Page 64 of Malice and Surrender
I paused in my rendition of the song as the rest of the lyrics were lost to my fuzzy brain, so I just started over. Pulling my gun, I held it over the tattoo on my hand, and everyone scattered.
I’se The B’y that builds the boat and
I’se The B’y that sails her and
I’se The B’y that catches the fish and
Brings ‘em home to Liza
“Whoa, there, Snake!” I stared down at Roach. His eyes were wide, his hands up in the air like he was surrendering.
“Where be da po po?” I asked and struck what I thought was a damn good gun slinger pose with my legs spread and the gun out in front of me.
“Get him off of there,” one of the guys yelled.
“Fuck off, man, can’t you see I’m singing here?” I yelled and turned in his direction.
“Shut up, Sparky, unless you want a hole in the head,” Roach yelled.
“Yeah, a fuckin’ hole in the head. What he said.” I looked back to where Roach had been standing, and he was gone. “Where did he go?” I asked, amazed that Roach had leaned to disappear.
“I’m right here, bud,” Roach said from my other side. He was now on the bar with me. I looked between him and the place he’d just been.
“How’d you do that?” I smiled. “Teach me. I’d like to learn how to disappear.”
“Sure, once you give me the gun, and we get down.” Roach held out his hand, and I stared at it with wide eyes as it went in and out of focus.
“Dude, ya need to stop moving it first,” I grumbled.
“For fuck’s sake.” Roach touched my arm and slid his hand all the way down until he reached my hand.
“You just wanted to feel my muscles, perv,” I said to Roach.
“Yup, that is definitely what I was doing,” he agreed as he took the gun from my hand. “All right, let’s get down.”
“But I was singing for the audience. They loved my song,” I said. “I was just about to dance. Wanna see me do the moon?”
“Okay, you’re cut off. We don’t need to see your ass. Come on down, and we can dance all the way to your house.” Roach jumped to the ground, which seemed really far away.
“What does my ass have to do with a moon?” I asked, confused. “Look, I’ll show ya.” I went to walk backward like Michael Jackson, but Roach grabbed my leg.
“Down! Right the fuck now,” he ordered.
“Guess I found the po po,” I mumbled and decided to sit down before making the final daredevil leap off the bar. “Rawr!” I yelled as I landed and lifted my arms like I was going to attack him.
“What the fuck was that?” Roach asked.
“I’m a monster,” I said. “Isn’t it obvious?” I turned to the sitting area of the clubhouse. “Fuck, man, why are all you fuckers running in circ…”
Avro
I tapped my finger on the table and stared at my phone like that would somehow magically make it ring. I was being the over-possessive worrier, and I knew it. My eyes flicked up to Jace arguing with his manager on the phone. Jace would say I was too needy and should back off and give Raine some space to breathe and process. He was right, of course, but there was this knot in my stomach that wouldn’t go away.
I chugged down the rest of my coffee and put my phone in my pocket before signaling to Jace that I was going to the bathroom. He nodded, and I slipped away. Stepping into the men’s room, I pulled out my phone and hit Raine’s number. It rang four times and went to voicemail.
“Shit.” I called her again and tried to keep the worry from creeping into my pores. If that happened, then I would be in full-on panic mode.
Hi, this is Raine. You know what to do.
