Bitter Reunion
Vince was pacing the sidewalk when Natalie and I arrived back.
"Where have you been?" he growled, coming at me impatiently from across the road. And then he saw Nat get out of the other side of the car. He just stopped at stared at her as if he'd suddenly gone stupid, and she gave him a shy smile that would make any man's heart melt.
"Hello, Natalie," he said, giving her a wave. "Did you have a nice night out?"
"Yes, thank you," she replied. It was so funny seeing Vince acting polite that I had to cover my mouth with my hand so I wouldn't laugh. He walked around the car to see her and leaned against his front fender.
"I'll just be over here..." I told Natalie.
"Alright," came the reply, although she didn't take her eyes of Vince.
I crossed the road and went just around the corner and leaned on a shop windowsill as I waited. After a little while, Vince walked around the corner with his chest out proud and a chuffed grin. "You did good, Cass," he said, roughly messing my hair.
I fixed it again and then met Natalie who was waiting for me just up the road a little with a grin that was not too dissimilar from the one I'd seen on Vince.
"So, when are you going out?" I asked as we turned into the dark backstreet behind the diner.
"Tomorrow night, if you can help me."
"That should be fine. I don't have any plans."
"Thank you because, I don't want Vince near my house. If my mother caught him there... I don't know what they'd do. They'd probably call the police. It feels simply wonderful, doesn't it? A boy actually, truly likes me. I can't stop smiling."
"Of course. You're beautiful and kind, talented... just don't go flaunting yourself around Ace or there will be trouble," I teased, playfully bumping into her, and she giggled.
We arrived at her window and both looked upon it as she drew in a shaky breath. "I don't want to go back," she whispered.
"Maybe one day you won't have to."
She threw her arms around me for one last hug before I helped her with the climb.
Walking up Main street, I stopped outside the Blue Point diner to see that drapes were still hanging in the windows. I was coming to terms with it being turned into a restaurant now. After all, it wasn't the diner itself that I was love with. It was the people. And they were gone forever. That was what I had to accept.
"Hey, Cass." The voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked back down the street to see Eyeball standing outside Irby's with a beer in one hand and a smoke in the other. He started wobbling towards me, drunk as a skunk. "What you doin' out here by yourself?" He sat on the nearest window ledge and leaned back against the glass.
"Just... thinking. What are you doing?"
"Can't remember," he slurred with a slight cackle. "Came out here for somethin'... but... nup, it's gone."
"Well, it's been a long day. I'm going home."
"Why don't you come in for a bit. Shoot some pool. I'll buy you a drink."
"Thanks, but... Ace is in there, right?"
He glared at me like a deer caught in the headlights. "Ace? Uh.. no. No, Ace ain't in there, no."
"You're a terrible liar."
Eyeball stuck his cigarette in his mouth, wrapped an arm around my waist and started leading me back down the path. "Come on, Cass," he mumbled through his smoke. "You need to have some fun; get outta that mood you're in."
"I'm not in a mood."
"Then stop worryin' 'bout nothin'! Just go with it. Life's better like that."
He pushed open the door to Irby's, and a short, brawny, red-headed guy came out and nearly bumped straight into us. "Hey, watch where you're goin' man!" Eyeball snarled.
The guy stopped and glared at me, and a shady smirk formed at the corner of his lips. He squirmed past us with his eyes fixed on me which seemed overly odd and even a little creepy. I clutched Eyeball tight at the waist, glad to have him with me at that moment.
"I remember that guy..." I said as we watched him stagger down the street. "At my old house in Hutt, he was peeking out at me and Ace from the neighbor's house."
"Still wanna walk home by yourself?"
The thick smoke made me choke, but the warmth of the pool hall caressed me so lovingly that I didn't mind paying up with a brief coughing fit. It was crowded in there for a weeknight. I hung on Eyeball's tail, bumping shoulders with people as he led me to the back of the room where the other boys looked to be well into the night's drinking session.
Vince's voice is always the first one you hear, even when it's a full house and the jukebox is playing at full volume. He was now sitting in the booth with Jack and Fuzzy, and so I kept my distance and hung around the pool table where Billy and Charlie were finishing up a game. It took a few moments of looking around for me to spot Ace. He was sitting at the bar with a beer in his hand as he watched a game of baseball playing on the television set on the shelf above him.
