Knuckledragger

by Rusty Barnes

  “I don’t understand nothing,” I said. “Say what you got to say and get the fuck out of here. I’m on vacation.”

  Benjamin laughed. “You just better be glad we aren’t sending you on a permanent vacation,” he said.

  “Say it,” I said.

  “You need to treat Mr. Diovisalvo with more respect,” Benjamin said. “You caused a scene in his business and he’s suffered losses because of it.”

  “Tell him not to gamble like a degenerate and I won’t have to visit him,” I said. Rosie clutched at my arm, and I shook her off.

  “See, that’s the kind of thing he doesn’t appreciate,” Benjamin said, nodding at Manuel, who moved faster than I’d believed possible for a man his size. I threw Rosario aside and put the fruit knife up his right nostril. He froze in place with his hands out at his sides.

  “Calm,” Manuel said.

  “Now—” Benjamin said.

  “Not another word or I put this knife into his brain,” I said. “You can tell that little Wop to fuck himself.”

  “All right, all right.” Benjamin said. “There will be other times.”

  “Not if I can help it.”

  “Your face doesn’t look like you help very much at all. You got beat like a bitch,” Benjamin said.

  “Get the fuck out,” I said. Rosie held a paddle up in front of her like a baseball bat, and Manuel’s feral smile told me everything I ever needed to know about him.

  “All right. Take the knife off my friend, and we’ll go.” I stepped back and Manuel stepped back. They turned around and went behind the house. I followed them so I could see where they went, and they started the one-point-six mile Friendship Point trail around the lake. I watched until they disappeared into the forest, never once looking back.

  CHAPTER 11

  “OH MY GOD, IRISH,” Rosie said. “What the fuck are you into?”

  “No worries now,” I said. “The rest of this trip will be copacetic. I told you what I do. You’ve known it for a long time.”

  “I thought you were kidding, I guess.”

  “You thought I made it up?” I shook my head.

  “No, I just thought you ran in a rough crowd.”

  “Let’s just figure out what we’re going to do.”

  Rosie shook her head. “My dad used to play poker in some rough places. I just didn’t think you were the type to be an enforcer.”

  “You make it sound like something out of Star Trek.”

  “Let’s get some sun,” Rosie said. I went back into the bedroom and changed into a pair of shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. I didn’t want to burn on my arms. Rosie came out in a bikini. First time I noticed her belly button was really deep. I grabbed three bottles of water and a cold diet Pepsi for me. Once we sat down everything seemed to gel. The sun high up beat down as if we were on asphalt. I could hear the soft lap of the water hitting the long grass and cattails and the sound of Rosie turning pages in one of those Harry Potter books. She tried to get me to read one, but I’m not much of a reader beyond the sports pages.

  “Hey Irish,” Rosie said softly, a sheen of sweat centered between her breasts running down her stomach. It took me a moment to hear her.

  “Yeah?” I said, flipping my sunglasses onto my forehead.

  “These guys are going to keep coming, aren’t they?”

  I debated giving her a bullshit answer in the few seconds I took before I replied, but just as quickly decided against it. We weren’t connected other than being good friends, but I sensed something else happening in the last few days. She and I were getting closer, and I hadn’t thought about Nina in some time, which made me feel good about myself. Still, I didn’t want to give her hope by lying to her either. If she thought romantic thoughts about me she’d have to get used to the current situation. Which I had not anticipated, I have to say.

  “Yeah, Rosie. Until I get back and settle things with Otis one way or the other, I can probably count on it,” I said.

  “I wonder if I should take self-defense lessons,” she said to the air.

  “Your best move is probably staying away from me,” I said, and slipped the sunglasses back down over my nose.

  “Fuck that,” she said.

  I had to smile. I offered her a bottle of water, and she took it, put the book down beside her, and closed her eyes.

