The Rikers also wouldn’t try to steal food and hoard for themselves. They were too self-righteous to try something like that, which meant someone had taken the food and planted it on them in hopes of sewing distrust against them.
Rumblings around the camp and little whispers allowed Willie to put together the story of a feud between the Percy family and the Riker family that stretched back for years. And if the Percy’s didn’t like the Rikers, Willie thought he might get along with them just dandy.
Willie knocked on the Percy’s portable and stepped back, waiting for an answer. When the door finally opened, he saw the husband, Lester.
“What the hell do you want?” Lester asked.
Willie offered a friendly smile and extended his hand. “Mr. Percy, it’s nice to finally meet you in person.”
Lester stared down at the hand but didn’t shake it. He looked back up at Willie. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
Willie lowered his hand and laughed. “Sorry about that. My name is Willie Smith. I was part of the group that came in a few weeks ago.”
Lester stood his ground. “From the women’s clinic?”
Willie nodded. “That’s right. My girlfriend and I were at the clinic when the power went out.”
Lester gave Willie a good look up and down and crossed his arms. “You’re the one who was knocking around that girl, weren’t you?”
Willie had been confronted by other men about his abuse before, and it was always a touchy subject. There were fewer and fewer men who believed a man had the right to hit his woman when they were getting out of line. It was a disgrace.
“Knocking around is subjective,” Willie said.
“Not these days.” The voice came from inside the portable, and Lester stepped aside, and Jane Percy came into view. “Especially not in this house.”
Willie smiled and nodded. “Of course. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Again he extended his hand, but Jane also declined.
“What the hell do you want, Willie?” Jane asked.
Willie noted the twang in the voice, but these weren’t a stupid pair of hillbillies who had crawled out from beneath a rock. These were people were organized, motivated, and smart. If he wanted to join the winning side, then he needed to convince them that he was an asset.
“I’ve come to offer my services to you,” Willie said.
“And what exactly do you think we need help with?” Jane asked.
“I know that the food mishap wasn’t a planned drill,” Willie answered. “And I think you and your family had something to do with all of that.”
Jane was quiet, and Willie could tell that she was weighing her options. “That’s quite a bold statement from someone in your position.”
Despite what people might have said about Willie, the man had an uncanny ability to read people. It was one of the reasons, really the only reason, he had survived so long in this world. He knew how to pick his mark. It was why he had chosen to date Carolina. He knew she was someone who would keep her mouth shut, someone who understood what it meant to be controlled.
And from what he could read of Jane Percy, he could tell this was a woman who had been underestimated her entire life and probably looked over by many men. And despite how often people talk about not caring about what other people think, in Willie’s experience, everyone, especially women, cared about what other people thought. It was coded in the human genome. It was why we were such social creatures. We wanted to be accepted.
Willie thought he might be able to flirt his way to get Jane on his side. “Someone in my position is in a unique spot to recognize an opportunity. And I see opportunity with you.” He flashed his award-winning grin. It worked most of the time.
Jane smiled and leaned a little closer. She lowered her voice to a whisper to where only Willie could hear. “And what exactly do you think that opportunity will be?”
Willie smiled even wider. He knew he had her hook, line, and sinker. “I think that’s for you to decide.” He could tell that Jane was eating it up, and when she laughed, he mirrored the same reaction. But before he could enjoy his victory lap, Jane grabbed Willie’s arm and spun him around, pinning his arm behind his back. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You listen to me very carefully,” Jane answered. “You don’t know a damned thing about me, or my family, or what we want. And if I see you come sniffing around here again, I promise you that you won’t be able to crawl away after I’m done with you.”
Jane shoved Willie forward, and he stumbled down the steps from the portable. He rubbed the arm Jane had pinned and glanced up at Jane, staring down at him with Lester grinning.
“And if I see you touch that woman again, I will put a bullet in you myself,” Jane said. “Got it, asshole?” She didn’t wait for a response and returned inside the portable with Lester giving him one more death stare before going inside himself.
Willie felt his cheeks turn red with embarrassment. He hated being played like a fool. And he hated it even more when it was done by a woman.
Anger building up inside of him, Willie stormed off. He reached into his pocket for the pack of cigarettes he had and was so upset that he dropped the carton to the ground. “Fucking hell.” He snatched the carton off the grass and then bit one of the cigarette tips between his teeth as he pulled it out. He struggled to click the lighter, and after a half-dozen misses, he threw both the cigarette and the lighter to the ground.
“Fucking bitch,” Willie said, muttering
