Rowdy(86)

“Never boring, I guess.”

“No way. Could you ever imagine anything with Cora being boring?”

I laughed and stiffened up when I saw the tall blond woman come in through the front door. Rule took note of my sudden change in posture and followed my gaze to where Sayer was looking around the dimly lit interior for me. She caught my eye and started in my direction. She moved like she was part of a royal wedding procession.

“She looks an awful lot like you, Rowdy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Sayer stopped in front of me and shifted a little uneasily. “Hello.”

“Hey. Sayer Cole, this is Rule Archer. He’s a coworker and a longtime friend.”

She stuck out her hand for Rule to shake and I was impressed her gaze didn’t linger at all over the colorful cobra had that decorated the entire backside of Rule’s hand.

“Nice to meet you.” Her voice was firm and she didn’t seem uncomfortable at all, but her gaze kept meeting mine and then dating away. I wondered if she was just as nervous about spending time together as I was.

“You, too. Thank you for helping Asa out.”

The case had fallen apart in a most spectacular way when the guy Sayer had put us in touch with to represent Asa had come on board. Quaid Jackson was indeed a barracuda and he left no stone unturned when it came to defending Asa, even with Asa’s history being less than stellar. Really the nails in the coffin of the case had come down to arrogance and foolishness on the kid’s part. The ringleader, the little punk that had started shit with Asa in the bar, had been brash enough to post cell-phone video on YouTube of him and his friends surrounding Asa in the parking lot after the bar closed. The assault that was shown was violent, unprovoked, vicious, and completely unfair. Of course Asa had fought back and the kid did indeed get his ass handed to him, but that was nothing compared to the beating Asa took out, numbered five to one. Really he was lucky his face had just gotten banged up. It really looked like things could have been far worse for him.

Quaid found the video, not that it had been hard to find once it found its way to Facebook and Twitter, and took it to the powers that be in the justice system in order to get the case dropped. The ringleader of the entire circus was now looking at false reporting charges and some serious assault charges of his own. Quaid had been nice enough to only charge Asa a grand considering he never actually had to go before a judge. It was pretty much a win for Team Asa even if he still wouldn’t explain why he hadn’t protested his arrest or defended himself to the police when they hooked him up and put him in the patrol car.

“He seems to have a knack for landing in hot water.” Sayer said it lightly and without censure.

Rule got up off the stool and threw some money down on the bar. “It happens to all of us now and then.”

He told me good-bye and hollered the same to Asa as he appeared behind the bar. I introduced the bartender to Sayer as well and he thanked her in much the same way Rule had, only with far more charm and a grin that was designed to make her want to go to bed with him. I hoped it didn’t work. I was just getting used to the idea of having a sister. I couldn’t even begin to try and work my way through how the idea of her sleeping with a lothario like Asa made me feel. He told us drinks were on the house for the night and gave me a smirk like he knew exactly what part of the gutter my mind had nose-dived into. I flipped him off as I followed Sayer to one of the tables that was up near the stage Rome had built during his remodel of the Bar. It was going to get busy later but for now it was quiet enough we could talk and not have to shout at each other over bar noise.

I was surprised when she took a bottle of Coors Light instead of ordering a mixed drink or a glass of wine, though I wasn’t even really sure they served wine here that wasn’t the equivalent of the stuff that came out of a box.

“I’m glad you asked to meet with me.” She talked in a way that was very cultured and even but her constantly moving hands gave away how nervous she was.

“Sometimes it takes me a minute to work my way around to where I’m supposed to be. Like I told you in your office you didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I’m usually a pretty decent guy.”

“Maybe not, but I get that this is all kind of hard to process.”

I picked up my beer and looked at her over the top of it. “You had to process it as well.”

She nodded a little and picked at the sticker on her beer bottle. “My dad was always finding new and perfectly horrific ways to mess with my life. I’m used to trying to process through it all.” Her eyes that were an identical match to mine darkened like a cloudy day. “When I started trying to track you down I was mad at him. I was alone, you were alone, and he knew it all along. We could have had each other and helped each other and he purposely kept us apart until he was gone. I’m pretty sure he counted on you being a greedy, selfish bastard that would just snap the money up without a thought. He was trying to hurt me, but really he gave me the one thing I always wanted.” The corners of her mouth tilted up just a little bit. “Someone else to call family, someone else to care about and share things with. The fact that you are a good man, and that you turned out so amazing all on your own, really is an epic ‘screw you’ to the old man. I could love you unconditionally for that alone, Rowdy.”