Knuckledragger

by Rusty Barnes

  She answered on the first ring. “Hey, Irish,” Rosario said. “What you doing?”

  “Just came into a little extra cash. You want to go to the Cape for a week or so?” I said. I could hear her breathing hard. “You got company?” I asked.

  “No, not really,” she said. I heard some voices in the background. “Just working. This is the midsummer, we’re balls out.”

  “All right, no worries,” I said. “I’ll see you later.” Disappointing. Usually Rosie was good to go for most anything. She worked at the Cask & Flagon on Lansdowne Street in Boston, right by Fenway. I knew they had real busy days during the baseball season. I couldn’t blame her for making paper.

  I popped some waffles into the toaster. I like eating breakfast late in the day. I could fry a couple over-easy eggs to put on the waffles and top it all off with some maple syrup. It made me feel like the day’s just starting. Like a reboot to the day. Otis had me in a good mood and true to the day’s luck, Rosario called me back in ten minutes. She managed to talk another bartender into her shifts for three days. She would have to be back by the weekend, but that was cool with me. I’d probably get tired of her by then. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a sweet girl, but I need a lot of private time to think things out. I can work, I can use my brain, but I have to have space. She’d stop by her apartment in Orient Heights and then leave her car at my place so no one would steal it. It would all work out. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nina, though.

  CHAPTER 3

  ROSARIO AND I MADE IT as far as Hyannis. She’d been teasing me all down the road, saying she had a surprise for me, trailing her nails down my arm, grabbing my cock through my shorts, just making it hard to watch the road, so finally I said fuck it and pulled off at the first halfway decent hotel I could find, the Hyannis Holiday Inn. By the time we hit the room and fucked around the way you do, the Ecstasy had already kicked in. I threw Rosie’s suitcase in the closet and grabbed her around the waist getting ready to throw her on the bed but she pushed me off. “Hold on there, soldier,” she said, her full red lips curved in what I hoped was a smile. She seemed to be showing a lot of teeth, but I was more than ready. She disappeared into the bathroom. I heard the water run in there and I tried to relax. I cracked the seal on the first of many bottles of water we’d be drinking on this little trip. I closed my eyes and tried to release the tension.

  “You see something you like, Irish?” Rosie said. My eyes snapped open. Rosie leaned against the bathroom door jamb naked, her breasts just right against the dark porcelain of her skin, and that smile. It was then I noticed. No pubes. Nothing. Just pussy. To be more accurate, her labia, loose and long, hanging outside her mons. Not like any other chick I ever knew.

  “The full Brazilian?” I asked. “No way.” Rosie turned and bent over, grabbing her ankles, and I swear I lost my mind in the apex of her legs and ass.

  “Yessir,” she said. She came to the bed and started stroking me slowly.

  “Unbelievable,” I said. For the moment I just buried my head between her thighs, catching her scent. The next thing I remember she had pushed my cock so far inside her it was like I’d disappeared into her cunt. That beautiful perfect smell.

  At some point I slept, and when I woke up, she was gone, but the room wasn’t empty. Otis and his other enforcers, a guy I only knew as Bluto and another big dude I’d only ever heard referred to as X. He was the one who’d taken the money from me in the park when Otis didn’t want to. Lucky, I had my shorts on still.

  “What the fuck?” I said.

  “Bitch, I was ready to promote you,” Otis said. “Now X told me you tryin’ to make out with Nina?”

  “What?” I said. I broke out into an immediate sweat. I hope it was the end of the Ecstasy in my system working its way out.

  “You even met my kid,” Otis said, shaking his head.

  “We didn’t do nothing,” I said. “Miguel and I were messing with each other, like, and Nina come over to say hi and get him under control. You know?”

  “That ain’t what X said,” Otis replied.

  “Fuck X,” I said. “I’m telling you nothing happened.” X drew a baton out of his hoodie and snapped it open.

  “Maybe not, but you gonna goddamn take this as a fucken warning. You don’t talk, you don’t call you don’t text her. You do, and I find out, you’re all done,” Otis said.

