Charlie sat in the rusty beat up Chevy Nova that passed as his car, the sound of technical death metal blaring out of the window disturbing the otherwise relative silence of the swamp around him. He gazed out across the murky landscape glazing over somewhat as he watched the thin fog start to roll through the cypress trees, occasionally lifting a joint to his lips as he tapped his fingers absently along to the beat and waited. He glazed over as he stared out over the Bayou and watched the slight reflection from the setting sun bounce back through the beady eyes of the occasional gator or so he liked to imagine.
He glanced across at the duffel bag beside him, more-so out of habit than any fear of it going missing and he grinned at the thought of the contents. Tonight’s bag was filled with some of his best product, a rather delicious new strain that he’d painstakingly cultivated over the last few months as well as Taurus 605 and his new Sig Sauer P938. Suddenly there was a buzz from his pocket as his phone received a text message, he pulled it out and stared at the screen for a few moments. Seeing it was from an old fling he locked the screen and tossed it aside to the seat next to him – there would be plenty of time to reply to her later. Tonight he was just looking forwards to getting high as fuck and shooting the shit out of some junk with his buddies.
He had been waiting for about twenty-five minutes now and he checked the time on his phone once more. It wasn’t exactly like Adam and David to be on time, but usually they didn’t take the piss quite this much. After a few more minutes Charlie flicked through his contacts and hit call when the name ‘Adam Morin’ came up. The phone rang several times before it went through to voicemail.
“Morin you inbred fool” exhaled Charlie affectionately through a plume of smoke, “I don’t know where the fuck you and David are bro, but it isn’t here…obviously. I’m waiting ten more minutes then I’m gone, I got other places I could be man… just call me back whenever you guys surface.”
He hung up and sighed. It’d be much easier to be frustrated if he wasn’t quite so blazed, and even though he’d gone through all of the trouble to bring the best of his gear out to the outskirts of Geurchville it wasn’t like they couldn’t do this another night. Ten minutes later he fired up the engine of his Nova and sparking up another smoke he pulled out of the small clearing and tore down the narrow dirt road he had come down.
Soon he was in what passed as the ‘town centre’ of the stagnating village, his mind pondering over what exactly he was supposed to do now. Flicking through his messages again he this time opened the text from Angela, it was asking how he’d been and if he wanted to do something with her anytime soon. He smirked and closed the message – it wasn’t like he didn’t have a good time with her, in fact quite the opposite. He briefly thought about the fun in their relationship but after only a few moments his brain somehow flicked to thinking about Tara and how much
more fun it was with her. He realised what he was doing and pushed the thoughts away quickly and convinced himself he had in fact been thinking about something else entirely. He focused on the road again as he sped around a corner and soon came to the small parking lot of the now closed convenience store where he came skidding to halt neatly inside one of the spots.
He’d had no idea where he was really going but he found himself staring across the road towards the exit of the Sin Den as he once more checked the time. Her shift would be getting to the end now, her usual schedule embedded in his mind no matter how much he tried to forget it. He waited a while longer before he got out of his car and pulling up his hood he thrust his hands in his pockets and crossed over to loiter a short distance. As he waited his eyes went to the line of Choppers parked outside, no doubt the place was crawling with Moons as well as the usual hick clientele. Charlie rarely ever actually went inside the strip club, not that he didn't like the idea of naked chicks or was known to the Moons or anything - but rather he didn't want to risk causing any trouble with them - or at least that was what he told himself. He watched as Crystal came stumbling out, the bulky bouncer exchanging a few words with her and lighting her cigarette before she came walking none to gracefully in his direction.
“Hey Crystal” he shouted from where he’d been leaning against a wall “Ain’t Bambi finished about now?” The pink haired girl glanced blearily in his direction for a few moments before her face lit up in recognition.
“Oh hey Knight” she slurred slightly grinning as he came up beside her. “Nah, she took my shift tonight, but I’m free”. She wrapped one of her slender arms around him as she pulled herself a little closer, the smell of booze mixed in with the somewhat familiar aroma of the Sin Den was still thick on her. “You know I don’t know what you two got goin on, but for you I’ll do whatever the fuck you want for less than she charges.”
Her offer was accompanied by some less than subtle attempts at seduction as she groped at him and tried to pull him closer. He deftly extracted himself from her glittery embraced and as he moved away from her he shot back “Ah shit Crystal, I’d love to but I got things to do tonight y’know”.
She stared after him for a second before turning away she sulkily mumbled “Whatever…” and stalked away. He turned his gaze back to the Sin Bin and briefly thought to himself
'Well shit, what am I going to do tonight…' before he headed back to his car and tried to call Morin again.