Page 24 of Reaper Released

“Move it or lose it!”

He laughs, but the next thing, Dwayne’s in between us, whispering in the guy’s ear, “Look man, I say this with the utmost respect, but seriously, you really don’t wanna go there with this one.” He looks over Dwayne's shoulder at me, and I gave him my very best psychopathic glare with added sociopath thrown in for good measure.

“I think I can handle this little thing,” he spouts.

Dwayne shrugs, but before stepping away, adds, “Any damage she does to you and this place is on you. Cash upfront before you try your luck!” I bark out a laugh, and the guy hands Dwayne a hundred dollars. Then it’s Dwayne’s turn to laugh. “Yeah that’s not gonna cut it! I need at least five hundred dollars.” Then turning and looking at me, I nudge my thumb up. “Six hundred.” I nudge again. “Eight hundred. I’m gonna need eight hundred dollars.”

“That should just about cover how fucked up I’m feeling tonight, Dwayne.” I stand up to look at the guy. I crack my fingers and my neck, never taking my eyes off him, and taking a look at my eyes, he takes a step back. I step around Dwayne, and then the guy is gone.

“Fifty each?” Dwayne shrugs.

I laugh, clapping him on the shoulder. “Nah, keep it for last time. I’m, erm, sorry about that!”

“Yeah, don’t worry, they deserved it. I’ll send another drink over. You look like you could use one.”

“Thanks, Dwayne, I appreciate it.”

So I clearly objected to that guy. Well, Reaper did. She felt him before I did. Hmm, interesting. I need to test a theory. I just need to figure out how.

After squaring my tab with Dwayne, I’m about to leave, but I’m the only person left, so I sit at the bar. “Dwayne, can I ask you a question before I go?”

He looks at me dubiously. “Erm… sure.”

“Okay, so let’s say I’m asking for a friend.”

“Is that friend you?”

“Maybe!”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Okay, so my friend fucked this guy, kind of. But didn’t… wasn’t… couldn’t… ” I huff a sigh.

“Look, Ray, just say what you need to say. I know I’m not in the running, so hit me with it. Maybe we can be friends?”

“Really?”

“Really. Now shoot!”

“Okay, so when we fucked…”

“Oh… okay, we’re just gonna go straight to it… Yep, okay… Right, I'm listening… ”

“Okay, so when we fucked, I didn’t finish, and I didn’t let you touch me. What colour were my eyes?”

“What?”

“My eyes, what colour were they?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know that, Ray?” Blowing out a breath, he looks at them now. “Now they’re really blue, like the colour of cornflowers or sky. I don’t think they were blue. That feels like the wrong answer. Now they look bright and almost happy.”

“But not before?”

“Not sure, but something’s different.”

“Okay, I want you to lean right in my face and stare into my eyes.”

“Okay!”

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