Page 24

D ALI

“I am so glad we got to spend the day together,” I told Jodie as we walked out of our third thrift store of the day. “I haven’t gotten to do this in ages.”

“I can’t believe you made me go shopping after our pedicures. Don’t you know that after a foot rub, you’re supposed to chill out? All of this walking has taken away every bit of my relaxation vibe.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“Damn sure is,” Jodie argued as she looked down at her feet. “Poor babies. They need a break.”

“They look cute, though.”

“They do. Maybe I should become a foot model. I hear that’s quite a lucrative market if you know what you’re doing.”

“Or maybe you should not sell pictures of yourself to perverts,” I suggested.

“That’s what I need to find.”

“A pervert?”

“A guy with a foot fetish. I bet he’d rub my feet any time I ask.”

“Rub one out on your feet, maybe,” I muttered as I opened the back passenger door of Navy’s truck. I hefted my shopping bag onto the floorboard and then reached for Jodie’s bag. “I can’t believe we found that set of rice bowls.”

“I can’t believe you bought a fucking karaoke machine,” Jodie grumbled. Again .

“Aunt Ligaya mentioned that something happened to the one she had and she wanted another one so that when your dad gets out of the hospital, they can sing together.”

“It broke for a reason, Dalisay.”

“You broke her karaoke machine?”

“If I hear either of the aunts sing another Journey song, I am going to throw myself off the top floor of a building to see if I bounce.”

“Well, I’m gonna have to take that risk because I’m giving her the machine in the hopes that she’ll make me some lumpia. Do you know how long it’s been since I had good lumpia?”

“I had some yesterday,” Jodie bragged.

“What about adobo?”

“Okay, give her the machine and the rice bowls.”

“That’s what I thought,” I sassed as I slammed the truck door. “Get in, woman. I need coffee.”

“I thought your boyfriend said we needed to make ourselves scarce today.”

“He did, but I know some of his friends are there with the aunts, so I’m sure it will be okay for us to drop in for a few minutes.”

“Maybe you should call and let him know . . .”

“I don’t need permission to visit my family, Jodie.”

“I’m not saying you do. I’m just suggesting that maybe you should listen when he says to make yourself scarce for a while.”

“I’m lucky he didn’t send one of the guys with us for the day. Can you imagine how they would have reacted when we took them into the salon?”

“That might have been worth putting up with one of them for at least a little while,” Jodie admitted. “He’s got some really hot friends.”

“They’re not as handsome as Navy.”

“God, you’re so smitten that it makes me want to puke.”

“Shut up and get in the truck, Jodie. You’re just jealous because I have a multi-orgasm glow.”

“I’m going to tell the aunts that you’re too nervous to sing karaoke by yourself so you need to go with them every time.”

“That’s just mean.”

“You started it.”

◆◆◆

“I wonder why the sign says they’re closed,” Jodie said as we pulled into the parking lot. “I wonder whose car that is.”

“It looks pretty clean already. It probably belongs to one of Navy’s friends. I bet those motorcycles do too.”

Jodie rolled her eyes before she said, “I don’t think so.”

“Why not? That green one is pretty.”

“Your guy wouldn’t be caught dead on one of those. As a matter of fact, he probably doesn’t even call them motorcycles.”

“They’ve got two wheels. That makes them motorcycles.”

“I’ve got two tits, and that doesn’t make me a supermodel.”

I put the truck in park and stared at my cousin for a second, trying my best to wrap my head around her comparison. I asked, “Did they give you a lobotomy when you were locked up?”

“Fuck off,” Jodie said as she hopped out of the truck.

I had to do the same thing since, at my height, there was no other way for me to get out of the damn thing.

I’d finally learned how to get in without too much trouble, but getting out of it without taking my life into my hands had eluded me so far.

Jodie must have been feeling the same way because she turned around and looked at me through the cab before she said, “Did he buy this truck at the big and tall shop? Jeez.”

Just to irritate her, I said, “His truck isn’t the only extra large thing he’s got going for him.”

Jodie stepped back and slammed the door, and I shut mine and laughed on the walk around the truck. By the time I got to the passenger side, she had the back door open and had just pulled one of the bags out when she tilted her head and asked, “Did you hear that?”

“What?” I asked as I looked around. “It was probably just a car backfiring.”

“Weren’t you in the military?” Jodie asked as she thrust one of the bags my way.

“You know I was.”

