BooksBarbecue
Back This Side of Night
Chapters (110)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. I
  7. II
  8. PART ONE
  9. ONE
  10. TWO
  11. THREE
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. SEVEN
  16. EIGHT
  17. NINE
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. PART TWO
  22. THIRTEEN
  23. FOURTEEN
  24. FIFTEEN
  25. SIXTEEN
  26. SEVENTEEN
  27. EIGHTEEN
  28. NINETEEN
  29. TWENTY
  30. TWENTY-ONE
  31. TWENTY-TWO
  32. TWENTY-THREE
  33. TWENTY-FOUR
  34. TWENTY-FIVE
  35. TWENTY-SIX
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. PART THREE
  50. FORTY
  51. FORTY-ONE
  52. FORTY-TWO
  53. FORTY-THREE
  54. FORTY-FOUR
  55. FORTY-FIVE
  56. FORTY-SIX
  57. FORTY-SEVEN
  58. FORTY-EIGHT
  59. FORTY-NINE
  60. FIFTY
  61. FIFTY-ONE
  62. FIFTY-TWO
  63. FIFTY-THREE
  64. FIFTY-FOUR
  65. FIFTY-FIVE
  66. FIFTY-SIX
  67. FIFTY-SEVEN
  68. FIFTY-EIGHT
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. SIXTY-ONE
  72. PART FOUR
  73. SIXTY-TWO
  74. SIXTY-THREE
  75. SIXTY-FOUR
  76. SIXTY-FIVE
  77. SIXTY-SIX
  78. SIXTY-SEVEN
  79. SIXTY-EIGHT
  80. SIXTY-NINE
  81. SEVENTY
  82. SEVENTY-ONE
  83. SEVENTY-TWO
  84. SEVENTY-THREE
  85. SEVENTY-FOUR
  86. SEVENTY-FIVE
  87. SEVENTY-SIX
  88. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  89. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  90. SEVENTY-NINE
  91. EIGHTY
  92. EIGHTY-ONE
  93. EIGHTY-TWO
  94. EIGHTY-THREE
  95. EIGHTY-FOUR
  96. EPILOGUE
  97. I
  98. II
  99. III
  100. IV
  101. V
  102. VI
  103. VII
  104. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  105. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  106. Excerpt from LOST RIVER
  107. LITTLE PARIS
  108. DILLON
  109. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  110. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Right . . . home. Not to that fucking shitty double-wide you grew up in, but a nice two-story. Garage. Pool. That muy bonito house you bought that new wife of yours. How the fuck do you think you bought that home?”

Ringo raised his hand for another beer (that motherfucker would drink up a storm on someone else’s tab). “You know, I fucked that new wife of yours a couple of times last year, before you all got together. Trust me, she ain’t worth that house you bought her.” Everyone laughed—everyone always laughed when Ringo told a joke or a story—even when it was a story they’d heard a thousand times and that Ringo never, ever got tired of bringing up. He enjoyed rubbing salt into Ortiz. If there was any man on the unit Johnnie thought he could trust, it was Ringo. He was slim, good-looking—dark hair and dark eyes and dark skin—and there probably wasn’t a girl in the county he hadn’t fucked one time or another. He was also a stone-cold killer in expensive snakeskin boots (he loved those damn boots), and so far, he was the only one of the unit who hadn’t blinked at what Johnnie had told them they were going to do.

“It doesn’t matter whether she was worth it or not,” Johnnie said, trying to steer them back to the thing that mattered, the only thing that mattered right now. “You couldn’t have afforded that place without my help, without me bringing you into this.” He sat back in his chair, taking them all in with a glance. “All of you. Every fucking thing you have is ’cause of me.”

Chavez finished his beer and set it carefully on the table. The dog jumped on his forearm. “Watch it, Juanito. We’ve all earned what’s come to us . . .”

“No.” Johnnie stopped him. “This thing here, now, is how you earn it. This is the final bill for the house and the trips and the fucking cars and the money you all have hidden beneath your mattresses.”

Roman finally spoke up, sliding his eyes away from Rae’s tits, but still not quite looking at Johnnie. “It somehow doesn’t seem right, Johnnie. Not fair . . .”

Not right, not fair, like fucking my girlfriend behind my back? That’s what Johnnie wanted to say, but he choked it back.