The Chase by Amber Riel (best novels for students .TXT) 📕

          “Where are we going?” Sam’s voice broke through the silence.

          “It’s pointless telling you because you wouldn’t know where we’re heading anyways, dumb broad,” I spoke the last two words under my breath so Lainie didn’t couldn’t hear me or Sam would barely be able to hear me.

          “Lainie’s right there,” Sam whispered in a harsh tone trying to keep her voice down.

          I glanced in the mirror to see that Lainie had falling asleep.  “But she’s sleeping.”

          I watched Sam shake her head with part of my eye as she stared at me.  “Why did you have to come huh?”

          “Because Ron called me no one else…. That’s something that you should ask him…. I think it’s because of your sister trying to play matchmaker…. She’s so damn stubborn….” I kind of had to let out a laugh although I didn’t want to mention to Sam about how I told Ron to call just in case the night before anyways.  “But she’s a sweet woman….” I sighed.  “She’s perfect for Ron.”

          “How come you’re so nice to everyone else but me?”

          “I don’t want to talk now.”  I ignored Sam’s question.  I had a feeling she was going to ask that sooner or later.

          “Why won’t you answer me?”

          “I told you that I don’t want to talk now.”

          “I can’t believe that Annie would want me to end up with someone like you.”

          I looked at Sam for a moment then turned my attention back toward the road.  “I don’t know why anyone would even want to be with you.”

          I could see with the part of my left eye as Sam dropped her mouth, insulted.

          I pulled into a park lot of a small dinner.  I figured that the two girls were most likely starving and need something in their stomachs to help them relax after the events of the past few hours.  I wasn’t all that hungry but I was okay with getting some kind of snack or close to a snack.  “Hungry?” I asked.

          “Yea,” Sam answered.

          I parked into an empty parking space.

          Sam unbuckled and turned toward Lainie.  As she looked at the child I watched a smile grow on her face.  She had a beautiful smile but of course I wasn’t going to let her know that.  She placed her left hand on Lainie’s shoulder as she kind of shook her.  “Lainie,” she whispered, “wake up.  We’re going to get some dinner.”

          Lainie’s eyes opened as she began blinking and looked around a little bit.

          I pushed my seat forward and unbuckled Lainie.  I picked her up because I had a feeling she was going to be kind of falling after waking up.

          Sam climbed out of the car and closed the door as I kind of had to use my back as a hand or an arm to close my door so I wouldn’t drop Lainie.  I carried the child into the store.  I felt Sam watching as I walked with Lainie.

          We stood in line waiting for the family of five to get a table and then for the group of business men and women who had seen to be together for some kind of business dinner or something along that line.  I figured it was going to be a little while before there was a table for us to head to.  “Why don’t you sit down?  I’ll place Lainie next to you so that way you two don’t have to stand in line as long,” I told Sam.

          She nodded.  “Okay.”  She walked over to the small brown wall connected bench and I placed Lainie next to her.

          I hurried back in line before someone took my place and I had to wait even longer.  Every now and then I would glance toward Lainie and Sam to make sure they were alright.  As I thought about it I realized the less I knew about the situation from earlier.  I had no clue if Sam and Lainie knew anything about the men who broke in or if they had been lucky enough to arrive safely home without being in the same house as the men who had broken in.  I probably should have let Sam tell me what she knew about the break in if she knew anything but had ignored her.  Louis, you idiot, I thought to myself.

          “Next please,” the waitress behind the podium had said.

          I noticed the family had already walked toward their seats and the business men and women took the place of the family as they walked up to the waitress.  I waited as she took down their information then had the group follow her out of the room we were in.

          I waited at the podium for someone to arrive.  He placed my arm on the podium as I waited.

          “I’m hungry,” I barely heard Lainie’s little voice speak.

          “We’ll be eating soon,” Sam reassured the child.  “Uncle Louis has brought us to a nice little restaurant.”

          “Next please,” the new waitress said as she arrived at the podium.

          “Come on, Sam and Lainie,” I said as I turned to face them, gesturing for them to come.

          “Okay, Lainie, time to go eat,” Sam said as she stood up helping Lainie to her feet.

          I turned my attention back toward the waitress as she smiled.

          “Three in your party, sir?”

          “Yes, ma’am,” I answered.

          “Okay.”  She wrote it down in a pad and then turned her attention back toward us.  “Follow me this way please.”

          We followed her into the back and walked over to a small table.  Sam had Lainie sit in the middle of her and window as I sat down across from them.

          “Can I get you drinks?” the waitress asked.

          “Chocolate milk please,” Lainie answered without hesitation.

          “Chocolate milk for me too please,” Sam agreed.

          “Okay.  Two chocolate milks,” the waitress repeated as she wrote down their order.  “And what about you, sir?” she asked me in a kind of flirtatious tone.