  Bluto and Otis grabbed me by the arms and tried to drag me down to the floor, but I shook Bluto off like a bug and threw him into the TV. By that time, X had started laying the baton into the side of my head. Irish or not, it didn’t take too long or too many of those hits for me to turtle up. Then Otis left, so he wouldn’t be a witness or what, I don’t know. Bluto held me down by sitting on my chest and X just beat whatever skin was exposed. I know I felt a couple ribs go, and all the fingers on my left hand broke. I found that out when I tried to push up from the floor. Finally I just let it happen. I think I heard them leave, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The last thing I remember is Rosie’s voice trying to get me to come back. I’d have to tell her later that I really did try.

  CHAPTER 4

  “JASON,” SHE SAID, from somewhere at the end of a barrel. “Jason, wake up baby.”

  I opened my eyes but I couldn’t quite focus. My left eye I could barely open, though my right seemed to be fine. “Yeah, I’m here,” I said.

  “Thank God, Irish. I thought you were dead.” Rosario said, lifting my head up from the floor. “They beat you so bad, honey.” I sat up as best I could, my ribs on fire and sticking my insides, it felt like.

  “Who did it?” Rosario said gently, toweling off my face with a hand towel. It came off streaked in red.

  “It was Otis,” I said. “Some of Otis’s guys I mean.”

  “Why would he do that?” Rosario said. “He just gave you all that money.”

  “I met his wife and kid in the park, just to talk to. He thinks I’m trying to horn in on her.” I grimaced and held my side as I managed to make it to my feet long enough to hit the bed.

  “You didn’t, did you?” Rosario said.

  “Do I look stupid?” I said. My cheeks were raw and open in slices. Bluto must have been wearing a ring with sharp edges.

  “No, you’re not stupid,” she said. “Not that stupid, anyway.”

  “This was a warning,” I said. “Next time I’ll be dead or worse.”

  “How do you mean worse?” Rosario said with a hiccup in her voice, like she was starting to cry. “What could be worse than dead?”

  “Worse is they go after family and friends. Like you.” I said. “Where did you go? How did they know we were here?”

  “I went out to the liquor store to get bourbon, like you like. Gonna surprise you,” she said. “Then I came back and the door was open and you were here on the floor.”

  I ran my hands over the rest of my body. My back and legs had taken most of the abuse. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk very well, though I was able to get up onto the bed, which was something.

  “You should probably go to the hospital, Irish.”

  “And explain it how?” I said. “I can’t report it. I just got to suck it up.”

  “It’s going to take a while,” she said. “I can only stay with you a couple days.”

  “Can you go back out?” I said. “I really got to have something to clean these all up with. You know, hydrogen peroxide and some gauze. Something to pad my ribs with, maybe.”

  “If you don’t get those face wounds taken care of you’re going to scar.”

  “Imma scar no matter what they do. Even the stitches make scars.”

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll go out and get a first aid kit or something.” She rubbed my arm. “You be all right until I get back?”

  “I don’t think I can get into much trouble,” I said. Then my cell phone buzzed. It was Otis’s number, but I doubted I’d be talking to him. I opened it with my thumb. Rosario sat back with her hand across her mouth.

&n
bsp; “Yeah?” I said.

  “Candy?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Glad you’re able to answer the phone. Otis says you got a week vacation starting today. You still with us?” I waited a long moment before I answered.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m with you.” The phone went dead, and I let out a long sigh. Rosario looked at me, her brown eyes brimming.

  “That’s not right,” she said. “Can’t you do something else?”

  “Like what?” I said. “He pays well, and this was my fuckup. I should never have talked to her at all. I should have known better.”

  “How you s’pose to know?” Rosario said. “None of this is your fault.”

  “I need to stay here for right now. But tomorrow, you drive me back to my place, OK. Can you stay with me a couple days?”

  “You know I can, Irish.” She kissed me on the forehead.

  CHAPTER 5

  IT TOOK NEARLY THREE HOURS to doctor all my parts. Rosie called a nurse friend of hers in from Plymouth. Her name was Dottie, and she whistled a white-girl whistle when she saw my face.

  “You got it handed to you, Jason.”

