Bloodbrothers Read Online Free Page B

Rail."
    "I wanna stay here!" He stabbed a trembling finger at the floor.
    Butler exhaled wearily. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Hey, Three-Finger Annette said she was goin' to the Camelot tonight. Let's go ov—"
    "I don't need no town
pump,
Butler, all I need's right in that corner." He pointed.
    "Hey, Stony! Howya doin'?"
    Stony grunted a hello to the bouncer, a tall black guy with long bow shoulders and a high Afro. "Butler, what's shakin'?" He slapped Butler on the back.
    "Jump back! Don't give'm no flak! The man with the tan! It's Chili Mac!" Butler slapped palms with Chili Mac. Stony turned away annoyed.
    "What the fuck's with him?" Chili Mac jutted his chin in Stony's direction.
    "Ah, Cheri's breakin' his balls."
    "Whada you mean?"
    "She started swingin' with Mott."
    "Mott the Bear?"
    "In his underwear."
    "B.V.D.s?"
    "Gimme a break, please."
    "Nice an' easy?"
    "Don' make me queasy."
    "You guys are real fuckin' comics. Yah oughta be on Broadway," Stony spat.
    "Uh! The man don't joke," Mac said to Butler.
    "Hey, Mac, howdja like a crack?" Stony asked.
    "In front or in back?"
    "Will you cut that shit!" Stony looked as if he were halfway between tears and murder.
    Chili Mac eased off.
    Stony shook his head sadly. "Her funeral an' my trial."
    Mac raised his eyebrows. "Whyncha go over to the Camelot tonight. I heard ol' Three-Fingers is gunnin' for you."
    "You fuckin' guys got a one-track mind. Whyncha both go over yourselves."
    "I would," said Chili Mac, "except she only got eyes for you."
    "Yeah?" Stony said, trying to keep his interest down.
    Barry White's "You're My Everything" started playing. The bar drained of people.
    "Bet... on Annette," Mac said.
    "She does it with Gillette," said Butler.
    "She does it with a razor?"
    "It don't even phase'r."
    Butler and Chili Mac slapped palms. Mac did a quick about-face, and, extending his hands behind his back, slapped palms with Butler again.
    Stony laughed for the first time that night. Butler and Chili Mac looked at each other relieved. "Fuckin' clowns," Stony snickered.
    As the song ended, the tide shifted again, the bar crowding up. Then Carl Douglas' "Rung Fu Fighting" came on, the tide moving out.
    Chili Mac danced absently at the bar, his eyes spanning the floor for any trouble. He was only eighteen but he lifted weights and studied karate. He never saw the man that could take his ass. Frankie Bones, the other bouncer, danced on a chair at one end of the floor overlooking the crowd. All night, every night, he stood on that chair dancing unless there was trouble. Frankie was thirty, Irish and big. He and Chili Mac hated each other with a passion. Chili Mac dreamed of the day they would finally lock assholes in the parking lot. He wanted a big crowd there too.
    Stony felt better. Relaxed. He dug the Mac. He forgot about Cheri. He wasn't even looking at her, but as the three of them lounged at the bar Cheri and Mott passed by arm-in-arm on their way out the door. Stony fell back against the bar.
    "He a
ugly
sucker," said Chili Mac.
    "Do ya think he'll..." Butler didn't finish the rhyme.
    "Do ya think he'll
what!
" Stony grabbed Butler's shirt, his eyes crazy-man blind.
    "How do I know?" Butler grinned nervously, looking to Chili Mac for help.
    "Well, if you don't fuckin'
know
"—Stony stabbed Butler in the chest with his finger—"don't fuckin'
say.
" He stabbed him again.
    "Hey, mah man." Chili Mac laid a hand on Stony's shoulder. Stony violently shook it off, still staring at Butler. Chili knew when to give slack and didn't get pissed.
    "You know you're a big fuckin' help, Butler."
    "Hey, Stones." Butler managed a smile. "Look, I didn't mean nothin' by that." He tentatively put an arm around Stony's shoulder, and when Stony didn't resist, gently turned him toward the bar.
    "Two seventy-sevens, straight up." Butler still had his arm around Stony's hunched shoulders, and when he reached into his pocket for money, Stony's body started trembling. He fell against Butler's damp