CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

   Bluford thought stealing money from poker players was pretty easy. He had the brains and the tools to take a lot of money. He didn’t necessarily consider it cheating. It was more like using all the advantages at hand in order to separate a fool and his money or in Bluford’s case, separating many fools with lots of their money.

   That’s what he was planning to do when he went over to the brothel. He saw plenty of prospective suckers but settled on a table with a particularly easy mark. When Bluford introduced himself, the man just grunted and said, “I’m Frank. Sit down and shut up if you want to play.”

   So that’s what they did. They played along with three other men who were the typical breed of poker players one would find in a small town.

   Bluford was up quite a bit of money when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was the black man who had been watching the door. He said, “Sir, there’s someone who wants to see you.”

   “Can it wait? My friends and I are in the middle of a game,” Bluford said. He thought adding that bit about his friends was a nice touch. It would put the other men at ease.

   “No sir, it’s urgent.”

   Bluford put his cards down on the table. “Sorry, boys, but I guess I’m folding this hand.” He took the money he had won so far, got up, and followed the black man to the corner of the bar. Then he said, “So, who is it that wants to see me?”

   The man said, “I do.”

   “Hey, what is this?” Bluford got nervous. He took a step back.

   “Don’t you worry. I ain’t going to hurt you. I work here. Name’s Stacklee. I just wanted to give you a little warning is all. I see you over there playing cards. You play a slick game.”

   “Yeah? I’ve always been pretty lucky. Nice of you to notice.”

   “Lucky? Shit. Too lucky. Personally, I don’t care if you take money from assholes like Frank over there but if people start catching on, you can have a problem on your hands and that means I’ll have to break it up. Betty doesn’t need that kind of trouble.”

   Bluford smiled. “Are you kicking me out?”

   “If I wanted to kick you out, I would’ve done it. In fact, the sheriff was just here and I could’ve just told him I had a cheater in the place,” Stacklee said. “But the way I see it, a man’s entitled to one warning before he gets his ass kicked out.”

   Bluford was starting to like the guy. He was straight-forward and honest even to a cheater. He was smart, too. Not many people could spot Bluford’s tricks.

   “I do appreciate it, Mr. Stacklee. Let me ask you, though. Was it that obvious?”

   “Probably not to anyone else but I know a thing or two about card sharps. I grew up around them.”

   “As did I. Guess we have something in common.”

   Stacklee nodded. “Yeah. But that don’t mean I’m going to let you start any trouble here, okay? Just be careful not to piss anyone off. And don’t rip off any of the girls, got it? That’s one thing I’m not going to stand for. Consider this your one warning about that.”

   “One thing I’d never do is steal money from a lady. You don’t have to worry.”

   Stacklee nodded and walked away. Bluford slowly walked back to the table but decided that he was done playing cards for the night. Now it was time to buy a girl. He had enough extra money to get a nice one.

   He was scanning the room for a potential whore when he saw one standing against the bar. She was tall and had the reddest hair that he had ever seen. Her breasts were average but her ass belonged to a woman twice her size. It jutted out like a balcony. She was wearing tall boots that looked like they were originally tan but were now dark brown from being caked with filth.

   Walking with a confident stride, Bluford approached her and smiled.

   “Good evening, miss.”

   The redheaded woman smiled in return. “Hello there. You looking for some company?”

   “Indeed I am.”

   She grabbed his arm. “My name’s Lily. Follow me and we can discuss the details.”

   The two of them went upstairs and into Lily’s room. She stood in front of the bed and said, “So? What’s going to tickle your fancy today?”

   “To be honest, I don’t know.”

   Lily sat down on the bed and stretched. “What about my hair? Most men who come to me seem to like my hair.”

   “Really?”

   Running her hands through her thick red hair, Lily said, “Yeah, there was this one guy who would come by every Sunday morning asking me to choke him with it. He just loved it. He’d sit right there on the floor and I would crouch over him and lean my head over and stuff my hair down his throat while her played with his pecker.”

   “Well, your hair is very pretty. Can’t blame the man for wanting to get closer to it.” Bluford laughed. “I think I’d be interested in something like, maybe we get to screwing and you slap me, hit me a little bit, maybe scratch my face.”

   Lily said, “You want to get beat up a little bit? I think I can oblige. I’ve done that before and I’m not ashamed to say I think I’m pretty good at it.”

   They discussed the price for the screw and then Bluford took out the small jar that he bought from Tom Duma. Lily looked at him strangely and said, “That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

   “I don’t know,” Bluford said. He took a swig from the jar. “What do you think it is?”

   “Ass Juice?” She shook her head. “You stupid son of a bitch.”

   As Lily took off her clothes, Bluford felt the alcohol burning through his body like hot pins and needles. Red and brown sparks cascaded in front of him. Lily appeared to be covered in shimmering sores. Her breasts expanded until they were the size of bulging potato sacks. A dark red shell appeared over her crotch. The shell bubbled and then cracked, opening up like a flower, spilling inky darkness down Lily’s legs.

   Bluford rubbed his eyes. The sparks disappeared and Lily was back to normal except for a tiny patch of red tattoos above her pussy that wasn’t there before. Bluford was left with a burning skull and an aching erection.

   Lily climbed on top of him.

   So then they got down to it, screwing furiously, starting on the bed and then moving to the floor. All through it, she slapped him in the face and hit him in the chest. He grabbed her ample ass and squeezed it which only made Lily hit him harder. When she saw that Bluford was near climaxing, she scratched him right across the face while screaming, “Take that, you filthy son of a bitch!”

   Afterwards, Bluford fell asleep, his face still bleeding from the scratches and his brain still burning from the Ass Juice. Lily left the room and walked downstairs.

   She said to Stacklee, “I got a man in my room, asleep. I’ll wake him up when I come back. I just need some fresh air.”

   “That’s a waste of a room.”

   “I’ll charge him for the time. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll stay the night and we’ll get a few extra bucks out of him.”

   Stacklee said, “Yeah, Betty will like that.”

   “Be back in a few minutes,” Lily said. When she got outside, she walked to the General Store. Tom Duma was stacking fruit jars on a shelf.

   “Hey,” Lily said.

   “Lily.” Tom nodded. He put one more jar away and then crouched down, reaching into a cabinet under the counter. “You need more so soon?”

   “Yeah.”

   “These things will catch up with you someday.”

   “What do you care? You get your money, don’t you?”

   Tom shook his head. “You know I don’t care much about money.”

   “Your wife does,” Lily said.

   “Don’t worry about her.” Tom took a black jar out of the cabinet and put it on the counter. “Here they are.”

   Lily put cash on the counter and picked up the jar. She unscrewed the top and poured the contents out.

   “Hey! Don’t do that!” Tom said.

   “I just want to check them.”

   Out of the jar fell three green scorpions, each having two tails. Lily picked one up and held it by the head. The two tails waved as she stuck one into each of her nostrils and then sniffed deeply. The pinchers on the tails detached from the scorpion and went straight up Lily’s nose.

   The creature struggled to get away but failed. Lily dropped it to the floor and crushed it with her filthy boot.

   Tom said, “You had to do it here? Couldn’t wait till you got back?”

   “Does it matter? You’re getting paid either way.” She put the two remaining scorpions into the jar and then walked out of the store with them. Behind her, Tom shook his head and looked over the counter at the scorpion guts on the floor. It was such a shame, an innocent little creature having to die like that.