  CHAPTER 12

  I WOKE UP with my legs burning. Talk about no ozone layer. I remembered staying out with nothing but shorts on all day when I was a kid and never getting burned. Now I’d gotten burnt after just a couple hours in the mountain sun. Rosie wasn’t beside me any longer, but she’d left her glasses and the Harry Potter book beside a towel. I heard splashing, though, and flipped my glasses down again to see her cutting the water in a breaststroke. She walked out of the water with a brown sheen all over her. “It’s not the best for swimming,” she said, “but by the time I had that figured out I was already wet.” I laughed.

  “You want to shower me off, Irish?” she said. She had only to look at me to figure that answer out. She grabbed her towel and book and walked back to the cabin, her ass swinging with every step. I followed her into the cabin and waited for her to shower. I drank two beers during the time she took. She came out nude, toweling her hair.

  “We’re going to have to figure out something unusual,” I said. “My ribs are not going to let me fuck you without poking something.”

  “I got it,” Rosie said, sinking to her knees in front of me. Once I closed my eyes the heat and my pain nearly disappeared. All my energy focused on her and her mouth. I lost my balance once and she pushed me back on the bed. It might’ve been five minutes until I felt myself unload like a wave into her mouth. I wish I could bottle the look in her eyes when she came up for air. I could make a million dollars with it.

  “Jesus Christ,” I said.

  “Nope, just Rosario, I’m afraid.” She slipped into one of my t-shirts and lay down beside me.

  “That’s fine by me,” I said, and closed my eyes. I woke up to Rosie gently shaking me.

  “Dinner time,” Rosie said. “Time to paddle over.”

  “I don’t know if I can eat,” I said. “You did a number on me.” Rosie laughed.

  “You got off easy,” she said. “Wait till later. Imma tackle you.”

  A slight breeze riffled the water as we paddled across, taking our time. The parking lot from this angle looked full. All five cabins must be occupied. I stepped into the calf-high water and belayed the boat in to Rosie, who stood on the gravel. As we walked up to the sun porch where they’d served breakfast, I nodded to the other couples and we sat near the end of the porch, farthest away from people.

  Linda, the owner and chef, came out and ran down the menu choices. I chose a sirloin medium and baked potato while Rosie got a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Linda came around and lit candles for all of the dining area tables. Rosie and I turned down the wine in favor of Perrier, like true rich people.

  “What do you think about a water park tomorrow?” Rosie said. She’d eaten about half the chicken, but for some reason the greens were not agreeing with her.

  “I don’t know,” I said, indicating my ribs. “I don’t think the body can take the banging around.”

  “Oh,” she said, a little nonplussed. She fiddled with her lettuce awhile longer, then excused herself to the bathroom, located inside Linda and Daryl’s living area. I took down a good portion of the sirloin while she was gone.

  “You OK?” I asked when she had come back. It’s not very often you see a Dominican chick go white in the face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Those guys. From the cabin. They’re out sitting on the car,” she said.

  “S’all right,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.” I got up to go outside, not wanting to disturb the other guests.

  Before I got to the door, Daryl, the owner, stopped me. “Linda couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Do we need to call the police?”

  “No,” I said. “It
’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll take care of them.”

  “I just—don’t want any trouble.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  “Are those the men responsible for your face?” Daryl said.

  “No,” I said. “Don’t worry.” I left Daryl before he could start another sentence. As I approached the car Manuel got off and the hood popped back into place. I had to tell myself to breathe. If it weren’t for the pain in my ribs I would have taken them both on. Yeah, Manuel was big but so was I, and I’d been around long enough to have a little bad reputation. There was a reason Diovisalvo sent both of them instead of just one. Probably Benjamin was supposed to be the brains of the outfit. I was about to show him how he had failed in that department.

  Manuel took two steps toward me and pulled back his fist as if he was going to throw a haymaker, so I stepped inside his thrusting arm and smashed his nose with one palm. It started a good clean flow of blood, and he shook his head like a dog and tried it again. This time I grabbed his arm and twisted it until he went down on his side and I kicked him in the balls. He turtled up immediately and I turned my attention to Benjamin.

  “Take him home,” I said. “I don’t want to have to tell you a third time.”

