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She kissed me back. “Be careful.”
“Always am. Go get your things – just enough for a night.” I pushed her towards the bedroom door then looked over at Kade. “Do you know where you’re going? Don’t tell me, but – ”
“Already picked it off the map at random,” Kade said.
“Text me when you get there.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks, man.” I reached out, gave him a hugging back slap.
“I get comp time at work for this, right?” he said, completely deadpan.
I burst out laughing. That was Kade’s version of a joke.
“All the time you want.”
He gave me a fraction of a smile. “You better get going. I’ll take care of her.”
Fiona came in and I kissed her one last time. “See you soon.”
“Make it sooner if you can,” she whispered.
“You got it.”
And then I was gone.
48
Idrove my Harley to the Roadhouse. On the way, my mind drifted back to that fight with Moose so many years ago.
Right afterward, while the guys were still wiping the blood off the floor, one of the brothers walked up. He was almost ten years older than me, and had been in the club forever. Dark mustache, wavy black hair. Though I hadn’t talked to him much, I knew a lot about him. He had a reputation that preceded him. Done some time in Chino. A bad motherfucker.
“Lou Shaw,” he said, putting out his hand.
I shook it. “Jack Pollari.”
“Oh, I know who you are.” He grinned, then looked at the blood in the cracks of the floorboards. “After tonight everybody’s going to know who you are. Helluva fight, kid.”
“Thanks.”
“Shoulda pulled a Gandhi, though.”
I was confused. “A Gandhi?”
“Yeah, that’s where you say, ‘I don’t want no trouble, man.’” Lou pantomimed stepping away with his hands up like a pacifist. “‘I’m your friend, dude. I don’t want to fight.’ And then – ”
Lou shot out with a punch right past my nose. No wind-up, no telegraphing, nothing. He was fast. I flinched, but it would have been too late to do anything.
“And you fuck him up,” Lou finished. “You ever seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?”
“No.”
“Great movie. Western. Paul Newman plays the head of this gang of bank robbers, Butch Cassidy. Robert Redford’s his best friend, a gunfighter, the Sundance Kid. Anyway, they get back from scoping out a bank job, and the gang’s decided to mutiny. The leader is this huge, dumb asshole – kinda like Moose. So the asshole pulls out a knife and challenges Butch to a fight. Butch says to Sundance, ‘If he kills me, shoot the asshole.’ And Sundance says, ‘It’ll be a pleasure,’ all while he’s smiling at the gang.
“Anyway, Butch walks over and says, ‘What are the rules?’
“The big asshole with the knife says, ‘What rules? There aren’t any rules.’
