I looked to him.“I’m getting a gun, Snap.”
He turned again to Zip.
“Youwannalose Chaos business?”he threatened.
Zip didn’t blink.“What I want is a world where this shit,”he jabbed a finger my way, “doesn’t walk in my doors.That miracle happens,I’ll close those doors.That miracleain’tgonnahappen.So you boys take your business elsewhere,” heshrugged, “that’d suck balls.But this girlie feels safer with a firearm in herpurse, I’ll get over it.”
Sadly, I wasn’t the first beat-to-hell woman who’d walkedthrough his doors looking for protection.
Or a means to get revenge.
Surprisingly, Zip was the kind of man who cared about it.
“That’s sweet,” I noted.
“Shee-it,” he muttered.“Iain’tsweet.”
“But it was sweet, what you just said,” I disagreed.
“See,” he started, “Iwannaarmyou so whatever motherfucker did that shit to your face…and your throat…you gotthe means to drill holes in him.Thatain’tsweet.”
Okay, maybe it wasn’t sweet.
“It was eightmotherefferswho didthis,” I shared.
His eyes got big.
Then they got mad.
Then they got mean.
After that, they snapped to Snapper.
“This the girl Bounty worked over?”he asked.
“You heard,” Snap remarked.
“All over the street,” Zip declared.“Always been uselessassholes.Now I’m more glad you Chaos boys carved those dipshits up.”
“She’s got Chaos protection,” Snapper stated.
“Yeah, I get that, you’re here,” Zip returned.
“So she doesn’t need a gun,” Snapper concluded.
“She yours?”Zip asked.
“Yes,” Snapper said.
“No,” I said at the same time.
Zip looked between Snap and me, an expression of resignationslid over his features, and he mumbled, “Christ, not another one of these.”
I didn’t know what that meant but I quickly carried on inhopes of ensuring a sale for ole Zip, “I have a mom.We’re close.She couldbecome a Bounty target if they can’t get to me.So she probably needs a guntoo.And lessons.”
This was a lie, considering Mom already had a gun.Sheactually had four.They were Dad’s.She also knew how to use them.She wasn’t afan of firearms, as such.It wasn’t like it was a hobby.She was just a fan ofthe second amendment, because she’d been my father’s woman for nearly fortyyears and he was a big fan of firearms as well as, obviously, the secondamendment.
Maybe I should have just asked for one of Dad’s.
