Page 66 of Changeling
Chapter 27
“That’senough!”avoiceNathan didn’t recognize roared. He assumed it was the owner of the gun. Nathan was torn between wanting to kiss the feet of the gun owner and wanting to beat the shit out of him for taking so long to intervene.
“Keep out of it, Paul. This is no concern of yours,” Pete growled. “If you’d keep the damn queers out of here we wouldn’t have to clean your bar up for you.”
“I’m glad to see that you remember on some level that this is my bar, you fucking idiot.” Paul’s voice had a quiet authority. “I’m not going to sit by and let you kill some guy and get the cops to shut this place down. Take your buddies and get out. I won’t tell you again.”
“Fine,” Pete ground out. “Take him,” he directed at the goons holding Nathan’s arms.
“NO! Leave him,” Paul directed.
“Don’t push it,” Pete warned.
“Or what?”
“You’ll regret it.”
“Doubt that.”
Nathan wasn’t all that surprised when he was suddenly released by the two goons holding him. Unfortunately, he still wasn’t able to prevent himself from crumbling to the ground.
“Typical,” Pete spat. “You start this mess by letting shit like this into your bar and then when we try to clean it up, you bitch about it. This isn’t over.”
Nathan felt the pool cue land on his back as Pete dropped it. Then his knife clattered to the floor beside his head. He was grateful as his eyes blinked slowly and painfully, his vision swimming in and out of focus, that Pete’s feet walked by him without landing a parting shot. Nathan’s eyes slid shut and then someone grabbed him by the collar and shook him. He groaned.
“Hey! I want you out of here. I don’t want anyone murdered in my bar, but that doesn’t mean you’re welcome in it.”
Paul, Nathan thought.
Nathan pawed weakly at the floor and managed to get himself slumped up against the pool table. He numbly grasped his knife and managed to slide it into his jacket. He realized his jeans were still around his ankles. He reached down and grabbed the ruined denim. As he dragged them up, he felt bile build in his throat. He hadn’t suffered much of a beating, but the drugs were doing him one better.
“Ethan! Can you take this asshole back to whatever hole he crawled out of?”
“Don’t put yourself out on my account…I can…get myself home,” Nathan managed to slur out.
“I don’t want you murdered in my fucking parking lot either, you idiot,” Paul ground out.
“Please, Nathan, listen to them,” came Walter’s concerned voice from somewhere nearby. “You need their help.”
Nathan didn’t fight the two sets of strong arms that grasped him on either side, hauling him to his feet where he swayed precariously. He had one hand holding his pants up, but being upright had its own set of problems. Nathan was suddenly overwhelmed by nausea as the world swam in and out of focus. His knees threatened to betray him.
Between the two of them, however, they got Nathan to Ethan’s car. Pete and some of his goons were predictably hanging out in the parking lot. The motel was really just down the road, so Ethan quickly covered the distance, making sure no one followed him. When they arrived at the motel, he put the car into neutral.
“Get out,” he said flatly. “Don’t bother coming back to the bar.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice. Your bar…pretty much sucks ass anyway,” Nathan said as he stumbled out the passenger door.
Once he closed the door behind him, he leaned back for a moment trying to get a bearing on where up was. Ethan had other ideas and gunned the car backwards out of the parking lot. That almost resulted in Nathan crashing to the pavement, but somehow he managed to remain upright, hearing Walter’s voice close beside his ear.
“Into the motel, Nathan. Pete and his men are still looking for you.”
Nathan nodded vaguely. He managed to stagger to the correct door and leaned heavily against it. He was grateful that when Pete searched his pockets, he had left the motel keys alone.
Somehow Nathan got the key in the lock and staggered inside. Apparently, he wasn’t as smooth opening the door as he thought, however, because when he finally stumbled in, Jim materialized out of the dark.
“Damn it, Nathan,” Jim growled. “Could you make any more noise? Did you get that drunk after we left?”
“Sorry, Jim,” Nathan whispered, trying his hardest not to slur his words.