I felt a wanting need shoot through my stomach.
"I'll get you that drink," Eyeball said, patting his back pocket. "Shit... where's my wallet? Oh, now I remember what I was doin'! Shit..."
"It's OK. I might start looking for a ride home."
"No you ain't. You stay right put there." He meandered over to the next pool table where a group of guys were playing for a small pile of cash that had been placed near one of the corner pockets. I watched, stunned as Eyeball swiped the money up without even bothering to be discreet and walked off with it. One of the guys chased him in protest, but Eyeball just squared his shoulders and gave him a look as if to say, 'what are you gonna do about it?' and the guy backed right off.
Eyeball went to the bar, pushed his way through a wall of people to yell his order to Joe and then leaned down for a word with his blonde-haired buddy. I wanted to make a beeline for the door, but my legs refused to take me. I stood stiff as a board, feeling ultimately exposed as I braced myself for impact.
Ace looked my way, and his gaze caught mine but only held for a moment before he went back to watching his game.
"Get over to the booth and hide it." Eyeball was shoving a new bottle of some unfamiliar brand of whiskey into my hands and looking over his shoulder towards the bar.
"What did you do...?"
"Just get over there," he cackled and gave me gentle shove.
"I'm going home."
Eyeball ignored all protests and forced me into the booth. He shuffled me along the seat until I was squashed up next to Jack. He kept looking over at the bar and laughing a mischievous laugh, but nobody from over that way seemed to be paying him any attention. It looked like he got away with it.
"Pour us some shots!" Eyeball put a few shot glasses down on the table, and I looked over at Ace who was still paying more attention to his baseball game than me.
Eyeball snatched the bottle from my hands and cracked it open. "Come on, I'm sobering up here!" As he poured into the little glasses, two pairs of keds went walking across the table, almost kicking them over, much to Eyeball's disgust.
Jack and Fuzzy had been making arrangements with Billy and Charlie to be up next for a game, but now they were blocked in and decided that going over the table was the easiest route out. As they both jumped off the end, Charlie slid onto the end of the bench seat followed by Billy, and I was pushed along to being squashed up against the wall... and right opposite Vince.
"Hey O'Connor," he grinned, kicking my shoe under the table.
I grabbed one of the shots and downed it. And gagged on it. "Yuck, what is that stuff!"
"It's alcohol!" Eyeball said. "And it's free."
"No wonder. I bet Joe let you steal it."
Eyeball mouthed off to defend his disgusting bottle of booze, but his voice became a blur of words when Ace took the end seat on the opposite side of the booth. He briefly looked at me and then carried on as if I wasn't there. "We need a round," he said. "Billy, you're up."
"Man... I always buy the drinks," Billy grumbled.
"Well, you're on the end! If any of these other douchebags were on the end, they'd be buying, wouldn't they?"
"Since when was that a rule?"
"Since now. Hurry up, Billy. Move it."
Billy grudgingly went over to the bar and brought back a round of beers. He slid them down the table and one arrived right in front of me. Of course, I don't usually drink beer, but the whiskey Eyeball stole tasted like it had been filtered through one of Vince's socks, and I needed something to take the edge off.
Ace guzzled his drink down without stopping for breath and then swiped the can from Billy's hand before it had even touched his lips and downed that too. "I'm out," he said, crushing the last can in his hand and looking to Billy for more.
Round two came and went and then three and four - all courtesy of Billy despite him grudging about it every time. Just as he began to protest about being made to buy round five, we all noticed Charlie straining in discomfort.
"What's the matter, Charlie?" Eyeball snickered.
"Nothin'..." he winced.
When Billy realized what was happening, his face lit up. "Ha! Drinks are on you next, asshole!"
Charlie squirmed as he tried to hold it but quickly gave in to agony. "Fuck this, lemme out..." Billy eagerly obliged and stood aside while Charlie bolted out of the booth and towards the men's room.
"Ah, fuck!" Eyeball cursed before shuffling along the seat and out. As he hurried towards the men's room, Billy smugly secured his seat which happened to be next to me.
