Page 50 of A Handsome Devil

Pickett kicked the stiff corpse in the ribs. “Motherfucking hosepipe!” Bridgewater was now crumpled into a fetal position, clawlike hands frozen in space.

Hunt was asking Thymus, “What’re we gonna do with the body?”

But Thymus’ answer was drowned in the celebratory whoops of the crowd.

“Time for some Bear Whiz beer!” called Ozzie Whitworth, and the party was on.

People brought out chairs to the common area. Denmark found some chairs alongside our trailer too, and Jack Hoffman even put his phone in his shirt pocket to take a chair and some chicken salad handed to him.

Next to me eating an egg roll and drinking from a can that really did say Bear Whiz, Ozzie Whitworth declared, “That was epic! Seekers!” he called, hushing people slightly, although everyone proceeded to serve others. “It looks like this is the end.”

“For Pine Valley!” yelled someone.

Ozzie continued, “Or is it only the begin…?” Eerily, a coyote howled out in the stinking desert. This prompted Ozzie to sigh and conclude, “No. It’s the end.”

“That coyote!” called one of the couple with the plaid belts. “It’s out at the comet hole in the desert.”

Ozzie told us, “That hole leads to the sun at the center of the earth.”

“Well,” said Alessio. “Good thing we’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Yeff,” said Jack Hoffman through a mouthful of food. “I’ll declare on my podcast that you’re dead. How’s that sound?”

“Perfect!” cried Hunt. “Then no one’ll think of looking for you in Rough and Ready.”

Ozzie said, “Maybe say they went to the center of the earth.”

“Wait,” said Erin. “What Rough and Ready?”

I hedged around it a bit. “That’s where the Bent Zealots MC rule.”

Alessio was more direct. Waving a pretzel, he told the rest of our club. “We’ve been invited to hide out with these fine gentlemen. We think it’s an excell—”

“I’m there!” shouted Gunning.

“Count me in!” yelled Denmark.

“Oh, yeah!” Erin declared. “I can work with Thymus at his retirement home.”

Hunt grinned widely. “You’re all welcome. For some reason I think you’ll fit right in.”

“See?” smiled Jack, mouth full. “You found a spot.”

Alessio wrenched my free hand, knitting his fingers through mine. Finding strangers who accepted us was a rare revelation I never imagined happening. We all grinned like enchanted apes at one another. We barely noticed Pickett Yarborough approaching us through the sea of bare limbs.

“Say,” he said casually, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I hate to spoil the party, but what’re we gonna do with that stiff over there?”

We all wiggled our eyebrows, probably each with his own evil or childish idea.

EPILOGUE

Alessio

When I carried the tray of crab cakes into the walk-in freezer, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a warm voice behind me saying,

“Hey. You. Bad boy.”

Slowly lowering the tray to a shelf, I couldn’t resist grinning. I turned around and sure enough, Truman in all his commanding glory leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed, frowning severely.