Chapter 16 Beer and a Brawl
The crew checked in to the only motel that existed in town and were lucky to get the last four available rooms. Luca and Vinnie were not enthused that their room had a single bed to share.
The aggressive tournament of rock-paper-scissors proved Luca the surprising winner of the bed.
He was not used to being victorious and the pride carried him through the night.
Just after dark and a quick bite to eat, the two rented Escalades rolled up to the only bar offered in town. It was a wooden establishment; held together by rusty nails, duct tape and a prayer. The name overtop was missing an “n,” making it The Rust Stop Saloo.
“Jake, you’re up,” Tyler instructed. The now complete crew of eight approached the door, guarded by a round-belly man, glued to his high-top stool.
“How y’all doing tuh-nat?” Jake started in a thick southern accent no one has ever heard come out of his mouth. He reached far past Louisiana. “My buddies and I were hoping to quench our thirst at your establishment here. We sure are thirsty,” he finished. Even his face emitted a twang.
The man at the door looked at the out-of-towners closely. He eyed Tico especially and inspected his Albanian eagle tattoo, straining his eyes.
“What’s up with that one’s face?” the door man asked, pointing to Tommy and his swollen, blue face with a glossy gash that was once his eye brow.
“Well, that’s just it. That one didn’t have enough to drink,” Jake explained.
“Looks like it. You boys got money? There’s a lot of thirsty you’s,” the man asked, beating Jake in the twang competition.
The group snickered quietly.
Jake took out a bundle of cash from his pocket, rolled up with a rubber band, and opened it up for the door man to see.
“That’s the bar tab.”
He then took out his wallet and slid out three $100 dollar bills, handing them to the door man. “And that’s for you, for being such a good host.”
The door man cracked a smile and took the cash into his chubby fingers, stuffing it into his plaid shirt’s breast pocket.
He wobbled off the stool and opened the door for the crew. The muffled music escaped instantly and invited them in.
“Be sure to keep to yourself, though,” he uttered.
“Thank you, brother,” Jake said, adding a friendly slap onto the man.
They shuffled inside and headed to one of the tables in the back.
The bar was filled with mostly men; truck drivers, cowboys and local townsmen. Every other one had a Stetson on. They eyed the group as they walked through, over the creaky wooden plank floor.
Tyler put his arm around Nicki as they walked through the bar, making it crystal clear who she belonged to.
“My baby,” he whispered to her before he pecked her on the cheek.
The group sat down and assessed the situation.
A couple girls by the juke box giggled at the rugged handsome strangers and flirtingly waved at them.
“Dear God, I’m going in!” Luca announced, ripping himself from the chair, only to get pulled back by Tyler.
“Relax, buddy, wait a bit to make sure they’re not taken first,” he coached.
“But they waved at me!” Luca whined.
“They were waving at me!” Vinnie interjected, combing back his hair.
“Well, there’s two of them, can’t you both just talk to one each?” Nicki suggested.
“Too late,” Tommy said, nodding over at Jake who teleported himself over to the juke box. He had both girls’ undivided attention all to himself.
“Here we go,” Tyler said.
“That’s no fair, I saw them first!” Luca complained.
“You gotta be quick, bro,” Tommy coached.
“Yeah, says the guy who took 10 hits to the face and didn’t even get one in,” Luca hit back.
“He wouldn’t dare,” Tyler said.
“You need some actual ice, Tommy, I’m going to go get you some,” Nicki said as she got up from the table, only to get pulled back by Tyler.
“You’re not going anywhere near the bar, baby,” Tyler said. “Tico!” Tyler shouted over and motioned for him to sit in his chair, keeping Nicki wedged at the table against the back wall, with Tommy and his broken face on the other side of it.
Tyler, Vinnie and Luca went to the bar.
“Hey, maybe you should join Jake, help him out. Chicks dig scars,” Nicki teasingly suggested.