We all watched with anticipation to see whose head would peek out of the men's room first. Charlie's spiky blond hair peeked out followed by Eyeball's curly brown mop at a close second place.
"Fuck off, Eyeball!" Charlie called with one hand still doing up his fly and the other arm outstretched to defend his position. Eyeball grabbed the rear of Charlie's T-shirt and almost tore it as he dug his heels in, trying to hold him back. The two then bolted for the booth and reached the opening, pushing and pulling each other in a boyish battle to win the safe seat. Charlie punched Eyeball fair in the guts, making his friend double forwards, and that opened an opportune moment for Charlie to shove his way through.
"Haha, Eyeball! Get up to the bar, I'm thirsty," Charlie taunted.
"Oh, you think that's funny? Well, I think this is hilarious." Eyeball laid a fist into Charlie's stomach, doubly hard, making Charlie's face contort as he grabbed his belly in pain.
"Cut it out kiddies," Ace said coolly. He then chugged down the rest of his beer and let out a belch as big as Texas. "Come on Eyeball, get to it."
"But I got us a bottle of whiskey!"
"Beer. Now," Ace demanded.
"Fine," Eyeball said, patting his pockets. "Oh, shit, I haven't found my wallet yet!"
"Don't try to get outta buying," laughed Charlie, still holding his stomach.
"It's probably in your shit heap of a car," mocked Vince.
"Maybe," Eyeball said, looking concerned.
"I'll go look in your car for you," I told Eyeball. "You'll probably forget what you went out there for again." I opted for the slow route out of the booth by shuffling along the table past Charlie and Billy. "Give me your keys."
"I don't lock it," he said. "And I'll go look... fuck, I dunno where..." He wandered off aimlessly and I shook my head at him.
I grazed Ace's arm as I passed by him, a subtle way of telling him to follow me. I stood at the back door to wait for him, and he soon got up and walked over to the pool table with Vince behind him; Jack and Fuzzy's game was done. Ace picked up a cue and chalked it and then glanced over to see me impatiently waiting for him. He told Vince to rack up the balls and then finally strolled over with his expression blank and giving nothing away.
"What?" he said, and I scoffed at his attitude.
"Why are you ignoring me?"
"So, now you want attention."
"Just to talk."
"I heard you already. Loud and clear."
"What do you mean?"
"If you really wanted this, Cassie, there'd be no reason good enough to stop you from taking it."
"I'm just being cautious. Once bitten, twice shy."
"You think I'm gonna fuck you and then dump you like that other asshole did?"
I felt my face grow hot. It was hard to hear Ace talk about James like that; truth hurts. "I just don't see how you could leave someone like her for me. It doesn't make any logical sense, Ace. I've seen the way you are with her, and I don't blame you. She's gorgeous. And rich. She's everything a man could want."
"She's only everything I thought I wanted." He gave me a lengthy look before walking off, back to his game of pool.
2
I stepped outside into the dark backstreet and the door closed behind me. It was quiet out there, and there wasn't another soul in sight. Despite the ulterior motives, I had promised Eyeball that I'd help look for his wallet. I just wasn't sure about what I should do after that – try to talk things through with Ace more or call it a night.
The back street only had one street light, but I could easily make out his rust bucket in line behind three other cars. The long, wide strip of dirt is shared by all stores on the block, including the Blue Point Diner, and is often used by Irby's customers for parking anything that wouldn't be deemed roadworthy. That place was so familiar to me that I didn't hesitate to walk straight out into it, even at midnight.
I got into Eyeball's car and crawled over the seat, feeling around for anything wallet sized. I checked in the glove box, under the seats, on the dashboard and in the driver's door but turned up nothing.
"Well, fuck me."
I sharply twisted around to see a dark figure standing outside, behind me. I crawled out and closed the door, coming face to face with a broad-shouldered guy with a flat-top military style haircut. He was wearing a black T-shirt and grubby black jeans, and although he was smiling, he didn't look too friendly.
"So, it's true. Here you are," he said with dark, disdainful eyes.
"Do I know you?"
"What makes your tiny brain think I'd believe you don't know who I am?"
It was then that it hit me... like a crowbar to the head. This was the guy Ace told me about – the guy who allegedly had tried to kill me and left me for dead. This was my ex-boyfriend.
