Barber came over and stood in front of the beam from the motorcycle so that his shadow was a giant in the fog, and then he started boxing, turning left and right. He grinned as he did it. Finally, he spun and smacked King on the shoulder, and King punched him in the gut. Barber pinwheeled and landed on his ass, the smile still stuck on his face.
“See what happens when you set down the whiskey bottle, Prez? We haven’t gotten into any shit like this in way too long.” Barber stuck out his tongue at King, even as King grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet.
“Fuck you, Barber.” King clapped him on the shoulder before turning around to stare off into the fog-shrouded darkness.
“Just sayin’.”
“Say something the fuck else.” King sounded mean now.
“You never know when to quit, dumbass.” Scar slapped Barber’s shoulder.
“What?”
“I’m checking the water tanks.” I stalked to the spot next to our bikes. The tanks weren’t very big. They were shiny silver cylinders that reminded me of fire extinguishers, and they were full of highly pressurized water. I wasn’t sure what I was checking for, exactly, except that they were right there, ready to be grabbed and used.
“It’s fine.” I spun on my heel and made my way back to King. The anticipation of what was to come was starting to make my skin crawl. All our phones went off, and when I checked, the message was a thumbs-up from Undertaker. Bees buzzed around in my stomach and I couldn’t decide if I was excited or not.
I elbowed King.
He raised his salt-and-pepper eyebrows at me.
“Does this Bugs Bunny shit work?”
“It will.” He glanced over at my lines. “Shit, yours are straighter than mine.”
“I’d be embarrassed if they weren’t,” I snarked.
Everyone laughed, the sound too boisterous and vibrant. We were all on edge.
Static came across the walkie-talkie clipped to King’s belt, then, “No cars. It’s dead. Just what we need.” Dallas’s voice was haunting and the cold night seemed to close in on us as we waited. If this dragged on too long a car was bound to show up, even if this was an out of the way road.
“We can’t wait much longer,” Scar said, glancing down at the new lines we’d drawn.
“At least we’re being safe. Ish.” I smirked and flashed him a wink, but he only shook his head.
My phone vibrated and I dragged it out of my pocket again. I was still mad about having to buy a new one, thanks to Hooker and Lawrence.
Will
U can go to hell. Can’t fcking believe U left me here. U can go to the fcking house. Don’t care if U been here every night for 2 weeks, you can go sleep there. Don’t fcking want U and UR weak attempts at fcking me here.
Rolling my eyes, I shoved my phone into my pocket, but it just kept vibrating. I was sure the diatribe would make me want to bleach my brain to forget all the evil shit he’d said.
He didn’t really mean it.
I shifted nervously back and forth on my feet.
Well, I hoped he didn’t mean it, anyway.
King snorted and took out a cigarette, then tucked it behind his ear instead of lighting up. “He still pissed off?”
“What do you think?”
King only laughed, that loud, happy sound that made my own smile widen, even though I was one hundred percent stuck in the doghouse right now.
“You should’ve brought him,” Barber said, glancing between us with a tiny frown.
“Are you a dumb shit or what?” King shook his head. “On a clear blue sunny day he’s not too steady on that bike, plus I’m pretty sure they never gave him his license back.”
