Post by K.I.S.S. on Sept 18, 2015 22:09:06 GMT -6
Sometimes it seems like there are a million bars in New Orleans and the odds were pretty good, at some point, Ashley Kenyon had been inside all of them. Some she came into to play, some she came into to party and some she came into for work. Over the years, Katt Industries Special Services had visited a good many of the holes people went to to get themselves watered on the idea that the owners were doing something the cops couldn’t or wouldn’t nail them for.
Ashley had always played the bait in these situations, the one who goes in, enjoys a drink and lets everyone in the place think she’s there just to mingle and get fucked up in one way or another. It was both fun and part of the job to let the patrons buy her drinks and sometimes party favors that she would get to play with later with her partners and friends. She would lead them all on and distract them while Nikki hacked into the place or while Bethany blew up the safe or whatever else needed to go boom for the job, all the while knowing that Jeszika could come in shooting any second now if the situation got out of hand. Her job was always the same, always to be the tease that made sure nobody noticed they were not only not going to get to fuck her, but they were probably in the process of fucking themselves.
She was good at it and she enjoyed it…
But now, she finds herself in a bar she’s started frequenting lately. Prey had lost it’s luster for her and Sanctuary, being owned by Nikki Peltier’s family, was a little too close to home that way.
This place was different.
This was place was the kind of place rock stars would lovingly and derisively call a dive. It was called La Derniere Lune and it certainly looked like a place people being driven crazy by the phases of the moon would hang out. The owner of the place, Clay Higgins, was a guy who looked like he should either be barking orders at new recruits in Full Metal Jacket or making one of those viral Crime Stoppers videos where he would make fun of the ultimate idiocy inherent in most criminal acts. He was hard but fair and made sure the place didn’t turn into Roadhouse with a cajun accent when the all the oil rig guys came in for a breather from the Gulf.
Ashley had found herself a nice seat in a corner where if she so chose to look for more than beer on the night, Clay wouldn’t yell at her for being stupid and doing that shit where the cops could hassle him about illegal activities in his bar. As she finishes her glass of Alexander Keith’s, a kind of beer she should not be able to enjoy here but can because of certain connections Clay had made, a stranger approaches carrying two more of the same. She’d seen him get them from Clay and knew there was nothing added in and figured, what the hell, let’s hear this guy’s pitch for whatever he’s selling. The guy starts with obviously fake southern drawl so bad, she almost laughs herself sick right there.
Man: Y'all parched, darlin'?
Ashley looks up at the guy and can’t decide if this is cute or just amusingly stupid. Playing along, she puts on the same fake, exaggerated accent as well.
Ashley Kenyon: Y’all ain’t from round here, are ya, Stranger?
The stranger laughs, knowing she's figured him out. He continues to speak with a soft Nova Scotian lilt, the voice of somebody who grew up near the sea.
Man: Nah. I'm from Nova Scotia. Malcolm Campbell.
He takes her hand in his, and brushes his lips over the top. Ashley nods, dropping the exaggeration and allowing her natural New Orleans to shine through.
Ashley Kenyon: Ashley Kenyon, born and raised here.
Malcolm, instantly comfortable now that he knows she's not hostile, slides into the seat next to Ash, and pops the tops on the beers with an opener from his keychain.
Malcolm Campbell: So, what brings you to this mostly legal den of iniquity?
Ashley chuckles.
Ashley Kenyon: If you pull out an eightball next, I’m gonna think somebody was profiling me...
Malcolm Campbell: Left mine at home. I don't do freebies.
Ashley shrugs, the smile falling slightly, a tinge of resentful anger entering her voice.
Ashley Kenyon: That’s ok, I can afford it if I really want it, though, it would probably just make everybody start calling me “The Party Girl” as if there’s something horribly, Biblically wrong with that.
Malcolm snorts.
Malcolm Campbell: Least they didn't run you out. I blew five grand up my nose back in Glace Bay...and then I missed the critical part of paying the angry drug dealers.
Ashley Kenyon: That does tend to piss them off an awful lot, yes.
She pauses, looking over thoughtfully.
Ashley Kenyon: Are you serious about liking that or are you just making shit up to try and get in my pants?