  “Call me Candy,” I said. “Can you sew these up?” I indicated my face. She nodded.

  “You’re going to need plastic surgery on a couple of those,” she said.

  “I can’t afford surgery like that,” I said. “Can you just sew them up?”

  “I can do it, yeah. I can’t guarantee it’ll be pretty.”

  “Pretty doesn’t matter,” Rosie said, throwing her arms around my neck.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” I said. Then Dottie went to work. First she strapped me hard around the ribs.

  “I’d say you broke two ribs for sure,” she said, “but without x-rays it’s difficult to tell where they’re broken.” Then she cleaned out all the facial wounds. I don’t know how long that took. I tried to relax into Rosario’s arms and chest as she sat behind me, but I couldn’t keep my mind still with thoughts of Otis. I would get back something, I promised myself. “OK. I’m going to sew these up now,” Dottie said, sitting back and flexing her fingers. “I don’t have any anesthetic,” she said. “So you may want to choke down some of that bourbon.”

  I took her at her word. The first few stitches hurt like fire ants were on my face, but after I took the bourbon bottle down by half I was copacetic. Then she splinted all four fingers on my left hand with plastic and cushioned splints. I looked like Wolverine.

  “What do I owe you?” I said, with my left eye still closed.

  “Nothing,” Dottie said. “You owe it to yourself to rest up for a couple days.”

  “OK, Doc.” I said. “Bed rest it is.” I heard Dottie close the door firmly behind her.

  “Put a chair under that door knob, Rosie. I don’t want anybody interrupting us.” Rosie took off her clothes and snuggled in next to me, rubbing her hands over the places where my ribs had split.

  “Go to sleep, Irish,” she said. “I’ll take care of you.” I felt a great weight come down on my eyes. I dreamed of a beach full of Ninas. The lifeguard was Otis. I woke up guilty and horny and disgusted with myself. I rolled myself over with difficulty and tucked Rosie’s body into mine, and fell asleep again to the rhythm of the AC, kicking on and off all night long.

  CHAPTER 6

  EVERY BONE IN MY BODY moaned when I tried to move the next morning. Rosie had rolled away from me in the night and my pillow was wet with blood. In the bathroom I got my first one-eyed look at how bad it was. I had one slice across my nose and into an eyebrow that Dottie had stitched. My left ear had cauliflowered, and several smaller cuts pitted my face from forehead to chin. The gauze on the bad ones came off in the night, which was why my pillow had been bloody. It would be a month at least before I looked human again. That slow burn started at my crotch and went into my arms, a burn I recognized from those few times in my adult life I hadn’t been able to control myself. I needed to lift heavy things soon, or my insides would bust out and I’d hammer on some poor schmuck until the burn was gone. I had specific targets now, though, but no way to get to them. I just needed time.

  Rosario walked up behind me and put her arms around me and her cheek between my shoulder blades. “They sure did a number on you, Irish.” I nodded to the mirror. “You’re trembling,” she said, walking her fingertips on the outside of my arms. Even that much pressure made me want to go gonzo.

  “I’m just hurting for a while. Temporarily. It’ll all be fine.” I turned and hugged her. “Thanks for sticking with the ugly guy,” I said.

  “Not ugly. You can’t help what Otis did.”

  “X. Bluto. Otis. In that order,” I said.

  “I think you should go to the cops,” Rosie said.

  “Don’t even,” I said. “Not going to happen. If I do that, I’m dead in about as long as it takes for one of them to drive to Beachmont to my place.”

  “What are you going to do, then?” Rosie said.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I said. “I want to heal up before I do anything else. I don’t mind the facial stuff. That’ll go away, most of it, anyway. My ribs though. And whatever else is wrong with my insides. I can’t have that. And I still got to work for the man. I can’t look disloyal.”

  “You could get a straight job,” Rosie said. By this time, we were sitting on the bed again. Rosie had given me her pillows, and I leaned back and felt a long weariness come into my body. It would be longer than I thought getting better, my body was telling me.

  “Straight? I don’t think so.”

  “Why not? It happens.” Rosie began rubbing my stomach. I felt it every time she approached my ribs.

