Tate and I stopped to rest at a rest stop. I pretended to sleep while I heard Tate quietly sobbing next to me. Thank god he had a bench seat in his Maverick, it made it so much easier to sleep in here. I rested my legs on his lap and laid my arm over my eyes. I felt him rustling around and I heard him wince. I moved my arm a little and saw the blade drag across his forearm. After he was done with that cut, he glanced at me, and made another right below that cut. He then popped a few pills and watched as the blood dripped to the floor. I sat up and grabbed his arm. "What the fuck, Tate!" Tate pulled his arm away from me and pulled down my pants. "Don't play that shit Grace I saw the blood stains on your pants yesterday." I pulled my pants up and sat against the passenger door. "If I stop.. Will you?" He sighed. "No.. I won't. My life sucks Grace. I love you, but you're the only thing in my life right now. We have no money. We're two stupid kids running away together."
The next day I went back to the 24 hour diner at applied for a server. Tate applied for a dishwasher at a privately owned bar a few blocks from the diner. We sat outside of a store with a sign while we waited for a call. My mom kept texting and calling me saying she was going to call the police if I didn't answer her calls or come back home, so I turned off my phone and put Tate's number on my application. A few guys came over and gave me $5 and I had to restrain Tate as he tried to get up to kick their asses. "I saw the look in their eyes.. they wanted to do more than give you money." I rolled my eyes. "OK and if it wasn't for them we wouldn't have any money." Tate got up and walked off. I'm so done with his jealousy right now. Since I didn't have the keys to the Maverick, I hung out in front of the store until about 6 p.m. when Tate finally came back. He was drunk off his ass and had a girl on his arm. I stood up and stormed over to him. "What the fuck, who are you?!" The girl laughed and kissed Tate on the cheek. "I think this one's fuck buddy for tonight, who the fuck are you?" I grabbed her by the arm and pushed her to the floor. Tate stood back and put his hands up, laughing. I tried to kick the girl, but she grabbed my leg and I fell to the floor as well. She got on the back of me and slammed my face into the ground, grabbing my hair as leverage.
I saw Tate walk off to the Maverick as this bitch was repeatedly hitting my face into the concrete. I was damn near dead when she finally stopped. She spit on me and went over to the Maverick. I tried to push myself off the ground and fell back down. I felt someone help me up. "Ta.. Tate?" I looked over through my non-swollen eye. I couldn't make out who this person was, but from the voice it sounded like a guy. I was helped into the store and brought to the employee's lounge. A few people were talking, but I couldn't hear them. Their voices were muffled. I passed out.
A few hours later I woke up in the employee lounge. Why didn't they call 911? There was a guy sitting next to me eating a sandwich. He looked over at me and stood up. "Are you OK?" I tried to reach for my head, but my whole body felt weak. "Ugh.." He had blonde hair and blue eyes, not my type, but he wasn't bad looking. He handed me some water and helped me drink it. "Do you have family around here?" I shook my head and frowned. Oh, my head.. it hurt so bad. "Look umm.. I'm sorry we didn't call the police. We have all sorts of folks that come through here and a lot of 'em don't want us to call the police, so I can call 'em if you want." I shook my head and sat up. "Advil?" "Oh! Yeah of course!" He rushed over to the med box and pulled out bandages and Advil. After taking the Advil, he patched me up handed me a bottle of water. "My names Adam by the way, are you hungry?" I shook my head as my stomach growled. "Uhm.. I'm going to get you something to eat. I think your stomach begs to differ!" I smile and watch as he leaves the room.
I grab my phone and turn it on. 20 missed calls from mom, 10 text messages from mom, and none from Tate. I stand up and look in the mirror. My eye is swollen shut, I have a busted fat lip, and the side of my face is cut up. Fucking bitch. Adam came back in and put his hands in front of me. "Woah there, sit down OK? You're in no condition to be standin' like this." I glare at him. "I'm not a damn horse." He chuckles, "Oh, sorry ma'am.. I don't usually deal with the public often, my father has a ranch and-" I put my hand up. "OK, I get it. I don't need your life story. Hey thanks for the help, but I'm going to get out of here.." He nods, "Yeah.. sure! If you need anything, my name's Adam and I work in the back here. So umm.. You can ask any of them kind ladies in the front and they'll call for me." I smile and nod. I stand up again and feel a sharp pain in my stomach. "Fuck!" I grab my stomach and collapse back into the seat. He rushes over to me, "Do you need anything? Are you OK?" I nod and get up again. I pull up my shirt and see major bruising by my ribs. Fuck.
