"What? She smelled like the plant," Joel said defensively as he grabbed the back of a nearby chair. In one motion, he flipped the chair upside down and set it on top of the table before repeating the process with another chair.
Hayden let out an understanding grunt. The man knew what he meant. Just thinking of the putrid, sour smell of the meat packing plant clinging to Marlene's skin made Joel want to gag.
"I mean, fuck, the least she could do was go home and take a goddamn shower first," Joel grumbled as he placed the last bar chair on the table.
Coming around the bar, Hayden carried two brooms in his hands and tossed one to Joel. Catching it mid-air, Joel started on the opposite side of the bar, near the jukebox, while Hayden began sweeping near the end of the bar. Just as they did ever since they bought the place a few years ago, they began sweeping the grit and grime left by their customers. Dirt tracked in from muddy farmer's boots, cigarette butts mixed in the mountains of discarded peanut shells that were purposelessly tossed on the floor: all of it was swept into one large pile at the end of each night.
They worked in comfortable silence until they reached the end of the room. Grabbing the oversized dust pans, they began shoveling the grit into the pans when Hayden spoke.
"Hey," he said, clearing his voice as he kept his eyes focused on the task of sweeping the last remains of dirt into the pan. "You said you told Jennifer no, right?"
Joel blinked in confusion. Jennifer…Jennifer. He had to repeat the name a few times in his head as he went through a mental rolodex of faces. At his silence, Hayden looked up and gave him a quizzical look. Finally, his mind snapped to the memory of his phone call with that bloodsucking harpy, and Joel gave him a look of surprise before letting out a short laugh.
"Fuck yeah, I did. I haven't seen or heard from that woman in ages, and she wants me to watch her damn kid. Of course, I said no!" he exclaimed. Even just the memory of that call pissed Joel off. Where did that crazy bitch get the balls to call him out of the blue with the insane request? Sweeping up the last of his pile, Joel paused and looked at Hayden, who was staring off into the distance. "Why?"
Hayden just shook his head before mumbling, "Nothing."
For a few seconds, Joel just watched as his friend walked across the room toward the back with the broom and dustpan in his hand. There was something on his mind, Joel knew that for certain. But he also knew he couldn't press Hayden on it. Any sort of pressure to obtain information he wasn't ready to give would result only in silence.
Letting it go, Joel went to the back office and checked the perimeter's cameras. Seeing no other cars in the parking lot or any one in the back of the building near the gate, he grabbed the envelope of the night's profits and stuffed it into his jacket's inner pocket just as Hayden clicked off the last of the lights up front. Locking the door to the office, they both made their way down the back hallway that led to the back door.
When they bought the old, rundown bar years ago, the first thing they built was the ten-foot-high security fence around the back of the property. With both of their bikes parked within the fence's walls, it gave them an added measure of protection not only for their bikes from their rowdy patrons but taking the night's profits in and out of the place. It was a valuable habit they picked up in their old line of work.
Swinging his leg over his bike, Joel checked the camera feed on his phone once more while Hayden activated the bar's security system from his phone.
"All set," Joel called out before starting the bike's engine.
With a loud rumbling growl, Hayden's bike shook to life behind his. Pressing the gate's button on his bike, they watched the tall security gate slide open before they both pulled out. Pushing the button once more, Joel watched the gate close shut through his rearview mirror. Pulling onto the empty two-lane highway, he squinted at the bright morning sun cresting over the farm fields in the distance. Once he dropped the money off at the bank, he was going directly home and climbing into bed. Up ahead, he watched Hayden's head turn toward the bar before turning straight ahead. Joel grinned at that before doing the same.Three Heathens.The unlit neon sign of skulls and fire hung proudly on the bar's roof.
They had come so far from where they were a few years ago. Pushing on his shades, Joel grinned into the wind as he raced to catch up.
Hayden was seeing the girl damn near every day now. In the mornings when they left the bar and in the afternoons when they left for the bar to start getting ready. There was something not quite right with her presence. It was beyond evident she wasn't from around these parts. But there was something else nagging in the back of his mind that grew with each time he caught sight of that beautiful stern face of hers, something that had gone from a persistent badgering to an all-out roar of warning. And with each sighting of her, Hayden knew the universe was trying to tell him something.
He gave the delivery man a nod as the man waved goodbye before closing the bar front door and locking it again. Sometimes it felt as if he lived in the bar since he was here so much.
Turning back around, he let out a deep sigh at the sight of the beer shipment. Forty sixteen-gallon steel beer kegs were waiting in the middle of the empty barroom.
Squeaking around the corner, Joel came in from the back, pushing two hand truck carts. Grabbing one with a thanks under his breath, Hayden bent down and grabbed one of the kegs by the handles. They would need every drop of this beer and more at the end of the week. Punctuated only by the clang of metal and their occasional grunts as they lifted the heavy kegs, both men worked in silence as they stored the surplus of beer in the back room.
Coming back up to the front for the last two kegs, Hayden stacked one on top of the other before leaning them backward on the hand truck. Grabbing the large burlap bag of peanuts, Joel followed behind him.
Not looking back, Hayden tried to keep his voice casual. "Tell me again what Jennifer looks like?"
"Jennifer who?" Joel answered.
Letting the kegs drop down harder than necessary, Hayden stopped himself from turning around to glare at the man. Taking a deep, calming breath, he looked over his shoulder to see Joel frowning as he stood with the burlap bag over his shoulder. Hayden grinned; the man looked like a dumb farmhand standing like that.
Unless focused, Joel lived his life carefree and mostly oblivious to things. It was one of the traits that made their friendship so great. Ever since they were kids, Joel's relaxed and absent-minded attitude helped take the edge off Hayden's fixating thoughts. They worked well together, played well, and certainly got in trouble well together.
"Your sister," he reminded him with a taunting smirk.
Joel made a face of disgust. "She is not my fucking sister. You mean,leech," he corrected as he followed Hayden back into the bar room for the remaining bags of peanuts. "Anyways, why?"
"Just fucking tell me."
"You act like I know," Joel shouted as he plopped the last bag in place on top of the others. Turning to face Hayden, he gave him an exasperated look. "I haven't seen her since she left foster care, and since then, it was just through Facebook years ago when she friended me and promptly asked for money using her daughter as bait."
"Bait that worked," Hayden pointed out.
