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Chapter 173: New Found Confidence
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Pelican Bay Security Chapter 174: A Visit from the Bikers
The bikers go about their visit like the tension isn't boiling in the room. They smile, chat with Anessa, and purchase coffee they're sure to specify goes in to-go cups. And then they leave. I'm not quite sure how the alliance started, but it's been going on for a few months now and no one seems to notice or care. I guess it's one of those weird Pelican Bay things. Small towns, man.No one except my very tense former Marine watches the entire thing go down with his eyes narrowed, waiting for one of the bikers to make a wrong move. The two men, who are too far away for me to read the names on their leather vests, don't seem to mind Huxley at all. They barely look in our direction, but Huxley only relaxes his disposition once they've left the bakery and the doors are closed securely behind them."This is where you sometimes pick up shifts in the cute little pink bakery?" he asks still on edge.I smile, trying to dissipate his mood. "Yup. Isn't it great?"The first few times you e
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 175: Being an Adult Rocks... Sometimes
I love Mondays.Well... that's not entirely true. I used to hate Mondays. After working all weekend, Mondays were usually the day when I slept in and then did the laundry and cleaning I left behind from the weekend. But for some reason Mondays in Pelican Bay are different. Maybe it's this particular Monday and I'll be back to hating them next week, but for whatever reason I'm going to keep enjoying today."Have a good afternoon, Melissa." I pass the small bag of donuts over the counter and smile at what was once a high school nemesis. Seventh grade she made my life a living hell, but then her parents got divorced and she had to move to Ohio. Now she's back, and she's either completely forgotten who I am, doesn't recognize me, or she isn't quite as big of a bitch as she used to be. Whatever — I don't care. As long as she's not calling me Mini Winnie, we can both live our lives in peace.Sometimes being an adult rocks.If you look past the bill paying, the job, and having respons
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 176: Everyone Likes Butter
"Everyone likes butter." The muffin inches closer and this time she reaches out and quickly plucks it from my hand. "And besides, if you eat a cupcake now you won't have enough calories left to eat a brownie later."Pearl loves brownies."Don't give me any of that calorie-counting shit," the older woman says waving her hand in my direction as if I'm a fly set to land on her teacup. "I haven't counted calories for at least thirty years and I'm not about to start now. When I die I want to be so fat I take up two caskets.""Pearl..." I say shaking my head. She's anything but fat and could probably eat thirty brownies without gaining a pound. Some people are blessed like that. I'm not one of them. I eat a brownie on Monday and by Tuesday I have an extra roll on my hip."All the young people in this town are dying way too early in life. It's wasteful, so eat the brownies now before they find your chocolate-deprived body somewhere." Her words on the outside don't seem to have an inne
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 177: Bakery Work
"Coming out!" Katy yells as she pushes through the swinging metal doors with her back, carrying a large tray of the chocolate goodness. The tray gets placed on the counter and I quickly grab three or four... Okay fine, six, and place them in one of the brown paper bags we use for the customers.The best thing about working for the bakery? Anessa doesn't care if we eat as long as we don't eat everything. She put in that small stipulation after Tabitha and Katy ate an entire batch of cookies one afternoon. I don't mean an entire batch like you make in your house on the weekend. These are industrial sized batches of chocolate chip cookies. The two of them didn't eat anything with sugar for the next week. It was like a drunk who drinks too much and promises they are never going to drink alcohol again. And like a binge drinker, they eventually fell off the wagon, but no one has dared to eat so much in one shift since.Katy pops one of the warm cookies in her mouth and then has to leave
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 178: Turmoil in His Words
Huxley nods as he puts the car in reverse and backs out of the parking spot. He's blissfully unaware of the turmoil his words created.Huxley didn't fly to the Pelican Bay airport on his way here. He rented a car and drove from the larger airport in Portland. He's never been to the Pelican Bay airport, which means he doesn't realize the place is barely an airport. I'm not sure if it's even legally called one. One of the landing strips is just dirt and grass. It's not even paved. Only a few planes ever fly in and out of the airport — if I'm forced to call it that — most of them local small prop planes flown by residents in the city for fun. I saw a FedEx plane there once, but not a real plane. The plane I was expecting to ride in. A big one with seat belts, and oxygen masks, and a drink cart.Images of James, the pilot who flew me to the small island on my trip to Hawaii, come back to memory. He's also the reason I'm currently going to church every Sunday because I made a promise on
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 179: Vegas
The city lights of Vegas stream by like one of those slow-motion pictures sold at all the tourist traps. Huxley slows the car and turns to the right when I point out the driveway to the apartment complex. One building down, at the end of a short little hallway, I shared a one-bedroom apartment with Archer.It feels weird being back. Like my past and present are colliding and there's nothing I can do to get out of the way. I have to brace for impact and hope no one walks away with a broken bone or worse — a broken heart.The sky is dark and many of the apartment lights have shut off for the evening. This end of the city away from the strip feels weird as well. There are no bright glowing lights and nobody is pumping in the sounds of coins hitting on slot machine trays. They moved to audio equipment to create the same feel of winning for people even though all the slot machines in Vegas now work on a credit system. You put in your money, but all you get out is a slip of paper that te
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 180: A Date with My Past
It's not that people in Vegas are more suspicious of cops than other people in the country. It's that the cops here... leave a bit to be desired. I'm sure it's because they live in the world full of sin and have their hands full, but most people in our apartment complex aren't going to willingly give out information or turn someone over to the police. We don't work that way. Even the law-abiding ones of us know what it takes to survive in the desert."Yeah, I saw Archer the other day." One of the neighbors leans against his doorway not letting Huxley see inside his apartment as he answers. I'm surprised he gives this much. My ears immediately perk up to hear better. Robert shared a wall with us for the last two years but we never really talked to him. Archer helped one of them move a couch once, but that's about it."He say anything to you last time he saw him?" Huxley asks."He borrowed thirty bucks from me and said he was going to... Somewhere on the East Coast."Huxley's onc
Pelican Bay Security Chapter 181: Talk you into it?
He tilts his head, his eyes widening as he waits. The small borough of excitement flutters alive in my chest. At the same time, it doesn't seem as late anymore and I'm not quite as tired as I was a few minutes ago.But a girl doesn't give in that easily."You might be able to persuade me."Huxley smirks, his lips pinched together but still happy. "What about you take off your pants and lie in the bed and we'll see if I can talk you into it?" He tugs his shirts from his chest. The hard lines of muscle shimmer in the lights as his body flexes with the movement. I lick my lips looking at the tone muscles he received either in the military or working on a farm in Hawaii. I don't care where they came from. I'm only glad they're mine.I sit on the bed not ready for our game to end. "And what if I don't? Will you make me?""Maybe I will." He stalks to the edge using slow and deliberate steps.A shudder runs through my body the closer he gets until we're a hair's breadth away. Huxl
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