Blood Bourbon

The Ugly

Daryl looked at himself in the reflective surface of the metal elevator doors, frowning at what he saw in front of him. He didn't even recognize himself, if he were being completely honest. He was wearing a suit that looked tailored to him, it was. It was the only suit he wore, a nice stormy grey, with a black dress shirt and a green tie that nearly matched his eye colour. His blond hair was brushed back from his face and he had even shaved, erasing the normal stubble he was partial to.

He had received a call from a firm in Austin, advising that they had his resume and wanted to see his portfolio and to sit down and talk to him. He was still staring down at the phone when Charlie had called several minutes later.

"Hey." He answered, praying it wasn't an emergency.

"You're in town." Charlie was clearly still angry at him and his brother's anger got Daryl's back up, "you coming home at all?"

Daryl wanted to, he missed his brother. Missed the whole family, but he hadn't planned on it. Hadn't wanted to go through the arguments again. "Wasn't sure if..."

"Fuck right off Daryl. This is your home. Your family." Charlie snarled through the receiver, but Daryl could hear something else, his brother was worried about something.

"Is everything alright?" He held his breath again, his heart racing when Charlie hesitated for a moment.

"Yeah. Mary said she saw you slip up the last day of the rodeo in New Orleans." Charlie offered, it sounded like a half truth. But Daryl didn't know why his brother would lie about something like this.

"Yeah, injured my shoulder outside of work, made grabbing the rails a little difficult." He did his best to keep the stubbornness out of his voice, though he was wary of the tongue lashing he would get.

"Come home, D. We miss you. Some of the guys are in town too. Want to meet my brother the hero." The humour was strained in his brother's voice, but Daryl had the distinct impression that his brother was trying too.

"I... uh... "

"Got a hot date?" Normally there would be teasing him Charlie's voice, but there was an edge to it, almost akin to panic.

"No. I just got off the phone with a company here in Austin... they're a sustainable... well, they're all environmental and stuff... for an interview. Tomorrow."

Charlie let out a slow breath, it was quiet, but Daryl could hear it in the phone all the same, "and?"

"Well.. They want a portfolio, which I don't have. And I would need to wear and suit, which I also don't have. And I only took a few electives looking into the whole green side of things. I don't think they realized that I'm barely above the status of intern. And that's dated."

"You have your school portfolio, and the one from your internship. It's in the office here. And Kirk is here, and we still have the suit you wore to dad's funeral in your place here. Come out tonight, Kirk will make sure it fits and you can borrow a shirt and tie." His brother hadn't given him an inch of breathing room, leaping on this opportunity and not taking no for an answer.

But it had been nice to be home, with the kids, and Charlie's team. Even Mary and his brother had been good, though there was still the tension in the air, Daryl was certain they were holding their breath for the whole non-rodeo job prospect. The next day, Daryl had ended up in a suit, in Austin, talking to a bunch of paper pushers about a job developing a sustainable, off the grid housing community for the needy.

And then walking out into the lobby afterwards, finding himself staring at a reflection of someone he didn't recognize. He even had dress shoes on, ones that matched the briefcase he was carrying like an idiot.

With a sigh, he turned and started out the main doors towards the outdoor city parking lot under the dark oppression of heavy cloud cover. It had just started raining when he turned into the parking lot, to find his truck in flames, surrounded by several fire fighters battling the mini-inferno. Luckily, there were no other cars around, and a quick glance around had him spotted by the four cops talking to two handcuffed kids. One of the cops was rifling through backpacks, pulling out what looked like molotov cocktails.

"Sir?" A female officer was standing in front of him with another cop, both of them watching him curiously, "is there something we can do to help you?"

"That's... my truck, actually." Daryl nodded to where the flames were being brought under control, leaving a blackened metal husk.

A flurry of activity followed, leaving him sitting in a cop car, talking to his insurance company as he watched the dead skeleton of his vehicle being loaded up onto a flatbed. He listened to the last couple details from the agent, before hanging up and standing up out of the car, noting that the rain had stopped.

"You got a ride home, Mr. Martin?" The female officer, Augusta Greylie asked, giving him a smile.

"Let me check." He returned the smile, before opening his phone, scrolling through the text messages from his brother. Charlie's texts seemed to be getting a little more concerned, seeing as how he hadn't answered in three hours.

Three hours?

It was already night time and he sent a message of reassurance in time for his phone to ring, his display telling him it was an unknown caller. "Hello?"

"Daryl."

"Ryker." He let out a slow breath, fighting the smile that threatened to break over his face as he recognized the man's voice.

"You in Austin now? Or you head back home?" Ryker sounded amused, his voice a little distant, as if he were driving. "I've got the night off..."

"I'm downtown actually. I... well, someone lit my truck on fire, I'm just finishing up with the police." Daryl chuckled ruefully and turned around. He ffrowned as he glanced to where the firefighters were packing up, leaving him with the four cops who had been speaking to the kids. Officer Greylie and her partner were suddenly nowhere to be seen.

"I heard about that on the news. Hey, I'm just around the corner. There's a park a couple blocks down, meet me there." Daryl had never heard Ryker try to sound relaxed before. Unaffected, like he was trying to hide the emotion in his voice. It sounded so wrong it had Daryl's spider sense going.

He nodded to the cops, who were watching him pointedly as they talked with one another. Dary felt a sense of surrealism to the scene, causing him to raise a hand in farewell and turn, walking in the direction of the park he had seen on his way here. "Alright. Hey... I've got a real... weird feeling, is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Of course. You on your way?" He sounded distracted still, but there was impatience in his voice that did nothing to soothe Daryl's odd sense of foreboding.

"Yeah. Where are you?" He was approaching the park then, frowning when he realized that it wasn't very well lit at night. He paused at the entrance as he waited for Ryker to respond, turning to look at the sign and hiding his surprise when he realized two of the cops were walking down the street casually in his direction.

Sure, cops do foot patrols all the time. They walk down the streets. But they had told him that they were traffic cops. And they had left their car behind in the parking lot.

"Ryker?"

"Beside you. Get in the car, Daryl." Ryker's voice was eerily calm, speaking as a black SUV with tint on the windows pulled up beside him. Daryl grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, seeing Ryker's double take as he climbed in and slammed the door behind him.

The other man pulled away from the curb without waiting for Daryl to buckle up, guiding the massive vehicle into traffic and away from where the two cops were standing stock still and glaring after them.

"That was fucking weird." Daryl turned from the window to look at Ryker curiously. "Am I just paranoid?"

Ryker glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, before smirking, "why the suit, cowboy? You look delectable, but I almost didn't recognize you."