"Why did you do it to me, baby? I fucking loved you. We had the money; we had it all. And then you turned me in. Why?"
"Gee, I can't think of a single reason..."
He suddenly lunged at me and I squealed as he spun me around and strapped one arm around my chest and a grimy hand over my mouth.
"Well, I've put all of that behind me now," he spat into my ear.
The back door to Irby's closed just behind us and he looked back over his shoulder. I could barely move and so I couldn't see, but I guessed it was nothing because he started pushing me down the back street, away from safety and deeper into the darkness.
I wriggled and struggled and tried to kick at him to get free, but my efforts only made things worse. He took his hand off my mouth, and I went to scream but hearing the flick of a switchblade at my side caught my breath.
"You're gonna come with me quietly," he said, touching the blade to my cheekbone. I tried to back away from it, but that only made him hold it to me tighter.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked, blinking away the tears that were stinging my eyes.
"You're gonna take me to the money."
"Money? You mean Diego's money?"
"Oh, it ain't his money. I worked hard to steal and sell all that coke, so it's my money. What'd you do with it? Huh? I know you didn't give it to Diego, so where the hell is it?"
"I don't know! I thought you had it!"
"How could I have it? When I went back to the safehouse to get it, it wasn't there. You moved it. You hid it from me. So, where is it, huh?"
I was in such distress that I didn't even hear Irby's back door close, but he did. He glanced over his shoulder and then spun us both around to face us in the opposite direction.
Ace was strolling coolly towards us, flanked on both sides by Vince and Eyeball. The three stopped a few yards away under the lone street light, and Ace threw his cigarette to the ground and snuffed it into the dirt with his boot. "Lewis," he said smugly. "Long time no see."
"Ace? What the fuck do you want? This don't concern you, so you and your buddies can fuck right off."
"Well, that's my girl you've got your grubby hands all over there, so I say it does concern me."
Lewis scoffed, his hot breath harshly hitting my ear. "You fuckin' tramp..."
"Come on, Lewis," Ace said. "Gimme the girl."
"No way. I need her. Now, back off or I'll cut her, I fucking swear. Let's go sweetheart."
He lowered the blade to my throat and slowly began to lead me backward. Ace and Vince started towards us, but Lewis stiffened his grip on the switch-blade, warning them away. Ace seemed to err on the side of caution and stuck an arm out in front of Vince, holding him back from going any closer. I could see Ace's mind racing through his options which, unfortunately, were few and far between.
"I'm enjoying this little reunion," Lewis said slyly into my ear. "I've missed this – I really have." His lips brushed my neck making me feel repulsively nauseous. A combination of that, fear, the smell of him and the beer that I didn't usually like to drink made my stomach turn.
Literally.
My body jerked and I heaved. All the alcohol the guys had been feeding me came powering out like someone had turned on a fire hose. It came out of my mouth, out of my nose and went all down the front of me and all down Lewis's arm – the one that was holding the blade.
Eyeball's cackle broke out in the back street. Lewis loosened his grip on me in revulsion and instinctively tried to shake off the chunks of food and foam that I'd splattered from his wrist to his elbow.
It only took me a second to recognize the opportunity to make a break for it. I faked a second heave at him, and he slackened his grip even more which was enough for me to slip out of his clutches. I felt him try to grab my arm as I took off and sprinted for the guys - not surprisingly, they all moved to avoid me. I tore right through them and stopped behind my wall of safety, breathing hard and holding my stinging arm.
"Oh, Lewis," Ace snickered. "Ain't it funny when the tables turn?"
He walked out with Vince at his side, rubbing his knuckles into the palm of his hand. Eyeball hung back with me; he was in no state for a rumble. Ace and Vince split up, putting a couple of yards between them, and Lewis pointed his switchblade at each with wide, defensive swipes.
Vince made the first move. He ran at Lewis who reacted by trying to stab him in the stomach, but Vince jumped back to avoid the blade. It was just a distraction technique – because meanwhile, Ace was coming in from the other side and booted Lewis hard in the side of the kneecap. Lewis cried out in pain and buckled sideways, almost falling to the ground. A weakened grip on the blade made it easier for Vince to wrestle it off him, and he snapped it closed and tossed it away in the dirt.
