Crescent City Connection

said, “Because you are fine Christian men helping out a damsel in distress.”
    Chip laughed in a way Lovelace really couldn’t construe as anything but evil. “Oh, yeah, right.”
    It occurred to her that she should have wondered herself why they were giving her the ride. But the answer seemed obvious and not even sinister—they were drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
    Sam winked at Lovelace, who had noticed by this time that Mimi was stretched out with her head in his lap. “You two gettin’ along?”
    She smiled with her lips together, hoping they hadn’t thinned into a telltale line. “Just fine.”
    “Hey, ol’ buddy, gimme another hit of speed, okay?”
    Chip pulled some pills out of his pocket, passed them back to Sam, and offered one to Lovelace. She took it, thinking she could use the rush.
    The two men looked at each other. Chip said, “Aw right!”
    Apparently, they thought they’d found a kindred spirit.
    Sam said, “Gimme a beer.”
    “Want to go to the French Quarter? I mean, y’all don’t really need to sleep now, do you?”
    “Who said anything about sleepin’?”
    “Listen, I kind of need to get home.”
    Chip grabbed her leg again. “Aw, come on. Just have breakfast with us. Then we’ll take you home.”
    Lovelace noticed Chip hadn’t availed himself of the speed, and her only hope was that he wouldn’t. She needed him to crash. Breakfast might make him sleepy.
    “Whatever.” She shrugged and smiled at him, just a bimbo along for the ride.
    They got off the Interstate and found a McDonald’s, where she promptly excused herself to use the ladies’ room, thinking home-free thoughts. But two things went wrong—Mimi came with her, and there was no window.
    The guys had ordered her an Egg McMuffin.
If I eat it
, she thought,
does that mean they’ll
think I owe them? And if I don’t, are they going to get ugly?
    In the end she nibbled, and when they urged her to eat up, she said she wasn’t hungry. Sam said, “I know what you mean, man. I got other nourishment in my bloodstream.”
    Chip was starting to behave like a kid who hadn’t had his nap. “Come on. I’m draggin’.”
    Sam said, “How about I drive for a while?”
    “Are you kiddin’? You nearly wrecked us last night. Hey, I saw a Quinta Inn—let’s go check in for a couple of hours.”
    “I want to get to New Orleans, man.”
    “Hey, man, we’re there. This is Veterans Highway. We’ll just stop for a nap, okay? Everything in the French Quarter’s gon’ be booked.”
    Mimi was nuzzling Sam. “Come on, Sammy. Let’s stop for a little while.”
    If Lovelace had had any questions about the sleeping arrangements, they were answered.
    So here’s the problem, she thought:
The lady or the tiger? The devil you know or the devil you don’t? 1 could just start hitchhiking, but maybe the new Ted Bundy’ll give me a ride.
    She opted for her new best friends.
    As soon as the door closed, Chip was upon her, beery, eggy breath in her face, tongue between her teeth.
    She kissed him, but with her hands on his chest, pushing gently even as she opened her mouth, teasing a little. She broke away and whispered, “Let me take a shower first.”
    Once again there was no window. Still, she knew she wouldn’t have used it. She was getting bolder by the moment, and more and more reckless. Later, she knew that she’d known in the back of her mind what she was going to do, but she never put it into words, never admitted it to herself—she just did it.
    First, she did take a shower—a long, leisurely, delicious one. Then she put all her clothes on, stepped back into the room, and observed a dream come true.
    Chip had stripped in anticipation, turned on the TV, and crawled between the covers, leaving his wallet and car keys on the dresser. He was snoring.
    The keys were tempting. Really, really tempting. But the goal was staying away from her dad, and if she got busted for car theft, she’d be stuck with him for the next million years.
    Besides, Chip had five or six twenties in his wallet—he probably didn’t know how many himself. He’d never be sure if she took one or not. In fact, he wouldn’t know if she took two.
    She asked the desk clerk to call her a cab and was waiting in the lobby, big as life, when Chip came in loaded for bear. He was so mad he clenched his fists as he walked; his face was close to purple. She’d probably have wet her pants if there hadn’t been two or three other people