Chapter 5

Friendly wiped the bar for the hundredth time of the night. Krom was sitting at the end of the bar where she stood, and he wanted to talk about Trixie. The big man had it bad for her friend. Sadly, his attitude and his insistence on being too thick brained to admit that he knew that she wasn’t fucking every man walking in the doors was a real problem.

He hefted his third beer and drained it. “I guess I need another one. I’ve been waiting for Trixie to finish with whoever she’s laid up with.”

Friendly wasn’t the type to explain shit to anyone. He just snapped her last nerve, and she let him have it. Trixie was going to kill her, but this bullshit had gone on too damned long.

“You know, we understand that you guys believe that we’re so desperate for dick that we would crawl over broken glass to get fucked, but the thing is, just because we work in a bar where some of the girls like to make a few dollars on the side, doesn’t make us all fucking whores and prostitutes. I’m getting tired of the attitude, Krom. I don’t blame Trix for not taking you up on your offer.”

She leaned on the bar with her arms spread and hands braced on the polished wood.

“For your information, fuck face, Trixie is at the house taking care of Hilda tonight.” She pointed a finger at him to emphasize the points that she was making. “In case you can’t understand what taking care of Hilda means, it’s simple; Hilda’s foot got smashed from being stomped on by a three hundred pound asshole.

“Next thing you need to know is that Trixie never takes men to the rooms.” She let that sink in for a second and continued. “As long as I’ve known her, the only man she’s whored herself for has been you. And when you finally ask her to move forward with the relationship, you fucking insult her and call her names. Real smooth there, asshole. She’s planning on moving to Davenport after Christmas, and I promised her that I’d go with her.”

Friendly picked up his empty bottle and walked to the cooler.

Krom wasn’t happy about being told that he was wrong. If he’d been wrong about Trixie and her need for a man’s body to curl around even after the sex was finished… Fuck. He nodded his head and slapped a five on the bar when she came back with the fresh longneck.

“Why don’t she tell me that I’m wrong? We’ve been fucking for almost a year now. If it’s just me, why hasn’t she said anything? All she does is tell me to fuck off when I offer to make her my woman. Telling me that I’m the only man that she screws isn’t adding up. I offered to install a fuckin stripper pole in my goddamned house so she won’t miss the life so much. The only thing I demand is that she doesn’t fuck around.”

Friendly shook her head and had to study him for a long minute. There appeared to be no way to get through his perceptions about Trixie. The man was as handsome as a huge Viking looking asshole could look. His brain refused to accept anything she told him. Especially the part where his stupid assumptions might be wrong.

She wanted her friend to be happy, but hearing the man of Trixie’s dreams prove how dimwitted he actually was, well she decided that the relocation to Iowa was going to happen. She didn’t actually want to leave the state. There were a couple of reasons for her reluctance to leave, but she refused to contemplate those reasons now. She sighed and walked away from the temptation to beat Krom in the head with a beer bottle to knock some sense into him.

Hilda had offered to bankroll them if they wanted to open a small bar and grill or a similar business, and Trixie and Friendly had gotten drunk one night, and shit got real. Guts were spilled, dreams were voiced, and tears were shed between the friends. They looked at an old map and tried to pinpoint a spot in the middle of a place they’d never been. Davenport was chosen from five names written on a piece of paper along with five others and Friendly had held the papers in the cup of one of Trixie’s bras. Trixie pulled Davenport, so that was their destination.

Krom was looking like a confused Grizzly and Friendly thought about going back to him and trying to put knowledge inside of his skull, but she had already overstepped the friendship lines. When he waved at her and crooked his fingers while waving, she really didn’t want to go back over there. She did it, but not because she wanted to.

“Look, I told you what was up, and you choose to ignore the truth; I’ve got nothing to say to you now. Trixie is my best friend, and you don’t need her; she’s better than you deserve.” She shrugged and smiled with a twist of her lips.

“You don’t have to worry about her after Christmas anyway. Peanut is stuck on a big old boy, but maybe Gypsy will give you the fuck and forget kind of transaction you want to have, and she won’t mind you calling her names. The thing is with Gypsy, you better bring your wallet, and it better have cash in it. Unlike Trixie, Gypsy earns her cash the old fashioned way, just like Hop and just like a few other’s that will come along to look for the shelter that this place offers.” She shrugged her shoulder and wiped the bar again.

“As long as you tell Colin what it is you want from your encounter, you will get what you came for. I understand that they have a pay scale. You know, like a blowjob is so much and if you want to fuck, then that is more. Eating pussy might be more, I don’t know, but I can call Colin over to book some time for your itch if Gypsy can fit you in.”

Krom stood up and hit his fist on the bar and shouted at her. “Just shut the fuck up for a minute. I’m trying to wrap my head around what you said, and I have questions.”

She shook her head once he sat down and folded his big hands around the empty bottle. “You don’t get it. You need to talk to Trixie without throwing the names whore and slut around, you dumb fuck. She isn’t going to tell you that you’ve hurt her feelings hundreds of times. And if you install a stripper pole in your place? Make sure that it fits up your ass.”

She walked away from his outstretched hand.

Krom looked at his hand and the empty spot that had opened in the pit of his stomach. Fuck, just fuck. He looked around the room once more before heading for the door. His reason for being here wasn’t here tonight, and now that Friendly had told him a few things that Trixie should have told him herself, he needed to think.

He walked out into the parking lot and over to his bike. Three months ago he put the small padded seat on the bike, but he hadn’t asked Trixie to ride with him. The beautiful little bitch had her own putt, but she rarely rode it. It was one of those crotch rockets, and they were fast, that’s all he would say about them.

He preferred good American steel under him when he rode, not the painted plastic and shiny decals. He wasn’t a snob when it came to the make of a bike, a rider rode what they could afford or liked until something better came along. He kept to his favorite make of bike and stayed happy with his choice.

Remembering watching her fly down the road bent over the curved tank of that dark blue racer made him scowl. She would be safer sitting her ass right behind him on his bike. He wasn’t dumb enough to tell her what she should do. At least not now. Fuck, why didn’t she call him on his stupidity months ago? They might have been able to come to terms and be living together by now.

He opened her up on the country highway and headed back to his place. He had to decide how to deal with the pretty brunette with the killer tits and evil temper. He was still distracted by thoughts of Trixie as he pulled the bike onto the apron of the garage attached to his house. He hit the small button to open the door and waited for the thing to rise. Noticing the raccoons that were chattering in the tree next to the driveway made him smile.

Luckily his head was turned away when the explosion that caused debris to fly through the air missed hitting him in the face. The boards hit his head that was encased inside his helmet.

He sat there as the fire jumped up the walls of the house and he could not believe that his classic GTO was engulfed in flames. The heat was intense, and he used his legs to back the bike away from the fire. He pulled the phone from his pocket.

His first call was to Trencher. The next was to the fire department.

He looked around to see if he could spy anyone lurking in the shadows of the trees. He saw nothing; even the raccoons were gone.

Who would do some stupid shit like this? He was a ranking member of Thor’s Legion. That could be reason enough, but he couldn’t recall the last person that he might have caused issues that would result in someone attempting to kill him off.