“I don’t.”
Her lips shifted to a pout as she crossed her arms, doing her best to bring her tits to my attention. “Why?”
It seemed the Reckless Bitches had gotten bolder in my absence and I didn’t fucking appreciate it. “Because I don’t want to, that’s why.”
Hurt flashed in her eyes for about a second before it turned to anger. Arms once propping up her tits shifted to her hips as she leaned forward to glare at me. “It’s that hoity-toity redheaded bitch, ain’t it? She’s no more special than the rest of us, ya know.”
“Goddammit, Sheena,” I roared and took a step forward, checking myself when she took a wary step back. “What, or who, I do is none of your fucking business. Get that shit through your thick skull or next time, I won’t be so nice.”
She stumbled back and I took a few more steps away from her as a middle-aged couple walked by the front window. “You wouldn’t know fun if it ran up and kicked you in the nuts.”
I laughed, shook my head and walked toward my bike that was parked out front. Jumping on my bike to put some distance between us, I decided I wasn’t ready to head back to an empty house. Now that Max and Jana were basically living together at Jana’s, the house felt bigger and emptier. Like another cage holding me in. I passed a noodle shop and figured being surrounded by strangers was better than being surrounded by silence. I didn’t know what the hell a noodle shop was, but I suspected some type of Asian based on the décor.
“Table for one?” a very petite Asian woman asked and I nodded. “Big man needs big table,” she offered with a pat of my arm in a maternal way that reminded me of my mom.
“Thanks,” I told her and stopped at a familiar halo of red hair. “Cover Girl?”
Teddy looked up and smiled. “Tate, fancy meeting you here.” She gestured for me to join her and the older woman smiled as she set the menu at the empty seat.
“I’ll get you a place setting,” she said with authority. “Drink?”
“Beer. Something dark and creamy.” She smiled, nodded and walked away.
I took the seat and drank Teddy in. She was always dressed up but tonight she had on jeans and a plain black t-shirt that still made her look like sex on stilettos. I inhaled and it felt like fire invaded my nose and eyes. “Holy hell woman, is that how you keep your body so hot, just scorching off the extra calories?” That shit in her bowl had to be illegal.
Her head fell back, sending a cascade of waves across her shoulders as she laughed. “Nah. I just have a major noodle addiction and these are so fucking spicy there’s no way I can pig out on spring rolls and dumplings too.”
My eyes must have bugged out my head at the way she laughed.
“You can eat that much?”
She nodded. “Oh yeah, which is why I limit myself to the spicy noodles or the other stuff.”
“Worried about getting fat? Because from here it looks like that’s a long way away.”
Her smile softened. “Thanks, but the truth is that I just don’t want to gain so much that I have to get rid of the clothes I’ve gathered over the years. They’re nice and these days I only splurge on shoes, handbags and jeans.”
I barked out a laugh and picked up the just delivered beer. “What else is there?”
She rolled her eyes with an affectionate smile. “Men. You know nothing of fashion.”
“You wound me,” I deadpanned.
“You’ll live, Golden Boy.” She shook her head. “I love that name.”
Her glee was interrupted when the older woman, May, according to the name on her shirt, came to take my order. I ordered a bowl of seafood and noodles, plus a bit of the other stuff out of pure curiosity. “Now Teddy, tell me something about yourself.”
“Like?” While she waited for me to specify, she used her chopsticks perfectly to scoop noodles in her mouth, totally unconcerned with the drops on her chin until she was done chewing.
Staring at her like this, dressed down and indulging in her favorite food, it occurred to me that she was as real as she was beautiful. Teddy didn’t try to be tough or sexy, she just was. She was able to laugh at herself without demeaning herself, and she spoke her mind. A rare trait in women in my experience. “Why did you grow up in foster care?”
“Straight to it then, huh?” She dabbed her mouth with her napkin, as ladylike as you please, then smiled to show she wasn’t bothered by my question. “My mom overdosed on heroin one times too many and when she died there was no one. She hadn’t spoken to her family in years, changed her name and moved a dozen times, so it was easier for the state to put me in the system rather than actually try to track them down.”
Damn. “Did you have one family or were you like Jana?”
She scoffed. “Yeah, that was one of the things that bonded us. Our inability to find a family. Now it’s your turn.”
I shrugged and told her all about our mom. “She was the best. Tough as hell but tender and all mom-like, you know? The woman couldn’t cook a bird to save her life, but she was absolute magic with potatoes. And she was so proud of Max, then me for enlisting.” Just thinking about Mom made my chest tighten, tears sting my eyes.