Here With Me (Paloma's Edge) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Hunter

“WHAT ARE YOU IN the mood for?” I asked Manny, an old-timer of Little Havana, and the owner of Lasting Impressions. I hadn’t thought he’d consider me for the job when I’d applied a year ago before my guest tattoo artist registration to tattoo in Florida was processed. Hector and Vince, the other artists, had taken me under their wings, too. I’d completed my courses in California and did my apprenticeship at another approved shop in Miami once I’d moved out here, to be close to Chase. It’d taken me months to get a call from Manny for an interview.

“I am feeling like La Caridad today.”

“The new place?”

He shifted his eyes from the computer screen to me. “Everything on their menu looks like it’ll hit the spot.” He arched an eyebrow and then returned his gaze to the computer screen. “Surprise me.”

“You know what Hector and Vince want?”

Manny wore a thoughtful expression as he leaned forward in his chair. “They’re in the zone right now. I’ll see what they wanna do about lunch later. They won’t be done with their clients for a while.”

***

“WE’LL BE RIGHT WITH you,” an older female with very short dirty blonde hair told me. She looked like she could’ve been the boss or manager from the authoritative presence she had as she helped the other employees deliver hefty plates of food to the customers. Practically every table and chair by the counter was full, so I leaned against the wall. I was getting hungry from the delicious smell of sweet plantain and seasoned meats.

I waved my hand at her. “I am not in a rush,” I told her in Spanish. I’d had three customers this morning who wanted very simple and common tattoos, and one customer scheduled for the evening.

A pleased grin started on her lips before she dashed to the kitchen worktop and took three dishes as some of the waiters came to get other dishes that the chefs had set down.

When I looked at the other tables again, I saw a group of men looking at the back of a tall and thin waitress who wore a cap with very loose dark brown curls down her back. The apron around her waist emphasized her tiny waist and her wider hips. She walked toward the kitchen worktop and took off her cap.

It was Mariska. She accepted a tissue from an employee and dabbed her forehead. I didn’t know that she worked here. I figured that she’d maybe have a work-study job, because she looked so busy at school. Based on the conversations I’d listened to Beth and Jake have, Mariska was either in the dorm room she shared with Beth, or in class.

“I am Blanca,” she told me. “Thanks for waiting.”

“I’m Hunter, and it was really no problem.”

“Welcome to La Caridad, Hunter.” A smiled bloomed over her face. “What would you like?”

I hadn’t looked over the menu yet. I moved my mouth and thought about it quickly. I went with the Cuban meals I’d had before and liked. “I’ll have a regular Cuban Sandwich, yucca croquettes, and the imperial rice.”

“Very good choices. You won’t be hungry for the rest of the day with our imperial rice. Do you want black or red beans?”

“Can I get an extra order of sweet plantains, instead?”

Blanca nodded and looked over her shoulder. “There’s a table available for you.”

“I’ll have my order to go.”

“Sit down until your order is ready,” she insisted and I followed her to a tiny table that could be missed without a thorough look around the restaurant.

After I was seated, I picked up the menu from the table. I would’ve had a hard time making a decision with all of the dishes on this menu. I heard someone clearing her throat and I brought my head up and met Mariska’s dark chocolate brown eyes. She had her black cap back on her head, but I could still see her face. She put down a glass of ice water in front of me. The white dress she had on looked great against her golden skin. A week ago, at Beth’s birthday party, she’d had a dress on too. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen her in anything but a dress or skirt. I lowered my eyes to her never-ending long legs. She really was pretty. Two feet from us, the guys at the table she’d just served were eyeing her. I hadn’t given her much thought, or checked her out, because I had no business thinking about her like that.

“What are you doing here?” She tried to ask me nicely, but she hadn’t hidden her irritation well. Was it because she’d been told to serve me a glass of water? Did she want someone else to do it?

I raised my gaze and received a pointed look from her as I said, “Waiting on my food.”