"Back off now, Vince," Ace said.
Vince took a few strides back, and Ace looked on as Lewis properly picked himself up to stand.
"Looks like Christmas has come early. There's still a ten-thousand dollar price on your head, and I'm gonna claim every cent of it."
"You gotta catch me first," Lewis shrugged.
The two began to circle each other like feral wolves, Lewis with a slight limp. He wasted no time in getting the party started though. He stepped in and took a wide swing at Ace's nose, and Ace swerved back to avoid it before tucking his head in and doing a running shove into Lewis, sending him backward and ramming him hard up against Eyeball's car. Lewis tried to throw a punch, and Ace deflected it and landed a strong right-hook on Lewis's jaw. Ace immediately followed it up with a sort of side-ways uppercut to the nose, causing Lewis to buckle forwards and cup his face in his hands as it gushed with blood.
"Oh, you're gonna regret that," Lewis said, doubled over and wiping the blood with the back of his hand.
"Look how many swings you've taken and not one hit in. My two and you're bleeding like a stuck pig."
Lewis rushed into Ace like a maniac on steroids, tucking his head down and throwing some rapid-fire punches at his torso, and Ace grabbed him by the t-shirt and swung him around before driving his head into Eyeball's car door. Lewis fell to his hands and knees and looked a bit dazed as he tried to pick himself up. But Ace didn't give him a chance. He booted Lewis fair in the stomach, causing him to drop back down, face-first into the dirt. Ace then continued to put the boot in with his steel caps, over and over until Lewis was spitting more blood.
Lewis groaned and tried to pick himself up, making it to his knees but getting no further. "I think you're an idiot for trying to turn me in," he grunted. "If you let me go and make Cassie take us to the money, I'll give you ten."
"She doesn't know where the money is, fuckwit. And anyway, you're in no position to negotiate." He gave Lewis's stomach another swift boot, putting him flat on the ground again.
Ace nodded at Vince who went to the boot of Eyeball's car and rummaged through it to find some rope, some chains and a big fat padlock. Lewis writhed around in the dirt as Vince bound his wrists with rope, and then he was pulled his feet. He was a sorry looking thing, all bruised and bloodied, but it was better him than me.
"Eyeball, take her inside. You stay with her and watch her," Ace pointed at him. "Vince, you're with me."
The two led Lewis down the back street and I couldn't help feel afraid for him, knowing where he was headed. It was like seeing an animal off to the slaughterhouse. But when he turned back to fire one final, brutal stare at me, I felt more relieved than sorry.
"Come on, inside," Eyeball slurred. "Hey... what'd you do to your arm?"
I slowly peeled my hand off for a peek at the damage. Blood was running fluently down the length of my arm and dripping off my fingertips and into the dirt. When Lewis tried to grab me back, he'd done it with the hand that held the blade. A three-inch long streak ran half an inch deep from the front of my upper arm and around to the back. As soon as I had let it go, pain seered from the wound. I grabbed it again, and the pressure helped the pain a little, but I was so tense from it that every muscle in my body hurt. I talked through gritted teeth with slow and heavy breaths.
"Joe's got a medic kit inside – we use it all the time," Eyeball said.
"I can't go back in there like this. I'm a mess. I'm covered in puke. Can you take me home?"
"Shit, Cass... you really want me to drive? If I'm caught driving through town shitfaced again..."
"Well, I can't drive with my arm like this. Come on, please Eyeball? I'm bleeding out here."
"Shit. Alright, we'll go to Ace's. Then I don't gotta drive through town."
I really wanted to go home but, for the minute, I was happy enough to be going anywhere away from there. We rushed over to his shit heap which had been restyled with a head-sized dent in the driver's door. I slid in first, being careful not to let go of my arm, and Eyeball slid in after me to take the wheel.
"Hey, you're drippin' blood all over my seat!"
"Sorry... I'm trying not to... well... here," I said, and I leaned over. "Pull my singlet over my head. I'll wrap it around my arm."
"What? I'm not undressing you! Fuck that; Ace'd kill me!"
"I can't take it off myself! If I let go of this, I'll be sitting in a puddle."
"Fuck..." Eyeball huffed. He pulled his own T-shirt over his head and held it out to me. "Here, have mine."
