mobster mash

“She’s a pretty good shot, huh?”

Max was sitting in the back with Lion and watching Athena learn to shoot from some other Hounds. Bobo was taking the lead on it as the best shot in the gang, but Max was sure there was more to it than that. The older man was nosy and a terrible flirt, and he was taking every opportunity to try and put his arm around Athena. She just laughed off his jokes and flirting, so at least she didn’t look uncomfortable.

Lion hadn’t stopped pestering Max about Athena since they got there. He stroked his beard pensively as he watched her shoot with a smile.

“Yeah, she’s good,” Max shrugged. “She has a steady hand. She’s a doctor.”

“She seems great,” Lion said. “How long have you been seeing her behind our backs?”

“I’m not ‘seeing’ her,” Max clarified. “I’ve literally only known her for about two days now. She helped me with a broken nose, so now I’m helping her out. She’s in kind of a tight spot.”

“Tight, huh?”

“Fucking hell,” Max scowled. “Will you just drop it? I’m helping her out and that’s it. The gun is just to be sure she’s safe when I’m not around.”

“Well I’m sure she’s grateful you care so much,” Lion chuckled, taking a swig of his beer.

Max rolled his eyes and stood up to join Bobo and Athena. She was laughing so hard at something he had said that there were tears in the corners of her eyes. It was a little refreshing to see since she was so worried for so long.

“We should start wrapping things up here,” Max said. “We have places to be.”

“Aw, you can’t take her from us just yet,” Bobo complained. “This girl is a hoot. I was going to show her how to use a shotgun or a rifle. She’s got the strong shoulders for it.”

“Strong but feminine, isn’t that right?” Athena said, clearly teasing him on something he had said before.

“Perfect shoulders on a perfect lady,” Bobo said with a grin.

“Maybe next time,” Max said.

“He’s right,” Athena said. “We should really go. I appreciate your help, though.”

“Speaking of help,” Max said, “Have you heard of a Darwin Fletcher? He owns some clubs but I guess he’s hard to track.”

“Fletcher,” Bobo said slowly, brow furrowed in thought. “Hey, Jeffrey! Isn’t that the guy that owes you a bunch of money?”

Jeffrey was working on a bike nearby, wiping grease off his hands as he walked over to them.

“Lots of guys owe me a lot of things,” he grunted. “Specify.”

“Darwin Fletcher,” Max repeated.

“I know Fletcher,” Jeffrey nodded. “The guy is a worm. Buries himself deep in the dirt so no one can find him. He put a hit out on this guy and only paid half of what he owed me for it.”

Jeffrey glanced at Athena, then shifted awkwardly.

“Erm, not like a murder hit,” he said unconvincingly. “Like… just talking.”

“So you have no idea where he is?” Max sighed.

“I’d go after him if I did,” Jeffrey shrugged. “You might want to try out one of his clubs. Or try Rudy.”

“Rudy?” Max frowned. “I dunno about Rudy. I’ve kind of been avoiding him.”

“Rudy?” Athena asked. “He runs the races, right? Why are you avoiding him?”

“No particular reason,” Max said. “He wants me to race, I just haven’t been feeling it. I guess there’s a race happening in a couple days, we can see him there.”

“You should enter,” Bobo said. “People have been asking about you and-“

“We’ll see, probably not,” Max said quickly. “Anyways, thanks guys. We’ll see you later.”

He ushered Athena out before any of the Hounds could say anything else. Max loved racing and while he was modest about it, the truth was that he had made a bit of a name for himself. Rudy liked having him race because it increased the gambling and attracted more people to watch. Being as shy as he was, Max hated the people who crowded him and tried to be his friend. No one was sincere about it and it made him feel alone. But if that’s what it took to help Athena out, he could stand to step a little bit out of his comfort zone.

They drove in silence for a little bit, until Max realized Athena seemed a little tense in his passenger seat. Not exactly scared, but she seemed excited. Her eyes were wide. Max realized he was zipping through traffic at high speeds and weaving between cars in a bit of a dangerous way.

“Sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “You’re really good. No wonder you race.”

“Better that than dealing drugs and getting in fights, I guess,” he said. “I know it’s a big part of the group I’m involved with, but it’s never been my thing. I get weird and paranoid. Maybe I’m too much of an introvert.”