  “You’re a cocky motherfucker,” Benjamin said. “It’s going to be a pleasure seeing you go down.”

  “You’re lucky my ribs hurt and my hand’s broken,” I said. “Or I’d pack you into a turd bucket and toss you down the shitter.” I poked him in the chest with my good hand. “Leave me alone, and tell the Wop this isn’t going to make things easier on him with Otis.”

  “Oh man,” Benjamin said. “You don’t get it. Now you’re gonna have more problems than Otis.”

  “Fuck you,” I said, though I wasn’t as confident as I sounded. Being Otis’s guy was one step closer to the mob or one of the bigger gangs in Revere and East Boston. It was a step of familiarity I didn’t want to have to take.

  Daryl stepped out into the parking lot now. “I’ve called the police,” he said. “I expect them here within five minutes.”

  “Time to go then,” Benjamin said, helping Manuel up. He’d thrown up a tiny spot of bile. He’d definitely remember me now. Benjamin and Manuel got into a late-model Lexus and ripped out of the parking lot spraying gravel and dirt behind them.

  “Time to wait for the police,” I said. Then I noticed that the whole dining area had come outside to watch. Rosie had her hand over her mouth.

  “I didn’t really call them,” Daryl said. “I figured that would send them on their way pretty quickly.”

  “That’s a good move for me,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

  “Sure, anything for our guests,” Daryl said, and my hand to God, winked at me. Now the other dinner guests were going back inside, and Rosie came out to me.

  “You scared me,” she said. “You smashed his nose in.”

  “Only after he took a swing at me,” I said. “Daddy told me never to start a fight.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Rosie said. “I didn’t know what you were going to do to the other guy, the talker.”

  “I didn’t either, to tell the truth. I’m glad he didn’t force my hand.”

  “I don’t feel like eating my dinner now,” Rosie said. “Let’s just go.”

  “You mean back to the cabin?” I said.

  “No, I mean home.”

  “OK, we can do that,” I said. “But they’re not going to be back.”

  “That’s what you said the last time we saw them,” Rosie said. What could I say to that?

  “Let’s stay tonight. I’m supposed to be relaxing.”

  “This is relaxing?” I could feel her command of English slipping the more upset she got.

  “It will be,” I said. “I promise it will be. No more of this shit.”

  Without a word, she walked back toward the canoe. She got in and waited for me to launch the thing, so I waded out into the knee-deep water and jumped in. Rosie paddled pretty hard, working out some of her frustration at me on the paddle. I matched her stroke for stroke even though it hurt. We made the half-mile in record time and before I could even get to the gravel she jumped out into the shallows and walked quickly up to the cabin. I pushed myself and the canoe up on the gravel roughly.

  When I got into the house she’d changed into shorts but left my t-shirt on. I opened up the tiny fridge and got us both beers. She’d turned on the flatscreen and sat popping through cable channels faster than I could see. I guess she was looking for something specific but couldn’t find it, so I asked her to stop on NESN so we could watch the Sox, at least. I waited for five minutes for her to start talking, and was just about ready to break down she let out a big sigh.

  “So you’re an expert on hurting people,” she said. “What’s that like?”

  “It’s just something I do. I make good—no, great money at it.”

  “By stealing from people and beating them if they can’t pay?”

  “Most people pay. Sometimes they don’t, and Otis calls me to visit them.”

  “What if it’s a woman? Do you beat them, too?” Rosie said.

  “I have not dealt with many gamblers who were women,” I laughed.

  “I’m serious,” she said. “Do you beat them?”

  “No. I don’t hit women,” I said.

  “Well, that’s good,” Rosie said. After a moment, she said “I don’t know, Irish, I don’t feel good about this.”

  “I’m sorry, Rosie.”

  “I like you, don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I just don’t want to get messed up in something bigger than I can handle.”

  I let that sink in for a moment. “Maybe we need some time apart.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “We’ve never been official as a couple anyway. Maybe we should take a little bit of a break.”

