Page 78 of Bourbon & Blood

“Fuck,” I muttered. “He’d better watch his mouth where Alina’s concerned,” I said and Hex made a noise like he’d sucked his teeth.

“Agree wit you there,” he said. “She seems like a nice girl from what I’ve seen.”

“She is. She certainly deserves better than th’ likes of me,” I said, looking through the front of the bookstore’s windows to see if I could spot her, but no luck. Displays were in the way.

“Alright now, we’ll see you when we see you,” Hex declared. “I already got the boys workin’ the party, lettin’ your kin an’ the locals know to keep an eye out for what we’re lookin’ for.”

“Appreciate it,” I said, and I meant it.

“Shit, these here are good people. Some are already thinkin’ about takin’ the boats out on a search,” he said.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” I declared.

“Ride safe, brother. Keep the shiny side up for me.”

“Will do, man.”

My girl came out a little while later with around three or four books and tried to hand me the change. I just said, “Keep it,” before mounting my bike. She took her bag from me, stuffed her books in the top, and re-shouldered it, getting on up behind me again.

The ride on out to my daddy’s place on the edge of the Bayou out there was nice. It was still early enough in the day the real heat ain’t set in yet. I’d told Alina when she’d been packing to pack something cool to change into, that we’d be outdoors most of the day. She’d made a bit of a face but complied.

With her fair skin, I can’t say as I blamed her for the look. Bein’ a night’s dweller like she was, it was probably out of a sense of self-preservation. The sun had a habit of gettin’ brutal out here, but my dad’s land had enough shady spots and I’d make sure she’d get the pick of the litter.

When we arrived, I took her into the house and down to the bathroom to change before I made any introductions – because when those started rollin’, they’d be rollin’ on for a good long while and I wanted her comfortable for it.

“Yo, La Croix!” someone called when I came out the back door. They lifted a mason jar full of hooch in salute in my direction, and I threw the brother some chin and stood sentinel, shaking the hand of any man that come up to me.

When Alina slipped out the back door, she looked much cooler, wearing an earthy green tank top over a white one, a nice, layered look that’d keep her good and cool along with a short pair of denim shorts. She had some light leather sandals on her feet and one of her new books clutched in her hands, a tassel of a new bookmark dangling from the top in a green I didn’t think she realized matched the outer tank top she was wearin’.

“You good?” I asked. “Anybody bother you?”

“No, not at all! Why?” she asked, handing over her pack that’d been stuffed fuller with her riding gear, and her leather jacket. Her helmet was back with my bike.

“Just makin’ sure,” I told her, taking the gear from her. “Come with me,” I said. “I’ll stow this shit down in the boat.”

“You want sweet tea or lemonade, cher?” one of the women called out to her as we neared the folding tables at the edge of the shade of the porch where the drinks were being kept.

“Oh, sweet tea if you please,” Alina said with a smile.

“Lizzy this is Alina, Alina this is Lizzy Baudelaire. She’s with one o’ the Baudelaire boys on over there,” I said, pointing at the trio of brothers at the edge of the canal running the length of the back of my family’s property.

“Nice to meet you, ‘Lina,” the woman greeted and Alina wrinkled her nose with a big smile.

“Likewise!” Alina chirped back, accepting a mason jar packed with ice and loaded with tea. Lizzy knew what I liked and handed me a half and half – an Arnold Palmer or whatever you liked to call it.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“No problem, Lenny!” Lizzy chirped and Alina looked at me, curiously.

“The Baudelaire boys an’ I ‘ave known each other for a lifetime, now. Neighbors since we was kids. Lenny is my government name,” I told her.

“It feels like I should ask ‘how could I not know that?’ but I already know the answer. I guess it just feels like we’ve known each other longer somehow.”

I nodded. “Fair ‘nuff,” I said.

Before I let her step out into the yard, I set her book and her drink aside with mine and sprayed her down hard with a can of sunscreen. She smiled and laughed as I made sure to get ever inch of her fair skin and shook my head as she tried to return the favor.

We made our way through the gauntlet of locals and my boys alike as I ushered us in the direction that I wanted to take her – to the edge of the yard with the hammock set up between the only two trees we had back here. It was the one I tended to crash in when I was too damn drunk to navigate the waterways to get to my house.

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