Part 21 (1/2)
”Just don't want to waste the entire day, that's all,” he grumbled into his mug.
She silently made two pieces of toast, put them on a plate, and slid it in front of him. Maybe he was grouchy because he needed food. It couldn't be a hangover-they'd stopped at two beers. Sadie grabbed her coffee, sat down at the table, and watched as Zack rubbed the back of his neck.
”Now I get it.” She cringed. ”Guess I should've warned you that my sofa is a real b.i.t.c.h to sleep on.”
”It feels like I slept with a noose around my neck,” he snarled.
”It's not easy being a macho he-man protecting the women of the world, huh?”
”If we do this again, I'm sharing your bed.”
She glanced up and saw the look on his face that he wasn't kidding. She reddened and busied herself with fetching him two aspirin before heading for the shower. After she dressed, she grabbed another cup of coffee and they loaded the van with supplies and hit the road.
When she stopped the company truck in front of their destination, she looked over at Zack.
”Oh G.o.d,” she said, then turned and raised her eyebrows at him. ”You could've warned me.”
”What, and miss the look on your face when we got here? Not a chance.”
Zack smiled, and Sadie only closed her eyes and shook her head as they climbed out of the vehicle and walked toward the store. The neon bright red awning overhead read HOT TAMALES EROTICA.
”The family lives in an apartment above the store,” Sadie said. ”We'll get the key from them and I'll get the contract signed before we go inside.”
They took a few steps and were immediately greeted by a young Chinese man, who rushed over. He was frantically waving his arms, making shooing gestures, and shouting, ”No, you can't park there! You must move your vehicle to the back. Park in the alley, not in front of the store!”
”Mr. Woo?” Sadie asked.
”Yes. Yes,” he confirmed. ”Move your truck and I meet you at the back entrance before you scare away all our customers!”
Sadie eyed the four-foot inflated pink d.i.l.d.o in the display window and mumbled to Zack, ”I don't think there's a whole lot that would scare off his clientele.”
She maneuvered the van slowly down the narrow lane, which was riddled with potholes. In order to allow other vehicles access down the lane, she had to park extremely close to a Dumpster. It was so tight that she couldn't open the driver's door, so she exited via the pa.s.senger side.
Bart Woo looked a lot more relaxed, even a little too relaxed. He waved them inside with a huge smile that certainly didn't scream grieving son.
”You'll get the place done today, right?” he asked. ”So we can reopen tomorrow?”
”I can't make any guarantees, Mr. Woo. We haven't even seen the place yet.”
She handed him her contract to look over, and he signed it after giving it only a pa.s.sing glance.
”You realize that if something is uncleanable, whether it's real or personal property, we have to toss it. I'll provide the insurance company with an itemized list, so you should be reimbursed, but much of your product may need to be destroyed.”
”Yes, I understand,” he said hurriedly. ”But you'll try and keep what you can clean, yes?”
”Yes.”
”Fine. Start now, okay? The sooner you start, the sooner you finish and I reopen my store and restock my shelves with stuff from the storeroom.”
Bart Woo handed Sadie a key to the premises, then scooted back upstairs to his apartment. Zack was almost finished suiting up.
”This is a shotgun job,” she reminded him. ”It'll be slow going because there'll be lots of debris. Remember to watch for sharps.”
Bone fragments could be razor sharp and would easily slice through their gloves if they weren't careful. The cut itself was the least of their worries. It was all the potential diseases swimming in the blood that upped the level of risk.
Once they were fully suited, they stepped out of the stockroom and into the outer store. It wasn't the destruction that caused Sadie to stop short and had her eyes bulging.
There was something about standing in a store with floor-to-ceiling s.e.x aids that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable.
Hot Tamales Erotica looked like a war zone-a combat area littered with packaging shrapnel and coated with slimy joy gel that was mixed with blood spatter.
14.
Bone fragments were embedded in walls, shelves, and product. Bart Woo was either paranoid that they would steal from him or terrified that they were being overly slow in their cleaning efforts, because he repeatedly popped in unannounced.
”I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know how you put up with him,” Sadie grumbled to Mr. Woo Sr., who walked up and down the aisles in dazed confusion. The entire right side of the man's rib cage was blown away.
It didn't matter that the older Mr. Woo probably couldn't hear her from behind her disposable respirator. He also didn't appear to speak English.
”No spatter here, but the packaging has been destroyed,” Zack called out. ”Should I toss it?”
Sadie glanced over her shoulder in his direction.
”Yeah, toss it,” she replied, clearing her throat uncomfortably.
”You sure?”
Zack closed the gap between them, took the object in question, and nudged Sadie under the chin with it.
”A woman living alone could find something like this useful.”
Sadie looked down at the huge black d.i.l.d.o and blushed bloodred.
”Get lost,” she muttered with a nervous giggle and turned away.
”Of course, if that's not your thing, there's always these.”
She turned again and he snapped a pair of fur-lined pink handcuffs onto her gloved hand.
”Zack, stop it!”
He tugged her close.
”If Bart Woo would leave us alone in here for a while, I could probably help get rid of that stressed look on your face.”
Her eyes were huge and she swallowed thickly.