I started to duck down the aisle, but he spotted me standing there watching him.
When our eyes met, he frowned at me for a moment, as if he were seeing the ghost of someone he’d murdered long ago.
I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the cart and squeezed until my knuckles turned white.
He sauntered toward me with his arms outstretched, as if he thought I was going to hug him. When my hands didn’t come up, he let his arms drop to his sides. I saw his fingers curl into fists.
He gave me a fake smile and said, “Amy Lynne? I’ll be damned. Is that really you?”
Yes, Randy, you fucking moron, it’s really me.
I forced a smile to keep from screaming.
“It’s me,” I said quietly. “What are you doing here?”
Randy tapped a finger to the plastic name tag clipped to his shirt. “I’m the assistant manager,” he said proudly. He grinned and held out his arms. “Welcome to my Food King!”
“Wow, good for you,” I said. I felt my lungs collapsing, as if all the air had been sucked into the black hole that was Randy Beck.
I suddenly found it hard to breath.
I said, “Well, we have to go.”
I put my head down and started to push the cart forward.
“Hey, hang on, sweet cheeks,” he said, putting a hand on the cart to keep it from moving. He frowned at Lizzie, who frowned right back at him. She crinkled her nose as if he were a bad smell. Obviously, she was a better judge of people than I was.
Randy stuck out his finger and wiggled it at her.
“Who is this?” He cut his eyes at me. “She’s not… I mean…”
“No, Randy, she’s not yours,” I said, huffing at him. “And she’s not mine. I’m working as a nanny now.”
He huffed right back at me. “You? A nanny? I’ll be damned. I didn’t even know you liked kids.”
“I like kids just fine,” I said. “It’s some adults I have a problem with.”
He grinned at me. I’d never realized it before, but he kind of looked like a rat when he smiled.
“So, you still single? Still living in that shitty little apartment across town?”
“That’s none of your business,” I said. I nodded at the hand resting on the cart. “Now, if you’ll excuse us…”
“If I’ll excuse you?” He chuckled, but he didn’t remove his hand. “Listen to you, talking all uppity and shit.”
He let his eyes go up and down me.
I felt myself shrinking as he looked at me.
“You still look good. I’ll give you that. Fucking anybody these days? Like you were fucking that black deputy who came to my house and threatened to kill me if I ever came near you?”
“I wasn’t fucking him,” I said quietly. “He was my friend.”
“Bullshit,” he said, spitting out the word. “He’s lucky I didn’t whip his ass right there in the front yard. Motherfucker—”
“That’s enough,” I snapped. Lizzie’s eyes widened, and for a moment she looked like she might cry. I held out my hand and she wrapped her fingers around my thumb.
“We have to go,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Now get your hand off the cart or I’ll scream.”
Randy glared at me for a moment. Then he grabbed my arm and jerked me down the aisle a few feet. Lizzie held out her hands for me and whined.
“Listen, you fucking cunt. You can’t come in here acting like you’re better than me.”
He glanced at Lizzie, who was watching us with her hands over her ears. He growled at me. “You fucking her daddy? Is that it? Some rich asshole who’s too busy to take care of his own kid? How about the wife? You fucking her, too?”
“Shut up.”
“That’s the only way a piece of shit like you could get a job as a nanny, fucking your way into it.”
“Shut up,” I said again, trying to jerk my arm away from him. His fingers dug into it like a vice.
“Hell, as I recall, you weren’t even that good at fucking.”
He pulled me closer and put his mouth to my ear. His breath was hot on my cheek. It smelled like cigarettes and old coffee.
“Or maybe you’ve learned a thing or two since I kicked your worthless ass to the curb. Is that it, Amy Lynne? Did you learn to suck a dick like a real woman, or are you still using your teeth? I still have scars on my cock from your fucking teeth.”
I jerked my arm out of his grasp and pushed past him to get to Lizzie. I fumbled with the safety belt for a second, and then it clicked open. I pulled her out of the cart and clutched her to me.
“I’m not done with you,” Randy said. His nostrils flared as he breathed, like a bull about to charge. “I’ll find out who you’re fucking and I’ll tell him the truth about you.”
I held Lizzie as tight as I could and glared at him with tears in my eyes. “What truth?”
“The truth that you’re a fucking piece of shit that doesn’t deserve to suck his cock.” He rolled his eyes and took a step toward us. “Hell, Amy Lynne, I was too good for the likes of you. What makes you think a rich guy would ever do anything more than fuck you and kick you out the door?”
“He wouldn’t do that,” I said.