I made my way through the hall to where Bill stood.
“Bill!” I said, trying to control the annoyance in my voice, as he continued talking to his buddies. “Bill!” He stopped and turned to me, a greasy smile spreading across his lips.
“Lee! How’s it going? Great turnout, huh?”
“Yeah, tons of traffic. Where’s Cameron?”
“Whaddya mean?” he asked, his face taking on a fake look of confusion. Oh shit, I knew that look.
“You know what I mean! Where’s Mason?”
“Aw, Lee!” he said, his face showing obviously-faked surprised. “I emailed your brothers a couple of days ago that he canceled.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “Why is this the first we’ve heard of it?” I knew Mason was upset about something, but to cancel on the event? He wouldn’t have done that.
Bill’s sleazy smile widened as he spoke, all fake solicitude. “Well, if your brothers kept up on their email, they’d know more about what was happening, wouldn’t they?”
“You fucker,” I growled. “You know the twins are in the hospital and wouldn’t be checking their email.”
“Now, now… no need to get all nasty. This is a family-oriented event!” he oozed. “As luck would have it, I have a great replacement for him on his way. His name is John Dowling, and he just so happens to be a police officer and a pastor,” he said smugly as he checked his watch, then continued, “He should be here right before the main event. I think everyone would agree, he’s a much more wholesome choice to speak at the event.”
“Dowling?” I said, his name finally clicking. “You mean the right-wing asshole that tried to get LGBTQ comics banned from libraries in Cleveland? The one whose church has been publishingthisshit?” I demanded, shaking the “Do Not Buy” flier in my hand at the asshole. No, not asshole. Assholes at least served several useful purposes.
“The filth you sell has no place in our libraries, schools, or stores, for that matter!” the man declared, raising his voice so the people around us could hear him, his southern accent coming on strong. “We need to protect our children at any cost from you and your degenerate lifestyles!”
“The only thing we need protection from are bigoted homophobes, like you,” I heard Jeri yell from her spot at the booth. Someone in the back cheered, but the crowd quieted around us as people stopped to listen in on the argument.
I began to see red and stepped toward him menacingly. “You planned all of this,didn’tyou? Youknewthe twins were finally turning the convention around, making it profitable again, and you just couldn’t let them win,” I said angrily.
“Now, now, Lee. When you’re anexperiencedbusinessman, you always have a backup plan,” he smiled at me, “So sorry your brothers didn’t know enough to plan ahead.”
“You son of a…” I pulled my arm back, ready to land a punch right in his oily nose, when a gangly arm wrapped around my fist and pulled.
“Lee!” I heard someone yell.
I turned around, ready to tear into whoever had my arm, only to glare at my only sister, Weaver, pulling desperately on my arm.
“Weaver! What the hell are you doing here?” I said, the shock and delight of seeing her warring with my desire to punch Conyers. I relaxed my fist and pulled her into a hug. Weaver was on active duty with the Air Force, and last I’d heard she was still at Wright-Paterson trying to get an extended leave.
Apparently she had come straight from the base, because she was still wearing her fatigues. Her hat was tucked under her arm and she smiled up at me.
“Ripleeeeeey!” she squealed, before wrapping her arms around me like a giant sloth. “I got the leave approved so I could come check on the boys,” she grinned at me, her green eyes sparkling with mirth. “When I got to the hospital, Mom said Sonny was going nuts over some email they had gotten, and I figured you’d need to know.”
My sister was 5’5”, and though she was the shortest of all of us, she was a spitfire. She looked over my shoulder at Bill and his buddies.
“Hey, Weaver,” Bill oozed, his eyes all but undressing her where she stood. “Looking good, chica.” I was going to kill this fucker.
“Hey, Bill,” Weaver purred, releasing her hold on me and sidling up to him. I froze in shock…What the hell? Weavernever“purred.” And she sure as shit didn’t sidle. Something was up and I was kinda wishing I had some popcorn to watch it go down.
“You finally taking me up on the offer to show you what a real man feels like?” he grinned, one arm going around her waist, the other sliding down to cup her ass.
She smiled flirtatiously up at him, then things happened in a blur. I saw her hand slash down across his wrist as she whirled around, her other arm coming up, her palm slamming into the bridge of his nose.
Bill dropped in a spray of cursing and blood, his hands flying to his face and a cheer went up from the crowd around us.
Weaver paused for a moment, her chin resting on her finger as she screwed up her nose in concentration.
“Nope,” she laughed, shaking her hand,“Stillno idea what a ‘real’ man feels like.”
