Free Evan Arden 02 Otherwise Occupied by Shay Savage Page B

shooting range and was telling her some bullshit story about being a makeup artist who specialized in painting women’s boobs.
    She was totally buying it, too.
    “You wanna hit the bars tonight?” Jonathan asked.  “Looks like I’m gonna lose lover boy over there early.”
    “Nah, I still got work to do.”
    “You got a big job,” he agreed.  “Terry keeps asking me about it.”
    “That little fucker needs to stay the hell away from me,” I muttered.
    “He does push yer buttons, don’t he?”
    “Doesn’t,” I corrected.
    “Wha?”
    “Nothing,” I replied.  “I’m outta here.  Gotta let the dog out.”
    “Sweetwater later?”
    “Yeah, okay,” I said.  “I’ll meet ya there.”
    “Want a ride?”
    “Nah, I’ll take the L.”
    “You’re the only fucker I know who has a choice and still takes the fuckin’ trains.”
    I gave him a wave and a shrug as I headed off.  Nick was already feeling up the chick’s tits, saying something about how he thought he could paint her whole chest as a butterfly or something.  I wondered what he did when the chicks he conned called him out.
    Maybe they never did.
    Maybe he really could paint a titty-fly.
    With my rifle in a bag up on my shoulder, I moved through the turnstile and jumped on the next Red Line train.  I had a ways to go before my stop, and I found myself a seat near the back of a car, facing forwards.  I hated it when there were only backwards -facing seats available.  Sideways was all right, but riding backwards made me want to puke.
    I really did hate that feeling.
    Two nuns in traditional garb got on the train at the next stop, and I watched them carefully.  I had been raised by nuns, and though most of them were pretty decent, the ones in power were just as corrupt as the powerful in any organization.  It was a lesson I had learned firsthand at a very early age.
    “You are turning into a charming young man, Master Arden.”
    “Thank you, Mother Superior,” I reply with a smile.  I feel no love for this particular woman, but I have a plan I intend to see carried out.  “You know I have so many questions for you…”
    It had taken months, but I had eventually worn her down.  Found her collection of sex toys and ultimately convinced her to let me out of that hellhole as an emancipated teen.  It was either that or I tell everyone about the Harley-themed vibrator in her top dresser drawer.
    The thing was totally frightening.
    These nuns didn’t even sit down but got off the L at the very next stop and went on their way.  Having them off the train made it easier to think of something else.  I watched them walk off, which was when my eyes spotted something round and shiny down by the door.
    A quarter.
    Though I rarely admitted such things to myself, I had been doing a decent job of keeping a certain abandoned-in-the-desert brunette out of my thoughts.  As long as I kept myself busy, I was fine, but every time I saw a fucking quarter, it was like it all came rushing back to me.
    “Not going to do it,” I told myself as the urge to pick up the coin washed over me.
    A couple of college kids glanced at me and quickly looked away again.
    Fucking awesome.  Now I was talking to myself right in front of other people.  I stood up and got off the train at the next stop, walked twelve blocks, and then hopped on a bus instead.  By the time I got back to my place, Odin was looking like he might actually piss on the carpet.
    “Sorry,” I muttered.  “I can’t even blame work this time – I was just fucking around.”
    He sneezed once and then stood by the door as I grabbed his leash.  I took him out, then spent a few minutes rubbing his head before I left to meet Jonathan at the bar.
    Sweetwater Bar and Grill wasn’t my kind of place at all – big sports bar with a hundred TVs all around and guys with baseball caps serving your drinks.  It was packed both with tourists and locals pretty much ninety percent of the time, which meant