"Well, you've gotta tie it..."
"Jesus... give it the fuck here then."
He snatched it back, and it took him a few drunken seconds to get it tight.
"There, you happy?"
"Huh?" Despite the pain I was in, Eyeball's hot, shirtless body still distracted me.
Eyeball fumbled with getting the keys into the ignition but managed to start the car. He found reverse and then put his foot on the gas... perhaps a little too hard. We were thrown forwards and then jolted to a halt as our rear bumper smacked straight into the car parked behind us.
"Careful!" I said as Eyeball broke into his unique cackle that sounded like a child imitating a machine gun. "We are so dead."
But miraculously, we made it to Ace's OK. Sure, we took out a garbage can, sideswiped the wing mirror off a shiny new Buick and nearly drove off the highway and into a ditch, but we made it.
My first stop was the bathroom, obviously. I untied Eyeball's blood-soaked T-shirt to take a closer look at the wound, and it was a sorry sight. My arm was a bloody mess and as agonizing as it looked. Deep lines of red bordered the laceration, showing early signs of infection, and around that was a massive purpley-black bruise that spread from my shoulder, nearly down to my elbow. I couldn't help the sickening thought that Lewis would have been proud if he'd seen it.
Soap was the only cleanser I could find, and so I leaned over the sink and tried to wash the wound with it. It throbbed with every heartbeat and the blood just kept on coming.
"Elevate it," Eyeball said as he walked into the bathroom, pulling one of Ace's clean T-shirts over his head. He'd brought me one too and hung it over the towel rail.
I wrapped one of the hand towels around my arm and put pressure on it, taking Eyeball's advice to raise it in the air. Shaking and leaning against the wall, I took long, steady breaths as I endured the throbbing ache. I closed my eyes as I began to feel like I was slowly twirling on the spot. "Whoa..." I said. I saw blackness for a second and my knees almost gave way, but I managed to fight it off.
"Jesus, are you alright?" I heard Eyeball ask, somewhere in the distance. I opened my eyes to see him still standing right in front of me. "You're white as a ghost."
"Help me get this thing off."
He didn't argue with me this time. I felt him grasp the edge of my singlet and slowly peel it up off me, taking extra care as he pulled it down my arms. I stood there my bra, not caring one bit about it, while he took the courtesy of properly tying the hand towel around my arm. The wound seemed to be holding, and so I soaped up a cloth and did my best to sponge myself down and clean myself up before Eyeball helped me get Ace's t-shirt over my head.
"Thanks, Eyeball."
"You'd better sit down before you die on me." With an arm around my waist, he held me for support as we both staggered into the lounge. He eased me down onto the sofa and I lay back, keeping my elbow elevated.
"How's it feel?" he asked, and he slumped down on the end of the sofa, at my feet.
"Painful."
It sure felt good to lie down. I felt my ultra-tense muscles begin to relax, and I listened to my soft, steady breaths as I watched Eyeball through tired eyes. I'd come to realize how much I considered him as a good friend. Who would have thought it?
"You saved me tonight," I said. "You really did. All of you did."
Eyeball scratched a match to light his cigarette then tossed it into the ashtray on the coffee table. He nestled himself into the sofa and closed his eyes, lazing back and inhaling long, slow relaxing puffs now and then.
"That was fuckin' funny," he suddenly snickered, startling me from fading away into unconsciousness. "Puking at him to get away. You shoulda seen his face. Ain't never seen nothin' like it."
"I thought I was a goner."
"If I hadn't come out to tell you I found my wallet, you woulda been. Vince hid it from me. Can you believe that son of a bitch?"
I had felt quite chuffed about Vince helping out the way that he did. As I had told Natalie, even though Vince and I fought like a couple of kids, I always thought we'd be there for each other when it counted.
Eyeball sucked down one last puff and then skillfully flicked the butt into the ashtray. "Ace'll probably never tell you he cares about you, Cass. But if he ever comes to rescue you from some crazy fuck in the middle of a game of pool, you'll know he does."
"I dunno... he is off claiming ten thousand dollars right now."
"If you'd seen the look on his face when I told him you were in trouble, you wouldn't doubt nothin'."
I gave him a weak smile and then closed my eyes again. "Maybe."
