Page 19 of Hidden Ties

“Fine. But you’re not eating this shit in the car.”

Why it had seven cars lined up, he would never understand.

He rolled his window down as he approached the loud box, and Valerie leaned over him to order. He was able to get a better look of her up close. Her pale skin that desperately needed to see the sun carried some freckles that he thought were kind of cute, especially the ones on the bridge of her upturned nose. But when she talked, any and all cuteness about her was viscerally obliterated.

“Can I get two supreme Doritos locos tacos, an order of nacho fries, and a large Baja Blast? Oh”—she quickly remembered something else before she could finish her order—“and a Mexican pizza.”

Dorito taco?Holy fuck, he was going to vomit.Mexican pizza?As an Italian, it was a fucking sin against everything holy.

When he pulled up to the window, a drink was already being held out to him.

“Here’s your battery acid,” he said, giving her the bright sea-foam green drink.

“How do you not like Baja Blast?”

He didn’t even bother answering that he had taste buds. Instead, he handed the cash over to the guy in the window thentook her food before driving off. He instantly regretted rolling up the window. This suit was going to be the next one off to the dry cleaners.

“What’s your deal with Mexican food?” she asked, shoving her straw into the hole of the soda cup.

“I have nothing against Mexican food,” he corrected her. “But Taco Bell isn’t Mexican food.” He wasn’t even sure it was food.

It was clear she didn’t totally disagree and stood corrected. “Okay, what’s your deal withTaco Bell?”

“My deal with them is they put out ‘new’”—he said the last word loosely and in air quotes—“food items every month, but they all literally taste the same; they just layer it differently.”

She looked dumbfounded. “Holy shit, I think you’re right.”

Despite her mind being blown, she proceeded to open the bag and take out a taco. “So, youhaveeaten Taco Bell before.”

“Many times,” he said rather sadly, wanting to vomit at the memory that flooded his mind. The only good thing about it was the prices. At least back in the day.

Hearing the paper crinkling brought him back to the present. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Valerie opened her Dorito taco with no remorse. “Eating.”

“You better n—” He couldn’t even finish his sentence as he watched her take a huge bite, causing some of the lettuce and taco shell to spill everywhere. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did and am,” she confirmed with another bite. “I was in that jail cell, eating slop and thinking about what you saidfor days. So, I’m going to enjoy this.”

Sal gripped the steering wheel in a death grip. His suit wasn’t going to be the only thing needing to be cleaned. He was going to be lucky if blood didn’t need to be cleaned out of his car.

Out of all the ways she could pay him back for what he did, this was quite possibly Sal’s worst fucking nightmare.

“You want a bite?” she asked, holding out the taco and sending more lettuce flying.

Sal’s knuckles turned white. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” Valerie said, moving on to the next taco.

By the time she had finished the second taco, her fries, and her pizza, Sal thought he was going to be sick. Not only was his car covered in crumbs, lettuce, and diced tomatoes, but so was he.

She sucked on the straw of her drink until it gurgled dry. “How’d you know I got out, anyway?”

“Officer Daniels told me.”

“Oh, he did?”

He didn’t.But she didn’t need to know that.