Page 98 of Rastor

I heard myself ask, "What's the message?"

At this, Brittney smiled. "Tell her that when the flu is over, she's outta there."

I shook my head. "Out of where?"

"Work. You know, her waitressing job." Brittney went on to explain that the only reason that Chloe hadn't been fired so far was because too many other employees were down with the flu.

Brittney gave a mean little laugh. "But once they're all better, Chloe's totally fired."

God, what a bitch.

That aside, I didn't get it. Why would Chloe be fired? From what I'd seen, she was amazing at her job. But then I recalled something else. A couple weeks earlier, I'd caused a scene at that restaurant, beating up my own fucking car. At the time, her boss hadn't looked too happy.

Shit. As if I hadn't done enough damage already.

Brittney finished by saying, "So if Chloe wanted to save herself some humiliation, she'd just go ahead and quit already."

With a pang, I recalled Chloe crying in my arms. She had no money. She had no home. All she had was her job. And she was about to lose it, thanks to me.

I looked to Brittney. "Where'd you hear this?'

Brittney was still smiling. "From the manager." She gave a toss of her hair. "He tells me everything."

The manager had to be Chloe's boss – the guy Brittney had been, as Chloe put it, "boning in the back seat" of that Lincoln Town car. What was the guy's name? Keith?

Maybe it was time to pay Keith a visit.

Chapter 49

Later that night, I was parked behind the restaurant where Chloe worked. Looking to keep a low profile, I was hunkered down in my basic black sedan, hoping like hell that Chloe didn't see me.

In spite of the risk, I was liking my odds. Her car was nowhere in sight, and unless her schedule had drastically changed, I still had a couple more hours before her normal shift began.

For once, that was a good thing. I wasn't waiting to seeher.

I'd been sitting in my car for maybe a half-hour when my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and glanced at the display. It was Amber.

Bracing myself for another round of "Guess what Brittney's saying about menow," I answered with a half-hearted, "Yeah?"

"Fun news," she said. "We're having this thing for Thanksgiving."

"A thing?"

"You know. A big get-together."

"Huh." I was still scanning the parking lot. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh, itwillbe," she said. "You know how we normally go to the Hamptons? Wellthisyear, we're going in December, so anyway, you wanna come?"

I was only half-listening. "To the Hamptons?"

"No. I mean, yeah, you could totally come there too. But I meant for Thanksgiving. I figured that maybe, you'd want to join us."

She figured wrong. I mean, it's not like I didn't appreciate the offer. But I'd been in a shitty mood for weeks now. And it wouldn't be improved by yucking it up over turkey with a bunch of people who weren't Chloe.

"Thanks for the offer," I said, "but I'd better pass."

"But why?" she asked. "You already told me you don't have plans."