Everybody Goes to Jimmy's by Michael Mayo Read Free Book Online Page B

right into Anna. He was about seven feet tall and four feet wide with knuckles dragging the sidewalk. All right, he was really just a normal-sized guy, but something had made him so angry he was acting crazy.
    He hit Anna and pushed her into me, knocking both of us off-balance. She said something like, “Hey, watch where you’re going, buster.”
    He snarled back in a loud nasty voice, “Fuck yourself,” and she hauled off and let him have it with her bag.
    Now, this wasn’t some swing-like-a-girl tap with her pocketbook. She really got her legs and hips into it, and the bag had a thick metal frame. She caught him on the jaw and snapped his head back. He staggered a step, then bellowed and came right at her. I tried to move between them and got it from both sides. Anna came up short with the bag and clipped me on the ear. The asswipe punched me in the gut and chest.
    She was yelling, “Come on, you big bastard!” and he pushed me aside to take another swing at her. I weighed in again, trying to push her behind me. He got serious and jabbed Anna so hard in the ribs that she went down to her knees. He pivoted and put two solid punches into my midsection and went for my head. He kept his fists in close like he knew what he was doing and muttered curses as he pounded me. I got my left arm up over my face, but I still saw stars when he caught me a good one.
    It seemed like it took forever for me to get hold of the little .32 Lemon Squeezer I had in my pocket. Even though it didn’t have a hammer, it tended to catch on the cloth, and I had to keep my finger out of the trigger guard while I pulled it out. All the while, he was pounding on me, and I sensed that Anna was getting to her feet. Then the pistol came free, and I jammed it into the center of his stomach and shot him.
    As the report echoed away, they both stood there, mouths open in shock. I think at first he couldn’t believe what had just happened. Anna didn’t even know that I had the gun, so she was surprised and quiet, too. For a little while, until she barked a short laugh.
    I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the guy as he stumbled backward, his mouth moving like he was trying to say something. Resisting the urge to run, I walked away quickly. She kept swiveling her head around to look back at him. I pulled her along, pausing to ditch the pistol down a sewer grate and then kept us moving. I couldn’t see anybody else on the street.
    Her face flushed and she started to yell something but gasped and held her stomach.
    I looked back. The big asswipe was nowhere in sight on the dark street. I held her hand and pulled her along, heading north. I was pumped up but knew that I had to force the excitement back down. It wasn’t helpful. Somebody probably heard the shot. We needed to get away, and we couldn’t look like we were running.
    When we’d both calmed down and the nausea had passed, she said, “You don’t look so good, Jimmy.”
    â€œI look better than he does.”
    â€œYou think you killed him?”
    â€œMaybe.”
    â€œYou didn’t tell me you carried a gun.”
    â€œIt’s just something I have to do sometimes.” Truth be told, I wouldn’t have had the Lemon Squeezer on me if I hadn’t driven that truckload of booze for Lansky. As for the guy, well, that was his bad luck, I guess.
    Before we found a cab, she gave me a strange look that I couldn’t read. My pulling the pistol may have surprised her, but I don’t think it impressed her, not like the drunken debutante.
    Later, in front of her building, she pulled me into the shadow of the front steps, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me harder than she ever had. Her body molded itself against mine. I got hard and she knew it.
    â€œYeah,” she said as she plucked the bill from my hand, “you’re going to be trouble all right.”
    Then came the evening when everything