Page 54 of Justice for Radar

He nodded. “Hope and I would have been on it, but it took me a minute to track his card and to figure out where he likes to hang at other than around Mariposa. I gave her some pepper spray and told her to use that shit like Binaca on that happy motherfucker if he got too mouthy. Tell anyone he put a hand on her hoo-ha or whatever.”

“Little bastard better keep his hands off my daughter’s vag.” I glowered.

“Right, we got a few regular bounties to accomplish this week, then we can head up there on Friday night to spring a trap with the most viewers. Make this shit go viral or whatever,” he said.

I nodded.

“Sounds good and after that?”

“Gotta pay the bills, my brother. A couple more bounties, then we can focus on Billy boy and finding out what the fuck. Maybe give him some comeuppance.”

“You have no idea how eager I am to make that happen,” I said and puffed on my cigar. He pulled one from the box I had sitting out and clipped it.

“Oh, I do. Believe me, I do… You beat me to her. If you hadn’t gone there, I damn sure would have tried. She’s beautiful and you know I love me a damsel in distress.”

“I thought disposable little darlings were more your speed,” I commented dryly.

Atlas sighed. “I don’t know, bro. Maybe I’m getting old or some shit – but settling down is looking better and better the more I watch the lot of you getting to it.”

“Jealous?” I asked.

“Fuck yes. I just hope we can score you and her a happily ever after,” he said. “She looks and sounds like she’s more than earned it.”

I nodded.

“Truer words have never been spoken, man.” I held out my glass and he clicked it against his and we both took a sip staring into the flames.

“Who’s up first?” I asked and he sighed.

“Getting right to it, huh?” he asked.

“Play time is over, buddy. Who’s first on our list of scumbags that need reeled in?”

“Time to go fishing for bad guys,” he said and pulled out a set of file folders from the briefcase he’d brought out here with him and set beside his chair.

I took them and flipped open the top one.

“Aggravated assault,” I intoned. “Sounds like a rush.”

* * *

We’d hada good week catching bad guys, but all good things must come to an end. Really though, we’d caught our three we’d intended to get, two in one night, and found ourselves freed up to go after a couple more – so we did.

The nice part about it? Having Justice to call up at the end of the day or night to talk about it. She was remarkably smart – asking all the right questions, figuring shit out, and to her credit – even making a suggestion or two that had Atlas and I wondering why the fuck we’d never thought of that. Her suggestions brought in one guy that much quicker for us and earned her a hefty amount of respect and street cred from not only Atlas and me, but the rest of the club when Atlas bragged about it.

She would only sigh when I asked about her day and would say it was boring… and honestly, it sounded like it was. Just cleaning an already clean house or more covers. Still, when she talked about some of her covers and sent them to me to look at, they were always amazing and much more full of life and intrigue than she gave herself credit for.

Still with every wistful goodbye, I heard her longing.

We texted non-stop when I could, and it was like there was this hole in my fucking soul that only she could fill. Which is why I was impatient as hell to get this kid who was bugging my kid put back in his fuckin’ place.

I was in the bar that Atlas had said he liked to frequent most. Mariposa was under strict instruction to stay her ass in her fucking dorm tonight which she had declared as lame, saying she could just hit a different bar or a club with her friends. I told her no dice, I didn’t want this kid sidetracked with stalking her and coming at her.

Hope looked at least fifteen years younger with her makeup job in the dim light of the bar and she sidled up looking gorgeous and giggly to the kid who checked out her ass first thing.

Atlas was in the crowded throng out there somewhere and we both had our phones out and at the ready to catch this from a couple of different angles.

If this shitbird behaved, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about but predictably, when did any of these entitled little fuckwits stay in their lane?

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