Page 34 of The Bro Pact
The directions take us twenty minutes outside of town, and now I really start to worry.
“You sure you wanna go in there, suga?” the sweet old lady driving my Uber says with concern. “It can get a little rough and rowdy in there, and you seem like a nice boy.”
“Thanks, Joyce, but I’ll be okay. My friend’s in there.”
“Want me to wait? You have to pay for it, but I’m happy to wait if you need me to.”
I hesitate before deciding to take her up on her offer. “If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, you can just leave and charge my account.”
“Well now, suga, I can’t do such a thing.”
I scrunch my brows, staring at her through the rearview mirror. “Why not?”
“You see, I’d be worrying ’bout you nonstop.”
My eyes soften. “Ms. Joyce. I’ll be okay, really.”
“And I’ll be right here waitin’ for ya.” She winks at me, and I decide to accept her kindness. There isn’t enough of it in this world.
“Okay. Thank you.” I take a deep breath and climb from the vehicle, combing my fingers through my hair.
Buzzard’s is lit up with a neon sign above the small, dark building. A few cars and motorcycles are parked out front with a single flickering street light overhead.
It looks shady to say the least.
Why the fuck is Ren here?
As soon as I push through the front door, a handful of people turn to stare at me.
I’m not a small guy by any means, and there’s no way for me to casually blend in when I go somewhere. I ignore the probing eyes sizing me up and scan the dark room for my best friend and chronic bad-decision-maker.
I spot him sitting at the bar with a few random guys surrounding him. They’re a little older, a lot bigger, and a lot rougher around the edges than him. Ren’s barely six foot, and he just turned nineteen last month.
He shouldn’t even be here.
Sometimes I hate that he got us both such real looking fake IDs.
All of a sudden, he sticks his tongue out, showing off the piercing he got on his eighteenth birthday. For what reason? I have no clue. But Ren’s personality is magnetic, and when I look around at the men’s faces, they’re fascinated by him, whether they realize it or not.
And that can be a dangerous thing.
Warren eats up the attention, clearly intoxicated, and I make my way over to ensure he’s okay.
But a small woman darts in front of me, cutting off my path and asking me to dance. I smile politely, attempting to turn her down nicely, but my eyes continually dart back to Warren.
The biggest guy of the group seems to be a little too close to Ren, leaning in to whisper something into his ear while caressing his upper thigh.
I don’t like it at all.
Something hot and fierce grabs hold of my heart, squeezing tightly and urging me forward.
I politely decline the girl, making my way over to the bar as Ren laughs, shaking his head no and shoving the burly guy back a step.
Before I can make it there, the creep takes a swing, knocking Ren backward off the barstool.
He falls to his butt on the dirty bar floor, and all hell breaks loose. The guy’s friends hold him back as he threatens violence against Ren. He grabs a beer bottle and smashes it against the bar.
What the fuck?
