Page 62 of Darling Venom
“How hard can it be? You go to a place, buy a cake, bring it home.”
“I have a job, dumb shit.”
“And I have a date, dickwad.”
I hung up on him.
I bought him half a pound of carrot cake from the hospital cafeteria just before clocking out, knowing damn well no one in the universe liked carrot cake, but that was the only thing they had left so late in the evening.
It looked like a bald chia pet and probably tasted much the same. Kellan huffed as I dropped it into his hands when I got into the house. He was on his way out, pushing his floppy emo hair aside so he could examine it.
“Wow. A carrot cake.”
“What’s that? Thank you, Tate, for making the effort. Why, you’re welcome.”
“Lame.”
“So. A date, huh?”
“Just kidding. I’m seeing a friend.”
“On Valentine’s Day?”
“She’s going through a rough patch.”
“So it’s a she.”
“You know, some of us see a woman and don’t instinctively want to stick our fingers in her pussy.” He was referring to my job.
I grinned.
“Spoken like a kid who’s never stuck his fingers in a pussy.” I chucked the back of his head, ignoring his scowl. “Good luck, kiddo.”
“Go to Hell, Tate.”
“Sir? Sir?” The dudebro behind the counter waved his hand back and forth.
I snapped my attention back to him. My mind was a million miles away, at home with Kellan. I should’ve driven him there. Should’ve asked him who she was, what they’d planned, what hobbies she liked.
“Do you sell carrot cakes?”
“Yeah.” He puffed his chest out proudly. “The only place in this neighborhood to sell them.”
She’d come here on purpose for the cake.
“Your smoothie, sir.”
I took it, paid, and sauntered over to Charlie. Her leg was rocking again.
Always the right one.
Never the left.
I wondered how the hell I’d noticed that. Hannah got mad every time I’d failed to notice a new haircut, dress, or piece of jewelry.
“I could walk into the house missing a limb and you wouldn’t care,” she’d say.
To which I’d reply, “Of course I’d care. Especially if I have to sew it back together myself.”
