“Um, what about these?” I asked as I held up my hands.
“Those are yours, babe,” Redeye said with a wink.
“I thought I was holding them for someone else!” I cried.
“Nope, all yours.”
“I think I’ve had enough,” I insisted. I started to look around for someone else to hand the drinks to, but everyone without a drink had gone inside.
“No such thing, sweetheart.”
“Really, I’m good.”
“Now look here,” Redeye said as he leaned down and peered into my face. “This is the best damn shot you are ever gonna taste in your life, and that’s a solid fact. I’d be reminiscent in my duties as a host if you didn’t take that shot right now.”
“Reminiscent?” Mo questioned.
“Translation from Redeye-speak to English,” Lance informed us, “he would be remiss in his duties.”
“He’s remiss in his sanity,” Aiden said as he grinned at me. “I warned ya. It really is easier to give in.”
I cringed and stared down at the glasses. One had brown liquid in it, and I thought it smelled like whiskey. I had no idea what the other glass contained. There wasn’t enough light outside to determine its color, but the smell was familiar. I just couldn’t quite place it.
Aiden leaned over to me.
“Just give those to me as soon as Redeye takes his shot. I’ll take care of them for ya.”
I nodded, glad to have an out. Aiden watched Redeye closely and quickly downed first one glass and then the other before switching his empty ones with my full ones. Then he drank those, too.
“What the fuck was that?” Lo screamed. “It’s got chunks in it!”
“I ran out of pickle juice!” Redeye yelled back at him. “Had to improvise!”
“Improvise with what?”
“I just put all the pickles in a blender,” Redeye explained. “Fucking awesome, isn’t it?”
“That’s just wrong,” Mo said with a laugh.
“Better than that cheap-ass whiskey he’s serving,” Clutch said.
Redeye got up in his face.
“Are you disrespecting my hospitality?” he snapped. “Because I’ll have you know that’s the finest batch of pickles this side of the fucking state!”
“I think you are out of your God-forsaken mind!” Clutch yelled back. “Maybe I need to teach you a little lesson!”
Clutch bumped his chest up against Redeye’s, and they stared menacingly into each other’s eyes. Dutch walked up between them and put a hand on each of their shoulders.
“What we have here,” Dutch said, “is a meeting of the sausages!”
“I better be getting a waffle with that!” Clutch demanded.
“And a chalupa!” Aiden called out.
I looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. Aiden just shook his head.
“The power of suggestion,” he said as he pointed to the group. “Any minute now, and someone will run out to Taco Bell and bring back a whole stack of chalupas. Just wait.”