They stopped in the doorframe. Kid turned back around.
“By the way.” He smiled. Kinzer wondered how long it’d been since he’d smiled that big. “You have a few guys that wanted to schedule some time with you, so I just went ahead and booked everyone at the same time. Have fun.”
He winked and skipped out behind Kinzer.
They passed a line of Jerry’s boys, their faces stern, some with Tasers in their hands. They filed into the room.
Kinzer heard Jerry groan, “Fuck.”
***
“Order whatever you want.”
Kinzer dropped onto a bench in a booth. Across from him, Kid fidgeted with a laminated menu.
They sat at a table in a nearly empty diner. A cook and a waitress chatted behind the front counter.
After leaving Jerry to suffer with the consequences of his disgusting actions, Kinzer had stolen a car. They’d driven for a few hours before stopping so they could grab something to eat.
Gotta warn the others, Kinzer thought.
It was the only thing that mattered right then.
“That thing on your back.” Kid cocked his head to the side. “What is it?”
Kinzer picked up his menu, studying it as if it were an instruction manual. “A scar.” He shrugged dismissively.
“You think I’m an idiot? Scars don’t just magically appear out of nowhere. And even if they did, they wouldn’t look like that. So what’s it really?”
Kinzer set his menu back on the table.
“Y’all know what you want to drink?” The waitress approached their booth. Her black-as-night hair was in pigtails. A purple streak, matching her apron, ran from her bangs through one of the pigtails.
Kid eyed the menu uncertainly. “Um,” he stammered. “I uh…”
“What you got?” Kinzer asked, trying to help Kid out.
The waitress set her hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side. Her purple-streaked bangs covered her eyebrow. “We got orange juice, milk, coffee—”
“Coffee!” Kid exclaimed.
“Cream and sugar?”
Kid stared at her blankly.
“Yeah,” Kinzer replied by proxy, “I’ll take a coffee, too.”
“'Kay.” She slipped back behind the counter.
“How long were you in that place?” Kinzer asked.
“Few years.”
“How’d you end up there?”
Kid shot him a look that let Kinzer know he didn’t want to talk about it.
“You gonna tell me about thatscar?” Kid asked, mockingly emphasizing the word scar.
