Page 73 of Bone’s Choice

“Then shut the fuck up.”

“Won’t say anything more.”

“You were about to.”

“I said you’re doing it again. Just making an observation.”

“Doing what?”

He took a drink. “Nothing.”

I finally looked at him and he was grinning. I didn’t like that grin. “You’re annoying.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’m just seeing something I never thought I would see.”

“You got a point?”

“Nope.”

“Good.”

I looked away, back to Hazel. Fuck. Hazel disappeared behind the bar and I took a drink.

She came back a minute later and stopped next to Crystal. The two of them talked, then Hazel reached behind her and untied the black apron around her waist.

My attention sharpened. She folded it and put it under the counter, then she headed toward the back of the bar.

I watched her push through the door.

Where the fuck was she going?

Bathroom was the other direction. Kitchen too.

The back door was through there.

I took another drink and I was out of my chair before I’d finished swallowing.

Myth didn’t say shit. Smart man.

The place was even more packed than it had been an hour ago. I moved around a group near the jukebox, stepped past a couple making out like they were the only two people in the place, and headed down the short hallway.

The back door had a faded red EXIT sign above it.

I pushed it open and cool night air hit me.

Hazel jumped. “Jesus!” She had one hand pressed to her chest and her eyes were wide.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” I chuckled.

“Maybe don’t come bursting through doors behind women in dark alleys.”

I looked around. The back of Bing’s wasn’t exactly an alley. More of a narrow strip of pavement between the building and the employee parking lot. One security light hung above the door, and another was mounted near the dumpster farther down. “Not an alley.”

Hazel stared at me. “That’s your takeaway?”

I shrugged.

She laughed.