Page 85 of The Chemist

33

DIESEL

They decided to take a cab down to the fair. This way, they could both have a few drinks and not have to worry about who would be driving home.

Feeling a tad nervous, Diesel snuck in a few shots of tequila before he left his room for their… date? Yes, he was one of those guys who kept booze hidden in his bedroom. He liked a drink every now and then. There was nothing wrong with drinking alone, in your bedroom, late at night. It was one of his vices, and fuck anyone who tried to judge him for being who he was.

These days, booze was the only thing he kept hidden away in his bedroom. Following his last drug-induced bender, Matteo had the cleaning staff do a deep clean of his bedroom, clearing out all the drugs, pills, and paraphernalia they happened to find hidden in every little crevice.

And boy, were they thorough. Who knew the sweet little cleaning ladies were so good at finding expertly hidden stashes? But in the end, they found every last reserve he had hidden around his fucking room.

Booze, on the one hand, was the one vice Diesel was allowed to keep. So long as he didn’t let it lead him back to drugs. Matteo was closely monitoring that.

“So what do you want to do first?” Zero asked, purchasing two tickets from the lady at the booth.

The woman was dressed in a brightly colored outfit, complete with glittered eyelashes and techno-colored hair that stuck out at all angles. It was kind of like staring at a rainbow-haired porcupine.

The fair itself had been constructed on some cleared farmland about forty-five minutes away from where they were staying. There were rides, games, and food booths scattered throughout. Bulbs had been strung overhead to provide guests with a bit of light to help guide them around the fair.

For midweek, it wasn’t too crowded. Diesel guessed the place would be packed come the weekend.

“Umm, how about we go check out a few of those games first?”

“Sweet! I’m awesome at anything that involves shooting.”

“Good with a gun, are you?” Diesel asked, walking toward a booth where a little girl was shooting water at a clown’s face. The hat on the clown slowly moved upward, steadily approaching the word “winner.”

Zero gave him a smirk. “A while back, I used to run with a crew whose one requirement was that you knew how to use a gun… just in case.”

Diesel glanced up at Zero. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but the question was eating at him. “You ever killed a man?”

Shaking his head, Zero passed two pounds over to the gaming attendant. “No, I got out before I was ever asked to do something like that. I did put a man in the hospital once though.”

Diesel sat down in front of the water gun and waited for Zero to take the seat right next to him.

“Did he deserve it?”

“No. No man ever deserves to be beaten the way that that man was.” There appeared to be so much remorse in Zero’s voice. He wondered what the whole story was.

Turning back to face his evil smiling clown, Diesel gripped the trigger and waited for the buzzer to go off, beginning their game.

“You’d be surprised,” Diesel whispered under his breath, thinking about his mother and stepfather and how much he wanted them to pay for what they had done to him.

The buzzer sounded, and water began shooting out of the guns that they held, drowning the evil clowns where they stood taunting them.

Diesel glanced at Zero from the corner of his eye. He tried not to laugh at the look of concentration plastered on the man’s face. With his tongue peeking out slightly from the side of his mouth, Zero’s biceps flexed as he squeezed the trigger with all his might.

There was something innocent and sweet about the boyish look of excitement hidden under that veil of concentration. Zero really wanted to win this. It was cute.

Diesel lessened his grip on the trigger, causing the water pressure of his gun to reduce just enough to allow Zero to take the lead. He smiled to himself. He wanted to see that look of excitement when the retiredCK modelrealized his goal and won the game.

Above them, a bell dinged, and lights began flashing over the top of Zero’s creepy-ass clown face. And people claim that Bruno was creepy? He would rather face a thousand Brunos in a dark room than one creepy-ass wet clown face on its own.

Zero jumped from his seat victoriously, arms raised above his head.

“I won! I won!”

Yes, you won…Diesel forced the smile he felt to remain hidden beneath the surface.

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