Page 96 of Devil Inside

“Hear what?”

“Hell on Wheels just laid off half of its couriers.”

“Holy shit.”

We’re on the roof of the abandoned soap factory on Broad. The windows are all shattered, so it’s simple enough to climb through and make our way up top. There’s a bottle of bourbon at our feet, almost polished. A bucket of balls. No tees. Just empty beer bottles.

Deak perches the ball on top of the mouthpiece of an empty Heineken. “Won’t be long before bike messengers are completely extinct.” He lines up his shot, taking aim into the skyline. “Couriers will be replaced by mopeds or what-the-fuck. Wiped right off the planet.”

“End of an era,” I offer, taking a sip of bourbon, following the burn down my throat.

“At least we were here when the getting was good.”

“The getting was never good.”

“Says you.”

“Says me.”

Deak swings. The club slices through the night. The Heineken bottle shatters into green splinters of glass as the ball launches into the skyline, cutting through the wind, quickly disappearing into the surrounding darkness. “Hole in one,” he says. “You’re up.”

The bike club scene is dying. The Quicksilvers...gone. The Camel Toes...gone. The Richmond Vampires...gone, gone, gone. Deader than a fucking dodo, every last one.

Happens nearly every year. Another club bites the dust. Members graduate from RCU and head elsewhere, letting their membership lapse. Others get married. Find a job.

“You got out just in time,” Deak says. “Sign of the times.”

“Yeah, the end times.”

“So,” Deak says, dragging me back to the rooftop. “Where you been, hoss?”

“I met somebody.”What the fuck am I saying?I instantly regret it the second the words make their way to my mouth.

“Stop the presses. For real?”

“It’s still early days, but... yeah. Sort of. We’re still trying to figure out what we are.”

“This girl got a name?”

“You don’t know her.”

“Try me.”

“Lilith.”

“Wait.Bigfoot?You finally found her?”

“She found me.”

“Holy goddamn. When are we gonna meet this mysterious Miss Lilith?”

“When hell freezes over.”

“You’re really gonna do us like that? Keep her all to yourself?”

“Maybe.”

“Why so coy?”