PRETTY UGLY

Read an Excerpt/. 

Paul was coasting uptown with his pistol sitting on his lap, touching it every now and then to make sure it hadn't evaporated into thin air. He was still edgy from all the excitement, so he turned on the radio to help him think as he drove to the girls' place. He carefully kept the car at a moderate speed, even slowing down for the yellow lights, and he arrived at their building in a few minutes. This time he had to ring the downstairs intercom, and Eyonna buzzed him in without checking to see who it was. She had recognized the way he didn't ease up on the buzzer.

Once inside, he briskly loped up the three flights, to find Eyonna standing in the doorway with one foot over the threshold. His brand new sweat-suit was soiled and ripped from the knees to the elbows, and she started to cry as soon as she saw the expression on his face. She gently lifted his forearm, and gasped at the ugly bruise. "Damn, baby," she whimpered anxiously, "what happened? You need to go to the hospital?"

"Nah," he answered through clenched teeth, "let me catch my breath first." He was winded, and stress had cut his breath even shorter.

Eyonna walked him over to the couch, asking if she could get him anything. He answered that he wanted some water, so she rushed to the kitchen and came back with a tall glass. Apple had stood watching all of this in silence, with her mouth hanging open. Paul took his pistol from his hip and laid it on the coffee table, and Apple could see that it had been used. It was dirty, with visible fingerprints and a dull gleam to it. She watched Paul's Adam's apple move convulsively as he gulped down the water, then asked him what had happened. He wiped his face with his shirt, and briefly told them all he thought they needed to know. The way he saw it, if they remembered anything about the old neighborhood, it wouldn't be difficult for them to fill in whatever details he left out.

Eyonna blamed Apple indirectly for all of this trouble, and she couldn't help glaring at her friend as she rushed to get some bandages for Paul's wound. He was unaware of the tension that had been developing between the girls, though he could sense it in the air. It wasn't until Apple loudly snapped at Eyonna that his intuition was confirmed. "Would you please stop lookin' at me like that," Apple yelled.