  “OK,” I sighed. “You want to go home now?”

  “No no,” she said. “It’s been fun except for those guys. What difference will a day or two make? Let’s have some fun.”

  I stood up and handed her the remote. “I’m going to start a fire,” I said. “Nothing like a fire for making decisions.”

  “What do you mean?” Rosie said.

  “For thousands of years we stared into fires while we thought of who was going to kill the next mammoth. Maybe it’ll help the decision.”

  “Where the fuck did that come from?” she said.

  “I don’t know. I read it somewhere.”

  “Since when do you read?”

  “It happens,” I said. I stepped out into the woods behind the cabin and found some smallish twigs and branches to get the fire going. I also ripped up what was left of a cardboard box of beer and put it at the bottom of a pile of sticks. It took a couple matches to catch on, but pretty soon I had enough flames to lay in a couple logs. By the time Rosie got outside with beers for both of us, it was going pretty well.

  “Open up,” she said. I did, and she put a piece of chocolate in my mouth. I let my lips linger around her fingers.

  “Oh really?” she said. “Someone’s body is talking before his brain.” She gave me a squeeze to illustrate her point.

  We sat in lawn chairs next to the fire with a couple beers for the next three or four hours, stopping for drinks and to neck occasionally. The later the night got the drunker Rosie got, moving her chair closer to mine and propping her legs up in my lap, stroking my cock with her feet. If this was how relationships ended, nobody’d ever get into one.

  “What do you do if you can’t intimidate somebody?” Rosie said. “I mean, on the job.”

  “I always try to be a step ahead of them,” I said. “And sometime props make a difference. Nobody want to talk to a guy with a baseball bat.”

  “How bad do you hurt them?” she said. I didn’t really like where this was going, but if this was the end, she deserved answers to her questions. I could only hope she was prepared for the honest answers.

  “Just enough,” I said. I stirred the
fire with a stick. Orange flames popped in the air around the fire. “Usually, the boss decides, and I carry out. If they go after me, all bets are off and I respond with enough force to take them down. Kind of like how cops are supposed to react.”

  Rosie snorted. “We know how that works out.”

  “Exactly.” I looked at my watch. It read 1 a.m. The bugs were out in full force. “You want to go inside now?” I said.

  “OK,” she said. “I got to get a shower anyway, before we go to bed.” She walked inside and the door banged shut. I heard the noise in the pipes when she started the shower water. I pissed on the fire and drowned it by pouring most of a bottle of water into the gray ash. Loons called from the lake, and I heard the occasional plop of fish surfacing to take in bugs. Peaceful.

  CHAPTER 13

  I TOOK THE EMPTY BOTTLES inside, a little unsteady on my feet after several hours of sitting still and drinking beer. I put them in the sink and grabbed a bottle of water, taking it down in about three gulps. The last thing I needed was a hangover. I took down the sheets and stripped down to my shorts. Rosie was taking a long shower. I could hear her plastic bottles rattling and the off-key sound of her singing some popular song. I turned the TV on to catch scores, but before I knew it I’d fallen asleep. I woke up when Rosario slid into the bed, burrowing up close enough that I could wrap an arm around her enough so that she could sleep on my shoulder.

  Tomorrow we’d be going home. I looked forward to starting in on a new routine. I looked forward to getting these fucking stitches out of my head and chin. I couldn’t say I looked forward to getting back to work. Things between Otis’s crew and me would be tense for a while until I could reasonably begin to trust them. Maybe. I couldn’t ever trust these guys fully again. They’d kicked my ass. I didn’t trust my brother anymore once he’d beat the shit out of me a couple three times, let alone these guys.

  Rosie woke up before me and had the whole place cleaned up of what little mess we’d made of it, mostly by collecting the bottles to take back over the lake for recycling. I watched her washing a couple plates from in the bed. I rubbed my hands over my face gently, trying to avoid the rough spots. I thought it best to take the bandages off my face today, so as not to attract more attention, as if those stitches ripping up my chin and forehead weren’t enough.