“You turned out pretty good, considering how you grew up,” she said. “No offense.”

“None taken,” he chuckled. “The guys were rough. Bobo stabbed me when I was thirteen because she said he wanted me to ‘have the experience’ before someone else gave it to me. And Lion used to let me teeth on dirty pieces of blown out tires.”

“Your mom never came back?”

“She wasn’t meant to be a mom,” he said. “She had a baby, but I probably would have been neglected if tried to be my mom. She’s too much of a free spirit. She sends me postcards, though. And birthday gifts. In November. My birthday is in April. It’s the thought that counts.”

“It’s not a classic upbringing, but it worked,” she said. “You’re a good guy.”

“I don’t know about good,” he said. “I get in trouble. People don’t usually like me. I guess I’d call myself a decent guy at best.”

She didn’t say anything, but Max could feel her looking at him pensively. By the time they pulled up to Fletcher’s club, there was already a line out the door to get in. Women in short skirts giggled with greasy looking men, and music was pumping from inside.

“How are we supposed to get in?” Athena frowned.

“No idea,” he said. “We’re not waiting in that line, though. Let’s try the back door.”

They snuck around back to where deliveries usually went and knocked on the back door. A surly looking bouncer opened the door and eyed Max and Athena up and down.

“If you want to get in, you have to get in line,” he said. “You can’t just come around back.”

“We’re not here for the club,” Max said. “We’re looking for Fletcher. Is he here?”

“He’s not here,” he said. “Besides, you need an appointment and a reason. No one gets to talk to him for fun.”

“We have a reason,” Athena blurted. “We’re… getting his cryo order.”

“Cryo order?”

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “We’ve got a huge request in from him and we just need to make a deal with him on it.”

It was a bold lie, but a sleazy club like that would probably have some back room cryo business too. It seemed like the lie was making the bouncer second guess himself, so Max rolled up his sleeve to show his Hellhound tattoo.

“If you turn us away, we’re not coming back,” he told the bouncer. “You can find your business elsewhere. Do you want that on you?”

The bouncer was uneasy now. He told them to wait and disappeared inside for a couple minutes. When he came back, Max and Athena tried to look as confident as they could in their lie.

“Mr. Fletcher isn’t here,” he said. “His associate, Mr. James Corrin manages this club. He’s willing to meet with you, but…”

“But?”

“He says he won’t sit down in his club with a woman wearing jeans.”

Athena seemed startled by this, looking down to her casual jeans and hoodie. She looked back up, annoyed.

“This is what I’m wearing,” she said. “Does he think I’m hiding a change of close in my pocket?”

“Come on, dude,” Max grumbled. “Don’t be weird.”

“His words, not mine,” the bouncer said. “Karlie can help you out. There’s some spare outfits in the back for our waitresses.”

The waitress in question came out and nodded for Athena to follow her. Athena wasn’t sure and glanced over at Max.

“We can leave if you’re uncomfortable,” he reassured her. “There’s other places we can take our business.”

Athena pursed her lips and shook her head. Unpleasant as it was, this was as close as they could get to Fletcher at the moment. She reluctantly followed the waitress to a room in the back. Meanwhile, Max was patted down like he was being taken to prison. They confiscated his knife, and he became glad they had opted to leave the gun in the car.

Athena came back a little bit later in a black mini dress with sleeves that came off her shoulders and a skirt that barely covered her behind. She kept tugging down at it, only to tug it back up to try and cover her cleavage. Max didn’t realize he was staring at her until she looked at him and spoke up.

“I know, I look like a skank,” she grumbled.

“Not at all,” Max said a little too quickly. “I mean, you look nice. Classy. You’re a classy person. So you make the dress classy too. Sorry. I’ll stop.”

She didn’t say anything, but she cracked a smile and stopped messing with the dress. The bouncer listened to something in his earpiece and gave them a nod.

“Mr. Corrin is finishing up some business,” he told them. “You two can wait at the bar. He’ll come find you.”

Max stayed close to Athena to hide her from leering eyes as they went to the bar. At least with him around, the sleaze bags weren’t bothering her. The crowds and pumping music were starting to get to Max a little, but he kept it together as best he could.

“We better get a lead from this asshole,” Athena said, tugging up on the neckline of the dress.

“Here’s to hoping.”