“That’llbe$11.56.”
“For a slice of pizza?” The clerk shrugged, unaffected.
Sighing, I pulled my wallet out. “I hate Vegas.”
I paid the man for what better have been the best sausage pizza I’d ever eaten and moved along. The dot, so accurately colored a bright red, trudged along the lines of streets on the app. Scarlett had been out on her own for over an hour now and so far, she hadn’t made any moves to contact or meet with anyone.
All she’d done was stop by a taco bar even though, last time I checked, she had zero money.
I’d been walking behind her red dot for two miles now, only stopping to feed the hunger ache in my stomach.
Girls in skimpy, glitzy costumes and feathered headdresses harassed me on the streets for a photo I’d end up paying twenty bucks for. The stench of weed and urine saturated the air the further I followed Scarlett into the worst parts of this sleepless town.
“Where the hell are you going?” I muttered around a bite of pizza.
Which was just alright. Not twelve fucking dollars worth.
She was coming up on a big spot of fuck-all on the GPS. A few bars and strip clubs, but nothing like the kind the Vitalis would go to. They were high-end, ritzy motherfuckers. They wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near where Scarlett was heading.
Her red dot peeled off into a corner and came to a stop. She was only about 500 feet ahead of me, and nothing seemed right about this the more I took in my surroundings. I knew the Vitalis in and out, and none of this felt right for them.
Caution held every step I made closer to where she’d stopped. A sign peeked over the corner that read ‘Shaw’s Bar and Stuff’, and I looked back down to my phone.
Yup. That’s where she was.
Outside the bar was nothing but a dumpster and a gaggle of men dressed to say ‘we’re crack addicts’. The whole place put an on-edge feeling in my gut, and I liked the idea of Scarlett being alone in there less and less.
I made my way closer to the few men scattered in a poorly formed circle standing next to the front door. One of them caught my entrance on the scene and nudged his buddies' attention in my direction. I held my stance stiff and tall, not dropping eye contact until they did it first.
They situated themselves more towards the dumpster as I neared. The door leading into the bar was coated in rust, and the outside bottom edges were ruined with stains of brown and red. The noises coming from behind the door zeroed my focus in on the words being thrown around.
“Bitch!”
“What the fuck is your problem?”
“Stupid cunt!”
All were angry. All were yelled in furious voices at a source who finally responded and sucker-punched my gut with worry.
“I’m just saying, if a woman comes into your dump of an establishment, the least you lazy fucks can do is show a little respect by buying me a drink. I asked politely.”
The colorful insult voiced by none other than my wild red dot was met with riotous curses. None of the men sounded anything like any of the Vitalis’ I knew, but their tones rang with the same kind of sordid danger. The men might have been muffled, but where this conversation was heading was stone-cold clear.
“I don’t see no woman. All I’s see is a loud-mouthed bitch.”
“Aw, and here I thought we could be friends. You know, I should do the whole world a favor and just burn this shit pile to the ground. I’ve got a light if you’re interested.”
I didn’t know what my trigger-happy arsonist was up to, but the longer she spoke, the more the violent odds stacked against her. I shifted my stance, listening in close with quick-to-act adrenaline gearing up through my blood.
“I think you should get the fuck out is what you should do,” one of them spat.
Yes. Yup. That we can agree on.
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere. I think I’ll drink all of your booze, take all of your money, then burn this place alive just for the hell of it.”
My hand formed a fist next to my side. Why the fuck was she goading them? The gun stuffed in the back of my pants pushed against me, reminding me of its presence. A crash from inside spiked my instincts, and I set my hand on the grip of the door handle.
I waited, listening with perked ears.