour is gone when she says, “What did she say about Fuck-face?”

“Basically she called me a whore, made it sound like I was screwing around with him.”

“I’ll fucking kill her.” Holly fists her hands at her sides until her knuckles turn white.

“Take it easy, Cujo. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“Doesn’t make it okay.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I sigh, and take my apron from her outstretched hands. “What time are you bringing Pepper around tonight?”

We’re minding Pepper on account of it being Holly and Jack’s we-finally-got-tired-of-pretending-not-to-care-about-one-another-anniversary. They haven’t yet tied the knot, and they still don’t look like they’re any closer to doing so, but they’re happy. Besides; it’s not like a diamond ring and an overpriced dress changes whether or not they were meant for one another.

“How does six sound?”

“Perfect. Dad’s dropping Sammy off at five anyway, so just bring her around whenever you’re ready.”

For a long time, Sammy didn’t appear to be fond of Pepper. I mean, she did come kicking and screaming into our lives, and pulled all the focus from him. Between the cooing and coddling, it’s understandable he felt a little left out, though everyone tried to make sure that that wasn’t the case. But one day he just kinda flipped a switch, and began doting on her the way we all do. Being the only kids in this weird, crazy-arse family, they were forced into playing a lot together, so it’s no surprise “Tham” was her first word.

“Awesome. Hopefully tonight we’ll get through an entire date without having to come home to a screaming kid.”

“I promise to keep Sammy and his Sharpie-wielding hands away from her this time.”

“What is it with that kid and drawing penises on my daughter’s forehead?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s staking his claim already?” I tease.

“Jesus, could you not let Jack hear you talking that way? He walked in on Sammy showing Pepper his penis last week, and went ape-shit.”

“They’re kids, Hols. That’s what they do.”

“Yeah, well you just tell your kid brother to keep his steak away from my daughter. She’s perfect, and far too angelic for a Belle.”

“Oh, that’s rich, Harris. Especially considering I’ve known you since kindergarten and your ‘angelic’ daughter is a bigger bitch at age three than you were in your teens.”

“She is, isn’t she?” She smiles proudly, and then says, “So, where did this sudden psychosis come from? I mean, we’ve all wanted to punch that bitch’s lights out since the bathroom incident, but it was years ago. What gives?”

“I don’t know. Elijah’s just been … secretive of late.”

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean,
that’s it?
Isn’t that enough? That whore comes back to town and my boyfriend—and let’s not forget, here, that he fucked her up against the wall in the bathroom while I was in the other room—starts acting shadier than a row of Bangalow Palms.”

“Ana, honey, Elijah is crazy about you. He’s not going to do anything to fuck this up, and not just because he’s head over heels. He knows if he hurts you, he’d have three angry family members gunning for his balls. Stop stewing over this. He’s probably just on his period, or something.”

Oh, to live a day in Holly Harris’s head.

“Mm-hmm, that makes perfect sense.”

“You need to stop worrying. He’s not interested in Nicole, and he’d be crazy to walk away from all this—” she gestures awkwardly from my head to my feet “—but why not take this opportunity to rock his little ex-con face off? Use the voucher I got you for Wild Secrets, stock up on some toys, some nice lingerie, and blow that kinky bastard’s mind. If that doesn’t work, you could always just blow him.”