“No!”
Willa stared at her in sympathy. “If you don’t believe me, ask Angus Berry. I don’t know how he managed it, but he did. I was so embarrassed and afraid of Lewis that I asked him not to tell anyone. I bought a gun the next day.”
“Why would Lewis lie to me?” Doubt was beginning to show in Sissy’s eyes.
“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to keep who he was really having an affair with secret. Only Lewis knows the answer to that question.”
“And he’s dead.”
“That, I accept responsibility for. I don’t know if I would have been able to pull the trigger to save myself, but I couldn’t let him kill Rachel.”
“My mom hated you.”
“Yes, she did, from the time we were in grade school.”
“Why?”
Willa looked away from Sissy. She had never admitted to a living soul why Georgia hated her so much, but she remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.
“We were in second grade homeroom together, and it was Valentine’s Day. I had stayed up the night before to make a Valentine box. It was very pretty,” Willa said modestly. “The teacher placed mine next to Georgia’s, and the children in the class weren’t very nice. They made fun of hers.” Willa blinked back tears at the cruelty of the other children. “When we came back from lunch, my box was lying in pieces. The teacher tried to blame Georgia, but I told her I had done it, that I wanted to count my valentines.”
“Did my mom do it?”
“I don’t know,” Willa lied, crossing her fingers behind her back. “But I’m sure it was embarrassing for her, anyway.”
Georgia hadn’t been embarrassed; she had been furious. After school, Georgia had followed her home and had ripped out half of her hair before Drake had pulled her away.
“That’s not much of a reason,” Sissy scoffed.
“For Georgia, it was.” Willa had thought about it over the years. “She knew I was afraid of her, and it made her feel powerful. She liked the feeling it gave her. That’s why people bully others.” Willa stared at Sissy.
The young girl turned red, looking down at the floor.
“I’m ready for you,” Sex Piston said as the pretty blonde left the shop.
Once Willa crossed the floor and sat down in the chair, Sissy began sweeping again. Then Willa felt a tug on her hair. Thinking Sex Piston was being unusually rough, she glanced upward, and their eyes met in silence. With the flick of her wrist, Sex Piston flipped her top up, showing a scar on her abdomen. Then she felt Sex Piston’s finger touch the bald spot on her scalp which she always kept hidden.
Sex Piston was one of the strongest women Willa knew, and she was telling her she had also been a victim of bullying. Ever since the day Georgia had attacked her, she had felt like a scared child who was too afraid to strike back. However, right in that instant, a burgeoning of confidence began to grow inside of her.
“Damn, bitch, look at that rock on her finger!” Sex Piston grabbed her hand, lifting it so the other women in the shop could see.
“Lucky and I are engaged.” Willa smiled. She couldn’t contain all the joy she was feeling.
“I don’t talk to Lily and Beth one day, and I miss all the gossip,” Sex Piston fussed.
“I asked them not to. I wanted to tell you all today.”
“Does this mean we get to have another bachelorette party?” Crazy Bitch asked.
“Fuck no. The last one almost killed me,” Killyama complained.
“I’m with Killyama; one was more than enough.” Willa still had problems with recalling certain parts of that night.
“I heard one is never enough for Lucky.” Willa’s smile slipped at Sissy’s snide comment. “For none of The Last Riders, either. I don’t know why anyone would want to pick one when you can have them all. Viper promised, as soon as I turn nineteen, I can join the club. Don’t worry, Willa; I only need six of the eight votes.”
Willa gasped, not at what Sissy said, but at Killyama’s reaction.
The woman moved like a pouncing tigress, jerking the broom away from Sissy, and began hitting the girl with it.
“Shit!” Crazy Bitch ran toward Killyama, but she couldn’t get close because the broom was moving so fast.
Willa tried to get up to stop the crazed woman, but Sex Piston pushed her back down on the chair.
“Sit your ass down. Killyama won’t hurt her too bad. It’s a plastic broom.”
Willa could only sit and gawk as Killyama hit the girl several times across her butt and thighs. Sissy curled into a ball on the floor with her hands over her head.