James Axler – Way of the Wolf

Dean shook his head. “Not rightly.”

From the way Dean answered, Jak knew he wasn’t getting all the story. Dean sometimes talked with Ryan and Krysty about things that had happened at the school, and even went over some of the schoolwork he’d learned with Doc, which led to long conversations that Dean seemed more interested in than he’d showed before.

Kirkland looked up at Jak and Dean, then waved them over with a smile on his face. The bald man held up a hand, stopping the approach of the other men.

Jak led the way to the table, aware that he was drawing attention from the other men in the room. He sat in one of the proffered chairs across from Kirkland. Dean took another.

“Had no idea you boys would like looking at the girls,” Kirkland said, waving to a young waitress wearing only cutoff jeans, “or I’d have extended an invitation.” She came over at once and put a fresh glass in front of the doctor. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Water,” Jak replied.

“What have you got?” Dean asked.

“Homemade ale and an assortment of wines. There’s a watermelon flavor that turned out exceptionally well. If I might be bold enough, I’d recommend that.”

“Sure,” Dean said.

Kirkland nodded to the waitress, and she walked away. “I don’t see your father here.”

“Not father,” Jak said. He jerked a thumb at Dean. “His father. My friend.”

“I see. And would your father approve of your being here, lad?” Kirkland asked Dean.

“I’ve seen naked women before,” Dean replied. “And I’ve drank.”

“Your father seems to be quite liberal in his views,” Kirkland replied. “Here in Hazard, we take a more conservative view. Children are kept away from such things as this.”

“Mebbe,” Dean said. “But I learned how to kill a man before I had any real interest in girls.” His voice was flat, matter-of-fact. “I guess I’m not like most of the kids you got in this ville.”

Jak grinned only slightly, feeling the scars on his bone white face tighten. But it wasn’t an expression he knew Kirkland would recognize. He felt a little prideful at Dean’s reply; it was something a man would have said to draw the line and gather some respect from another man on the verge of stepping over that line. And the albino could hear Ryan Cawdor’s tone in Dean’s voice.

He glanced back and saw that the three men had stationed themselves along the free-standing bar. All of them wore weapons that looked like they’d seen a lot of use. Two of them, Jak noticed, had tattoos on their faces, identifying them as probable members of Liberty’s gang. It felt comforting to know who the hunters were.

“Mebbe you’d like to do more than look at the girls,” Kirkland offered. “All of these ladies are willing to be more—companionable—for the right price.”

“No,” Dean said. “Looking’s fine. I figure buying it only puts me mebbe a step ahead of selling it. And I don’t sell myself. My dad taught me that.”

“Your father sounds like a smart man.” Kirkland leaned back in his chair as the piano number ended. The dancer picked up the clothing she’d discarded during her performance, moving back toward the curtained area of the stage, her hips undulating and sending the onlookers into a faked frenzy of lust.

A man jumped onto the runway and dropped his pants, doing a jiggling dance and yelling at her. Before he could yank his pants back up, a woman ran from behind the curtains with a wet mop in her hands.

Jak appreciated the economy of motion the woman used in bringing the mop across to connect with the man on the stage. The wet mass of strands slammed into the guy’s head and released a flood of water that drenched some of the men seated close around the runway.

“Goddamn it, Suzie,” one of the men yelled in protest. “Sykes was just having a little fun. Letting off a little steam.”

The comment drew a chorus of laughter from the onlookers. But the closer ones grabbed their drinks and headed back from the runway. Sykes, tripped by his pants and propelled by the wet mop, hit the runway hard. The woman was a loose scarecrow of beauty. Her bra and panties fit her, but the hard planes of her breasts, stomach and thighs showed a lot of hard usage.