Page 35 of Baiting Kong
“I really don’t like alcohol,” Axel explained.
“It’s alright; these don’t have any booze in them.”
“Then what makes them twisted?”
“The fact that Kat swirls in the flavor of the night whenever she makes them,” Creature explained. “Folks can get them with booze or without. I got them without tonight, since you were riding with me.”
“T-thanks.”
“No worries. I want you to feel comfortable on the back of the bike with me,” Creature explained. “After everything you’ve dealt with from your old man, I doubt you would if I came in here and started pounding drinks.”
“No, I’d, um, probably just walk home.”
“My point exactly.”
“So what’s tonight’s flavor?” Axel asked as he raised his glass to his lips.
“Kiwi.”
“Ohhh, nice, I love cold kiwis in yogurt,” Axel admitted, “But it’s been forever since I’ve had any.”
Sweet and tart, ice cold, and absolutely delicious. Nothing about this lemonade had come from a powdered mix; that was for damn certain. Sighing, he savored the taste lingering on his lips before guzzling half the glass.
“Come on, let’s check out the insanity,” Creature said, guiding him over to the game and right through the crowd so Axel could get an up-close look at what was happening. A plywood barricade had been erected, big enough to fit the menbeing lowered into the square it formed. The floor was covered with colorful, squishy-looking balls that thehipposweretrying to scoop up in the baskets before they were raised back up to the platforms their boxes sat on. Each dumped in the contents of their basket, then waited to be lowered again. As soon as they were, they wiggled and squirmed, dragging the baskets with the balls they’d trapped over to the wall to try to tip them in. Their partners, who manned the ropes, were blindfolded, so they couldn’t see if their partners had completed the task or not.
As Axel watched, one man was lifted without the basket he’d lost hold of and immediately started bellowing to be lowered again. With all the noise, no one could tell who he was speaking to, meaning all the hippos were lowered, Scout and a blond using the opportunity to scoop a few extras into their baskets. From the look of things, it was a risky move, considering they weren’t allowed to use their hands except to hold on to the baskets.
“Aren’t they worried about being smashed into the floor or ceiling?” Axel asked, going up on tiptoe so Creature could hear him.
“Nope, see those big knots in the ropes there?” Creature pointed out, drawing his attention to them and the pulley systems rigged to thick beams in the ceiling. “That keeps the hippos from being raised too high or lowered too far.”
“Nice!”
The more he studied it, the more the other safety features started to stand out, like the thick harnesses each hippo wore along with motorcycle helmets, though he couldn’t decide if that was to protect them if they accidentally collided or to make them look more like hippos.
“That really looks like fun,” Axel admitted after watching for a few minutes more.
“You can try it if you’d like,” Creature offered.
“Will you be my partner?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Grinning, Axel sipped his lemonade, studying the game while working out a strategy in his head. Scout looked to be doing well at it, having devised a plan that allowed him to capture the balls in the basket and drag it with one side open, collecting as many balls as he could on the way to the nearest wall. A few times, he was tugged away before he was able to scoop them all in, but Axel never saw him come away empty-handed.
Those bright mismatched eyes of his were lit up with joy as he laughed and wiggled around, capturing balls as the men crowded around made bets on who would walk away the winner.
“I’ve got twenty on Scout,” Creature bellowed, holding the bill up until someone took it from him.
Axel could tell that Scout heard him too, because he doubled his efforts to capture a small pile that had rolled away from some of the others. There were only a few scattered clumps of balls remaining on the floor, though it seemed like the game wouldn’t be over until the last one had been scooped up.
At least they weren’t using nets, Axel mused, wondering how the hell they’d come up with their strange but seriously badass version of the game in the first place. When two guys collided, going after the same pile, Scout saw it as an opportunity to capture it beneath his basket and drag it away from them. A few short minutes later, the game ended and the boxes were lowered down, one at a time, for someone to count.
The men were lowered as well, with four men already positioned behind them to take their spots.
“We’re next on this line,” Creature declared, snagging them a spot for the round after the next one.
“You’ve got it,” the big man who seemed to be in charge of that section replied.
