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It’s a small stone for such a big man.
I crouch down and place my hand to it.
Lenny Harlice.
He used to bring me here when I was a kid and I’d wander around the cemetery and trace my fingers into the names on the stones. Never afraid. Always hopeful a body could actually come back to life and climb out of the ground.
The thing is, now that I look back, my uncle never had anyone here to pay his respects to. He always showed up and met people. There were handshakes, handoffs, and things like that.
“You sick bastard,” I say with a smile. “Conducting business in front of the dead. And you never got caught. Never once. I did. I had to take the fall. I had to protect Katie. Not sure you’d understand it, Uncle Lenny. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make it work.”
Today I’m wearing a ring on my right pinky. It’s a small, brass type ring with a green stone in the middle. It belonged to the biggest guy in prison. Everyone called himZill.Monstrous in size and a really bad dude. He stood in the way of me and a little side business I had started. There were probably ways to work around him, but I preferred a good fight.
Which is what we had.
A good fight.
I tookZilldown and took his ring. I walked away with three broken ribs, my left wrist broken, several fingers all fucked up, my jaw slightly cracked, and I wasn’t able to see out of my left eye for a good month.
I placeZill’s ring on my uncle’s headstone and stand up.
If anyone thinks for a second that doing a decade of prison time has reformed me, they’re fucking dumber than my cousin Mutt.
I’m not reformed.
I’m just refreshed.
And I’m ready to get my dick sucked by my Katie girl.
I recognizethe minivan in the last garage bay.
“Mutt,” I call out.
He quickly jumps up, tossing his phone to the counter, blinking fast, coming back to reality from the porno he’s been watching.
“What’s with the van?” I ask. “It was here already. Something else wrong?”
Mutt goes stiffer than my cock when I think about my Katie girl.
I watch him grind his teeth back and forth. He’s scared to death right now.
“What?” I ask.
Mutt shakes his head.
“What the fuck,” I whisper. “This fucking asshole won’t answer me.”
I step toward Mutt and he jumps back and reaches for a wrench and holds it out at me like it’s a magic wand.
“Wow, you should play poker for a living, Mutt. You’d do great. Never know you’re hiding something.”
He starts to shake.
I get closer and Mutt pulls the wrench back and takes a swing at me with it.
It’s a weak swing, but still…
I grab the wrench and twist fast, forcing him to let it go.