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asphaltcowgrrl) wrote2017-01-29 03:38 pm
asphaltcowgrrl) wrote2017-01-29 03:38 pm
Entry tags:
A to Z Challenge Chapter 20: Tipsy (White Pine Original Fiction)
Title: A to Z Challenge Chapter 20 – Tipsy
Fandom: White Pine original fiction
Pairing: Travis Murphy/Ethan McDowell
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,177
Summary: Ethan takes Muncie up on his offer of a burger and a beer.
Author’s Note: Written for the A to Z challenge at 1_million_words. One chapter closer to being done. Just hope this is still making some kind of sense.
Continued from here.
The more Muncie drank, the looser his lips became. Ethan munched on a fry and kept his ears open. So far, nothing important had fallen out of the idiot’s mouth, but it was early yet. He was still nursing his second beer despite Gary having moved on to his fourth. It still surprised Ethan, even after all the years he’d spent on the force, how easily people let their secrets slip. All it took was a little bit of alcohol and a whole lot of ego.
“You work for the police department,” Ethan asked as soon as Muncie had let the tidbit slip. “This has to be a serious downgrade from working the streets in a place like Salt Lake City.” Ethan knew firsthand how different it was moving from Minden Lake to White Pine, and Minden Lake wasn’t even close to a big city. Downsizing from a major metropolis to a rinky-dink place like Garret had to have been culture shock.
Muncie shrugged and sipped his beer. He’d barely touched his food and Ethan worried about how the braggart would get home later. “I followed my boyfriend so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said. “He got me a job and here I am.”
“Is your boyfriend on the force also?” Ethan had an idea of exactly who Muncie was hooking up with, but he needed to hear it from the source. Now was not the time for assumptions.
“Naw,” Muncie grinned. “Back in Salt Lake he was a lawyer. A good one, too, but he ran into some trouble with an asshole cop so he moved south.”
“And now?” Ethan crunched a slice of pickle that was supposed to be on his burger but hadn’t made the final cut.
“Now he’s the Garret district attorney,” Muncie stated proudly.
“Is he,” Ethan said, trying to sound impressed. Obviously, Reid never talked about him or Muncie would know exactly who he was trying to pick up tonight. Ethan wasn’t sure if he should be offended or relieved by the exclusion of his narrative from Reid’s life. “That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, he got back at that jackass up in Salt Lake.” Muncie shook his head, looking sincerely sorry for whatever Reid had gone through. “Guy said he’d be ruined, wouldn’t ever make anything of himself after the accusations came to light. Boy was he wrong.”
“Accusations?” Okay, so this was interesting information.
“Some dick narco insinuated Reid was working favors with a local judge in exchange for drugs,” he said, a disgusted look on his face. “Guy couldn’t have been farther off.”
He had to admit, it wasn’t like Reid to get involved with drugs stronger than the whisky he liked. The man didn’t have many redeeming qualities, but he’d always been fervently against narcotics of any type. Then again, it had been years since he’d seen Reid, so anything was possible. “Glad to hear that the current DA wasn’t up to anything nefarious.”
“Nah, drugs are beneath Reid,” Muncie said. “Hookers, on the other hand…”
Ethan nearly choked on his burger. “What?”
“Hookers,” Muncie said, waving a hand. “You know, prostitutes?”
“Yes,” he managed. “I know what a hooker is, Gary. What I don’t understand is what the DA has to do with them.”
“Well, back in Salt Lake, he and one of the judges had a thing going. If one of the working girls got busted, Reid would represent them. The judge would release them in exchange for services and a bit of monetary kickback. It was a sweet situation.”
Holy shit, Reid had turned himself into a pimp of sorts. Well, one thing was for certain, Farrow hadn’t been getting any services from the girls, so no charges there. A male prostitute in Salt Lake City was asking for trouble to begin with, so Reid wasn’t getting anything physical out of the arrangement that way either. But if he was actually taking money in exchange for getting the women out of trouble, that was another story. “What was your part in all this?”
