“And that’s called getting your ass whooped by the man,” Debt Money says as he leans in, kissing the girl.
“Now, get out,” Jangles says, grabbing my shirt and hoisting me off the floor. I wipe my nose, and blood smears across my arm, then runs down my chest. I guess Debt Money has no idea who we are, that we’re in the same industry, and I have no doubt we’re going to make it bigger than him. And when we do,we’llbe the ones throwinghimon his ass.
Danger staggers over to me, and we turn, heading for the exit as they laugh at our backs.
“You okay, bro?” I ask.
He slaps my back. “Yeah, nothing but a sore jaw and a cut to my lip. How’s your nose?”
I crinkle it, and it aches, but it’s not agony. “Not broken, I don’t think.”
“Fucking rappers thinking they own the joint,” Danger sneers.
“They’re not all like Debt Money. But he is an exception, a total asshole.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Let’s go home. I’m sure Lunar’s gonna flip when she sees us,” I say.
“Shit! She’s gonna kill me for getting in a fight.”
I laugh. “A fight? I don’t think that qualifies. We’d have to have thrown a punch for it to qualify as a real fight. No, we had our asses handed to us,” I say, spitting out a line of blood, and Danger sighs as people stare at our bloodied faces while we walk to the car.
“Yeah, we kinda did, hey? Dammit! We were pussies!”
“No, we were smart. We know when we’re outnumbered.” I suppress a laugh.
He nods, opening the car door. “True.”
I slide into the driver’s side and start the car to head home.
Thankfully, Danger isn’t very talkative on the drive, giving me a chance to reflect on our conversation before Debt Money showed up. While I know Danger is right, I need to move on. A part of me feels like it’s a betrayal to Katie, somehow. And how am I supposed to explain all of it to Tillie in a way she might understand?
Pulling up to the house, the silence continues, and I know Danger is bracing for Lunar. When we walk through the front door, Lunar is on her cell. I prepare myself for when she turns around, and as she does, her eyes open wide, and she stands up tall and lets out a small, ear-piercing scream, making Danger and me both jump slightly.
“Jesus Christ! Mum, I’ll have to call you back. Ryan and Danger have tried to kill each other.” She ends her call and folds her arms across her chest, tilting her body to one side. “Okay, someone talk. Talk fast right now, and I want the fucking truth.”
We take a seat at the dining table. “We were at the VIP lounge, and Debt Money came in with his crew.”
She opens her eyes wide. “As in the rapper?”
Danger nods as she gathers a clean washcloth, wets it, and comes over, wiping away the blood from his face. He winces slightly from the pain, and she smirks, enjoying the show.
“So anyway… his whores wanted to play pool with us. We said no, and then they tattled on us. So Debt Money wanted us to leave,” I explain, and she raises her eyebrow and murmurs out a groan.
“Let me guess… Danger got all pissy?” she asks.
He chuckles, and she pushes harder to wipe his mouth. Danger winces, making me smirk at her.
I love this chick.
“We didn’t really do anything, and he set his goons on us. They attacked us unprovoked. We didn’t even fight back, but some skank was recording it.”
Lunar groans, shaking her head. “You know that’s going to end up online, right?”
Danger and I both exhale, slumping in our chairs as she grabs another washcloth and comes over to me, wiping at my nose. It stings, but at least she’s gentler with me.
“It better not end up online. I don’t want people to see us being beaten and not fighting back. We’ll look like pussies,” Danger says.
