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I squeeze the trigger, wanting to see it again, but this time it just clicks and no bullet comes out.
“More,” I say, grinning at him over my shoulder.
“I think you’ve had enough for your first day.” He’s reloaded the gun three times already. Or was it four?
My shoulder is throbbing, but it’s nothing compared to the way my entire body is vibrating as though I’m filled with a billion tiny electric butterflies sent to wake me up, make me feel again, let me be happy.
“Fine,” I say and hand him the gun. “But I really needed this.”
“Feels good to feel all that power in your hands, doesn’t it?” he asks as he takes the gun from my hand, his fingers brushing mine and sending yet more electric butterflies fluttering.
“All that power to kill, you mean?” I ask, grinning widely. “Yeah, it really does. When can we do it again?”
A weird look passes across his eyes, something between worry and elation. And recognition. Like the way kindred spirits recognize each other.
“Oh, no, did I create a monster here?” he asks and laughs.
“Create? I don’t think so,” I say. “Woke a monster, more like.”
He nods. “I can live with that. We’ll do it again soon. But I really need to get going now. I don’t want to, but I have to.”
I want to ask him where he’s going, and if I can come too. But I just know the answer would be no, because those dark shadows are back in his eyes, and I don’t want to end this perfect day on a no.
I want to end it with another exhilarating, freeing motorcycle ride and lots of thinking about all the good things that happened, so I don’t ever forget this day.
11
Ruin
The nearer I got to Fire & Heart Inn, the stronger the pull to go back became. In the end, as I covered the last mile it felt like I was going backwards. Or riding straight into a wall. The bar is packed, I can tell before I even reach it. Noisy music is mixing with shouts and yells from inside, smoke is coming out through the cracks between the windows and the wall, and I pass three fist fights on my way to park, four people puking and five slumped on the ground looking dead. If that wasn’t enough to tell me it’s already been one hell of a night around here, Edge’s face does.
He’s standing to the side of the entrance, eying the only way onto the lot like a hawk. The grimace on his face grows darker and more twisted as he watches me approach.
“Where the fuck have you been?” he asks as I reach him.
I shrug. “Around.”
He scoffs. “Around? What kinda answer is that? You’re supposed to be here.”
If I told him all about my day he’d probably congratulate me. But this is no time to do that and I don’t want to bring Ariel, or even just her name, anywhere near this place.
A woman wearing only a skimpy silver bikini and impossibly high platform boots busts through the doors. I’m expecting a guy to be right behind her, chasing her or whatever, but she stops and throws up instead. She’s doing that so close to us some of her sick lands on my boots. As if I needed one more reason to get the fuck out of here.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Same old. Lots of partying, lots of fighting, lots of drinking,” he says. “Except there’s a hundred plus people here tonight. I can’t keep an eye on our three besties on my own. Bane was gone for an hour. Fossil, too. But I think they were just in their rooms sleeping it off.”
“This job is a bust. We need more people,” I say. “Just the two of us can’t keep an eye on them. We’ll never be sure if they’re talking to someone they shouldn’t be. Where are they now? Shouldn’t you be watching them?”
The grimace on his face is pure rage now. “What? You disappear for the whole day and now you’re gonna tell me how to do our job?”
He put a lot of emphasis on the word our. As well he should, I guess. But I’m not arguing about this with him. I have to diffuse the situation or the two of us might end up coming to blows next.
The puking lady was indeed followed out by a couple of guys and they’re also puking now. The stench and the sound are making me wanna throw up too. The sooner I can remove myself from this place, the better. I wish I was still in that clearing with Ariel. Some of those huts have perfectly functioning beds in them. But that’s a dream for another day.
“It’s a valid question,” I say.
Edge shakes his head and points at the grimy window behind him. “They’re in the middle of a high stakes game with some people who just showed up today. Forsaken Outlaws MC… you ever heard of them?”
