Band Aid Only Covers the Bullet Hole

Frank finally got Lazzara pinned against the table, and was throwing punch after punch into his face, blood running down his knuckles, and down Lazzara's face. It seemed for a second that he was in control until Lazzara grabbed a bottle off the table, and shattered it over Frank's head.

Frank's grip loosened, and he backed away, staggering a little. Lazzara just stood there, as we all watched Frank sway a little before collapsing to the floor, unconscious. Lazzara stared at him for a minute before kicking him in the ribs. Not terribly hard, but a little harder than necessary to tell if someone was awake.

"Well fuck." He said, looking down at him, and then running his hand down his face, then pulling it away to look at the blood that'd rubbed off on his fingers. "Didn't think that'd knock him out."

He looked back at Hannah, Bill, and I who were standing there, staring at either him or Frank crumpled on the floor. There was a little blood trickling from a cut on Frank's forehead, but I could hardly feel bad for the man. I mean, he did start it.

"So, girls..." Lazzara smirked at us, expanding his mouth into a wide grin so that we could see all his teeth. I could clearly see some scarlet blood trickling down from his gum, apparently from having been hit in the mouth by Frank, but I pushed that from my mind as Lazzara continued "... Remember my little threat? Well, times up for Iero - you girls are coming with me now."

"What?" Hannah objected, although her tone was more nervous than concerned. "We can't just... leave him."

"He'd have left you." Lazzara replied simply, reaching swiftly down into Frank's pocket, and removing the wad of cash that Bill had given him just minutes before. Lazzara flicked the notes through his fingers for a moment, apparently counting the money, before replacing it into his own jeans. Then, looking back down at us with those big brown eyes, Lazzara told us: "Look, girls, I value my work and I value my customers, and those who work for me, too. Whereas Iero, here, the little douchebag - he'll put himself first, and nobody else. So honestly, ladies... who'd you rather go with? Me, knowing that you'll actually be treated like a proper fucking human being, or this pathetic excuse for life, who can barely take care of himself?"

Well, I'm not going to deny it; Lazzara had a point.

And a pretty fucking good one at that.

He took our moment or two of silence, as accepting his offer, and smiled.

"Well, now that's we've got that worked out then, now it's time to talk about you." He said, his eyes falling on Bill. I shot a sideways glance at him, and he looked nervous as hell. He was figety, and his eyes kept darting to the door, then back to Lazzara. Even to me for half a second, like there was something I could do to help him.

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I fucked up, I won't let it happen again." Bill said, nervously. Lazzara laughed through gritted teeth, and went up Bill, slinging an arm over his shoulder like they were best friends. I could see Bill tense up, and his hands at his sides clench into fists.

"Yeah, you did fuck up. This isn't exactly the first time, though, is it?" He asked, and Bill just stood there uncomfortably, watching Lazzara with and unreadable expression.

"No, it's not." Lazzara went on. "You fuck up a lot, and every time, you tell me, 'Lazzara, I won't fuck up this time.' and then what happens? You fuck up."

Lazzara's expression grew angry at the last part. He patted his jeans pocket, where he'd just put the money he'd taken from Frank's pocket.

"That money you gave to that shithead, was mine. It was mine, man, and he almost got away with it, because you fucked up. Because you couldn't wait ten minutes for me to get in here."

"And I trusted you, man!" Lazzara said over dramatically, putting his hand to his heart for a moment before putting it to his face, and looking up at the ceiling for a second, acting like he was about to cry. Then he quickly let it fall back to his side, and looked back at Bill a blank expression on his face. "It hurts, man." He finished dully.

"I know, I'm sorry." Bill said, staring pointedly at a spot on the ceiling, avoiding Lazzara's eyes.

"Well, I think I'm just going to have to make sure of that.." Lazzara said, and Bill's eyes shot back to him, obviously scared.

"Jesus, man, I'm not going to kill you. Relax." Lazzara said laughing, and then clapping Bill hard on the chest, making him flinch. I was a little surprised it didn't break him, actually.

"You're coming with us." Lazzara said suddenly serious again, sliding his arm off of Bill's shoulder, and started walking towards the exit, leaving him standing there, rubbing his chest where he'd just been hit.

"Wait, what?" Bill asked, confusion on his face.

Lazzara sighed, as he got to the doorway, and turned to look at the three of us. "How fucking hard is it to understand? You three, come with me. Now, can we get out of this hell hole already?"

"Fuck." I heard Bill mutter, as the three of us hurried to follow Lazzara, out the door.