Muncie gave him a hard look and for a moment and Ethan’s heart lodged in his chest. Was this idiot going to punch him for asking too many questions? Laughing suddenly, Gary grabbed his beer and waved the empty bottle at the bartender. “I was the one picking the girls up while on patrol. They gave me a decent cut, enough to get a nice car.”
What the actual hell had Reid gotten himself into? “And this worked for you guys?”
“Right up until some jackass cop started putting things together,” he snarled. “I think he was onto me, too, so Reid and I staged a fight in a bar one night. Gave me some credibility when I said I wasn’t involved in whatever was going on and gave him an excuse to blow town. Tough being a lawyer in a place if you can’t get along with local law enforcement, eh?”
Maybe, but Ethan had always found that lawyers would do what they wanted, the actual law be damned. It helped to have the locals on your side, but most didn’t care as long as they brought in the big money. “Sometimes, yes,” he said. He lifted his beer to his lips and took a slow sip, biding his time. “Earlier, you said you had a good side job here as well. Did you and your partner move your… operation… here to Garret?”
The grin spreading across Muncie’s face told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah, you know we did,” he bragged. “But we’ve had to alter it a bit since there isn’t really much prostitution in this hick ass town.”
Oh god. “What do you mean?”
“Not as much action going on here as there was in Salt Lake. Those jerks claim to be religious and better than the rest of us, but in the dark, they’re bigger perverts than you’d think.”
Ethan knew that to be true simply from reading the newspaper. “So instead of setting up shop, you did what?”
“Why,” Muncie asked, downing half of his fifth beer in one swig. “You looking to get in on the action?”
“Maybe,” he hedged, wondering if he’d finally pushed the guy too far. “But maybe I’m thinking of getting into the business myself back home.”
Gary gave him another long, hard look. “You’re not what I thought you’d be,” he said, smirking. “I kind of like you.”
“Um, thanks,” Ethan said, unsure of where Muncie was headed with all this.
“But yeah, we had to alter our plan a bit and round a few girls up in order to work the system.” His face soured and he smacked his fist against the table. “Some shithead claiming to be the brother of one of our girls came at us, threatening to bring us all down. That fucking twat Cyrus damn near ruined it all.”
Damnit all to hell, one of these assholes had assaulted Toby Cyrus. The question was, who was the attacker? Reid or this dumbass Muncie?
Continues here.
Fandom: White Pine original fiction
Pairing: Travis Murphy/Ethan McDowell
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,177
Summary: Ethan takes Muncie up on his offer of a burger and a beer.
Author’s Note: Written for the A to Z challenge at 1_million_words. One chapter closer to being done. Just hope this is still making some kind of sense.
Continued from here.
The more Muncie drank, the looser his lips became. Ethan munched on a fry and kept his ears open. So far, nothing important had fallen out of the idiot’s mouth, but it was early yet. He was still nursing his second beer despite Gary having moved on to his fourth. It still surprised Ethan, even after all the years he’d spent on the force, how easily people let their secrets slip. All it took was a little bit of alcohol and a whole lot of ego.
“You work for the police department,” Ethan asked as soon as Muncie had let the tidbit slip. “This has to be a serious downgrade from working the streets in a place like Salt Lake City.” Ethan knew firsthand how different it was moving from Minden Lake to White Pine, and Minden Lake wasn’t even close to a big city. Downsizing from a major metropolis to a rinky-dink place like Garret had to have been culture shock.
Muncie shrugged and sipped his beer. He’d barely touched his food and Ethan worried about how the braggart would get home later. “I followed my boyfriend so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said. “He got me a job and here I am.”
“Is your boyfriend on the force also?” Ethan had an idea of exactly who Muncie was hooking up with, but he needed to hear it from the source. Now was not the time for assumptions.
“Naw,” Muncie grinned. “Back in Salt Lake he was a lawyer. A good one, too, but he ran into some trouble with an asshole cop so he moved south.”
“And now?” Ethan crunched a slice of pickle that was supposed to be on his burger but hadn’t made the final cut.
“Now he’s the Garret district attorney,” Muncie stated proudly.
