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He shook his head with a grin. “Come on, Little Piper. That guy over there looks like he might know who we talk to about getting into this race.”
They approached a short man with a long handlebar mustache, who had a short stick with a red flag tied to it in the back pocket of his jeans. Several other people surrounded him, chatting, all dressed for a race like Piper.
“You the guy we talk to about getting into this?” Pony asked, once they joined the group.
“You two looking to race?” he said, looking them over.
“Definitely.”
“Cool, cool. We can always use a few more people willing to take part.”
“How does this work?” Piper asked.
“We’ll get lined up in a minute,” he said. “There’s nothing to it.”
Piper was about to ask a question about the course when three of the racers nearby erupted into hooting and hollering. It took her a second to realize that they were actually howling at the moon, pausing only to throw their beer bottles against the wall of the boarded up gas station.
They looked to Piper like they were strung out on some kind of drugs, most likely meth. They each had the too-skinny, twitchy look that she’d seen on the job when dealing with meth addicts in the past.
“What’s with those guys?” Pony asked, nodding toward the obnoxious trio.
“They do like to make a lot of noise,” the race organizer said. “Best to just stay clear of them. Ignore them, you know?”
“Might not be able to,” Pony said.
“Why not?” Piper said, and then saw why not.
The three tweakers had caught sight of her and Pony, and were making their way over to them, cackling amongst themselves and weaving a little as they walked. The one in the middle had his eyes locked on Piper, looking her up and down like he was trying to memorize her for later.
“What’s this?” he said, stepping as close as he could before Pony blocked his path. “Some fresh meat?”
With that, he gave Piper a big grin, showing off a blackened, dead front tooth. His two friends crowded in a little too close for comfort, as well, and as Pony tried to move to block them from getting too close to Piper, Black Tooth slid quickly around his side and right up next to Piper, slipping a bony arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.
“Oh, dang, girlie, you’re pretty cute,” he said. “You come out here to see me go vroom?”
Piper twisted her body around to face him, forming the fingers of her right hand into a hook. She then jammed that hook into the hollow of the tweaker’s throat, bending her knees to lower her weight and drag the asshole to the ground.
His eyes went wide as he let go of her and dropped. A huffing, gurgling gag came out of him as he fell, clutching at his throat.
Piper didn’t let up until he was all the way down on the ground, splayed out on his ass in front of the entire crowd. Only then did she unhook her fingers from the hollow of his throat and stand up straight over top of him.
“Looks like I came out here to drop your ass on the pavement,” she said.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the tweaker’s two buddies move toward her. Just as she was starting to think that she might end up needing the little backup gun onher ankle after all, Pony stepped in between her and the two methheads. The two antagonists immediately stopped in their tracks, looking at each other and then looking back at Pony.
Pony stood still, shoulders lowered, his face expressionless. When he spoke, it was smooth and calm, like an adult telling a couple of kids to settle down and knock it off.
“Easy, fellas,” he said. “Your friend here apparently never learned about boundaries. It looks to me like he’s learned his lesson. No need to let it escalate.”
The two of them looked at their friend, still coughing and holding at his throat, and then at Pony, who held their eyes in a steely gaze that told them he was just as happy to let this go or to add the two of them to the party on the pavement that their friend was having.
They were the ones who broke the gaze first, making a show of shrugging and waving Pony and Piper off.
“Whatever, dude,” the tall one said. “We came here to race, not dick around with this bullshit.”
The shorter one reached out a hand to Black Tooth, hauling him up and shoving him in the direction of their bikes. Piper moved up next to Pony, who kept watching all three tweakers until they had moved far enough away to no longer be a threat.
“That was interesting,” Pony said, still watching the tweakers. “Something else your dad taught you?”
