Trapped (Caged #2)(18)

Right next to her on the table were her cigarettes. While Krazy Katie focused on Tria, I quickly picked up the pack and dumped the smokes into the pocket of my hoodie. I dropped the empty pack back in its original spot and headed toward the front door.

“Come on, crazy bitch,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Let’s go get you some more smokes.”

Her face scrunched up as she reached for the pack next to her and found it empty. She sighed heavily, totally refused to put on any kind of jacket, and then followed us out of the apartment and down toward the grocery store.

“There’s a check cashing place a couple blocks past the store,” I said to Tria. “I’m pretty sure they’ll cash government checks. I mean, if you can’t trust a government check not to bounce, you can’t trust the water to stay up in the clouds, right?”

Tria just shook her head at my lame excuse for a joke and glanced behind her to make sure Krazy Katie was still following.

“What is wrong with her?” Tria asked.

“I dunno,” I said. “Hey, goofy bitch—what’s wrong with you?”

“All the right chemicals,” Krazy Katie said, much to my surprise. I wasn’t expecting any kind of response. “They just got all out of order.”

“See what good it does? She just says random shit.”

“That wasn’t random,” Tria argued. “She’s saying she has a chemical imbalance.”

“Can’t walk on a tight rope,” Krazy Katie muttered.

“See?” Tria said with a smile. “No balance.”

I grinned at her.

“You’re awfully smart for a small town girl.”

Check cashing wasn’t too big a deal, but taking Krazy Katie through the grocery store was sort of like taking a bunch of those little gnat-bugs and trying to organize them into a synchronized swim team. She was all over the f*cking place with no rhyme or reason to whatever direction she might head next. I didn’t know what she really liked to eat, but we picked out as assortment of foods that fit within her budget after rent and bills and shit were all covered.

It was a pretty decent pile of food—Tria was awesome at taking a small amount of money and ending up with a f*cking banquet.

There were about five hundred and twenty-seven people trying to check out through two available lanes. There were also at least fifty-seven workers on break and hanging outside. Well, all right, there were nine people in line and two on break, but it still pissed me off.

I sighed dramatically and eyed the various gossip mags. They all seemed pretty focused on some Hollywood couple and whether or not they were secretly banging each other. The flavors of gum right above the magazine racks were far more interesting. After waiting about forty days and nights, we were next in line. That was when Krazy Katie stood up on her toes to look over the counter for a moment and then took off running.

“What the f*ck!” I growled.

The woman in front of me turned around and glared. I eyed her right back.

“My dick’s a little lower if you want to check that out, too.”

“My word!” she exclaimed as she kept glaring.

“If your word includes ‘let me drop onto my knees and take your cock down my throat,’ then we might have something to discuss. Otherwise, turn the f*ck around and mind your own damn business!”

Tria smacked me on the back.

“What did I do?” I asked as I turned around. “The bitch is being rude!”

“Go get Katie!” Tria said. “She ran over by the fruit.”

I handed Tria the cash for the food and then headed off in the direction Krazy Katie had gone. I groaned as I turned the corner to find a line of her clothing leading up to a display of vegetables. Krazy Katie was lying on top of a bunch of lettuce heads, completely naked, with an apple in her mouth and her arms spread out wide, as if she were ready to be nailed to a cross. There were people standing all around, some with kids whose eyes they tried to cover from the crazy chick among the fruit. A manager was yelling at her.

“I don’t know what you are doing, ma’am,” he said, “but we can’t have you…um…lying down on the produce.”

He moved up closer to her but seemed hesitant to touch her. He pulled a little radio out of a holster attached to his belt and called for backup.

“I got her,” I said as I walked around him. I marched right up and scooped her up in my arms like a baby though she was not pleased about it at all. She wriggled and screamed and spit bits of apple into my face as I yanked her underwear up her legs.

She continued to wail and struggle as I swooped down and grabbed the rest of her clothes. I covered her flopping tits with her shirt and tucked the rest of her clothing underneath my arm, trying not to lose my grip on the nutcase at the same time. It just wasn’t working, so I switched to a fireman’s hold—tossing her upside down over my shoulder.

Tria was paying for the stuff as I headed out the door, and I met her just outside. I stopped her before she could return the cart to the corral.

“We’re taking that with us,” I told her.

“I can carry this,” she said. “It’s not that much.”

I shook my head and walked over to the cart, shoved the little kid’s seat back with my elbow, and dropped Krazy Katie into the middle of the basket. Tria forced Krazy Katie back into her shirt, and then I grabbed all the food and piled it on top of her.