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Chapter Twenty-three
Hangman
Getting to Justine’shouse a little after six, I smile up at the house. She’s got it all pimped out with Halloween shit. The door opens and Justine wearing a skin-tight, black leather dress walks out and gives me a blinding smile.
“Hey, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I always go all out,” she says giving me a wink.
“Come here,” I demand wanting her close.
She tilts her head to the side as she comes to me.
“I don’t care how long we’ve been apart, when we get together the first thing you should always do is kiss me.” Before she can reply, I’m fusing my mouth to hers.
When she pulls back from me, I almost don’t want to let her go. “I love the way you kiss,” she says breathily. “I would love to continue this, but my dad is inside and he’s getting stabby.”
“Why?” I ask her.
“Because the pumpkin isn’t to his liking, so he’s pissed off.” She laughs.
“Don’t be telling stories, Justine. You got me a shitty pumpkin!” I hear her dad shout from the kitchen. He comes around the corner before we make it there and puts one hand out. A knife in the other. “Harry Reid.”
“Carson Lewis,” I tell him, shaking his hand.
“Hope you’re better at carving pumpkins than Justine here. She ruins them every time.” Actually, I didn’t realize we’d be carving pumpkins at all; this is definitely new to me.
I chuckle and go to the table, where there are at least nine pumpkins maybe ten, laid out. I raise a brow and look at Justine.
“What? I love Halloween.”
“Listen, Carson, this is Justine’s favourite time of year, if Halloween could happen every month, she’d still be in love with it. She hates Christmas, though, just pointing that out to ya. So, if I was you, I’d smile and pretend that carving pumpkins is your life’s work.”
I laugh at that, I guess I better grab a carver and get carving some pumpkins. I take off my cut and hang it over a chair and get to work.
“Why so many pumpkins?” I ask, as I scoop out some gunk.
“Because she puts them on the railing of her front porch.”
“Wouldn’t they just fall over?” I ask him confused.
“She rigs them up, so they don’t. Don’t ask, just let her have her pumpkin party.”
Shaking my head, I get to work, I think this is something Emily would like, even my grandkids. It’s something I’ll be doing soon, as much as I think this is silly as fuck. “What do you do for work, Harry?” I ask him, even though I already know.
“Oil field, I travel to Alberta most of the time for it, but when I’m on my days off I’m here with my girl.” He makes a face as he starts scooping out pumpkin gunk from his second pumpkin. “What about you? I know you have the club, but what do you do for work?”
That’s an easy enough question, while we dabble in illegal shit, we have many above the board businesses, too. “I own a chain of salons and spas. A couple strip clubs and the only bar downtown.”
Harry looks at me, impressed. “What made you get into that line of work? The clubs and bar I can see you doing, but the salons and spas? Doesn’t seem very ‘biker’ to me.”
He’s right, “A lot of the girls in the club always getting their hair done and shit, so we looked into it and they are pretty decent at turning a profit.”
I look around the kitchen to find Justine nowhere in sight. “Where’d Justine go?”
“Oh, she’s probably decorating her tree.” He waves me off.
