Piece Keeper by Antwan Floyd Sr. Read Free Book Online Page B

contact.
    The bartender poured the drink returning a stare
just as hard and cold as Black’s.
    “Not saying you are, counselor, but can’t say the
same for them,” the bartender said nodding at the group of men
playing pool behind Black.
    He didn’t turn to look. He knew they were there and
he knew it might get ugly once the men got a few drinks in them.
Yet he wouldn’t leave. Running was not an option even when he knew
it was a losing battle. It wasn’t that he was trying to be tough.
Growing up in Chicago he’d learned that you have to face the school
bully or neighborhood gangbangers sooner or later. There was no
getting around that. Fight back or get your ass kicked every day.
He learned that the hard way growing up and now he applied it to
everything in life. He wasn’t too old to get his ass kicked but he
was definitely too old to run from bullies.
    He downed the drink in silence as he blocked out the
rumblings of the men behind him. Staring intently at the news
footage of him attacking his car that was playing every fifteen
minutes, he sat silent as he felt the warmness in his chest. The
effects of the alcohol were zeroing in. Ignoring the feeling, he
ordered drink after drink until his vision was blurred and speech
was slurred.
    “You know she probably asked for it,” a voice from
one of the men shooting pool behind him blurted out.
    “Damn slut,” another chimed in.
    Black removed a hundred dollar bill from his wallet
and slammed it on the bar. He stood from his seat and headed for
the door.
    “It’s not safe out here after dark, Counselor. You
might want to be careful what the whore claimed happened to her
don’t happen to you.”
    Black stopped in his tracks. Red flashed in his mind
as he turned and faced the men with his hands balled into fists. He
counted three; all cops from what he could tell. They weren’t
wearing uniforms but after years of dealing with law enforcement,
some while growing up in the streets of Chicago and being harassed
and the rest prepping them on cases he had to try, with or without
a uniform he could spot them without even trying.
    “What? Huh?” The ringleader spat out walking around
the pool table towards Black with the pool stick still in hand.
“What the hell are you gonna do?”
    “Not in here Billy,” the bartender yelled out
calling the off duty officer by his first name.
    “Quiet you! We got this!”
    The old man retrieved a bat from underneath the
counter. “The hell you do. Not in my place. Now out of here! All of
you!”
    Black stood his ground as the bartender came from
behind the bar and stood side by side with Black. “I don’t care one
way or the other how you fools settle this. It just won’t happen
here. Not in my place.”
    “I think it’s about time we see what the counselor
here is made of,” the ringleader said as he rushed towards Black
full speed with the pool stick raised over his head ready to bring
it down across Black’s face.
    Black didn’t hesitate or pause. He rushed towards
his attacker and hunched low instead of dodging the pool stick. He
threw himself into the blow at the same time throwing his shoulder
into the cop like a defensive tackle. He lifted the man into the
air and brought him down hard onto the pool table. The crunch of
his back coming into contact with the pool balls rang out into the
packed bar. As if on cue from a movie director, the bar became
eerily silent. Black threw blow after blow into his opponent’s
chest and rib cage until he was rushed by two others. Each slid
their arms under his to scoop him off of their fellow officer and
then slam him against the wall.
    The bartender, coming to the rescue, swung the bat
striking one of the men across the back. The assailant dropped to
his knees in front of Black who then kicked him in the face. The
other man, still holding Black against the wall, gripped his neck
keeping him pinned to the wall. Stepping over the man on the floor,
the bartender swung again going