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“Wooohooo!” he cheered, his eyes wild with the pain and the drugging effects of the whisky. This was his third shot.
“Be still or I tell Big D to hold the drinks!” Mom snapped at him.
“You need to get stitched up brother,” King tried to pacify him but Slade snapped his fingers in the air again, trying to get Big D’s attention. I could see Dad and Crawford in the background talking.
“Hold fucking still, Slade!” I barked at him and he smiled toothily at me. King held down his shoulders while Mom brought the needle to his eyebrows.
“I’ll tell ya, this is going to hurt,” she said and pierced his skin with the needle. Slade clenched his jaws and I saw him gripping the edge of the counter, but he wasn’t going to scream. No matter how painful this was.
“What happened?” Elwood had appeared behind him now and Slade tried to crane his neck to see.
Mom smacked his cheek, as hard as she used to smack mine when I was a kid and Slade looked back at her apologetically.
“They jumped me,” he said.
“Who?” Elwood asked him, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Black Skulls. I was at The Pussycats, collecting the dues from Mac,” he said, in a more sobered down voice now. I could see that he was reliving the moment.
“Dues? Our dues?” Elwood asked and Slade nodded his head. His movement made Mom flick her hand on his cheek again, and he held still.
“Were you alone?”
“I was at the back, leaving. Mac had just handed me the dough,” Slade said, his eyelids fluttering with pain while Mom dug the needle into his skin again. He gritted his teeth to stop from crying out and Elwood exchanged looks with me.
“How many of them were there?”
“Three. Those three motherfuckers from the warehouse,” Slade said, looking at me now and I clenched my jaw with rage. King was shaking his head behind Slade. I knew what he was thinking. We should have popped them when we had the chance. But we didn’t have a chance. We were fucking outnumbered!
“They took the money, of course,” Slade added and I heard Elwood grunt under his breath.
“There. You’ll be good as new in a few days,” Mom said, stepping away from Slade now to admire her handiwork. Slade reached for another shot of whisky in reaction and downed it and smacked his lips.
“Didn’t feel a thing,” he said and Girth let out a bellowing laugh.
“You might want to wipe the tears from your cheeks first, brother. It’s ruining your makeup,” he said and King laughed too. Slade was still smiling. This smiling motherfucker!
“Come back to me in seven days, Slade. Those stitches need to be removed before they start messing with your skin,” Mom said and wiped her hands with a rag.
I watched as she patted Elwood’s shoulder and threw me a look and nodded her head. No matter how much she disapproved of our lifestyle, she was always going to be there for her husband and for the boys. I smiled at her reassuringly, but she was straight faced. She didn’t find the situation as amusing as Slade did.
“I’ll see you at home,” she said and Dad leaned in to plant a quick kiss on her cheek and then slapped her behind when she walked away from him. I rolled my eyes and looked away.
“This needs to end,” King w
as wiping his bloodied hands on a rag now and he stood up from his chair. Some of the guys had already started a match with Slade, they were downing whisky shots and bets were being placed. King and Girth came up to Elwood and me and Crawford joined in.
“Yeah, this needs to be handled,” Crawford said and my father was nodding his head.
“Kill any Black Skull member you find on our territory,” he said, after a moment silence. King and I exchanged looks.
“Is that an order?” Girth asked and Elwood stared at him and then nodded his head again.
“Yes, do it,” he said and then turned from us and walked away, Crawford close on his heels.
King, Girth and I stared at Slade downing shots at the counter, jostling the other guys.
“We need to put the bastard to sleep,” King said and I shook my head.