Mariska hiked her brow up. “You’re staying here for lunch?” Her eyes slightly widened, and I felt my lips twitch.

“The next time you come, I insist that you eat in,” Blanca said from behind Mariska as she moved in front of her.  Since she wasn’t as tall as Mariska I caught the disgusted turn-up of Mariska’s mouth, which changed to a courteous nod.

Blanca touched Mariska’s arm as she turned on the heels of her feet. “Do you know Hunter?”

“We know each other…very well,” I lied and sent Mariska a mocking smile. “We go to University of Miami together and she told me that La Caridad is a must.” I threw my arms up and a satisfied expression broke out over Blanca’s face. “I work at Lasting Impressions.”

“Which is very convenient. Maybe you could do a tattoo for me. I’ve always thought about getting one,” Blanca remarked. Her head rose to meet Mariska’s stare, “And he speaks Spanish almost as well as you.”

I shrugged. “My accent sucks.”

Blanca shook her head. “No. Mariska probably speaks Spanish more often than you do. You know what they say about practice.”

I nodded. “Maybe Mariska can tutor me.” I got my wallet from my back pocket and took out my business card, handing it to Blanca. “If you wanna see my work, or you want me to draw a design that you may have in mind.”

Blanca made a noise of approval. I stood up and walked around the table, looming over Mariska for a quick enough moment for me to see her sharp intake of breath. She may have been used to being the tallest person most places she went to, but I was taller. In order to see me, she had to lift up her pretty little head.

Another girl with alabaster skin, fine blond hair, pink lips, grinned at me mischievously as she handed me the bags of take-out. She had on a regular shirt that was knotted to the side that showed off her svelte body. And I slid my gaze to Mariska, who pretended that she hadn’t noticed. She thought that her co-worker was pathetic for being friendly with me. The other girl was cute and nicer to me than Mariska was. Why shouldn’t I appreciate some harmless admiration?

Mariska

WHEN HUNTER LEFT, JILL whistled. Blanca and the other waitress laughed. After a customer slipped a tip into the pocket of my apron, I looked at Jill. Inwardly, I sighed, and started up front to begin my second shift at the cash register. 

“Who is he?” Jill asked.

I’d hoped that Blanca would’ve had Jill do something, so that I wouldn’t have to hear about Hunter for the rest of the day. He already had Beth wrapped around his finger. I’d almost been suckered in at her party by the drawing he’d done on her cake, but afterward, I’d remembered that addicts weren’t only the scary looking people with rotting teeth and skin that mirrored a spoiled orange. No, addicts were also charmers, and Hunter could be one too. He almost seemed like a regular guy.

He could be drinking alcohol and using drugs again while Beth and Chase began to trust him more with each passing day, but Hunter had the potential to be violent. He could ruin Beth and Chase’s relationship, because she’d encouraged Chase to give Hunter a chance. Jake, Bri, and I had told her not to meddle, but she hadn’t listened to us.

“My best friend’s friend.”

She tapped my shoulder and I gazed at her. “Why is he your friend’s friend? Am I missing something here?”

“His name is Hunter,” I huffed out a harsh breath, “and I keep my distance from him.”

“That’s a shame,” Jill said with a hint of a laugh in her voice, “Do you know when he’s coming back? It looked like you and Hunter were talking, like friends do.”

“I didn’t know he was coming in today. I didn’t tell him that I work here.”

“Would you happen to have Hunter’s number?”

I paused for a moment. Jill was a great girl. Pretty. Smart. Fresh out of college. She wasn’t some fragile flower that would wilt if Hunter didn’t think of her as girlfriend potential. She’d been the only one who had been willing to switch shifts with me next week, so that I could study more for my upcoming mid-term exams. However, I didn’t want to hear how great, or how bad, her date with Hunter was. I’d seen him look her up and down. I’d be concerned if he hadn’t. Would her team-work attitude go out of the window because of him? What could I do? Not give her his number?

“I don’t,” I said. “But I’ll try to get it from my friend.”