Malcolm Campbell: If I had an overwhelming desire to get in your pants, I could've done it a lot earlier. You've been here a week. I may not have a degree, but I'm too damn charming by half...and if you don't believe me, I can provide references.
Ashley Kenyon: Well, damn, I bet that just gets all the girls, telling them they’re not your type that fast.
She pauses even as the small television over the bar flashes an advertisement for the Raising Hell Pay-Per-View on Sunday.
Ashley Kenyon: Yeah, this seemed like a nice place to avoid…
The ad hits the part with her face on it, opposite her sister’s.
Ashley Kenyon: That…
Malcolm looks over, wearing an amused grin.
Malcolm Campbell: They started whispering about the second day. You can never hide long.
Ashley shrugs indifferently.
Ashley Kenyon: At least Clay don’t serve piss water.
Malcolm Campbell: I'll be sure to tell my friend that you enjoy the fruits of his labour. In any case, you sound like you're chewing on something.
Ashley nods happily before shaking her head at the television.
Ashley Kenyon: Do they really need to play that damn ad twice an hour on that station? I get that there’s four hometown people on the card, but fuck…
Malcolm smirks.
Malcolm Campbell: Never a bad reason to have hot women on TV, I suppose...
Ashley Kenyon: Oh, so now I AM hot...
Malcolm Campbell: Never said you weren't, princess. I'm just not into fawning.
Ashley nods.
Ashley Kenyon: Let me guess, you’re into blondes?
Malcolm Campbell: I'm into anybody that isn't full of shit. Tons of girls are just in it for a line or an eightball or a drink or what have you. Then they call themselves feminists. Like it's my obligation to cater. I don't hate women, believe me. I'm just not into bullshit.
Ashley nods like she’s heard this a million times before.
Ashley Kenyon: So what made you take a swing at me then?
Malcolm Campbell: You didn't grind your ass on me hustling a drink.
Ashley Kenyon: I can pay for my own damn drinks.
Malcolm Campbell: Admirable trait. I...am taken care of, in return for taking care of things. Clay needs something, he gives me a shout, I get it done, he takes care of whatever I need. My car? Used to be a problem with pushers here.
She nods, sitting back slightly.
Ashley Kenyon: Is that why nobody has fucked with my Camaro all week?
Chuckling almost cruelly, Ashley nods, finally taking a swig of the beer placed in front of her.
Ashley Kenyon: So I’d assume this is usually when you’d get blown off by the feminazi? Because this is totally usually when my sister or our friend or our manager would be like, “Ok, Ash, that one’s totally not a good idea, let’s go.” and make me look like a bigger bitch than they already think i am.
Malcolm Campbell: Exactly, but feminazis are self-serving beasts. Not worth keeping anyway. If a girl gets that, she's usually worth keeping around.
Taking it all in, she allows her eyes to drift over the man sitting before her.
Ashley Kenyon: Definitely not like my last boyfriend…
Malcolm sips his beer.
Malcolm Campbell: Do tell.
Ashley Kenyon: He works security at Prey and moonlights as a road manager for the house band, the Red Hoods, when they go on small tours. He was also a heroin addict until my sister’s boyfriend tried to beat it out of him while being addicted to God knows how many pills and alcohol himself.
Malcolm Campbell: She sounds like a gem…
Ashley Kenyon: Billy, Bethy or Brody?
Malcolm Campbell: All of the above, if you think about it.
Ashley Kenyon: No secret, Brody and I have never really…
Trailing off, she takes a swig from the beer.
Ashley Kenyon: I hated him when he was married to Jezzy and am not exactly a fan of the man now that he’s dating my sister. Kicked him in the mouth on the last show…
Malcolm Campbell: Don't you love how such people get to be "good guys" for blatantly lying to everyone around them, and you're the fucking devil for being honest?
Ashley Kenyon: Especially after he attacked a pregnant woman in front of her. I have no idea how Bethy worked out forgiving him for that one other than Aerynn was a royal bitch and stabbed us all in the back.
Malcolm Campbell: Aww, you don't know? Being a bitch means any disproportionate justification is okay.
Ashley Kenyon: Don't you know, Bethy's the good caring sister and I'm the petty, short-tempered bitch sister?
Malcolm Campbell: Because character traits that you're born with make you inherently a bad person.
Ashley shrugs.
Ashley Kenyon: They even worked the last job without me… called in that damn biker gang to help them instead.
