God Hounds

Chapter 45: Reunion

Aden wasn’t sure about which of the lonely sounds he wanted to focus on: the gentle rain tapping against the few and far windows across the place, the irregular footsteps—and Aden could sense the fear and caution in it—walking to and fro behind him, or the senseless bubbling and streaming of the wine giving its essence to a glass. The air still smelled of a fading bubblegum flavor from some customer who vaped too much in the room. The fog it created was still there. Pretty soon, the bartender felt too awkward to just keep playing and tasting the bottles while waiting for him to leave. So he moved away from the counter, turned the TV on and watched a replay of a basketball game that was airing on the channel. The bar was closing at 2:30AM. If they were gracious enough, they could make it 3 for him. That was always the time. And that was also the time when he beat up the bar’s owner so many months ago: Dave Rosales. One of the first jobs he did to gain his plac