Page 36 of Wild Card
“Sorry.” Hack smiles at the woman as if he feels sorry for her.
“Don’t be. I get why he’s mad. Can you just tell Taint I stopped by? I thought he might want this…” She delves into herpurse. “It’s the latest sonogram picture.” Placing a black and white photo on the table, she smiles sadly.
“You got one of them for Loche, too?” Cass steps out from behind the bar, folding her arms over her chest. Up to now, I ain’t ever seen the woman do anything other than smile, and suddenly I'm realizing that I never wanna be on the wrong side of her.
“Cass, please don’t be like that. Taint asked me to keep him updated. There's every chance this kid could be his.”
“Yeah, and there's every chance that it ain’t. Taint doesn’t need you hanging around here and reminding him of that.” She steps closer and picks the picture up off the table, handing it back to her.
“Being knocked up ain’t gonna protect you from what's coming to ya forever,” Cass warns. “Now get gone.” She nods her head toward the door, and the woman does as she’s told, smiling at Hack sadly again before she leaves.
“Fucking skank,” Cass calls out loud enough for her to hear, and Hack lowers his head and shuts his eyes.
“Don’t go lookin’ at me like that, nothin’ I said ain’t true,” Cass scolds him, picking up our empty bottles and heading back toward the bar.
“I know… but she’s pregnant and vulnerable. Taint may be mad at her right now, but he wouldn’t want us to treat her that way.” Hack follows after her
“She wasn’t vulnerable when she had her legs wrapped around Loche’s head, now, was she?” Cass waits for him to come back at her.
“Who the hell is Loche?” I move across to the bar, giving in to temptation and asking. I’m going with the concept that hearing someone else's problems might distract me from my own.
“Loche’s another club member.” Hack glances over his shoulder to explain.
“Ex-member. He wouldn’t dare show his face around here again,” Cass corrects him.
“Loche was also Taint's best friend,” Hack adds, sighing heavily.
“More like a brother, they were in foster care together,” Cass intervenes again, and although I can see it pisses Hack off, he’s got far too much respect for the woman to call her out on it.
“That's pretty shitty.”
“It’s worse than shitty. Taint married that slut the second she told him she was pregnant. You shoulda seen how excited he was about becoming a dad.” Cass shakes her head with anger.
“Taint caught her and Loche going at it when he came home early from a run; it had been going on for months.” Hack scratches the back of his head and twists up his lips.
“Why you lookin’ so guilty, you didn’t fuck her, too, did ya?” I tease him.
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” he hits back defensively. “Loche’s my brother.” I can see from the look on his face that he ain’t proud of it right now. “Harriet could be carrying my niece or nephew, and I–”
“That little floozy doesn’t need you to worry about her; she’ll be just fine. She’ll land on her feet somehow,” Cass interrupts him.
“Taint’ll be pissed if we don’t tell him she–”
“Tell him what?” Taint interrupts Hack when he steps outta the door that leads to the basement. He’s looking a hella more chirpy than he has the other times I’ve seen him, as he wipes off his hands with a bloody rag and throws it over his shoulder.
“Noth–”
“Your wife was just here,” I interrupt Cass, agreeing with Hack. He should know that she stopped by.
“Harriet was here?” The look on his face instantly changes.
“She must have had an appointment or somethin’. She bought ya a picture of the kid,” Hack explains.
“Where is it?” Taint asks.
“Cass–”
“I sent her, and her picture, out the door,” Cass answers for herself. “You don’t need that shit.”