Jill flashed me a broad smile. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

***

BETH STEPPED INTO OUR dorm room as I towel-dried my hair. She dropped her satchel on the floor and came to my side of the room. I leaned toward her and we touched cheeks. She looked as glad as I had been when I’d arrived here after work. As Beth turned around, she kicked off her shoes.

“Hey,” I said.

She’d cleaned a house for most of the evening. She was usually doing her homework in our dorm room or with one of her study groups at a café, or in the library. But, passing up an on-call job, and earning more money, was too good of an opportunity for her to let go. She’d burnt herself out last year with her cleaning job and schoolwork. College was much harder than she’d thought. It was harder for me all around; I wasn’t in a graduating class of thirty-eight students anymore. At UM, I was truly one of many. I knew that Beth was a little freaked out about the decrease in her cash flow, now that she was working part-time, but she had to in order to maintain her G.P.A. She wasn’t taking the standard twelve credits to be a full student like I was.

Chase had asked her to quit working. He wanted to support her, but she’d adamantly refused. It’d been the first and only time that I’d seen them argue. I understood her fear that she’d lose her drive to earn a living for herself and, thus, lose her passion to be self-sufficient. She also didn’t want to be like her mom, as men had primarily supported her mom and her until she started working in high school. Hunter was not only a full-time student like us, he was a linebacker, as well as a freelance graphic designer. His apartment was paid in full for the entire year. I really liked that Beth hadn’t forgotten about Jake or I as she and Chase were becoming more serious. Sure, she’d spent a lot of her free time with him, but she also made time for us. I wasn’t losing my best friend and my sister to her relationship with him.

Dressed in her bathrobe, Beth grabbed her shower caddy and went to shower. When she came back, forty-five minutes later, I laid my head down on my pillow and watched Beth as she hung her towel and placed her caddy away.

“How was the house?” I asked her.

Beth blew out a breath and knotted her hair into a loose bun at the crown of her head. “The bathrooms were the rooms that required heavy duty scrubbing.” She cocked her head, peering at me with her sapphire eyes. “See anyone you know today?” A saucy grin curled her mouth.

So she had communicated with Hunter today. I swore he was like her third best friend sometimes. My boss, Blanca, had been another person in an endless amount of people today who’d asked or talked about him. I’d bitten my tongue, before I’d unleashed a round of expletives. Blanca had assumed that Hunter was an ex of mine—according to her, I’d stared at him like a scorned woman. But I thought I’d been nice to him. Every co-worker of mine with a functional libido wanted to make nice with him. And I couldn’t simply pretend that Hunter didn’t exist.

I inhaled sharply. “Did you tell Hunter to come to La Caridad?”

“No. His boss wanted him to go there. It’s new and it hasn’t been empty since its opening.”

I nodded and slightly changed the subject. “Jill wants his number. Would you mind giving it to me, so that I can send it to her?” I wanted to text it to Jill immediately, or else she’d think I was stalling.

Beth took her phone from the top of her desk. “I’m going to run it by him.” She fell silent for a moment. “And you both speak Spanish. That’s something else you have in common with Hunter, besides me.”

“I don’t wanna have anything else in common with him.” I sighed. “I think he means well, but he’s an addict and he cut Chase’s face. You’re not afraid of him?”

“No,” she replied without hesitation. Her hands fell from her hips and we looked at the clock. She opened the door and we heard some girls saying hello to Jake.

I’d taken his mattress from our closet and placed it on the floor when he entered our room. After Beth threw his sheets, a naked pillow, and a pillowcase on the mattress for him, she stepped on her tiptoes and gave Jake a quick kiss on his jaw. Then, he kneeled on the opposite side of the mattress and fit the sheet on the bed with me.

“What’s up?” Jake hugged me after we made the bed.

“I was just telling Beth about an unwanted customer who came into La Caridad today.” A deep frown crept over his forehead. I put my hands on his chest. “It was Hunter.” Beth glared at me.