Malcolm Campbell: Because biker gangs are made up of sterling people with high moral character that would never sell you into sexual slavery for meth and some kind of beer ending with "Ice".
Ashley shrugs.
Ashley Kenyon: I wouldn’t know, I haven’t had much contact with the Dead Men except for our illustrious World Champion, Dorian…
Malcolm Campbell: Wait, your world champion is in a biker gang? And people LIKE him?
Ashley Kenyon: When he's fighting a bitch like Vince Jones? Yes.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, yes, they love bitches, they spend eight months a year locked up.
Ashley chuckles.
Ashley Kenyon: Watch it or Vince’ll think you’re talking him and his brother and that time they got arrested in Baltimore for being idiots during the riots.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, those Baltimore jail cells get awful cold...
Ashley Kenyon: Especially when you're a pair of stoned dumbasses from New York who think it's funny to come down and try and clown people in the middle of a race riot.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, apparently they were mad, bro.
Ashley Kenyon: And yo man, V was gonna show 'em all how it be done, Son.
Malcolm Campbell: Does he seriously talk like that?
Ashley Kenyon: All. The. Time.
Malcolm Campbell: Why hasn't he been killed by a real biker gang for impersonating somebody tough?
Ashley Kenyon: He never goes anywhere alone. He's always got his scummy agent Reno, his hanger-on, coattail-riding little brother Keshawn and his screeching harpy girlfriend Jasmine with him.
Malcolm Campbell: Perhaps you should have someone to watch your back, too.
Ashley Kenyon: With him? Been there, got cheated, re-matched and beat that.
Malcolm Campbell: All I'm saying is, maybe you shouldn't have to have your head on a swivel.
Ashley Kenyon: You are a strange one, I’ll give you that.
Malcolm Campbell: It's New Orleans. Normal people move.
Ashley considers this for a second and nods.
Ashley Kenyon: Aye, Captain Mal, that be true, but here we only be knowin’ each other for half an hour, you ain’t even proven you aren’t out to rob me or just try to bang me and never see me again yet and here ye are, telling me i should let you watch my back against my sister where if i win, I’m a record setting champion staring down the main event, where i should have been already having beaten both Dorian and Vince one on one and if i lose, my sister becomes the first Triple Crown Champion UWA has ever seen…
Malcolm Campbell: Little presumptive to think I be wantin' t' watch your back. And let's be frank. If I wanted to rob you or bang you for sport, I'd have done it by now.
Ashley Kenyon: And i'd have either cut your balls off or put a bullet in your head but I kinda like that as it is for the moment.
Malcolm Campbell: I can handle myself, Beautiful. Besides, you seem interested in my balls and/or head.
Ashley Kenyon: My sister, Nikki and Jezzy used to watch my back.
Malcolm Campbell: And now you've pissed 'em all off to the point where a shifty bar at the edge of the parish practically became home.
Ashley glares back.
Ashley Kenyon: I didn’t do shit to them, they abandoned me!
Malcolm Campbell: Didn't say they were justified.
Ashley cocks her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Did one of them hire you to pump me for information or something?
Malcolm chuckles.
Malcolm Campbell: I'd rather pump you in another sense.
Ashley Kenyon: Didn’t say no...
Malcolm Campbell: Didn't say anything yet. I never said I wanted you to get in my Jeep so I could drive you home and do you on the welcome mat.
Ashley Kenyon: This double talk shit, this is how you managed to get so much coke from dealers before they realized you’d done their whole stash, ain’t it?
Malcolm chuckles.
Malcolm Campbell: It helped.
Ashley Kenyon: Them being stupidly high on their own supply helped too, I'd imagine.
Malcolm Campbell: Oxy. They literally sold coke to pay for Oxy. This is where I come from.
Ashley grimaces.
Ashley Kenyon: Man… I’m not so much a fan with opiates…
Malcolm Campbell: Got to be a big thing there. They did a documentary.
Ashley Kenyon: Brody does that shit. It’s what’s so funny about him telling Billy he couldn’t do heroin.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, yeah. Do shitty opiates, and keep big pharma rolling in those dollars.
Ashley Kenyon: He doesn’t buy from them.
Unconsciously, she starts to rub her arm.
