“Yep, big kid,” she said with a bright smile. “I think you guys were on the same basketball team or something.”
He looked sideways at his buddies.
“Nah, basketball’s lame,” the leader said, twirling a piece of bar in his hand.
She turned to face him, looked at the bar, looked at the kid, and asked, “What are you doing carrying around that pipe?”
“None of your business,” he said.
She nodded slowly. “So why are you standing here with me?” she asked. “Just so I understand what it is that you’re planning on doing.”
“Well, we were planning on beating the hell out of the truck,” the leader said with a sneer.
But Reggie turned and looked at him. “No, we aren’t,” he said. “We’re just leaving.” He tried to drag his friend away.
“Fuck that shit,” the bar-swinging leader snapped, pulling free.
“Is this what you do with your life?” she asked. “You attack vehicles parked here?” She knew the amazement in her voice was a little overdone, but she was struggling to understand how somebody like Reggie—who’d seemed to have so many good things going for him in his life—was here with this group. She looked at Reggie. “Is this what you do with your spare time?”
“No,” he said, but the other kids crowded closer and said, “Yes.”
“So which is it?” she asked, looking from one to the other.
“It’s none of your business what it is, bitch,” the leader said. Reggie frowned and took half a step forward, almost protectively, as the other guy said, “Don’t even fucking play games with me now. You know what we came here to do.”
“Yeah, but she wasn’t supposed to be here.”
And Laurie Ann realized that they knew who owned this truck, and she was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time. “So hang on a minute. You’re trying to beat up the truck, or is it the guy who drives this truck that you’re trying to attack?”
“Why? You sleeping with him?” the smart-ass kid said.
She shook her head slowly. “No,” she said. “But I sure as hell wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.”
“Yeah, and why not?” he asked.
“Well, for one, he’s a war vet, and the world doesn’t take it kindly when you start beating up war heroes,” she said. “Two, he’s from around here and is fairly well-known, although he’s been gone for more than ten years.”
“I don’t give a fuck who he is,” he said. “The guy’s a drip, and he pissed me off, so he’ll pay for it.”
“So you’re some big tough dude, and this guy pissed you off?” She didn’t even know where her bravado was coming from because it’s obvious that these kids were out for trouble, and it didn’t matter where. These kids would cause trouble.
“Yeah, and now you’re pissing me off,” he said, turning the bar toward her.
“What are you doing? You plan to attack an innocent woman, standing here, not hurting anyone. Is that who you are?” She couldn’t believe what she’d gotten herself into. How long would Kurt take to get here?
“Fuck, yeah,” he said, “that’s who I am.” He swung his arm back, when Reggie grabbed it and said, “No, that’s not who we are. We don’t go attacking women who were just talking to us. What’s wrong with you, man?”
But the leader turned around and wailed on Reggie hard with the bar. “Don’t you fucking talk to me like that,” he said, “and don’t you ever talk to me like that in front of somebody else.”
Reggie’s face twisted in pain, but the attack had been effective, as he pulled back, holding his shoulder. “It’s still wrong,” he insisted.
At that, the punk leader stepped forward, raising the bar, as if to hit him again, and Reggie took several more steps back, and she saw the fear in his face.
“You know, Reggie, that you don’t have to hang around with guys like this,” she said. “They are heading down a path you don’t want to go.”
He looked at her and shook his head. “It’s all right.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “You can get out of this.”
No,” he said, “I don’t think I can.”
“You’re fucking right he can’t,” the punk leader said, turning back on her. “And you need a lesson yourself.”
“Yeah, and you’re the guy who’ll do it, huh?”
“You’re fucking right, bitch,” he said. “By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be begging for us to kill you.”
Hearing a single soft footstep behind her, she said, “Well, you could try that, but I really don’t think that’s a wise move.”
The gang leader looked at her in stunned amazement. “You fucking daring me to do it?” And he swung the bar back again, his face twisting in fury. The other three guys—two of them with maniac grins and wide dilated eyes on either side of the leader—nudged forward with their leader, but Reggie stepped back. And she noted something else out of the corner of her eyes.
Just then Kurt stepped in front of her, grabbed the bar, and smacked the punk hard across the shoulder. She could hear the bone take a hell of a blow, and then Kurt turned the bar on the other three punks and dropped them to the ground. The four young men stared up at him in shock.
Reggie turned and bolted, but she knew where to find him.
The punk leader was screaming about his shoulder as he jumped to his feet, barreling his head into Kurt’s chest and stomach area, but Kurt raised his knee and smashed his jaw hard. Once the punk was down on the ground again and groaning, blood spurting from his jaw and his nose, Kurt turned to look at her with a hard gaze. “You okay?”
Shaky, she nodded and pressed her fingers to her temples. “I am,” she said, “but I don’t know what the hell’s going on with the world. Is this what we have for kids nowadays?”
Kurt pulled out his phone, made a phone call, while she stared at the kids on the ground. The two who seemed high on drugs were unconscious, as was the third. The fourth one, the foul-mouthed leader, was probably wishing he was knocked out because he still screamed in pain.
“Do you know the kid who got away?” Kurt asked.
She hated to answer this one, but she nodded and said, “Yes, his name’s Reggie. He’s two years ahead of Jeremy in school. They were on the same basketball team for a while.”
Kurt passed the name off to whoever was on the other end of the phone. When he put away the phone, he said, “The cops will be here in a few minutes.”
And she took a long slow deep breath. “I’d just as soon avoid that.”
“Can’t now,” he said. “I tried to avoid it myself. But, with this punk here coming back for another lesson, returning for a second round, we need to bring the law into it.”
“Fucking asshole,” said the punk, who just poured out more obscenities nonstop.
Kurt looked at her and said, “You know what? If you weren’t here, I’d have shut that kid’s mouth a long time ago.”
She nodded. “I appreciate the restraint.”