#dustroads

"     𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝     ---     i did knock .     “     and far be him from being hailed a liar , he had rapped his knuckles upon the open door and stuck his head in solely out of a natural curiosity that would most likely lead him towards trouble , controversially , unnatural . it suits him .     “     habit’s got me looking at open doors less like an invitation and more like the first signs of somebody already well and gone , or in need of a uh . a hand . with something .     “ 

It looks like Donna’s been up for hours. Maybe she has been. Maybe she woke up right after getting to sleep and couldn’t bear to wake Joe with how restless she can get through the night. She’d made her way quietly through the house and fallen asleep for an hour or two on the couch, reading an old and tattered romance novel she’d plucked off the bookshelf. She wakes with the sun, and wonders if that’s what’s woken Joey too, or if it had simply been her clattering around in the kitchen.

She’s picked a fresh bouquet of roses from her own garden, three red and two white. They sit in a crystal vase on the kitchen counter while she brews a pot of coffee.

Spirit scrutinizes the older woman critically. They’re about the same height, but Joey looks considerably stronger, which has Spirit standing up straight as a rod and talking the biggest talk that she can.

“when i’m fucking dead you can have them.”  it doesn’t stem from any emotional attachment --- the piece of shit isn’t his, not really, just a prize from a pool tournament some low-level pusher offered out of hubris --- he just doesn’t get in a car unless he’s driving. there’s the extreme exception, when an arm or leg’s broken, typically, but he’s miraculously unscathed tonight -- aside from a minor blossoming of blood around his eye that’ll deepen to a bruise by sunrise. not enough to knock him out of play; he’s a survivor, goddamn resilient; it’s one of his few qualities he doesn’t dismiss. dean props against the hood, twirls the keys around his index finger, and stares joey down -- not a challenge, exactly, but edging dangerously close.

[tiffany_pollard_BEYONCE?_voice] TIM??