Payback At The Black Rose(early draft)
It was 3 o’clock in the morning, and business at the Black Rose strip club had come to a halt for the evening. Merle the bouncer was the only one left there, in order to make sure that everything was shut down and that the doors were locked securely.
He liked this job. The pay was fairly decent and the flexible hours allowed him to devote the necessary time and attention to his MC, the Damned Souls, of which he was the President. The manager of the bar was a kid named Billy Murphy, not too far removed from college, and he was a tolerable guy to work for, unlike a lot of the asshole bosses that pervaded most places of employment. Hell, he had even met his wife here, Stacey Nolan, AKA Sunny. And although she continued to work her profession, Merle was not worried in the least, cause he knew that she would always be coming home to him. In fact, he kept an eye out just to make damn sure of that fact, and any other guy who tried to play hide-the-salami with his old lady would quickly become a very sorry son of a bitch.
There was however, another reason as to why he was still there long after the last of the drunken patrons had stumbled out, and the strippers had departed for wherever they went when they weren’t onstage shaking their stuff.
And as he sat there, smoking a cigar and enjoying a beer, Merle reflected on exactly why he was waiting there, and the events that had led up to the moment he was in.
A buddy of his, Vinnie Perez, had been just about killed when his liquor store got held up awhile back. The asshole that did it hadn’t been content to merely walk out with all the money in Vinnie’s safe. No, he just had to have shot Vinnie in the gut as well, putting him into intensive care at the hospital.
Vinnie did eventually recover, which Merle had actually prayed for, although he had never by any means been much of a religious man. Of course the fact remained that someone had fucked up one of Merle’s friends, and that meant only one thing. The perp who had done this wasn’t going to the hospital. Oh no, Merle was gonna make sure that the prick got a one-way trip straight to the morgue.
Through his connections with some of the shadier characters around town, Merle had found out the identity of the douchebag most likely responsible for putting that bullet into Vinnie. Of course he had to ask some of these stoolies using some excessive methods, but Vinnie was a friend of the club, and that carried a lot of weight. He had invited the guy out to the Black Rose under the pretense of pulling off a job. The real intent behind this was to make damn sure that the guy coming was really the one to kill.
Just then there was a loud banging on the barroom door. Three knocks, which was the secret code that Merle had given. It had to be the guy. He opened the door and in walked a particularly sketchy lowlife. It took all of Merle’s self-control not to grab him and lay a beating on him right then and now, but there were some questions to be asked first.
The guy looked around with a smile on his face. “Must be some hot trim that works in here, eh?”
“Yeah, I’d say all our girls are top choice.” Merle replied calmly.
The stranger stuck out his hand. “I’m Gene Derringer by the way.”
Merle eyed Derringer’s extended hand for a moment before cautiously returning the handshake. Make the guy think that everything was cool here, and reel him in like a fish.
“So, you got a name, friend?” Derringer asked, still with a stupid grin on his face.