“Let’s see, I saw four red marks. You get one more, and I get two.” I thought it sounded fair.
“You should teach your boys how to be men.” Huck removed his foot, rolling the man over onto the nasty carpet. He grabbed the man’s wallet from his back pocket. “Repeat after me…” he said, pocketing his driver’s license. “…David.” Huck pulled back his foot, kicking the man in the balls from the back this time. “Consent is sexy, bitch.”
I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled from my chest. “I’ve been on the opposite end of his kicks,” I said, grabbing the man’s hair and forcing him to look at me while I pointed at Huck. “You’ll be lucky if you piss straight after a week.”
Contemplating where I wanted to leave my mark, I thought about the fingerprints on the back of Roxy’s leg.
In theory, this should work, but I had never tried to jump on the back of someone’s upper thigh before. A thigh for a thigh seemed the decent way to go. Placing my boot in the same location he’d left a mark, I jumped, landing with all of my weight against.Crunch. The man wore shorts, and when I went to look at my handiwork, it was pretty gnarly. “Something’s definitely broken,” I sang.
“He’s not screaming.” Huck jiggled the bottom of the man’s foot with his. “I think you might have knocked him out. That had to hurt.”
“Pussy. I’m wondering if we should do his wife a favor.” I didn’t care either way.
“No,” he moaned, his head rolling so that his cheek lay on the carpet. “I’ll be a good boy. Please.”
“Do you believe this shit?” I asked Huck.
“Not really, but my hard-on is going soft, and I’ve got a blonde waiting for me.”
“Don’t say I’ve never done you any favors, you sick fuck.” I put my boot back on top of the mess I had created, jumping again. The man’s screams reverberated around the room, and Huck sniffed the air, as if they were the best aphrodisiac.
I grabbed the man under one arm, and Huck grabbed the other. We dumped him in his car, but before I closed the door, I issued one last warning. “You hired agirl, and her man robbed you for touching without permission. You learned your lesson and won’t try that again. Drive yourself home. If you’re found here, the story will be even more believable.” I held my hand out for his wallet. He had five hundred in cash, and I’d give it to Aces to go towards Roxy’s car. She needed to hit the road, getting the fuck out of Tombstone and never looking back.
My work here was done.
Chapter eight
Doc Holliday Saves The Day
Roxy
I plastered a bright smile on my face as the front door to the saloon opened from the outside. The breakfast crowd, if you could call it that, had left a few hours ago, and we hadn’t had a customer since. I was ready to ham it up for a tip, but my smile slid when Angelica and her daughter walked in.
“Mom,” her daughter moaned, “why can’t Dad pick me up?”
“Your dad is leaving town, and after that stunt last night, you’re never staying home alone again,” Angelica sighed, her eyes sweeping the empty dining room before landing on Lulu and me. We were leaning against the back counter. “Did Francene leave?”
“Yeah, she said to call her if we got busy, and she’d come back, but…” Lulu raised her hands, spreading them out towards the dining room.
Angelica gracefully weaved between the tables, with the girl following in her footsteps. The closer they came, the easier it was to see the familial resemblance. She had her mother’s face, but it was her eyes that drew me in, dark, almost black. “Bri, this is Roxy,” Angelica introduced us, and I gave the girl a quick wave. “Roxy, this is my daughter, Bri. She’s fourteen going on thirty, so please encourage her to stay in school and leave the boys alone.” She rolled her eyes, making sure Bri wasn’t watching.
I smiled, remembering when I’d been her age. I’d mostly raised myself, and it hadn’t been easy, but I’d survived.
“Nice to meet you,” she grumbled, waving back at me. “My mom said I had to help, but you don’t have any customers, so this sucks ass.”
“Your father may let you use that language, but I don’t. Knock it off.” Angelica shook her head, mouthing,Help me!
I held my chuckle in, but Lulu wasn’t as lucky. “What did you do to deserve such torment?”
“Do you want to tell them, or would you like me to?” Angelica shot Bri a look. Whatever the girl had done was bad enough to get the universal mom death stare. Even my mother had perfected one when she was sober enough to remember she had a daughter.
“I tried to go to a party.” Bri crinkled her nose while crossing her arms.
“Where was the party?” Angelica prompted, nudging Bri with her elbow.
I kept quiet, but it wasn’t hard to figure out that this party had involved a boy. It wasn’t my place to say anything, but if I got the chance, I’d play big sister later if Bri wanted to talk. She didn’t know me, and sometimes that made it easier to confide. Bad boys weren’t worth it, and good ones never peer pressured you into what they wanted.
“Honey, where was it?” Lulu prompted when Bri buttoned up her lips.
