into.
How had this happened?
How had everything gotten even more fucked up?
Five minutes. It had taken five minutes for everything to go straight to shit. The black-and-white came to a stop in front of him and Linc stretched out his legs, arms crossed negligently over his chest as a man by the name of Biff Stahley climbed out.
Biff. His mom must have just wanted the boy to be an asshole. Hadn’t she watched Back to the Future ? Good ol’ Biff adjusted his uniform, keeping his hand on the weapon at his side as he approached Linc, his chest puffed out and his eyes, narrow and cruel, locked on Linc’s face.
Yeah, you dickhead. I see the gun. I’m not impressed.
“Lincoln. What’s the problem here?”
“Problem?” Lincoln rubbed his jaw and shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Bryce came boiling out of the station like his ass was on fire. “He broke poor Lloyd’s knee! This slutty bitch was in the store and Lloyd was just talking to her and then Dawson shows up and he starts causing trouble, then he broke Lloyd’s knee.”
Linc shoved off the car, glaring at Bryce. “Watch your mouth, son,” he said quietly.
Bryce went white, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “She’s dressed like a whore. What do you want me to say?” he asked, jerking his chin up in the air.
“Your sister has on less clothing than Ms. Roberts does when she goes up for the Miss Georgia pageant. Is she dressed like a whore?” Linc asked.
Bryce gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish before finally finding his voice. “Now you see here. You can’t—” He stopped, started all over again. “You don’t go calling my sister a whore.”
“I didn’t.” He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head. “But you seem to think how a woman dresses decides how she gets to be treated. Your sister goes up and down a runway in a bikini that barely covers her. I figure you apply that method of reasoning to all females. For that matter, don’t you date Maribeth? She works over at Clive’s on the weekends and he makes the girls wear an outfit not too different from the ones the Hooters girls wear. Does that mean Maribeth is a whore?”
“You…” Bryce opened and closed his mouth, unable to find anything to say. He jabbed a finger at him. “I oughta tell Clive what you said. If he tells his girls what you think, ain’t none of them going to want to wait on you. And Maribeth’s daddy will hunt you down.”
“You’re the one applying that logic. I think it’s shit. A woman’s clothing doesn’t make her a whore—selling her body for sex does that.” He smiled thinly, watched as Bryce went red. Because they both knew Maribeth had actually been arrested for that out behind Clive’s. Twice. Then he shrugged and looked over at Biff. “Are we discussing this or would you like to call an ambulance for Lloyd? I think he could use one. His knee is probably busted.”
Biff jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t tell me how to do my job. You ain’t the law around here no more.”
Closing his eyes, Linc waited as Biff put out the call for an ambulance.
The bathroom smelled like a pigsty.
The rust stains on the toilet, the sink, were so thick she wondered when the place had last been cleaned.
She made herself tough it out for five minutes while she used her phone to do a quick search on a little place called Hell. And man, did Hell have its share of demons. That quick search didn’t yield much, but she did see a handful of suicides, several missing persons’ cases—a few of them recent. Her gut twisted and she muttered, “What is going on here?”
Rubbing her temple, a dark, ugly headache pressing down on her, she shut down the window and then went and cleared out the search so it wouldn’t show. Through the piss-poor excuse of a door, she heard the voices out in the store, heard somebody groaning and a guy swearing.
“ He broke my knee, the fucker. I was just talking to that girl, and he broke
How had this happened?
How had everything gotten even more fucked up?
Five minutes. It had taken five minutes for everything to go straight to shit. The black-and-white came to a stop in front of him and Linc stretched out his legs, arms crossed negligently over his chest as a man by the name of Biff Stahley climbed out.
Biff. His mom must have just wanted the boy to be an asshole. Hadn’t she watched Back to the Future ? Good ol’ Biff adjusted his uniform, keeping his hand on the weapon at his side as he approached Linc, his chest puffed out and his eyes, narrow and cruel, locked on Linc’s face.
Yeah, you dickhead. I see the gun. I’m not impressed.
“Lincoln. What’s the problem here?”
“Problem?” Lincoln rubbed his jaw and shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Bryce came boiling out of the station like his ass was on fire. “He broke poor Lloyd’s knee! This slutty bitch was in the store and Lloyd was just talking to her and then Dawson shows up and he starts causing trouble, then he broke Lloyd’s knee.”
Linc shoved off the car, glaring at Bryce. “Watch your mouth, son,” he said quietly.
Bryce went white, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “She’s dressed like a whore. What do you want me to say?” he asked, jerking his chin up in the air.
“Your sister has on less clothing than Ms. Roberts does when she goes up for the Miss Georgia pageant. Is she dressed like a whore?” Linc asked.
Bryce gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish before finally finding his voice. “Now you see here. You can’t—” He stopped, started all over again. “You don’t go calling my sister a whore.”
“I didn’t.” He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head. “But you seem to think how a woman dresses decides how she gets to be treated. Your sister goes up and down a runway in a bikini that barely covers her. I figure you apply that method of reasoning to all females. For that matter, don’t you date Maribeth? She works over at Clive’s on the weekends and he makes the girls wear an outfit not too different from the ones the Hooters girls wear. Does that mean Maribeth is a whore?”
“You…” Bryce opened and closed his mouth, unable to find anything to say. He jabbed a finger at him. “I oughta tell Clive what you said. If he tells his girls what you think, ain’t none of them going to want to wait on you. And Maribeth’s daddy will hunt you down.”
“You’re the one applying that logic. I think it’s shit. A woman’s clothing doesn’t make her a whore—selling her body for sex does that.” He smiled thinly, watched as Bryce went red. Because they both knew Maribeth had actually been arrested for that out behind Clive’s. Twice. Then he shrugged and looked over at Biff. “Are we discussing this or would you like to call an ambulance for Lloyd? I think he could use one. His knee is probably busted.”
Biff jabbed a finger at him. “Don’t tell me how to do my job. You ain’t the law around here no more.”
Closing his eyes, Linc waited as Biff put out the call for an ambulance.
The bathroom smelled like a pigsty.
The rust stains on the toilet, the sink, were so thick she wondered when the place had last been cleaned.
She made herself tough it out for five minutes while she used her phone to do a quick search on a little place called Hell. And man, did Hell have its share of demons. That quick search didn’t yield much, but she did see a handful of suicides, several missing persons’ cases—a few of them recent. Her gut twisted and she muttered, “What is going on here?”
Rubbing her temple, a dark, ugly headache pressing down on her, she shut down the window and then went and cleared out the search so it wouldn’t show. Through the piss-poor excuse of a door, she heard the voices out in the store, heard somebody groaning and a guy swearing.
“ He broke my knee, the fucker. I was just talking to that girl, and he broke
Similar Books
Winter's Daughter
Kathleen Creighton
Cheating Husbands and Wives - 18 Hot Short Stories
Belinda Hill
Baby-Sitters On Board
Ann M. Martin
Toward the Sound of Chaos
Carmen Jenner
Owned (His)
DelVita Ahmed
Rhymes With Cupid
Anna Humphrey
Final Destination III
Nelle L'Amour
Nuit Aux Trois
Melinda Barron
The Best Little Boy in the World
John Reid; Andrew Tobias