“As long as it doesn’t involve Blaze having anonymous sex with strangers, yeah,” Stone answers.
“If you know their name, they’re not anonymous. That’s the fucking definition of the word,” Blaze says.
“You’re not helping,” Stone says. “Snake, lay things out for us for real.”
I nod. Though I love kidding around with my brothers and recapturing that same sense of camaraderie that I had in the military, we’ve got a mission ahead of us. And now is not the time for fucking around.
“Listen, there are only two entry points: the window and the door. And, if Silas is even half as capable as we think, he will have them covered, and he’ll probably have a gun on him. We break in through either entrance, he’ll be shooting right away,” I say. “If I was back in the Army, this is the point where we’d call in an airstrike to flush out our dug-in adversaries. But we can’t. So we need to draw them out to us. So, Blaze, you will have to get naked.”
“Didn’t we just go over this? Fuck, I understand you wanting to see me naked, Snake — your name's one of many on an endless list of people who want that privilege — but it ain’t happening. I was just kidding around earlier.”
“I’m not fucking around, Blaze. We need a distraction to draw Silas to the door without him getting his guard up. None of us can be as loud or as attention-getting as you. So, pretend you’re fucking drunk, that you’ve got the wrong room, and get Silas to come to the door. Then grab him.”
“You heard him, Blaze,” Stone says.
“Fine. If we’re doing this, we’re fucking doing this,” Blaze says, enthusiastically stripping down to his underwear. “Any of you got a flask or anything? Cause I am all about commitment.”
With his eyes looking anywhere but at Blaze, Mack reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver flask. He holds it out without looking. “Here, take it.”
“Thanks, brother,” Blaze says, snatching the flask and then pulling Mack into a hug. “This means a lot to me.”
“Get your naked ass off me, Blaze,” Mack snarls.
Grinning, Blaze takes a step back, then takes a swig from the flask and pours some of it on his chest. “You all are gonna give me a fucking Oscar when this is over.”
Then, swerving and stumbling, he walks across the road and toward Big Richard’s Motel. He takes his time climbing the stairs to the second floor and, once he reaches it, his voice carries across the parking lot as he sings. The faint tunes of a Backstreet Boys song hit my ears. Moments later, he’s at Silas’ door, singing his heart out and pounding his fist on the door.
“Son of a bitch has balls,” Axel says.
“We know. We’ve all seen them, now,” Stone says.
“You think Silas will really fall for it?” Rusty says, stroking his beard.
I shrug. “How long do you think he can hold out against Blaze’s singing?”
“Was it me, or was he a little hard heading up there?” Axel says.
“Well, wouldn’t you be if your friends gave you permission to act out one of your fantasies?” I say.
Axel nods. “True. We just gave him a hall pass. And the worst thing is, we really can’t give him shit for it.”
“Oh, I’ll find a way,” Mack grumbles, finishing what’s left in his flask.
“Here he comes now,” I say. “We should start moving in. Blaze might need our help.”
The four of us start our approach as the door to the motel room opens to Blaze’s relentless singing and knocking. For one tense and silent moment, the two men — Silas and Blaze — stare at each other and then Silas’ voice cuts through the parking lot, screaming, “What the fuck?” as the almost-naked Blaze charges through the door and tackles him.
Our approach turns to a run as we charge through the lot and up the stairs.
But our presence isn’t needed.
As we get to the room, we find Blaze on top of Silas, one knee pinning the man’s arm and the other square on his chest.
“Brothers, I gotta admit, I was a little leery at first, but this was fucking fun,” Blaze says, a big dumb grin on his face.
“What the fucking hell is happening? You send a naked man to tackle me? That’s fucked up,” Silas snarls from beneath Blaze. “And can you please get your fucking junk out of my face? You’re hard, man, and it’s fucking weird as hell. Torture me, do whatever you want, just get your dick out of my face.”
“Keep your voice down, you piece of shit,” Stone says, coming in to kick Silas in the head.
“Actually, Stone, I don’t think it matters how much he yells and screams. I doubt it’d be the first time people at Big Richard’s heard a bunch of dudes getting rough in a room late at night.”
“True. You’re all ours, Silas,” Blaze says. “You ready to play?”
Those words come out with extra menace, punctuated by a punch to the face that makes my teeth hurt just witnessing it. The blow makes Silas’ head bounce against the floor. When he shakes himself clear, he turns to the side and spits blood and a broken tooth against the dirty carpet.
“Fuck you, you fucking pricks,” he snarls.
“Mack, tie this son of a bitch up. You and Snake work on him until he’s feeling ready to talk. Do the kind of shit to him they wouldn’t even do in fucking Gitmo,” Stone says. “This son of a bitch will suffer for even thinking he can lay a hand on my family.”
“And I’m going to go put on some pants,” Blaze says.
“Please. You’re looking way too comfortable, brother,” Axel says. “And you should buy some new underwear.