“Nah, I’m good. I’d just scare them off and then Jake will kick my ass,” Tommy joked.
The guys returned to the table with three bottles of whiskey, stacked glasses and a bag of ice.
Tyler pressed the cold, clunky bag against his brother’s face gently.
Tommy moaned in relief.
Nicki poured him a glass of whiskey and he gulped it down.
“This is it. This is all I need in my life,” Tommy said, resting his head against the back wall. The pain being numbed by the ice.
Tyler motioned for Nicki to come and sit on his lap.
They both took a drink and sat together, enjoying their reunion and quietly celebrating Tommy’s return.
Nicki hugged him tightly on his lap.
“I missed you,” she said.
Tyler remained quiet.
“Tyler, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I left like that, OK? But I had no choice. You didn’t listen to m—”
“I know it seemed like that because I made it difficult for you, but you did have a choice. You could have taken your phone; you could have texted me.”
“But if you tracked me, then you would have stopped me. I needed time to find him. Enough was enough.” Nicki held onto his neck tighter. “Baby, I love you so much and I couldn’t see you moping around without him anymore. And what those asshole Lee—”
“Shhh, baby, don’t say that here. We’re on their turf.”
“What?” Nicki asked, looking around.
“Shhh, Nicki, calm down. We’re in the middle of nowhere, hours away from the closest city, we’ll be fine. But yes, this is their territory. And I don’t blame you for having enough of my stubborn bullshit, OK? But…”
Tyler paused to glance over at a man eyeing Nicki’s legs.
“But what, honey?” Nicki asked, kissing Tyler on the cheek softly.
He turned his gaze back to her.
“When you left, it’s like…everything left. First Tommy, then you. It was like my whole world was gone. I felt…cold. All the time. It was fucking agony! You have no idea how much it hurt me. I couldn’t stand to imagine how it would be if you didn’t come back.”
“Oh, honey, why would you ever think I wouldn’t come back to you? My life is with you! My job, my car, my stuff, my phone, you, my whole life is with you!”
“Yeah, so was hers.”
Nicki gasped. She waited for a moment, watching him brave keeping a rock-hard face.
“Your…your mom… The one woman who was never supposed to ever leave you, did. I’m so sorry, my love. I had no idea I would cause you so much pain. All I wanted was to bring Tommy back. For you,” Nicki cried out, and kissed him gently on the lips.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered again.
He let out a satisfied smile.
“That’s OK, you’ll get your punishment,” he said, kissing her on the cheek and squeezing her behind.
“Mmmm, I can’t wait,” she teased.
“Hold on one second, baby,” Tyler said, standing up and putting Nicki down gently on the chair.
Tyler walked over to the gawking cowboy a table away, grabbed the back of his head and slammed it down onto the wooden table; the quake of which knocked over his bottle of beer.
“Fuck, here we go,” Tommy said with a chuckle.
“Oh, God…” Nicki murmured.
“Anyone else want to stare at my girl?” Tyler announced loudly to the bar.
The patrons looked down or away. The no-longer gawking cowboy remained folded over the table, sleeping peacefully.
The crew laughed along in amusement. Jake was too distracted by the juke box ladies to notice.
Tyler returned to Nicki and the night continued as per usual.
Luca and Trevor tried their game at the pool table. The rest switched out their whiskey for beers.
Tico stayed at the table dutifully, guarding Nicki while Tyler left to go to back to the bar with Vinnie.
Tommy pressed a fresh bag of ice onto his face.
“Looks like the swelling is going down a bit,” Nicki offered.
Tommy removed the bag and looked over with his purple face. It was a sight of sore eyes.
“I need another drink,” Tommy said, getting up, abandoning the ice.
“Tico,” Tommy said.
“I’m here, brother.”
Tommy headed over to meet Tyler and Vinnie at the bar.
“Are you enjoying the spontaneous boys’ trip, Tico?” Nicki asked sarcastically.
