Page 19 of Rest In Pieces
This is why there are so few good Samaritans. It’s just not worth the bullshit.
“I’ll need your gun too, but you can have it back when you leave.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. You can have my bullets and give them back when I leave, but not my gun.”
“Told you she was?—”
“Smart,” I interrupt the asshole that’s begging to be castrated.
“The gun’s registered to me. If I don’t get it back and it’s used in a crime, I could be implicated. The bullets, not so much.”
Toot looks at me for a second before nodding. “Alright, take out your gun slowly and unload it.”
I do what he asks as he walks over so he can check for himself. When he holds out his free hand, I drop the bullets into his palm before putting my gun back in my pants. A little sleight of hand and I slip two bullets into my pocket, just in case.
Toot puts his gun away and gestures for me to enter. I walk through the gate and wait as he talks to the prospect in a voice too quiet for me to hear.
He walks over to me and offers me a cigarette. “No thanks. I only smoke after good sex.”
“Really? Because I’m game if you are.”
I look him up and down but shake my head. “I make it a rule never to sleep with a man who points his weapon at me.”
“Funny, most of the women around here love it when I point my weapon at them,” he jokes as we head toward a large building.
I roll my eyes. “We’re either gonna be great friends and laugh about this in ten years, or you’ll be the precautionary tale I tell my daughters about while cringing.”
“You have daughters?”
“Definitely a precautionary tale,” I mutter as we reach the door. He pushes the door open, and I step inside a hugewarehouse filled with bikes. I look around in awe until the door closes and the room plunges into darkness.
6
AMITY
“If you touch me, I will kill you.”
“I know this looks bad, but I swear it’s just bad luck. Give me a second.”
I wait, poised and ready, but apart from hearing Toot walk away, there’s nothing but the faint sound of music in the distance.
A moment later, the lights flick on, making me wince.
“Sorry,” Toot apologizes. “The lights usually come on automatically. Must’ve tripped the breaker.”
He opens the door next to him, and the music gets louder. I walk across the building and realize we’re heading back outside. Without thinking much about it, I step outside and freeze, looking ahead in shock.
“Wow.” I knew the studio wanted to film here because of the location, but I never would have expected this. Now I get it. Before me is a fully fledged Wild West ghost town.
“Cool, right? The building we just walked through is nothing fancy, I know. It was built to be nondescript because of the tourists that kept coming by and taking pictures. This view is now blocked completely from the outside, and bonus, the space is perfect for keeping the bikes safe from the elements.”
I look down the dusty road lined with wooden buildings that, at first glance, look original.
As if he could read my mind, he starts giving me a quick rundown of the place. “It was a real town before it became a tourist attraction, then a paintball park. We tried to keep as many of the original features as possible when we took over, but the interiors have been renovated, mostly for safety reasons. That and the fact that we like running water and electricity.”
“Who doesn’t?” I say, nodding in agreement.
“These are apartments where the prospects and guests from other clubs stay.” He gestures to the row of buildings on the left. “And over there, we have a small convenience store because it’s a bitch to have to drive into town every two seconds for milk and beer.”