“That was the right thing. He said what I have to decided is doin’ the right shit worth what I had to give up?”
“Your honor.”
“Pops told me once that all you really have at the end of the day is your honor. If you don’t have honor you don’t have shit. I know the right thing was to let them bitch-punk me everyday, tell a teacher or some shit. I tried all that, it didn’t work. I had to beat the bitch down, but it was a decision I had to make for myself.”
“What you do?”
“They would always come at me in the lunchroom. So, like, I’m in line, right, gettin’ my food and here they come.”
“How many?”
“Four. Soon as this bitch says something to me, I takes my tray and wheeled around on her ass. I caught her in the face with it and she starts cryin’ like a fuckin’ baby. After all that tough talk, this bitch is cryin’ like a baby. You believe that shit?”
“Sometimes bullies are all talk.”
“Yeah, no shit. I just kept hittin’ her with that tray until the teachers came and pulled me off her ass. The other kids was cheerin’ and shit, ‘get her, get her,’ ’cause this bitch used to fuck with everybody. Nobody liked her, but they was all afraid of her. I got a rush from beatin’ her ass. It was the best feelin’.”
“Did they kick you out?”
“Pops had paid for the year in advance and he spread some money around, so they just suspended me since everybody knew she had been fuckin’ with me since I got there.”
“I bet nobody fucked with you when you got back?”
“Nope. I was the queen fuckin’ bee after that.”
I raised my glass. “To the queen.”
Rain raised her glass and pointed at me. “Queen needs a king.”
For the next couple of hours I sat in the office drinking shots with Rain while she flirted with me and I asked her questions. The more Patron she drank, the easier it was to get answers. I needed to know about their gambling operations, and what exactly she was in to, but I worked it into conversation so it didn’t seem like I was interrogating her.
When Rain announced, “I’m fucked up in this bitch.” I finished my drink and stood up.
“Where you goin’?” Rain said and tried to get up, but couldn’t.
“I got something to do.”
“Why you gotta go?” she pouted. “Have another drink with me.”
“You don’t need no more to drink and besides, you haven’t even finished the one you got.”
“Oh yeah,” Rain said and looked at the glass in her hand. She put the glass down and tried again to get up. I held out my hand to help her up. “Thank you,” she said in a whisper. “You can’t go.”
“Yes, I can.”
Rain took a step closer. “So you think you can just come in here, get my ass drunk, ask me a bunch-of-fuckin’ questions, and then leave?”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, Nick. That’s not right. You can’t leave me like this.”
“This is your spot; you’ll be all right here.”
Rain took a step closer but she stumbled a little. I caught her before she fell. She pressed her body against mine and put her arms around me. “That ain’t what I mean. You can’t leave me like this. The least you could do is drive me home, strip me down and put my ass to bed so I can sleep this off, ’cause, I’m for real, I’m fucked up,” Rain laughed and so did I.
What was I supposed to do?
“Come on, Rain.” I stepped away and took her by the hand. “Can you walk?”