JD had won fair and square, eating 20 wings in under 5 minutes. Carlos had taken about twice that amount of time, coming in at 9 minutes 50 seconds. Aberlour had managed a respectable 7 minutes.
“Let me win it back!” Carlos begged JD in desperation.
Aberlour laughed at his ridiculously childish pleading, since the look was completely ruined by the buffalo sauce staining his cheeks and lips.
“Nah, man, you lost fair and square,” Marcus said, signaling “no-more” with his hands. He was sitting as far back as he could in the booth, holding his stomach like he wanted to puke.
“A dare then!” Carlos suggested excitedly. “Something no one else would do!”
Aberlour rolled his eyes and then let them fall closed, leaning back in his booth. He felt good. Pleasantly tipsy, his stomach a little too full, and his mind calm. Time off had been very much needed, realizing that he was not feeling jittery for the first time in weeks.
“We have an onion challenge,” a woman said. Aberlour turned to look at her, surprised he hadn’t noticed her arrival. She was a different waitress from before. A little younger, obviously less blasé about service and being attentive to them.
“Onion challenge?” JD asked, head cocked in interest.
“Eat a raw red onion in under one minute,” Emilie—according to her name tag—explained with a charming smile. In her early 20s, she was very petite, but had a curvy figure that Aberlour admired. All of that was secondary to the dimples in her cheeks and twinkle of amusement in her eyes. He had no doubt she thought of them as morons.
“Fuck yeah!” Carlos exclaimed with abundant enthusiasm. “I’m sure I can do that!”
“Why would anyone?” Oliver asked in stunned disbelief.
Emilie shrugged as her gaze remained locked on Oliver’s face, blushing slightly.
“Free meal,” she explained. “No one’s done it this year, and the guy that tried last year failed.”
Carlos turned to JD, practically bouncing up and down, like a Chihuahua, as usual. He’d certainly never deserved his nickname more than he did right then.
“Alright,” JD agreed with a quick nod.
“Yes!” Carlos yelled.
“But—” JD exclaimed, trying to calm Carlos. “You have to do it under 45 seconds to win the gargoyle.”
The gauntlet had been thrown. Carlos thought about it for a moment, mostly for show, Aberlour guessed, before holding out his hand for JD to shake on the deal.
One quick shake later, they both turned to the waitress like overeager children.
Emilie rolled her eyes at them.
“I’ll go get your onions,” she said, heading for the kitchen.
“We’re morons,” Oliver said.
“Hear, hear,” Aberlour replied.
It took Carlos 34 seconds. He was crying and nearly puked twice, but as they all walked home—keeping him at a distance because he stank—Carlos held the gargoyle aloft like itwas the Olympic torch, and his smile could have lit up the whole sky.
It sure lit up the darkness that had hung like a cloud over Aberlour for the last month.
Chapter 14
Present day
May 2020
He shouldered the bar door open, striving to ignore the vibration of his cellphone in his left pocket, yet again. It had been easier while driving. While the sound had still been obnoxious and relentless, he’d kept his focus on the road ahead, and the constant buzzing wasn’t as noticeable when he was behind the wheel. Now, however, it was harder to ignore. Harder, but not impossible, and he’d made it this far. He’d be damned if he let that stupid call ruin his evening. Especially since he already knew the punchline—and it wasn’t good news.
The hole-in-the-wall establishment the locals liked to refer to as a bar was mostly empty. It wasn’t a nice place by any means and was the very definition of seedy. It hadn’t changed much in the last four years since Aberlour had started coming here. In fact, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t name a single thing thathadchanged.
