and started for the other side of the room. “Waiting on me? Naw, I doubt it.”
“But there is one, somewhere…” Patch pressed.
“Was. Once. I’m not cut out for settling down.” Lazarus looked off, staring blankly at the wall for a few moments. “Besides, she deserves so much better than I could ever be,” he said to himself and started sweeping the other half of the barroom.
Standing just inside the kitchen door, Candy listened to her uncle and his new employee talking. It chapped her ass that she’d offered and Lazarus had refused her. Nobody refused her. This was going to be her bar one day, and those that frequented it knew her value. Lazarus should, too.
“Asshole,” she muttered to herself when she heard him talking about some girl he’d left behind. Like that girl was good enough and she wasn’t. “I’ll show you what it feels like to be passed up and ignored,” she said quietly.
Lazarus finished sweeping the barroom, then grabbed the mop bucket and filled it with pine cleaner and water. He rolled the bucket with him as he moved around the room, dunking the mop into the water, wringing it out with the roller wringing assembly attached to the bucket, and scrubbing the floor. The front door swung open again and a couple of guys wandered in.
Laz looked up to see if Patch was going to tell them they weren’t open yet, but Patch just nodded at them and continued wiping down the bar as they approached him.
“Usual?” Patch asked.
“You know it,” one of them answered.
“Fucking bitch!” another of them grouched as he followed his friends into the bar. “Can you believe it? Rather than trying to help her own damn son, she’s shacking up with whatever swinging dick she managed to corral this damn month!”
“Man, give her a break! We all have our finances strapped at the moment. She can’t work! Even if we found her some choice inventory, she can’t sell right now. She’s making ends meet! Getting the bills paid.”
“Fuck you, Brett! She ain’t your mom! You don’t understand!”
“Yes, the fuck I do, Freddie! I’m feeling the pinch, too. But I think that ain't your problem. I think you’re a little too interested in who your mom’s banging!” Brett answered.
“What are you trying to say?” Frederick asked, stepping toward Brett.
“I’m saying you have an unhealthy obsession with your mother, my man. Find you a piece that ain’t related to you! And one that ain’t in jail. Why you keep running after that little piece you chased after in high school is beyond me.” Brett snapped.
“Fuck you! Fuck you and all your fucking family!” Frederick yelled, advancing on Brett, who turned and happily faced him. “You don’t know nothing about what I did and didn’t do in high school!”
“The fuck I don’t! Your momma told me all about your formative years, as she called ‘em. She likes to talk after she’s done unwinding,” Brett said, clearly baiting the dumb ass.
“That’s it! You crossed the fucking line, now!”
“You want to do this? We can do this. You decide how we gonna act. Been waiting for a chance to whip your spoiled-ass-rotten self to the ground,” Brett declared.
“Ya’ll are both assholes,” their friend yelled. “Is this what you call laying low, not drawing attention?”
They both turned and looked at their friend. “Fuck you!” they both shouted at once.
“Hey! Ya’ll all shut the fuck up, and both of you back the fuck off!” Lazarus said, stepping between them. “I just mopped this fucking floor and I ain’t planning to do it again. You want to have a slap fight like a bunch of little pussies, take this shit outside.”
“Who the fuck you think you are?” Frederick asked, looking disdainfully at Lazarus.
“Your worst fucking nightmare if you fuck up my floor, Freddie!” Lazarus answered, dropping the mop into the bucket and stepping toward Frederick.
Frederick figured out real quick he didn’t want to tangle with Lazarus. The air that hung about Lazarus warned most people away from him without any effort from Laz, but when he threw his real power behind it, it was apparent to most that down deep inside he was an alpha male. Humans just didn’t realize how alpha he really was.
“I ain't messing up your damn floor. And it’s Frederick, not Freddie!”
Lazarus stood perfectly still, staring at Frederick. He’d wondered when they came in if this happened to be who he’d been hoping to track down, but having the name clarified for him, now he was