We followed him out to a nice black, expensive looking sports car out in the parking lot, and he unlocked the doors for us to get in. Without really thinking about it, Hannah went to the front, as I went to the back, and climbed into the rear passenger seat. Bill climbed in on the other side, trying to fit his long legs into the tiny bit of leg room that was available in the tiny back seat.

Lazzara started the car, and we drove for a while, Lazzara talking incessantly about how society is fucked up, and how the government is fucked up, and I listened to a bit of what he was saying. There was a little truth under all of his bullshit, I'll give him that much. He'd glance into the rear view mirror every now and then and say "Isn't that right, Bill?" or "You know what I'm saying, man." and Bill would give a little indication he was listening, from his cramped little space in the back seat, looking aggravated.

I couldn't see Hannah from where I was sitting, with the seat between us, but I could hear her agreeing with Lazzara, and giving her own input now and then. I didn't say much though. I'm not even sure if I'd said anything, until Lazzara pulled off the road into a parking lot in front of old boarded up liquor store, and I asked the question Hannah, Bill, and I were probably all thinking.

"Why are we here?" I asked as we got out of the car.

"Well, I'm not going to park a stolen car in front of my house, now am I?" He said, tossing the keys into the drivers seat, and then locking them into the car. I scoffed inaudibly, and three three of us continued to follow him, down the empty road. The area we were in looked completely dead. The few buildings that were along the road, were old and shabby looking. Not so much as one in particular, though.

After about ten minutes of walking, there was an old three story house sitting all alone at the end of this road, weeds poking out of the dry ground. It looked like it was waiting to be torn down. Most of the windows were boarded up, the shutters hanging off of their hinges, one of the steps to the porch caving in.

"Here we are." Lazzara said, stopping abruptly in front of the dilapidated house. I waited a second for him to laugh, and then we continue walking, but then I realized he was serious. The house didn't look livable at all. Or even safe for that matter. It looked ready to fall apart.

He led us inside, nonetheless, giving us the not-so-grand tour. There were old crummy pieces of furniture, placed oddly in the rooms, and a thick layer of dust on everything. The floorboards creaked as we he walked us through pointing out the rooms we'd need to know. When he took us upstairs, I was a little afraid the stairs would collapse under our feet, even with three - one in particular - of our party of four, being on the small side.

After pointing to the rooms we could stay in, he led us back down stairs to the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't as bad as it could have been. I mean, it was a wreck, don't get me wrong, but at least there wasn't food laying out everywhere. Just more junk, like the rest of the house.

Lazzara walked over to the sink and splashed water on his face, to wash off the dried blood, and then shut off the water, and wiped his sleeve across his face to dry it off. It made me notice for the first time, how much his clothes did not match at all. They were out of style, and he had some faint plaid design mixed with a striped shirt, with the same red leather jacket. But it still looked good somehow. It fitted his personality.

The windows in the kitchen weren't boarded up, and the moonlight shone in, landing on the places the dim overhead missed. Lazzara ran a hand through his messy hair, and then scratched the back of his neck.

"So yeah, make yourself at home. I know Bill here's going to flip out in a second if he doesn't get to go do his coke." Lazzara laughed, nodding at Bill.

Bill gave a dry little 'ha' of laughter, although clearly not amused, and then left the room. I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, as Hannah and Lazzara stuck up a conversation again. Instead of trying to join, I just sort of tuned them out, spacing out a little.

"You okay over there?" Lazzara said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I said nodding, and then started to leave the room.

"What was her name again?" I heard him ask Hannah quietly as I walked out into the hallway but didn't stay to hear her answer. I went into the living room, and found Bill sitting on the couch, his head leaned back against the back of the couch with his eyes closed, and his leg fidgeting.

"Hey." I said sitting down next to him, making a tiny dust cloud float up from the couch.

"Hey." He said opening his eyes, and picking his head up to look at me. He hesitated a second before asking; "Where are the other two?"

I shrugged. "In the kitchen."

"Ahh.." He said, nodding. He tapped his fingers lightly on his leg. His legs looked so skinny, especially with his jeans as tight as they were. My eyes made their way up his torso, then back to his face, his dilated eyes watching me.

"You know, you don't really seem like a Bill kind of guy.." I said.

"What?" He asked, giving me a funny look.

"You're name.. it just doesn't suit you." I thought for a second. "Is it short for William?"

He nodded.

"William suits you better. I dunno, Bill just seems so.. middle aged." I said, making him laugh.

"Can I call you William?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Sure, if you want."

"Okay then.. William."

A crooked little smile appeared on his face.

You know, once you looked past the whole cokehead thing, he was kinda cute.