Ashley Kenyon: Billy asked me to shoot up with him…
Malcolm Campbell: And you did.
Ashley Kenyon: Couple of times, it scared me. I passed out both times. He ran out on me after the second one, got all paranoid about it. Then Brody beat his ass, the dealer’s ass and threatened to kill them and Billy stopped. Aerynn Donnelly tried to make him start again but that’s when V used his loaded gloves on me and made sure i couldn’t party for a while whether i wanted to or not.
She shakes her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Woman shot him up with some seriously diluted meth, thinking she’d gotten heroin because… she had no idea what it was supposed to look like. Damn near killed him.
Malcolm Campbell: Fuck.
Ashley nods.
Ashley Kenyon: So he laid there for a couple of months waiting to see if all of his parts would start working again because of what the meth was cut with and all while I had to wait the same couple of months for the concussion from the loaded gloves Vince used on me to go away…
Pausing, Ashley shakes her head in disgust.
Ashley Kenyon: And my sister, Nikki and Jezzy never trusted me again!
Malcolm Campbell: Because you got knocked out through no fault of your own?
Ashley shakes her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Because I wanted things to be like they had been but Jezzy suddenly decided she was an addict and needed to stop everything. Because Nikki was busy coordinating business things to care if we did things as a group anymore and Bethy…
She trails off, gritting her teeth in anger.
Ashley Kenyon: They thought it was about the coke.
Malcolm Campbell: Bitches.
Ashley Kenyon: Don't spose you'd like to take a shot at helping me forget about them, would ya?
Malcolm Campbell: Thought you'd never ask...
Ashley Kenyon: My cab should be here about now... shall we?
Malcolm’s eyes narrow.
Ashley Kenyon: I never was crazy enough to bring my Camaro here.
Malcolm Campbell: Well yeah, they'd rob you.
Ashley Kenyon: Now I'm glad I'm not drunk the way I wanted to be.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, play your cards right, I'll put you off liquor for good.
Ashley Kenyon: We'll see, I spose, won't we?
Malcolm Campbell: S'pose so…
- - - - - - - - - - -
Ashley Kenyon stands in a grass field watching other pet owners running around the park with their dogs as her own border collie, Wolfie, sits her feet, seemingly quite happy to just sit there. Ashley tosses the young pup a treat and then smirks into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: Hiya, Bethy…
Squatting down next to Wolfie, Ashley start to rub his chest with one hand while keeping a firm grip on his leash with the other.
Ashley Kenyon: Are you crying yet?
She pauses to look into the camera as if she knows the answer is not going to be the truth no matter what it is.
Ashley Kenyon: Please tell me you haven’t been since I kicked that jackass’s head off because honestly, it the only thing you ever seem to do and it’s getting fucking old!
Shaking her head, Ashley turns back to Wolfie and starts rubbing his head just behind the ears.
Ashley Kenyon: It’s like every time you turn around, Bethany’s fucking crying! Jeszika makes a bitch of herself, Bethany’s crying. The Children attack people, Bethany’s crying. Aerynn’s tuned on the world, Bethany’s crying. I wanna get the family together for a beer, Bethany’s crying.
She stands up, glaring into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: That’s all you do good anymore! You cry about things and for everybody, everybody but one person!
Her free hand comes up, pointing to her own chest.
Ashley Kenyon: Why am I the only one you never seem to give two shits about, Bethy? I’m your sister, your tag team partner, and a business partner, or so you always told me I was, anyway! But that’s not how it usually ends up, is it?
Her hand lowers as she shakes her head slowly, her hateful glare only intensifying as the seconds tick by.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m always the last one to be looked at, the last to be consulted and I’m the one you always look at and try to hold back. I was never good enough for you, never could do things well enough for the rest of you to actually accept me as an equal. I was always the little sister for all of you. Nikki and Jezzy, they always looked to you…
Looking off into the distance to the right, Ashley crosses her arms in disgust.
Ashley Kenyon: Even when we came to UWA and the rest of the world said I was the good one, that I was the reason to watch K.I.S.S., Nikki and Jezzy still looked to you and just told me to follow my big sister’s lead and why, because none of you could stand that, for once, it wasn’t about you, it was about me!
Licking her lips, Ashley tries to restrain herself here in the park.
Ashley Kenyon: But you couldn’t let me have that, could you?
