Page 107 of Chains
“She’s a looker,” Jigger said, craning his neck to get a better view.
“Did you guys fuck back then?” Crow said.
“Yeah—once.” Chains narrowed his eyes. “I’m ready to get this shit over.”
Bret was in the middle of a story when Chains came over to him. From the snippets Chains heard, his brother was bragging and lying out the ass. The smile plastered on Teresa’s face fell when she looked up and locked gazes with Chains.
“What’s wrong?” Bret asked.
She touched her fingers to her lips and mumbled something incomprehensible. Confusion spread across the faces of a couple of Bret’s friends, and fear etched across Matt’s as he quickly looked down at the table.
Bret pushed back from the table and looked up. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he sneered.
Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, Chains lifted him up out of his chair.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk to you. I’m with my friends”—he glanced at them—“and we’re waiting for our food.”
“You’ll be back. We got some shit to settle.”
“Why don’t you sit down and join us?” a curly-haired man said.
Crow took a few steps closer to the table and glared at him. “You don’t wanna mix in this.” He looked around the table. “It’s between them—not any of you.”
“If you don’t want trouble, you’ll all get back to your conversation and leave this alone,” Jigger said.
The curly-haired man picked up a glass of water and took several gulps. The others fidgeted in their seats, and Teresa looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown.
Matt leaned back. “We’re not involved in this.”
Chains nodded. “Make sure it stays that way.” Then he dragged a protesting Bret toward the back entrance. A few patrons glanced over but did nothing.
The door opened into the alley and Chains threw Bret down on the snow.
“You fuckin’ pussy! You’ve been dodging me and wasting my time for too damn long.”
“I’m telling Mom and Dad, and they’re not going to be happy. Dad will make sure you go to jail.”
“Be a fuckin’ man and stand up!”
“I’m not going to fight you, Chet.”
“What, you only beat up women?”
Bret shook his head. “I didn’t mean to hurt Autumn. I called and apologized. She forgave me. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“How the fuck does that work, asshole? Her face was bruised and swollen for days, and you’re telling me you didn’t mean to do it? Then, why the fuck did you? Why didn’t you stop after the first punch? If you were pissed about me, then you should’ve punched me, not her.”
“I did stop. You know I’ve never hit a woman before.”
“I only know you’re a lying sack of shit who hurt Autumn, and she may have forgiven you, but I haven’t. Stand the fuck up!”
“I’m not going to. This is crazy.”
“I’m done with this shit.” Chains bent down and yanked Bret up, then he punched him in the face.
“Shit, Chet! That hurt,” Bret said as he tried to run away.
