Inferno - Chelle Bliss by Chelle Bliss

“Where ya from, Opal?” Aunt Fran asks, resting her chin in the meaty part of her palm she has propped up. “I hear some Midwest in you.”

“Chicago.”

Aunt Fran sits up a little straighter, suddenly more excited than usual. “No shit. Me too.”

“Really?” Opal asks.

“Our entire family is from there,” I tell Opal, thinking that’s a strange coincidence.

“But I lived there for most of my life, while the other side—” Fran waves her hand at me “—left a long time ago.”

“You’re from Chicago too?” Opal asks me.

“My grandfather, Fran’s brother, grew up there but moved to Florida over fifty years ago. But we do still have family there.”

“What part are you from?” Fran asks Opal, glancing up when the waitress sets four beers on the table.

“The Loop.”

“North or South?”

I stare at them because they may as well be speaking a different language. I have no idea what the Loop is or what it means to be from the north or south of it.

“South.”

Fran gasps, slapping the table hard enough that our beers jiggle. “No shit. Me too. Where exactly?”

Opal doesn’t answer for a moment as she wraps her small hand around the base of the beer bottle. The place isn’t fancy enough for glasses. “Fifteenth and State near Canal.”

Fran whistles. “Swanky.”

Opal laughs. “I don’t know if I’d call it swanky.”

“Swankier than the Neon Cowboy.”

Opal glances around, soaking in the redneck biker vibe that this place has in spades. “Yeah, I guess that much is true.”

“Your parents still there?”

My body goes rigid and my stomach sinks. I hate this for Opal. How many times does she have to go over the same story, reliving the grief of her parents’ deaths?

“No,” Opal says, lifting the beer toward her mouth. “They passed ten years ago.”

Fran’s eyes widen. “Both of them?”

Opal nods as she takes a sip of her beer.

“Fuck. That sucks, kid. I’m so sorry,” Fran says, trying to hide her frown behind her bottle.

“Shitty hand,” Bear mutters before chugging down half of his beer in what seems like two seconds.

“It was a long time ago,” Opal says, as if somehow the amount of time that’s passed makes it easier to swallow the cold, hard truth of her past.

“You have family still there, at least? Go back often?”

Opal shakes her head again. “No. No one else is there.”

“Ever think about going back? I do.” Fran turns to look at Bear, who has an eyebrow raised.

“Like hell you are, woman. Your ass is staying here where it’s warm and you can wear those sexy-as-fuck hot pants with your ass hanging out the bottom.”

I almost spit out my beer. The image of my aunt Fran’s ass sticking out of her pants as she walks has my stomach turning like I ate something rotten. It’s not that she isn’t beautiful. I’m just not at the age that old-lady bottom is something I want to see.

“Shut up.” Fran smacks Bear in the arm as he takes another swig of his beer. “Don’t talk that way in front of the children.”

I turn my head, looking at Opal’s smiling face. She’s enjoying herself, liking the insanity that is Fran and Bear. It’s hard to be anything but happy when they’re around because they’re laid-back with a dash of crazy.

“It’s okay. You two are my life goal,” Opal says.

“Aw,” Fran gushes with a grin. “If you can nail that one down, I think you’ve got a good shot.”

Opal’s wide eyes swing to me.

“We’re not dating,” I tell Fran again.

“Not yet, but you will.” She winks at me.

“No, we really aren’t. We barely know each other,” Opal adds, opening the floodgates to Fran asking even more questions.

“When did you meet?”

Here we go. The Franish Inquisition has started, and there’s no stopping the train once it’s rolling.

“Tonight,” Opal answers.

Bear almost chokes on his drink, but somehow he recovers quickly. “You move fast, kid. I like your style.” He says those words to me.

I give him a fake, uncomfortable smile as I turn the beer bottle in my hands, trying to make myself busy. I don’t know what Opal wants to divulge to them, and I’m going to let her steer the conversation, so I don’t insert my foot in my mouth.

“Wow,” Fran mutters. “I can’t believe that.”

“It’s true,” I say, backing up Opal.

“Did we interrupt…” Fran waggles her eyebrows. “You know…?”

“Oh God, no,” Opal says immediately, waving her hand over the table. A little too fast, really. As if the idea of her sleeping with me is somehow ridiculous. “He was giving me a ride.”

“I bet he was.” Fran grins.

Opal blushes, and I know I have to step in to stop the train from going completely off the rails.

“I was taking her home.”

“Hers or yours?” Bear asks this time, waggling his eyebrows.

“Stop. It isn’t like that. Opal’s friend left her at the shop, and I was giving her a ride so she wouldn’t have to call a taxi.”