  “Not when you’re in as deep as I am. Considering what I’ve been doing for Otis, all he’d have to do is breathe a word of it to the cops and I’d be finished.”

  “You could tend bar. It’s good money.”

  “I couldn’t do it. Especially now. Owners would look at me like I’ve been cursed.”

  “I don’t think it’s that bad,” Rosie said.

  “Let’s wait and see,” I suggested. “I’m sure as shit not deciding anything right now.” I closed my eyes and waited for the weariness to turn into sleepiness, but then my stomach rumbled. “Can you get me some pancakes?” I said. “Or something else with a lot of carbs to it?”

  “Room service it is,” Rosie said. “Just gimme a sec to decide what I want.” By the time she’d figured out her order I was already asleep again.

  CHAPTER 7

  WHEN I WOKE UP, I was in more pain than I’d ever felt in my life. The discomfort I felt yesterday was nothing. Vipers were biting me everywhere, leaving their poison behind in the slow movements I had to make so I wouldn’t scream like a bitch. Rosie had been watching TV but turned it off when she’d seen me wake up.

  “Still got the pancakes,” she said, indicating the tan table service on her side of the bed. “Let me nuke them for you,” she said. “You want the eggs?”

  “Nah, just toss them. I want the pancakes though, and the meat if they sent any.” I took care of the three-stack in record time, even the day-old bacon strips they’d sent. After eating I felt much better.

  “Your phone buzzed a couple times when you were asleep,” she said, fixing me with a look. “You got somebody missing you?”

  “Not that I remember,” I said, not realizing what she was implying. Then it came to me. “You’re welcome to check my phone anytime.”

  “Hmph,” she said. “Likely story.” I would have begun worrying about it had she not been smiling. I picked up the phone. Both calls were Otis, and there was a message. I opened my voicemail and listened.

  “Candy, I mean Jason, this is Nina. I am so so sorry. I didn’t know he would do that. I—I have to go now.”

  I went to rub my chin and met with stitches instead of skin, so I stopped.

  “Who was it?” Rosie asked.

  “Otis. He wants me back a little earlier,” I lied. “We have to get going now.”
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br />   “You’d think he’d know you needed more time to rest up.”

  “He don’t care, Rosario. He beats guys like me three times a week and never loses his dinner. I got to go back and tune up some delinquents. He wants me back Friday instead of Monday.” I had to think on my feet to keep one step ahead of Rosie. I didn’t think she’d take well to the call being from Nina.

  “So you’ve got a couple days left, anyway,” Rosie said. “You still want me to stay with you?”

  “Hell yeah,” I said.

  “Good,” she said. “Let’s pack the shit up and go, then. There’s no sense in spending the money here when you can rest at home.”

  “Yeah. I got to get into a routine now,” I said. “Lifting and biking and beating people up. No one’s going to take an enforcer seriously with as fucked up a face as I got now.”

  “It’s not fucked up,” she said. “Not to me.”

  “Maybe it’ll be an advantage. I’ll be scarier.”

  “You’re not scary. You weren’t scary,” she said.

  “Yeah, I’ll bet,” I said.

  CHAPTER 8

  IT TOOK FIFTEEN MINUTES of max AC before we could even get in the car, it’d been in the parking lot that long. I took a long look around before we pulled out, wondering if Otis had any other surprises waiting for us. About three blocks went before I noticed an Escalade with tinted windows seemed to have picked us up. The driver stayed a good four cars behind, but it was still obvious.

  When we got into Hyannis proper I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts for Rosario. I ordered her a skinny latte and got myself some iced coffee. The Escalade had disappeared, but something in my gut said we’d see him again. Once out of the drive-thru and on the road the traffic lessened quite a bit. Rosie turned on the radio and we sang along to seventies tunes while the AC blasted us into submission. At one point it got so bad we turned off the air and opened the windows to get the breeze working, Rosie’s long kinky hair flowing out from her head. I didn’t realize how long it was. I felt pretty good, except for my face and ribs, but then I looked behind me again and the Escalade had crept up a couple cars and was now right behind me. They weren’t making much of an effort to hide anymore, so I began to worry.