Sideways by Rex Pickett

Author:Rex Pickett
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-09-01T20:56:54+00:00

Back at the motel I was dispatched to the Clubhouse while Jack made apologetic calls to the women in his life. I half-heartedly nursed a glass of wine in the deserted lounge and made small talk with the barkeep, never mentioning the incident with Brad. For an absurd moment, I fantasized that Maya might walk in from work, take a stool next to me, and start a conversation, but no doubt she and Terra were sitting at home with food for four and unhappy about being stood up.

I gave it an hour, then, unable to bear the solitude and alienating decor of the bar anymore, I trudged back to the room. I half expected Jack to be gone, off on another all-night tear with Terra, but instead I found him lying in bed, staring introspectively up at the ceiling.

I took off my coat and hung it up. “Talk to Terra?” I asked.

Jack nodded without looking at me.

“What’s happening?” I asked, peeling off my new Byron sweatshirt.

“Didn’t feel like going over,” he said tonelessly. “Told her something came up.”

I looked at him for elaboration, but he avoided my gaze.

“Talk to Babs?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you tell her we went boar hunting tonight?”

Jack rolled his head slowly and looked at me and smirked. “We had a good talk.”

I finished undressing and slipped into my queen. “She stop hassling you about cutting the trip short?”

“Yeah. We’re over that.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

Jack switched the TV on and shuttled through the channels. He didn’t find anything so he snapped it off, plunging the room into darkness. We shifted restlessly in our beds, still keyed up from the bizarre confrontation with the boar hunter. Against the wall I could make out the silhouette of the confiscated rifle, and it made it seem all that more real. With our cases of wine it made an impressive cache. I chuckled, wondering what the maid would think when she saw it in the morning.

“Fucker almost killed us tonight,” Jack said, dead sober.

“I don’t think he was ever going to kill us,” I said.

“Yeah, now, maybe, in retrospect, but at the time, I thought the fucker was shooting at us. Lead us out, some dark road, blow us away, steal our money, that’s what I was thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking shit. I was pretty loaded.”

“You were a little twisted, Homes.” Jack chuckled. “I’ll grant you that.”

“But I held it together.”

“You made the call.”

“I stared him down, that little motherfucker.”

“I did the dirty work,” Jack boasted. “As usual.”

I laughed. “Yeah, we make a pretty good team.”

“Think he’ll make the bell Friday?”

“If he doesn’t come back tonight with more artillery and blow us away,” I said.

“Why’d you say that? You really think that?” Jack asked.

“No. He was just goofing us like he said.”

“With a fucking rifle. I mean, some of those shots were close.”

“Yeah, well. He’s got a twisted sense of humor.”

The heater hummed as we fell silent. It felt weird all of a sudden to be lying in the dark in the same room with another man.

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