She wraps her slender fingers around the glass, and I lift mine.
She grins or maybe it’s more of a smirk. “You’re gonna make a toast?”
“Here’s to finding out each other’s names.” I return her smirk, and she cocks her head like my words confuse her.
“I already know your name.” She waves her hand to the back of the bar. “Viper called you Deuce, so I assume that’s your name, or your road name.”
Interesting, in the midst of getting roughed up, she caught my name and knows the term “road name.”
“Then you’re at an advantage, ‘cause I still don’t know your name.”
“No, you don’t.” She takes a healthy drink of the bourbon, and again handles the burn, but doesn’t reveal her name.
“Okay, fine, but I’ll find out sooner or later when you sell me this place.”
Her big brown eyes narrow. “Like I told you the other day, and just told that asshole, Viper, I’m not selling.”
“Big mistake.”
She places the glass on the bar. “You gonna push me around now too?”
I smile full out at the dare in her voice. Today she’s replaced the dirty overalls with a pair of oversized jeans, and an equally baggy, worn t-shirt. Cleaner, but still impossible to see what I’m guessing is a bangin’ body.
“Not my style, babe.”
“Don’t call me babe.”
“You won’t tell me your name, so what the fuck am I supposed to call you?”
She sips more of the bourbon like she’s considering which is worse, me knowing her name or me calling her babe.
“Has Viper been here before bothering you?”
She takes another sip. She’s almost empty, so I lift the bottle. Maybe if I get enough of this in her, she’ll loosen up and at least tell me what her deal is and why she wants to hold on to this dump. Although, so far, she’s showing no signs of the booze even affecting her slightly.
She lets me refill her glass, her big doe eyes never leaving mine. “Viper’s always bothering somebody.”
“Fact, but how do you know that?”
She nods to the back of the bar. “Experience.”
Another leading comment. I’m guessing this woman has even more secrets than me. The most interesting one being the flash drive Viper threatened her about.
“So, he’s been here before?”
“Didn’t seem like you and him were very friendly,” she counters.
This woman has an annoying way of answering a question with one of her own. “That’s ‘cause we’re not, but how do you know him?”
She puts the glass to her lips but doesn’t drink. “I’ve been around AC long enough to know the players.”
“I’ve been gone for five years, but if you were one of the players before that, I would’ve remembered.”
She lowers the glass. “Not likely. Five years ago, I was seventeen, still in high school and living at home. Instead of thinking about the prom and graduation, I was trying to keep my mother alive.”
I school my expression. “Big fuckin’ revelation for someone who won’t tell me her name.”
“Yeah,” she points to her glass, “I guess it’s this smoky bourbon.”
