Page 123 of Kings Fear No One
A club girl wanders over to our table and yanks her top down to shake her titties. Her attention is solely on Mace, trying to draw his interest.
Ozzie slaps a hand to his back. “That’s a nice rack.”
“Syd’s is better.”
“Damn. Hear that, gents? The man is a goner. He can’t be tempted.”
“You heard him,” Mace snaps at the club girl. “I’m not interested. Get going.”
Her bottom lip pokes out in a pout ’til Mudd swaggers over from behind, now on his eighth or ninth beer. He throws an arm around her and says, “Don’t worry, darling. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Come on over to our table. We’ll have some fun.”
Cash laughs as they wander off. “At least it’s not Sandy. She would’ve burst into tears.”
Mace is far from amused. “Don’t mention that chick around me. She was more than enough trouble.”
“Last I heard, she is with the Hellrazors now.”
“Good riddance.”
I check my phone, barely listening to the commotion around me. The loud music and stench of liquor and smoke in the air only make me miss Teysha more. It’s fucking pathetic in a way, but I can’t deny how I’m feeling. I’d much rather be home with her right now.
The bachelor party drags on for another few hours. By midnight, I’m throwing in the towel. A few others are as well. Cash, Silver, and Big Eddie are with me as we cross the parking lot. Silver and Big Eddie reminisce about the past, where they’d once partied ’til dawn.
Cash is yawning, talking about how he’s got to check in on Korine’s mother.
None of us are ready for the gunfire that breaks out.
It drowns out the music booming from the saloon and upends everything about the night.
The revenge we’ve been waiting for is finally underway.
29
LOGAN
By the time we’re drawing our weapons, it’s too late. The SUV that’s opened fire on us speeds away, tires screeching in the night. I shoot at them anyway, chasing in their wake on foot. I keep up for the first block and a half before they outpace me.
None of my shots land, but I get a look at the license plate.
My heart thumps hard against my ribs, the air I husk out coming fast. For a wild half second, I consider pressing on, going after them. If not on foot, then by smashing the windows of the nearest car and hot-wiring it in hopes I’ll catch them in time.
I shove a hand through my hair that’s grown long up top and then turn back toward the saloon.
In my rush to go after the SUV and return fire, I hadn’t grasped what else had happened. We’d all taken cover the instant they sprayed bullets in our direction. Silver had taken refuge by the bikes parked under the carport. Mace and I managed to duck behind my truck.
Cash wasn’t so lucky.
I return to the lot in front of the Steel Saloon to the jarring sight of him on the ground. A pool of blood surrounds him.
Chills wash over me. I sprint toward him and the others, my pulse racing all over again.
“What the fuck happened!?”
“They got him. In the chest,” Silver answers. He’s kneeling beside a blanching Cash, pressing a torn piece of cloth to the wound.
“FUCK!” I roar, swinging my arms in the air.
“911’s on their way,” Mick says. He’s come out of the saloon’s front doors clutching his phone, as pale as Cash has become. Everybody else inside the saloon rushed out with him, everybody on guard, weapons drawn.
