Loser's Town by Daniel Depp Read Free Book Online Page B

becausehe’d forgotten to eat. He shuffled into the kitchen and made some instant coffee and took it with him into the bathroom while he had a watery shit. His guts were churning and he felt weak. He’d dreamed, in flashes, of the dead girl’s face.
    Potts dressed in jeans, boots and his ragged leather bike jacket. He went out to the garage and unlocked it and lifted the door. The large classic Harley-Davidson sat in the middle of the garage, surrounded by spare parts and boxes of tools. Potts went over and ran his hand along the bike. He straddled it and rolled it outside, then got off and closed the garage door. He put on his skid-lid – the minimum the law allowed – and kicked the bike to life. When Potts rode he forgot about everything, which was the reason anybody rode. The fucking world was everywhere but when you rode you broke free and skimmed over the top of it.
    Potts rode to Kepki’s Roadhouse. There were a dozen or so bikes outside and a few trucks from guys just getting off work. Potts knew some of the people and when he went inside only a few said hello or waved even though he’d been coming here regular for a year. Potts went up to the bar and sat on a stool. Kepki was behind the bar.
    ‘Beer?’ said Kepki.
    Potts nodded. ‘And some of that chili, if you got any. And a bunch of crackers.’
    Kepki brought him a beer and Potts drank it quickly. He held up the bottle for Kepki to bring him another.
    ‘You starting early or just keeping one going?’ Kepki asked him.
    Potts ignored the question but attacked this beer a little slower. He turned around and checked out the room. A couple of bikers were shooting pool at the table in back and a few people were standing around watching. One of them was a woman in her thirties wearing a tight blue dress and drinking a beer. She looked up and saw Potts watching her. Potts turned back around.
    Potts had started in on the chili when the woman turned up at his side.
    ‘You want to give me a Miller?’ she said to Kepki.
    Kepki brought her one and she drank it standing next to Potts. Potts opened several packs of saltines and broke them up into his chili and stirred it around. He was hungry and when he took a bite it was too hot and he had to spit it out into his hand. ‘Shit!’ He took a swig of beer to cool down.
    The woman laughed. ‘Didn’t your mother never teach you to blow on it first?’
    ‘Damn, I burnt the hell out of my mouth! God damn, Kepki, you coulda warned me.’
    ‘Just cause it says chili don’t mean it ain’t hot,’ said Kepki, winking at the woman.
    Potts took another swig of cool beer.
    ‘You always eat like that?’ the woman asked him. ‘Big gulps of everything? I reckon that’s a good sign, though. A man just taking big bites out of everything, like taking big bites out of life. That the way you are?’
    ‘I never thought about it.’
    ‘I bet you are,’ she said. ‘I bet you that’s the way you do things. My name’s Darlene.’
    ‘Potts.’
    ‘Just Potts?’
    ‘Just Potts,’ he said.
     
    They drank up the rest of the evening. Potts had some of Stella’s money in his pocket and the beer bottles and whiskey glasses accumulated on the bar in front of them. They laughed and talked, Darlene resting against Potts with her arm around him. Somewhere early on Darlene leaned over and kissed Potts and slid her tongue deep into his mouth and rubbed his crotch through the blue jeans. Potts got up to have a piss and was standing at the urinal when Darlene came in. Potts started to zip up but Darlene said, ‘Don’t bother,’ and she grabbed Potts by the dick and led him over and pushed him up against the wall. She raised her blue dress and jammed Potts’ hand down into her panties. Potts was a little overwhelmed. A biker came in and said, ‘Hot damn! Well don’t let me interrupt nothing,’ and took a leak watching Potts and Darlene administer to each other. The biker whistled appreciatively before he left and winked at