          I could care less.  I wasn’t one to flirt just to flirt.

          Sam kind of smiled as she shook her head.  I kind of wanted to know what made her do that but decided not to ask.

          “Water,” I answered, ignoring the waitress’s tone.

          “Okay.  One water,” she repeated as she wrote it down.  “Anything else, cutie?  For you it could on the house.”

          “Nope,” I replied, trying not to be rude.

          “Okay then.  Well, I’ll be back with your drinks and to get your orders.”  She finally walked away.

          “I need to go to the restroom,” Lainie said.

          “Okay.  Here I’ll go with you,” Sam replied as she stood up and let Lainie work her way out of the booth.

          “I’ll wait till you two get back to order…. I’m sure by then the waitress will be back with our drinks,” I told the two girls.

          “Okay.  Come on, Lainie.”

          I just stared into space as the girls walked away.  I turned my head toward the window and stared out of it.  Pain was working its way into my heart as I thought about Christy and even Sam.  Why is this happening? I thought as I looked around the dinner.

          The flirty waitress walked back over to the table, carrying a tray of three cups.  Two cups were filled with chocolate milk while the other was filled with water.  “Here you go, sir.  Your drinks,” she spoke with a flashy smile on her face as she placed the cups on the table.

          “Thanks.”

          “So that woman…. She isn’t like your girlfriend or anything is she because I would hate myself if she was.”

          I sighed and looked down at the table.  Clearly, it didn’t matter if Sam was around or not in order to flirt with me so her words were empty as she spoke them.

          “Well,” she replied as she wrote something down on a piece of paper and then slid the same slip of paper over to me, “that’s my number in just in case.”

          I didn’t let the waitress watch as I shook my head briefly.

          “So are you ready to order?”

          “Not yet; I’m waiting on the child and lady to return before ordering.”

          “Oh…. Of course.”  The waitress walked away and I took the slip of paper in my hand and crumpled it.

          I didn’t want that woman’s number.  She was somewhere in her early thirties and I preferred woman about my age or a little younger.  I took the crumpled slip of paper and threw it in the closest trash can.  Yea right, like I’m going to call you.

          I walked back over to the table and sat down.  I stayed seated as Lainie and Sam finally walked out from the restroom.

          Lainie hurried and sat down in the seat as she slid over to the window so Sam could sit next to her.

          “The waitress should be coming back soon to take our order so….”

          “Yea yea,” Sam replied.  “Do you know what you’re getting?”

          “Of course,” I replied, kind of rudely.  I felt that Sam was kind of rude in her words.

          “I was just asking.”

          “I don’t care if you were just asking,” I replied, kind of agitated.

          Lainie’s eyes moved back and forth between Sam and me.

“Sorry, Lainie, but your uncle is being very rude,” Sam told the child.

          “And your auntie is being very annoying,” I replied as I held the glass of water to my lips and then took a sip.

          “My mummy always says that if a boy is mean to you that usually means that he likes you,” Lainie spoke.

          I couldn’t believe the words which came from the child’s mouth and I spit my water out on Sam on accident.

          Sam dropped her mouth from disbelief but I didn’t know if it was what Lainie had said or if she thought I had done that on purpose.

          I may have been a jerk but I wouldn’t spit on a woman no matter how I felt about her.  “Sorry about that,” I told Sam as I turned my attention toward the child.  “Look, Lainie, I don’t like her…. I’m just putting up with her, there’s a difference.”

          Lainie’s hazel eyes just stared at me but she didn’t speak again.

          Sam picked up a few napkins to clean my spit from her clothes.  “That’s more for boys around your age…. Men are different,” she replied as she eyed me down with hatred and anger.  She looked at Lainie with a smile which kind of worried me in a way.  “Men have to be trained.”

          I was the one filled with anger because of Sam’s words.  How low was that?  She practically kicked me below the belt with her words…. Men have to be trained?  Why did women think like that?  As if we were dogs who needed to learn new tricks or how to control ourselves…. That’s all men were to women who believed that crap.

          “But that’s something that I’ll have to teach you when you’re older.”  Sam picked up her menu and flipped through it as she searched for something on the menu.

          Eventually the waitress walked back over to our table.  “Have you decided what you wanted?”

          “I’ll have a few kiwi burgers,” I replied.

          “Are you sure?” the waitress asked, still flirting with me.  “I think an attractive man such as yourself should eat more than that….”

          “Why are you flirting with a man whose here with another woman?” I asked, kind of biting off the woman’s head in a way.  I didn’t mean to it just happened and I kind of snapped.

          Sam dropped her mouth in disbelief.

          The waitress couldn’t take her eyes off of me either.  She was just