Page 73 of Rattle the Cage

Lola rolled her eyes as she saw what I was looking at. “This is what they do.”

“Who?”

“The zombies. Watch, give him 60 seconds before he starts raging.” She kept her voice hushed, trying not to draw Chrissy’s attention to it.

We kept our eyes peeled.

From behind us, the man’s voice raised in volume every few seconds. Until a loud bang made us jump as his hands slammed into the wood counter. “Stop FUCKING with me!”

The woman behind the counter held up her hands. “I’m sorry, sir. We’re just out.”

“He will make you pay!” The man roared as he whipped away from the counter, walked through the parking lot, and disappeared down the wooded road.

A few caring customers went up to the counter, checking on the young girl just trying to do her job.

Chrissy was looking now, the remnants of her last nugget lingering around her mouth.

Wiping them away, Lola smiled down at her daughter. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Some people just aren’t very nice to everyone. Why don’t you go play with the other kids?”

Excited, Chrissy nodded and ran off.

“That’s what I mean.” Lola let out a heavy sigh. “You’ve seen some of it at the club but those guys usually aren’t coming off whatever fucking drug it is. They’re just antsy for more.”

Nodding, I turned back to Lola. “That guy is still high?”

“Just coming down.”

My eyes scanned the picnic tables around us, catching on the other zoned out patrons. The rageful man at the counter wasn’t the only one. A few other men and women stared off into space, looking like they were about ready to explode.

“The club keeps getting worse.” Lola shoved a few fries into her mouth, her long red nails making the perfect claw to capture the maximum amount of fries.

Wiping my hands, I shook my head. “Poor Nico. This shit is weird.”

Lola raised an eyebrow. “No kidding. She’s going to have to hire more muscle. But what men can we even trust at this point? They might just be The Messenger’s plants.”

What had become clear over the last few months was that whatever Rubin was preaching, he didn’t like that women had control over their own bodies, and that men would succumb to some dancing.

The Freaks and I could only assume he told his cronies that sex work of any kind was sinful.

Not that it stopped those dirtbags from coming for a dance anyway.

They were hypocrites. All of them.

“Maybe your ‘clients’ could help us out.” Lola winked, wanting to get us on a lighter topic.

Rolling my eyes, I tried to play off how right she was. “Very funny.”

In reality, the Freaks were doing even more than Lola would know to protect me, all of our coworkers, and Valemont as a whole. They were just as determined as I was to take Rubin and his acolytes down.

“How are they, your clients? How are you?” Lola pressed, boring her eyes into me.

With a shrug, I tried to muster the courage to be honest. “They aren’t really clients. Not in that way.”

“Then what are they?”

I could have stopped there, thrown my walls back up and kept Lola at a distance. She had enough going on as it was. Did she really need all my mess on top of being a single mom in this batshit crazy world?

But this is what she’d asked from me.