“Didn’t they teach you the difference between a shitty exhaust system and gunfire?”

“Or maybe I’m not paranoid and hearing things that don’t . . .” I looked around again and said, “Those were definitely gunshots.”

“C’mon. Let’s get inside before we become a statistic.” Jodie and I hurried along the sidewalk, and I bumped into her back when she stopped abruptly at the front door. “It’s locked.”

“That’s weird.”

“Come on. Let’s get back in the truck. Something feels off.”

“You’re right,” I said as I turned around and hurried back toward Navy’s truck.

I put the bag on the floor in the back on my side of the truck just as Jodie did the same on the passenger side.

I had just managed to crawl into the passenger seat when I heard my cousin scream and then tumble into the back seat.

As I turned to look at her, I asked, “What the hell?”

I didn’t even see Jodie because I couldn’t get past the barrel of the gun that was pointed right at my face. I froze in place until the man holding it yelled, “Drive!”

I twisted around in the seat and reached for the button to start the truck before I realized that was exactly what I shouldn’t do.

“Never let them take you to a secondary location,” I muttered as I let my hand drop.

In Tagalog, Jodie yelled, “Do what he says for now. As soon as I get a chance, I’m going to snap his fucking neck!”

“Shut the fuck up!” the man screamed, almost hysterical.

Jodie started stammering in Tagalog, pretending she didn’t speak English, so I played along and did the same.

“Drive the fucking truck!” he screamed.

I hit the button for the ignition, and the second I threw it into reverse, I saw two men behind the truck. I had no choice but to slam on my brakes unless I wanted to hit them, but instead of coming to our aid, they jumped into the back of the truck and disappeared.

“Go!Go!Go!”

In Tagalog, I yelled, “There are two men in the bed!”

The man jabbed me in the ribs with his gun before ordering me to drive again, so I hit the gas, hoping to throw him off-balance and give Jodie a chance to get the upper hand.

I wasn’t sure how she could, though, considering that every method of protection we’d been trained on included moving quickly to get out of our opponent’s reach.

There wasn’t room for either of us to make any space, and I worried that we might not ever get a chance if he didn’t calm down.

“Turn at the light!” I put my blinker on and slowed to get into the left lane. The man frantically started yelling, “Turn right!”

Feigning innocence, I kept moving toward the inside lane and could almost swear I heard Jodie laughing before she said in Tagalog, “I think you’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I know you speak English, bitch!” the man yelled as he cuffed me on the side of my head with his free hand.

“Oh! You don’t speak Tagalog?” I asked innocently as I stared at him in the rearview mirror.

Suddenly, I realized that I’d met this man before.

The crazed look in his eyes and his flushed face gave him a completely different appearance than the arrogant asshole I’d met just a few days ago.

Just to push him a little further, I said, “My bad.”

This time, Jodie didn’t even try to hide her laughter. My gaze shot to the man’s reflection in the rearview mirror when his head snapped to the side. There was a loud thump and then glass shattered, and I managed to pull the gun out of the man’s grip as his hand slowly slid down.

“Weak ass men think that women are weak,” Jodie said angrily as someone behind me started honking. “I need something to tie him up with.”

“I don’t have anything.”

“Ah-ha!” Jodie exclaimed loudly as the person behind us honked again.

I checked the oncoming traffic and waited just a little longer before I whipped a bitch and went back in the opposite direction.

I heard the man groan as Jodie laughed maniacally, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw her yanking the cord out of the back of the gently used but brand new to me karaoke machine I’d just purchased.

When it popped free, she yelled, “Got it!”

“You owe me a karaoke machine!” I snapped as she grunted and groaned, pulling the man’s hands behind his back. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but she was still laughing like a crazy person as I cut across oncoming traffic and jumped the curb to get us into the car wash parking lot.

“Woohoo! Journey!” Jodie yelled before she started singing one of their most popular songs as the truck skidded to a halt in front of the doors.

Before she even finished the first line of the lyrics, a man I didn’t recognize appeared in my peripheral vision and I let out a blood curdling scream. Without thinking, I hit the gas again and was shocked when he grabbed the side mirror and held onto the outside of my door.

He was yelling something, but I was still shrieking in terror and couldn’t hear him. I sideswiped the pretty motorcycle I had admired earlier to try and peel him off the truck, but the man held on. I was even more afraid when I realized that he wasn’t screaming.

The man was laughing.

“Stop the goddamn truck, Ninja!”