Queen of the Trailer Park (Rosie Maldonne's World Book 1) by Alice Quinn

sidewalk?”
    “Yes, exactly that. And what about you? What did you do?”
    “I ran after her—”
    “And left Pierre on his own?”
    Michel dropped his gaze.
    “I just can’t believe Véro would do that,” I said.
    “She didn’t seem her normal self.”
    “What do you mean?”
    His eyes filled with hatred. He looked right though me. All of a sudden he threw himself at me and began smacking me like someone demented, screeching, “Bitch! Whore! You think I didn’t know you’d never believe me? You’ll always be on her side! You’re always ready to blame shit on me! It’s always me! If you don’t help me out this time, you’ve had it, bitch! You need to do as I tell you!”
    Good thing we were at my place, where I knew where everything was. I managed to grab hold of a stainless-steel pan that was lying by the side of the sink—it still had some leftover chicken in it from the other day. I cracked him right across the head with it. It was a hard hit and it sure shut him up.
    He slowly fell to the floor, ending up spread-eagled across all my stuff.
    A line of blood trickled from his hairline down to his neck.
    I heard the sound of a car approaching. Crap. Gaston.
    I quickly straightened my hair and walked out of the trailer, keeping my fingers crossed for Michel. Hoping that the jerk-off wasn’t dead.
    I didn’t even have time to check his pulse. I don’t really know what it is you’re supposed to do to check if someone’s dead or not anyway. The heart, the pulse, put a mirror in front of their mouth to check for breath? All that stuff. I’ve even heard some people bite the big toe to check for a reaction, but that all sounds too True Blood for me.
    Gaston, if he noticed anything unusual in my behavior, didn’t comment. I climbed into the car and we slowly drove off, away from the scene of the potential murder I’d just committed. Neither of us uttered a word.
    When we turned the first corner he said, “You shouldn’t have gone inside, Rose. It’s knocked you for a loop.”
    I looked at him, smiling. “You don’t know me too well if that’s what you think.”
    “Oh, Rosie, Rosie. You’re such a brave little soldier. Take it easy, OK?”
    “Gaston! Gaston! Lay off me! OK? And I like to be called Cricri.”
    He fell into a fit of laughter. That’s what was cool about him. Even if we didn’t have much to talk about, as soon as I opened my mouth, he peed his pants laughing.
    I rummaged through my purse and pulled out a Mika CD. I slipped it into the player. We listened to the music without talking until we arrived at the trailer showroom.

25
    I decided to go for something really over-the-top. I thought maybe someone from child services would be coming down to check on how I was bringing up the kids. I had to make sure, as much as I could, anyway, that the trailer was up to all the latest standards. That meant no more than two babas to a room. So, rather than my sleeping on a fold-down bed that I had to lay on top of the living-room table every evening, I needed a master bedroom and two smaller rooms for the kiddies. It would be great if the living-room couches could also be used as beds, just in case we ever had friends over. That would be the height of luxury for me. A guest room. I’d always dreamed of having one.
    Being rich is amazing. You can buy everything you’ve ever dreamed of. I know wishing for a guest room sounds dumb, but some of us dream small. That’s just how it is.
    Anyway, I decided I’d go with the best trailer they had. If Gaston couldn’t pay for it all, I could always come back the next day with my stacks of cash.
    So I ended up with the best the world of trailers had to offer. An Ambassador. The sales guy had that particular model at the factory with an extra bedroom. It had been ordered by a traveling circus. The client still hadn’t paid for the order, and so the sales guy was free to do what he wanted with it. So it was a new and improved Ambassador. Exactly what I