“Is he,” Ethan said, trying to sound impressed. Obviously, Reid never talked about him or Muncie would know exactly who he was trying to pick up tonight. Ethan wasn’t sure if he should be offended or relieved by the exclusion of his narrative from Reid’s life. “That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, he got back at that jackass up in Salt Lake.” Muncie shook his head, looking sincerely sorry for whatever Reid had gone through. “Guy said he’d be ruined, wouldn’t ever make anything of himself after the accusations came to light. Boy was he wrong.”
“Accusations?” Okay, so this was interesting information.
“Some dick narco insinuated Reid was working favors with a local judge in exchange for drugs,” he said, a disgusted look on his face. “Guy couldn’t have been farther off.”
He had to admit, it wasn’t like Reid to get involved with drugs stronger than the whisky he liked. The man didn’t have many redeeming qualities, but he’d always been fervently against narcotics of any type. Then again, it had been years since he’d seen Reid, so anything was possible. “Glad to hear that the current DA wasn’t up to anything nefarious.”
“Nah, drugs are beneath Reid,” Muncie said. “Hookers, on the other hand…”
Ethan nearly choked on his burger. “What?”
“Hookers,” Muncie said, waving a hand. “You know, prostitutes?”
“Yes,” he managed. “I know what a hooker is, Gary. What I don’t understand is what the DA has to do with them.”
“Well, back in Salt Lake, he and one of the judges had a thing going. If one of the working girls got busted, Reid would represent them. The judge would release them in exchange for services and a bit of monetary kickback. It was a sweet situation.”
Holy shit, Reid had turned himself into a pimp of sorts. Well, one thing was for certain, Farrow hadn’t been getting any services from the girls, so no charges there. A male prostitute in Salt Lake City was asking for trouble to begin with, so Reid wasn’t getting anything physical out of the arrangement that way either. But if he was actually taking money in exchange for getting the women out of trouble, that was another story. “What was your part in all this?”
Muncie gave him a hard look and for a moment and Ethan’s heart lodged in his chest. Was this idiot going to punch him for asking too many questions? Laughing suddenly, Gary grabbed his beer and waved the empty bottle at the bartender. “I was the one picking the girls up while on patrol. They gave me a decent cut, enough to get a nice car.”
What the actual hell had Reid gotten himself into? “And this worked for you guys?”
“Right up until some jackass cop started putting things together,” he snarled. “I think he was onto me, too, so Reid and I staged a fight in a bar one night. Gave me some credibility when I said I wasn’t involved in whatever was going on and gave him an excuse to blow town. Tough being a lawyer in a place if you can’t get along with local law enforcement, eh?”
Maybe, but Ethan had always found that lawyers would do what they wanted, the actual law be damned. It helped to have the locals on your side, but most didn’t care as long as they brought in the big money. “Sometimes, yes,” he said. He lifted his beer to his lips and took a slow sip, biding his time. “Earlier, you said you had a good side job here as well. Did you and your partner move your… operation… here to Garret?”
The grin spreading across Muncie’s face told him everything he needed to know. “Yeah, you know we did,” he bragged. “But we’ve had to alter it a bit since there isn’t really much prostitution in this hick ass town.”
Oh god. “What do you mean?”
“Not as much action going on here as there was in Salt Lake. Those jerks claim to be religious and better than the rest of us, but in the dark, they’re bigger perverts than you’d think.”
Ethan knew that to be true simply from reading the newspaper. “So instead of setting up shop, you did what?”
“Why,” Muncie asked, downing half of his fifth beer in one swig. “You looking to get in on the action?”
“Maybe,” he hedged, wondering if he’d finally pushed the guy too far. “But maybe I’m thinking of getting into the business myself back home.”
Gary gave him another long, hard look. “You’re not what I thought you’d be,” he said, smirking. “I kind of like you.”
“Um, thanks,” Ethan said, unsure of where Muncie was headed with all this.
“But yeah, we had to alter our plan a bit and round a few girls up in order to work the system.” His face soured and he smacked his fist against the table. “Some shithead claiming to be the brother of one of our girls came at us, threatening to bring us all down. That fucking twat Cyrus damn near ruined it all.”
Damnit all to hell, one of these assholes had assaulted Toby Cyrus. The question was, who was the attacker? Reid or this dumbass Muncie?
Continues here.
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