A Lil' Less Hopeless by Tara Oakes Read Free Book Online

Lil's spread out in his lap making googly eyes at him. These two need to knock this shit off.
    “Hey, brother!” Every man in leather turns to me. My bad. Should have been more specific. “Jay! That detail that's running later tonight?”
    He nods.
    “Yeah... I changed my mind. I want in on it.”
    I slam the door behind me, throw my shades on and take off on my bike, ready to take out my anger on the asphalt. My mind races as I head over to Pippin's, a local bar on the other side of town.
    This broad has some damn nerve. I've taken my time, been open-minded. I know she doesn't know how things run around here, but there's only so much I can fuckin' take. I spend my money wherever, whenever, and on whoever I goddamned well please.
    If she needs a crash course in Kingsmen 101, it's time to stop pussyfooting around and just start the schooling already. Tonight is lesson #1.
    In the meantime, I have work to do. We've gotten word that the fat fuck we found unconscious in the upstairs bathroom of the farmhouse the night we rescued Lil's has been released on bail. We've been coming up empty handed on almost all fronts and time was nearly running out. Our informants have gotten word that they're getting ready to arrest Lil's soon on suspicion. If we don't get our shit together before then, this is going to have a pretty shitty ending.
    Pippin's is a tiny little pub, mainly for the blue collar crowd. Great fucking burgers, though. Word on the street is that the fat guy is renting one of the efficiency rooms upstairs. I think I'll go pay him a visit.
    ******
    “Medium well, darlin. And throw some bacon on that bad boy, will ya?”
    The waitress nods and jots down my order. “Ah... you've got a little... blood on your shirt.”
    I look down. Well looky here. Guess I do. “Nasty little cut before. I'll take a Guinness while I wait for my burger. Bathroom?” I hold out my finger pointing around. I forgot where the damn john is in this place.
    The forty-something woman points to the far right hand corner and forces a smile before hightailing it to the kitchen.
    The bathroom is empty and I manage to soap up some paper towels and scrub at the spot on my shirt. Doesn't really matter if it comes out or not. I'll buy another. I move the scrubbing over to my hands. The tricky thing about blood is, once it's scrubbed off, it still leaves a stain behind for a while. That fucker upstairs is gonna be scrubbing himself for weeks.
    Back at my table, I nurse the beer bottle. I reach for my phone and check in with Jay.
     
    ME: TOOK CARE OF THE PROBLEM
    NO WORD ON PRETTY BOY
    GOT A POSSIBLE LOCATION
    FOR THE POLE QUEEN
    FORWARDED IT TO LEO
     
    The big guy wasn't exactly happy to see me, once he saw the patches on my cut. Even though he wasn't wearing his own anymore. The Slayers have pretty much disbanded or gone underground after what's happened with Shade. But once a Slayer, always a Slayer. He could've saved me a hell of a lot of trouble, not to mention some sore knuckles and a ruined shirt if he just cooperated in the first place.
    In the end I got what I needed and left him needing some stitches. We knew he wasn't the shooter, unless he somehow managed to shoot the asshole, race back upstairs, knock himself out cold and then lock himself in a room from the inside. But... there was a good chance he knew where his fellow Slayer, the Pretty Boy, was.
    Turns out, he didn't. But, he had a good idea where Vicky was. Somewhere in Texas. Leo, will use whatever superhuman cyberspace bullshit he does to try to get an exact location. My burger finally arrives and I take a huge bite, a bit of the grease dribbling down my chin. The waitress brings me some extra napkins and I give her a wink.
    I watch her as she struts away. Nice ass for a forty-year-old. Speaking of nice ass... I wipe the grease from my fingers and pick up my phone once again.
     
    ME: YOU SEEMED TO HAVE
    MISPLACED A CHECK
     
    I polish off my beer and most of the burger, and settled