Page 27 of Sealed in Ink
“Fuck this.” The big man walks toward the bar, calling after him. “You can keep the whore.”
His friends follow. I approach the woman. She’s got the flash on, glaring right into my eyes. I’ve always hated the cameras and the pomp that comes with it.
“What are you doing?” I say.
“Thank yousomuch.”
“Can you stop recording me?”
“I’m not recording, Rust. You’re live to two hundred and fifty-six viewers and counting. Say hi!”
I almost snatch the phone out of her hand. I just fought to save her ass, and this is what I get. Mary would never pull something like this. She’d be understanding. She’d rest her perfect head against my chest, feeling my heartbeat, hard, alive, just for her.
“I’m an influencer,” she says. “Maddie Maddox, the Matron of Mayhem? Have you heard of me?”
“No,” I say. “I’m calling you a cab, and then I’m leaving.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a ride coming.” She reaches out as if to touch me. “Thank you.”
I move away from her hand. There’s something grotesque about her pale arm snaking out from behind the flash. Honestly, there’s something grotesque about the idea of being with anybody who isn’t Mary.
“Why are you here?” I snap. “If you’re aninfluencer.”
“I do a series where I go to rough parts of town to party.”
“That seems incredibly stupid.”
She moves closer with the camera. “Oh, are you trying to say that women should be scared of certain parts of the city?”
“Don’t try your clickbait bullshit with me,” I snap, pissed it’s taken this turn. I thought I was doing a good thing. But, just like with Mom, it never means anything. “I heard a womanscreaming. I came to help. If you don’t need help, I’ll be on my way.”
I turn, put my hood up, and jog away. Maybe that’s low of me. Perhaps I should hang around to make sure the men don’t return, but it just feels so sick that she’d spin it around into some modern media crap.
After running for a while, my cell phone starts ringing. It’s Marquis. I stop, glancing up and down the street, making sure nobody’s followed me. “What in the name of all that is unholy was that, my friend? Hmm? Please explain what this is. This link many people have sent me. Astreet fight, Rust?”
“That was fast. It just happened ten minutes ago.”
“It’s blowing up already. What happened?”
“It’s simple. I was jogging and heard screaming. A man put his hand on a woman, so we got into it. Other men got involved, and I got into it with them, too. I didn’t know she was a goddamn influencer.”
“The video starts with the first man already falling backward. He threw the first punch, Rust, didn’t he? Yes? Rust?”
I grind my teeth, my head aching. Too many lies lately, but I’m not about to go to jail for a scumbag who’d lay his hands on a lady. “Yeah, Marquis, of course.”
“Hmm. Maybe this could help the fight, then. More drama. More money. Remember, you’re getting a cut of the pay-per-view on this one, andIget a nice tiny cut of that.”
“Don’t whine about your wages, or I’ll find someone else.”
“You wound me, No Rust,” he says, laughing. “Let’s hope you don’t get arrested before the big fight.”
CHAPTER
TWELVE
MARY
I use the Wi-Fi during the flight to watch Maddie Maddox’s latest video. This morning, I woke to a flood of social media messages, way more than usual. People from school and the motel were asking if I knew anything about the fight Rust was in. Thefight?Then I saw the footage and that Rust had officially released a public statement.
