Cricket chuffed a laugh and leaned back on the bar. “You and those animal documentaries.”
I grin. “Learning is a lifelong endeavor, you know.”
“I wondered…” Cricket caught himself mid-thought. “But…never mind.”
I stopped wiping and leaned against the bar, looking up at my conscience. “What did you wonder, Cricket?”
“Well, after what you told us… about how you grew up. So, uh…” He lowered his voice. “Isolated. How did you learn to like, read and stuff. Or all the pop culture references you throw around. I was just curious.”
I reached into the case at my feet and grasped a bottle and began restocking. I considered my words before I spoke, wanting to answer honestly without spilling any details out in public. I didn’t think Uncle Roark had spies in a random little Nevada town, but you never know who might be listening. “Well, when I wasn’t being…useful… no one really knew exactly what to do with me. Uncle R—Uncleenjoyed hurting me, but there are a lot of hours in the day. I was left alone with the guards a lot of the time, when he was working or living his actual life. His men were not the Mary Poppins type, if you catch my drift.” Cricket crossed his arms over his chest and gave a curt nod for me to continue.
“Well, let’s just say they discovered that the TV is the best babysitter. One of the least horrible men would bring me DVDs, movies, books… all to shut me up and keep me out of his hair, I guess. I never had internet access, but the media he brought me helped me learn enough to get by. I taught myself how to read. I’d rewatch documentaries he’d bring over and over, trying to learn every little fact I could.”
“We all know you’re an ignorant bitch,” Pyro sneered as he carried in a case of liquor and stopped behind Cricket to place it on the bar. “No need to brag about it.” I forgot he was supposed to help bring in stock at the bar today. My smile slid off my face like cheese off a slice of pizza.
“Dude, do you have to be such a prick to her all the time?” Cricket glared at Pyro over his shoulder.
I scoffed but didn’t say anything to Pyro to make the situation worse because Cricket honestly had no idea exactly how much of a prick Pyro was to me. I didn’t tell anyone about his muttered threats and nasty comments, about the cruel notes I’d find tucked into my locker at work or under my pillow back at the clubhouse. I kept his bullying to myself because I didn’t want to make waves with the Crows by causing trouble with a member, and honestly, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Uncle Roark makes Pyro look like a sweet, cuddly teddy bear.
He could run his mouth all he wanted; I had no problem slinging shit back his way. As long as he kept his hands to himself, I couldn’t give less of a crap about Pyro. He was a weak little man who needed to feel big. There was only one man I feared, and it sure as shit wasn’t him.
“Aw, Cricket, leave Pyro alone,” I said with a smirk.
Cricket turned bewildered eyes on me. “Seriously, you’re going to defend him?”
Pyro chuffed a nasty snigger and reached into his pocket to play with his silver lighter. “Yeah, Cricket. I’m not saying anything the dumb cunt doesn’t already know.” He stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit the tip with his lighter, the glow of the flame briefly illuminating the maroon birthmark on his face in the dim bar. “She clawed her way out of the dumpster and right into our club. Someone must have taught her to suck a mean cock, I can’t imagine another reason Duke would let a worthless waste of space like her hang around. Is that what you were doing in church a few weeks back with Duke and Bones? Letting them both take a run at you to keep a roof over your head?” Pyro let his beady little eyes run down my body, his expression cruel and filled with malice.
His hateful tirade was interrupted when Cricket shoved Pyro. “What the fuck, man? What’s wrong with you? Other than handing you your ass, which you deserved by the way, Indi hasn’t done a fucking thing to you.” Pyro took a step toward Cricket, but I swiftly stepped between them, pressing my back against Cricket’s chest to keep him from trying to push me aside to get at Pyro.
“Don’t worry, conscience. This isn’t about me, it’s about Pyro and his damage.” I turned to face Cricket and patted him on his cheek. “He’s just an insecure man-baby.” I looked over my shoulder at Pyro, who was glaring at me. I know my refusal to rise to his bait just made him hate memore, but I was out of fucks to give. “Pyro, you are the sentient equivalent of an anal fissure, and I hope you get pink eye. Like… the crusty, oozy type of pink eye. Now, get the fuck out of here before I tell Duke and Bones exactly what you said. I wonder what they would think about your weaselly ass trying to eavesdrop on their private conversation?”
Pyro’s mouth snapped closed at that threat, and he let out a pathetic little growl of frustration before he stomped out of the bar, shoving patrons out of the way as he left.Creepy Steve’s come-filled shoe had more charm than Pyro.I rolled my eyes and looked over my shoulder at Cricket, who had an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. “Don’t worry about it, Cricket. Pyro’s an asshole, but I can handle him.”
“I know you can more than handle him, love, but you shouldn’t have to. I don’t give a fuck if he’s a Crow or not, the next time he speaks to you that way he’s gonna get acquainted with my bat.” His eyes flicked up to the cricket bat that was mounted over the bar. It was his signature weapon, and I thought fondly back to the first time I saw him with it… even though he was trying to whack me.
“No need for you to defend my honor, Mr. Fancy Bat. I handed Pyro’s ass to him once; I can do it again.”
“Regardless love, Duke and Bones need to know the shit he’s spewing. It’s disrespectful, not just to you but to them too. Duke is his prez, and Bones is the sergeant at arms for the Crows. That kind of disrespect can’t slide.”
“I’m not a narc,” I insist, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I’ll let it go this once if you promise to tell me if he gives you shit again. I’ll shove that lighter down his throat to teach him some damn manners.”
I giggle. “I thought we couldn’t threaten every prick who walked through the door, boss man. Isn’t that rule number one for working at Crow’s Landing?”
“Oh, my sweet summer child, there’s an exception to every rule.” Cricket’s gray eyes flashed like quicksilver, a look of pure menace on his face. It was easy to forget that my friendly, golden retriever conscience had a dark side because he preferred to effuse charm instead of barely contained violence like so many of his brothers. But the expression onhis face reminded me that he had the potential to be just as vicious and deadly as Priest or Bones.
Shaking his head a bit, Cricket reined in his dark side, and the playful, cheeky expression he usually wore replaced the angry one Pyro’s words put there. “Come on, quick march, bar wench. We’ve got to finish restocking, and I need to work on the inventory before we can clock out. I’m glad we’ve been carpooling with Sheila because that means you can drive us back. Not at Mach-speed this time, though, if you don’t mind. I can’t get through inventory without needing a bloody drink. I joined a biker gang to avoid a life of monotonous paperwork, and look at me now…bloody bogged down with the stuff.”
“Definitely false advertising on the Crow’s part. I agree. Next time you guys have a recruitment night, we’ll have to specify that life outside the law with Los Cuervos comes with lots of paperwork.”
Cricket’s barked out a laugh as I swiped a bottle of Macallen from the crate and headed to his office.
“Uh, hi?” A timid voice called out, “Can I get a Jack and Coke please?”
Ugh, a bar wench’s work was never done.
Priest
