Page 11 of Coyote
“Being married to the woman of your dreams puts you in a very small percentage of men. You don’t know how lucky you are in that regard. Being salty about one-on-one time with the missus seems like looking a gift horse in the mouth if you ask me.
“Yeah, whatever,” he said dismissively. “Tell me this much, did you check on your lady friend to make sure she was safe?”
My head came up to pin him with an assessing stare. “What do you mean? She looked perfectly fine to me.”
Breaker pointed at me with his paintbrush, dripping paint onto the tarp I put down to catch spills. “You don’t know what’s going on in her life. She could be trapped in a shitty relationship and getting hit as we speak.”
I threw my paintbrush down in the paint bucket. “Why the fuck are you trying to get me riled up today?”
“I’m just pointing out that you don’t know what she’s been up to. You should dig around a little just be on the safe side.”
I drew my legs up and wrapped my arms around my knees, as I thought over his words. “I’m not sure that would be a very good idea.”
“Then you suck ass as a protector. I’ll fucking go chat her up myself if you won’t.”
“What do you mean chat her up? You have a fucking wife, in case you forgot. She’s my sister. Her name’s Callie. You do fucking remember that, right?”
“Maybe it’s time to look into getting a side piece. Bethany might do nicely. She’s a sweet little thing, pretty too.”
My fist flew towards his face so fast that I didn’t even realize what I’d done until he caught my fist in his hand and raised his eyebrows. “Seems like you fucking care a whole lot more than you let on. I knew you were hiding your feelings for her.”
“I don’t know about going there again so soon. It might seem like stalking or pressuring her to work faster on my grand opening.”
“Or,” Breaker stated firmly. “It might look like you’ve been thinking about your business and have some more ideas to share with her, you know, to make her job easier. Maybe she’ll be so happy to see you that she accidentally falls on your cock.”
I gave the big fucker a rough shove and told him in no uncertain terms, “Breaker, let it go for now.”
“Not a chance. I’m thinking of throwing Callie a birthday bash later this year. Want to come with me while I get a brochure on their services?”
Now, I know going there twice in the same week was a bad idea. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to resist joining him. The fucker played to my jealous nature, fuck him for that, but he wasn’t wrong.
***
When we arrived at the store, I was glad we came. Bethany was behind the counter, trying to key a transaction into the cash register with her back pressed against the wall to avoid being grabbed by a shady guy in polyester pants with a bad combover.
I immediately hate the syrupy sound of his voice. “Hey there pretty thing. You don’t have to be scared of old Rufus. I don’t bite.”
She gestured to his mini helium tank on the counter with a pack of balloons. “That’ll be forty-eight dollars and fifty cents please.” I didn’t like the tone of her voice. It was small and anxious. Her body language was also hunched and kind of folded in on itself.
“I can’t seem to find my wallet. Why don’t you put your hand in my front pants pocket and see if you can find it for me.” His response is shitty enough to get a beatdown from me.
I stalked across the sales floor and was on him before he realized what was happening. I grabbed him by the upper arm, spun him around and kneed him in the groin as hard as I could. “Here, you stupid fucker. Let me help you find it. I punched all his pockets until I hit something hard and then pulled the wallet out, gave Bethany the cash and hauled the moron outside. Breaker strolled over to the counter and picked up the guy’s merch and followed us out.
I’d kept hold of his upper arm this whole time, so he didn’t roll around on the ground holding the balls I just busted. When we were clear of the building, I tossed him against the side wall. Breaker stood behind us to block us from view of the public.
“Who are you?” he asked breathlessly.
Flipping his wallet open, I held it up to Breaker who took a pic of it with his cell phone. Taking a quick glance at his ID, I say, “Look Rufus, I’m the man who’s going to quite literally break every bone in your fucking body if you show your face at this store again.”
“You have no right to…”
I didn’t even mess around. Instead, I punched him square in the face with my fist which caused the back of his head to hit the wall.
He groaned, “Stop it. I didn’t do anything to you.”
“You’re not listening and that pisses me off. Your first stupid move was coming here to harass the employees. The second stupid thing you did was argue with me when I told you never to come back here.”
“I have to come here. It’s the only party supply store in town.”