Page 80 of Wrench
¡°No need to get sappy about it,¡± he said, and I released a breath I¡¯d been holding. ¡°But I
will say, you¡¯re lucky I¡¯m not in the mood to lose another member tonight.¡±
My skin grew cold. ¡°Wh-what?¡±
¡°Grab a beer ¡¯n sit down, son.¡±
A rock formed in my throat as I dragged my feet behind the bar. Briefly, when
forgiveness flashed in Tank¡¯s eyes, a weight fell off my chest. I didn¡¯t even have a minute
to breathe before I felt crushed to the ground. Someone died and I didn¡¯t even know who.
It didn¡¯t matter who it was, a brother died, and I wasn¡¯t there.
Pabst was the closest thing in my reach, and I finished half of it before I sat down.
Looking weakly at the guys, I asked, ¡°Who¡ who was it?¡±
¡°Hollywood,¡± Crow said, not looking at me. Even though his face was carved straight
like stone, I knew how torn-up he was. The two of them, Crow and Hollywood, were a
menacing duo and true buds.
¡°Fuck,¡± I said. ¡°Crow, shit, I¡¯m¡ª¡±
¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he said, and I shut my mouth, knowing I was walking on a beam above a fire
in his eyes.
Turning to Tank, I asked, ¡°What happened?¡±
¡°Shot,¡± Ripper answered for him and Tank nodded, letting him speak. ¡°Me, him, ¡¯n
Crow. Went to a deal, we were tipped off it was happening by some punks we found from
Hoppa. Ran into us downtown, figured we were the ones they were meetin¡¯ ¡¯cause of our
colors.¡± Ripper cracked his wide knuckles against his black beard. ¡°Told ¡¯em I¡¯d wipe their
faces against a cactus if they didn¡¯t bring us to them, so they did, and¡¡±
Ripper shook his head and chugged the last of his beer before continuing. ¡°Don¡¯t even
know what happened. Brought Ink, Archer, and Rooster with us too, but¡ there were too
many of them. And fuck, guns. We weren¡¯t expectin¡¯ guns tonight, just a bit of a show. All
talk, but¡ fuck. Hardly got a word out before it happened.¡±
¡°He held on for a while,¡± Rooster said, ¡°We got him out of there right away, we didn¡¯t
fight. Thought he was gonna be okay, honestly. But¡ by the time we got to the side of the
road to see how bad it was, he¡¡±
¡°Gone,¡± Crow finished, his voice so cold I was surprised he didn¡¯t breathe frost.
