“Fuck you,” Diablo said as they headed to Eldorado Street.
They walked down the street and a small shop with different shaped perfume bottles caught his eye. Twenty minutes later he came out of the shop with a perfume bottle of a bejeweled woman dressed for a masquerade and a bottle of Chanel perfume Chance Eau Fraîche. When the lady had spritzed it on a piece of paper and he smelled it, he knew it’d be perfect for Fallon. Its scent reminded him of her, and he knew she’d love the light, airy perfume that had a woody lemon-infused fragrance.
“Are you done spoiling your woman? I need a beer.” Goldie said.
“Done. Let’s go to Bulldog Pub.”
The pub was a mass of people and noise as the two bikers took the booth next to the front window. They placed their order for two drafts, two orders of buffalo wings, and a basket of fries. They talked about Goldie’s new Harley and the customizing Diablo wanted to add to his bike as they scarfed down the wings and fries, ordering another round of draft beer.
“Whoa,” Goldie said as he set his glass down. He motioned the waitress to come over. “Send that cutie a drink.”
“Do you want me to tell her it’s from you?”
“Why not? I may get lucky.” He laughed and the waitress walked away to fill the order. “She’s a looker.”
Diablo looked over, but from where he was seated, he could only see the back of her. He turned back to Goldie. “She’s a citizen. You know how you regret taking up with one of ’em.”
“Yeah, but it’s fucking fun while I’m with them. Oh yeah, she’s smiling at me. Wait, she’s coming over here. Now don’t scare her away.”
Diablo jerked his head back. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Don’t give her the evil eye. You do that a lot, you know. It intimidates the hell outta citizens.”
“This is the way I fuckin’ look.”
“Here she comes.”
The woman came over and smiled at Goldie; then she turned to Diablo and her face fell. He took in her tight jeans, low-cut top, and heavily made-up face and shock tore through him. “Taya? What the hell are you doing in Alina?”
“Diablo,” she said as she brought her hand to her mouth.
“You know this delicious-looking woman?” Goldie smiled at her.
“Lay the fuck off. She’s my younger sister,” Diablo growled.
Goldie pushed back. “What? Seriously?”
Diablo nodded. Looking at Taya, he said, “Let’s go back to your table. I wanna talk to you.” He followed her back and slipped into the seat across from her. “Level with me. Why’re you in Alina?”
“How are you?” she asked as she picked up her paper napkin and began ripping it.
“Cut the small talk. What the fuck are you doing here?”
Avoiding his gaze, she looked at the napkin in her hand. “My boyfriend got a job here so we came out. Nothing was happening in Salt Lake City, so we decided to see if this job panned out. So far so good.” She giggled.
“Why didn’t you call me? How long have you been here?”
“We’ve only been here a few days. I thought you lived in Pueblo. I totally forgot it was Alina. If I’d remembered, I would’ve called for sure. Now that I know you live here, I want you to meet my boyfriend. You’ll like Tae. He treats me real well. We’re really serious.”
“Is this the one who’s your pimp?” His eyes narrowed.
She shook her head vigorously. “No. No way. Tae is great. You’ll like him. I want you to meet him. I’ll call you and we can get together for dinner or something. This is gonna be so much fun living in the same town. We can catch up on the years we’ve spent apart.”
“Where you living?”
“We have a place at Empire Apartments. It’s not fancy, but it’s perfect.” She glanced at her phone. “I’m sorry but I have to go. I didn’t realize it was so late. I got a job as a dog walker, so I have to go get the dogs. I like it, and the pay is way more than I thought it would be.” She stood up and took out her wallet.
“I got it,” Diablo said.