I leave the store and see the Maverick no where in sight. Fucking Tate. I walk back to the diner and walk to the counter. "Hi um, I put in an application, I was just wondering if anyone had a chance to look at it." The old woman looked me up and down and looked at me in disgust. "Let me get Nancy." I sat down on a stool and held my head. Nancy came over to me, "Hi there, I'm Nancy. Are you OK baby girl?" I nodded. "Yes I'm fine, I just need a job." I said chuckling. She nodded, "Yeah, yeah OK. I hate to put you in this position, but one of my girls did just call out. Could you start tonight, say in an hour?" I smiled. "Yes! Thank you! Do you mind if I wait here though? My.. boyfriend took off with the car." She looked concerned. "Yeah, baby girl there's an employee's lounge in the back." I stood up, "my boyfriend's not the one that did this to me.. It was this stupid girl." She looked at me and nodded and directed me to the back. There were a few woman back there and a really big bald guy sitting with them as well. He must have been a cook because he was wearing all white and had stains all over his clothes.
The first woman that greeted me was sitting back there. She glared at me as I entered. "Hi I'm Grace!" I flashed a large smile. The woman looked at me and continued to talk to the other woman and man. The other woman was African American. She was younger and interrupted the other woman, "Hi Grace! I'm Mya, this is Annette, and this is our cook, big Tod."I smiled and nodded. "It's nice to meet all of you!" She smiled and got up. "Well, time to get back to our happy customers.." Annette huffed and crossed her arms. Big Tod stood up and patted her back. "Hang in there Anne." Great, now I was stuck in there with her. There was an awkward silence as she licked her finger, flipping the pages through a magazine. "So, how long have you worked here Annette?" Not even a glance up. She flat ass out ignored me! Alright, two can play at that game.
It came time for my shift. I was scared, this was my first job and I had no idea what I was doing. I was just glad I wasn't scared to talk to people. My first two tables went OK. The third table I dropped the guys water in his lap, and my fourth table was Annette's friends. She couldn't take them because she had too many tables. I saw her keep going over and talking to them, glancing over at me and laughing when I wasn't by them. What the hell lady! I sighed in frustration as I filled drinks. Mya came over to me and filled drinks. "I know Annette is a hard ass, but she'll get better. She just doesn't like young people I guess." I chuckled and got back to work. Her friends didn't tip me, but I saw them go over and hand cash to Annette. Finally my shift was over and Nancy closed up as we waited by the door. I walked Mya to her car. "See you tomorrow?" I smiled and nodded. They all left and I was stuck, homeless.. carless. I walked over to the bar Tate applied to and saw no Maverick. I walked back to the diner and sat against the building in the back. I was really scared, still wearing my uniform from work. An old fashion diner uniform, tight button up white shirt, short white skirt. I looked like a damn emo nurse. Heh, kinda cool I guess. I was disrupted from my thoughts when I heard walking by me. I tried to hide in the shadows. I saw five guys walk past me and I tried to keep quiet, but my phone beeped from dying. They looked over and walked over to me. "Hey there, what's a cute little thing doing out here all alone?" I stood up and started walking off, they followed.
One of the guys rushed in front of me and put his hands up. "Woah there little miss, not so fast." I rolled my eyes. These damn country boys think I'm a damn horse or something. Another of the boys came behind me and pushed himself against me. I turned around and pushed him off. They surrounded me and grabbed me from all side until I couldn't move. "Hey Josh! Where's your car!?" Josh laughed and held my arms down as they forced me to his car. Josh pushed me in the car face first and butt up. I tried to struggle and turn around, but the other guy came on the other side and held my face in the seat. I was suffocating and struggling to break free. I felt the guy behind me pull my panties off and make his way in. I tried to scream and fight, but I couldn't move.. I couldn't scream.. Tate wasn't here to save me this time. They all made their way with me and threw me in the bushes when they were done. I heard them laughing and talking as they walked away. Continuing about their day like they didn't just do that to me. I cried and laid there in fetal position, feeling violated and hurt. I ended up sleeping in that bush until the morning.
When I awoke, I went inside of the diner and saw Nancy there. Her mouth and eyes got wide when she saw me. "Dear god baby! What happened to you?!" I shrugged. "I umm.. fell and.. yeah. I fell in a bush." She looked at me concerned. "You didn't.. take a shower after last night.. or what?" My face got hot and red. "Yeah.. I did. I just fell." She nodded, "OK well I'm sorry, but I don't need you tonight. Come back in tomorrow, OK? At 6?" I nodded and tried to hold back tears. What was I suppose to do 'til then?! I walked out and down to a river down by the highway. I found the most secluded place I could and tried to at least rinse myself off and clean my clothes the best I could.
I walked back up and back to the bar. Still no Maverick. Where the hell is he!? I tried to call him, no answer. I walked into the bar and saw those guys from last night. Josh.. The boy with the rape car? He was the bartender. Two of the other boys were back there and the other two came from the back. They must have been the dishwasher and cook or something. Great. I turned around quickly and walked quickly away from there. If I stay here and continue to work at the diner, those boys are working at that bar.. I can't leave because I have no car. I can't hitch hike.. That's too dangerous.
Then I saw it, that fucking black Maverick pull up at the bar. Is Tate working there now? I stopped and watched as he got out stumbling, the girl getting out in the passenger side. She ran over to him and pushed him against the car, kissing him. He smiled and put his hands on her ass. I started to cry and ran away. I wasn't sure where I was running, but I know I just wanted to be away from him.