“It’s alright. Nice to be out. Good to get Tommy back. But you shouldn’t have gone out by yourself,” Tico said, shaking his head.
“Oh, no, not you too! Tico, you know it was about time to find him, come on! Cut me some slack!” Nicki said.
Tico chuckled. “I’m only scolding you because you beat us to it,” he said.
Nicki smiled gratefully at him and looked over at the guys at the bar.
“Aww, look!” Nicki exclaimed, pointing to Tyler with his arm around Tommy, doing shots at the bar.”
“They’re so cute. They love each other!”
“Ha! I don’t know about that, but, you’re right, Nicki. It was about time.” Tico cracked his water bottle against Nicki’s glass.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Nicki said as she got up from the table.
“Not by yourself you’re not,” Tico said, getting up to join her.
Nicki rolled her eyes and headed to the bathroom with the Albanian giant behind her.
Some girls walking past them down the hall looked back at the out-of-town guests.
Tico inspected the vacant single-stall bathroom for ladies, indicated by the poster of an 80’s Bud Light model on the door.
He motioned for Nicki to go ahead with his approval.
“Thanks, Tico, and this is not weird at all.”
He chuckled, and waited outside dutifully with his arms crossed.
At the bar, Tyler and Tommy finished taking another shot, enjoying their muchly missed brotherly banter when they were interrupted by a large, angry-looking man tapping Tommy on the shoulder.
“Now, I thought I told you not to show your face in here again!” the man stated.
Tommy turned around pompously, now more confident with his brother by his side. “Yeah? Well look at that, you’re in luck! I got a new face today and I came back!”
“Pfft, you boys think you’re so special. Comin’ in here, taking our women!”
The brothers looked over at Jake, who now had both juke box ladies sitting on each leg back at their table.
The brothers burst out laughing.
“You have some balls coming back in here, bud!” the angry man uttered to Tommy.
“Alright, alright, man, just relax, OK? We’re leaving in the morning—”
“You’re leaving right now!” the man shouted and pushed Tommy’s chest, making him stumble backward and hit the bar.
It was over.
Tyler threw the last punches out of his fractured right hand onto the man’s face as soon as he hit the ground.
All the crew men rallied over, even Jake, shaking the girls off of him, and joined what was the biggest bar brawl the Rust Stop Saloo had seen in years. Beer bottles smashing, blood splattering all over the floor, girls screaming, and chairs breaking.
Tico dodged that bullet by taking Nicki outside to the safety of the truck.
“Get in, Nicki,” Tico instructed.
She got in knowing full well not to argue or suggest to go back in. She had learned by now, the rules of the game.
Tico waited outside of the truck. Nicki waited inside in the back seat, carelessly scrolling her phone that Tyler had brought back for her.
After a few minutes, the crew blasted out of the bar, banged up and bruised, laughing harder than they have in a very long time.
Nicki wasn’t surprised anymore, and shook her head at them.
“Like children. You are all like children,” she teased as they got into the trucks.
Tyler was the last to get in, thanking Tico outside for removing Nicki out of harm’s way, shaking his hand in appreciation.
Tico felt safest on Tyler’s good graces.
“Tommy, are you OK?” Nicki asked as he got in.
“Yeah, I got a good one in on my right side. You know, just to even it out a bit,” he joked.
“Oh man, that was fun. I’m going to miss those girls!” Jake said.
“What happened to them? Why didn’t you invite them back to the motel with us?” Luca asked.
“Are you kidding? Their boyfriends just showed up and joined in on the fight!” he explained.
“Man, we haven’t had a good brawl like that in a while,” Vinnie said, shaking out his fist.
“Yeah, we all needed that,” Tyler said, with his arm around Nicki in the back seat. “You OK, baby?” he whispered to her.
“Are you kidding? Tico practically went into the bathroom with me. I missed all the fun!” she teased.
“Good. And don’t forget… you’re about to get severely punished just as soon as we get to the motel.”