Free The Devil Is a Gentleman by J. L. Murray

looked at it for a moment, trying to remember. I shifted in my seat and something crunched next to me. I saw my coat lying in a stiff heap on the bench beside me. I pushed on it and it crackled with dried blood. Brown flakes were scattered around it where the blood had flaked off.
    I could still hear the voices. The deeper one was getting louder. I turned towards the sound. A craggy face flashed in my memory. Blood and brains and bone exploded out of the back of his skull. I shut my eyes and rubbed my temples. I could hear the shots, feel my hand on the gun, squeezing the trigger so easily. Blood dripping off my arm, Naz’s dead eyes staring at me. I inhaled sharply, filling my lungs with air, breathed out slowly through my nose. Things were becoming sharper. The voices stopped arguing. I opened my eyes and looked at the glasses in front of me. I nudged the water out of the way and swallowed every drop of the amber. I set the glass back down gently. I was in the Deep Blue Sea.
    “Niki,” said a voice. It was deep and kind. Bobby Gage. I looked at him. “How you doin’, sis?” He sat down across from me. He nodded at the water. “You should drink that. You lost some blood.”
    “Not thirsty,” I said. “What happened? Why are we here?”
    “I brought you here,” he said. “After you…Nik, what the hell happened back there?”
    I shrugged, then winced. My arm didn’t so much hurt as ached. Shrugging made it worse. “Naz wanted to talk to me, to tell me something.” I said. “They killed Naz. They just killed him.” My voice sounded flat to me. “I watched them. I was goddamn hiding.” I laughed a humorless laugh. “I was hiding,” I said again.
    “So then they found you?” said Gage.
    “No,” I said. “I found them. And then I killed them. I don’t remember it really. It just happened.” I looked at my empty glass, wishing it was full again. “You should go, Bobby,” I said without looking at him. “I’m not a good person to be around. I’m just another Slobodian,” I said.
    “Bullshit,” he said. His voice was like a slap. “I did things, back when my family died. Stuff I can’t remember. And even worse, the stuff I don’t want to remember. But I got through it. And you’ll get through this. It won’t be easy, but we’re going to find out what’s going on and take care of it. Because that’s what you do. You make things right. What you did today, I don’t know, but those boys were killers. They would have killed you.”
    “They told me to walk away,” I said. “They were going to let me go. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t just leave him like that.”
    Gage frowned. “When did you become so attached to Naz?” he said. “I thought you didn’t even like the guy.”
    I met his eyes. “I didn’t,” I said. “But he told me the truth. And he was decent in his own twisted way. I couldn’t let them make him disappear. Just scrub his entire existence away like it never happened. It would be like-”
    “Your dad,” said Gage.
    “Damn, you had to get all psychological on me,” I said.
    “It’s the truth,” said Gage. “You’re a goddamn open wound sometimes, sis. I’d do anything for you, you know that. But you need to get it together, Niki.” He wasn’t angry, his eyes went soft when he spoke, like it hurt him to say it, too. “What did Naz tell you?”
    I told him everything. I cried a little, but Gage pretended not to notice. When I finished he nodded. “We’re going to have some pretty bad people wanting to do some pretty bad things to us, aren’t we?”
    “We are,” I said. “After today, they’ll want to do them even more.”
    Gage shrugged. “It is what it is. We’ve got to be prepared. We’re not backing down from this.”
    “I should do it on my own,” I said. “They don’t even know about you, Gage. And I have no idea what these guys are capable of. I made the mess. I’ll clean it up.”
    “Your father made the mess,” he said. “But that