Including Sutton.
I had a clean shirt upon my back for the slimy fucker. My hair wasn’t its usual mess, and as I waited outside on the police station steps, I tried to look at least a little bit civilized. The usual stares and odd looks from the locals didn’t go unnoticed. The only difference was that when they smiled their fake smiles, I grinned right back, flashing them a wink and a nod of acknowledgement before they dipped their heads and scurried on past.
My hand coasted up and down the railing as the out of place warmth shone upon my face. Even though everyone else thought it was growing cold, I welcomed whatever sun I could get. There’d been too many days without that inside.
“Tucker,” the voice behind me snapped.
I didn’t move, instead smirking to myself as I imagined the way he rolled the end of his tash before he thumbed the inside of his belt with one hand while reaching for his gun with his other.
Dickhead.
“Chief,” I acknowledged him, poking my tongue into my back teeth as I stayed looking out onto the streets of Babylon.
“I have six other officers on duty today. Any particular reason why you’re standing out here demandingmypresence?”
Howard’s voice shook, even though he was trying to hide it. Spinning around on the spot, I raised a foot onto the step above before me I gave him my full attention.
“It’s all about respect. You like to keep reminding me that this is your town, so as the good citizen and ex-convict that I am, I’m trying to respect y’all by keeping you informed of what I know. Call it my duty.” I grinned at him, unable to miss the look of contempt he was flashing me as he stood there looking down, probably imagining all the ways I’d taken his two dollar whore of a wife before he came along.
“And what is it, exactly, that you think you know?”
“Oh, I know a lot.”
“I don’t have time for games, dipshit. You’re standing on my steps, using my time. Lose the smirk and give me something or get gone.”
“Is this the way you speak to all the people in Babylon?”
“Only you.”
“I feel special.” I took a step up, pulling myself higher on the railing as I drew closer to him. Sutton flinched but tried to hide it, moving to take a step back before he corrected himself and spread his legs even wider apart. He’d watched too many westerns and starred in few too many imaginary gun fights growing up. The chief was too easy to mess with.
Dropping my eyes, I took a moment to focus before I looked back up at him and tried not to appeartoosmug.
“These kids that have been causing problems around town?”
“What about it?” he said with not even a hint of genuine curiosity in his voice.
“What are you doing about them?”
“Tucker, I have bigger fish to fry than a bunch of delinquents who seem to have come off the back of y’all, so if this is all you and your big MC are here to discuss today, I’d not so kindly ask you to vacate my premises and spend more time focusing on your own faults than everybody else’s.”
“Off the back of us?” I smirked harder, taking another step closer.
“We’ve all seen their patches.” Sutton raised his chin and puffed his chest out like a kindergarten kid facing a high-schooler.
Landing on the same level as him, I walked closer, the leather of my cut creaking and the soles of my boots sounding like an atomic bomb going off in the silence. Shoving my hands in my jeans pockets, I rocked forward, dipping my head to his for no other purpose than to patronize the little fucker.
“You and I both know they have nothing to do with me and my men, so you listen to me and you listen up real good.This town you claim as yours, well you better start respecting it. You better start paying attention and looking out for it because those kids—those kids that you seem to think serve no purpose—let me tell you, they could cost you your badge. Now, I ain’t here to save your ass because I think it’s pretty. I’m not even here to do your job for you because I feel it’s my duty, and believe it or not, this isn’t even about the shit you project on me for having done what I’ve done to the woman you fall asleep with every night.”
Sutton’s eyes became frantic, the confusion on his face taking over as he took a step back and curled his fingers around his gun even harder.
“This is about two things,” I went on, leaning over him. “One, keeping Babylon safe from gas station fires and the loss of innocent lives. I’d hate to see your record for peace darkened even more than it already is. I’m sure your superiors would start questioning your competence if that happened again.”
“You’re talking to me about innocent lives?”
Ignoring him, I went on, not accepting the invitation to that particular fight. “And two, maybe I’m just a good guy in bad guy’s clothing.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe a word of the bullcrap you just fed me.”