She shakes her head again.
Ashley Kenyon: Oh no, sweet Bethany needs to be the center of attention. She has to be “the good one.” I go out and win something on my own becoming the first, and so far only, double champion in the history of UWA and what happens? You have to go pick a fight with Aerynn Donnelly and horn in on Jezzy’s fight just so you can try and upstage and push me to the side all over again!
She squats down reaching into a duffle bag that’s been lying next to Wolfie this whole time.
Ashley Kenyon: Well no more!
She pulls out her title belt and stands back up.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m the UWA North American Champion and I damn sure should be in the main event against Dorian instead of Vince Jones because I’m the one who can say I beat both of them, one on one, instead, I’m stuck looking for some other way to get the world to realize I am NOT just Bethany Kenyon’s little sister and what better way to do that than to get Bethany Kenyon in the ring and beat her too!
Holding the belt up to her chest, she nods to the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: This says I can do it on my own. This says I never needed K.I.S.S. or Arsenal or anything else to succeed. This says everything you ever told me, that I wasn’t good enough, that I could never kick high enough, punch hard enough, die dead enough, or take enough bullets… was wrong!
She nods grimly, her glare intensifying again.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m not the one who couldn’t hold onto a championship, I’m not the one who couldn’t hold onto friends and I’m not the one who wouldn’t save Mama!
Throwing the belt over her shoulder, points accusingly into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: Admit it, Bethy, you KILLED Mama, you killed our family and now you’re out to kill my career by killing my momentum! Well I’m not gonna let you do that again! I’m gonna show you, show the world and show Georgio that you ALL made a damn big mistake when you didn’t bet on me! I walk into that ring, I put you down and show the whole damn world that not only am I the better sister, I’m the best in this whole damn company and you people can’t ignore me anymore! So you come on, Bethy, you come on and try to tell me I can’t die dead enough again and I’ll show you how dead wrong you really are!
Ashley had always played the bait in these situations, the one who goes in, enjoys a drink and lets everyone in the place think she’s there just to mingle and get fucked up in one way or another. It was both fun and part of the job to let the patrons buy her drinks and sometimes party favors that she would get to play with later with her partners and friends. She would lead them all on and distract them while Nikki hacked into the place or while Bethany blew up the safe or whatever else needed to go boom for the job, all the while knowing that Jeszika could come in shooting any second now if the situation got out of hand. Her job was always the same, always to be the tease that made sure nobody noticed they were not only not going to get to fuck her, but they were probably in the process of fucking themselves.
She was good at it and she enjoyed it…
But now, she finds herself in a bar she’s started frequenting lately. Prey had lost it’s luster for her and Sanctuary, being owned by Nikki Peltier’s family, was a little too close to home that way.
This place was different.
This was place was the kind of place rock stars would lovingly and derisively call a dive. It was called La Derniere Lune and it certainly looked like a place people being driven crazy by the phases of the moon would hang out. The owner of the place, Clay Higgins, was a guy who looked like he should either be barking orders at new recruits in Full Metal Jacket or making one of those viral Crime Stoppers videos where he would make fun of the ultimate idiocy inherent in most criminal acts. He was hard but fair and made sure the place didn’t turn into Roadhouse with a cajun accent when the all the oil rig guys came in for a breather from the Gulf.
Ashley had found herself a nice seat in a corner where if she so chose to look for more than beer on the night, Clay wouldn’t yell at her for being stupid and doing that shit where the cops could hassle him about illegal activities in his bar. As she finishes her glass of Alexander Keith’s, a kind of beer she should not be able to enjoy here but can because of certain connections Clay had made, a stranger approaches carrying two more of the same. She’d seen him get them from Clay and knew there was nothing added in and figured, what the hell, let’s hear this guy’s pitch for whatever he’s selling. The guy starts with obviously fake southern drawl so bad, she almost laughs herself sick right there.
Man: Y'all parched, darlin'?
Ashley looks up at the guy and can’t decide if this is cute or just amusingly stupid. Playing along, she puts on the same fake, exaggerated accent as well.
Ashley Kenyon: Y’all ain’t from round here, are ya, Stranger?
The stranger laughs, knowing she's figured him out. He continues to speak with a soft Nova Scotian lilt, the voice of somebody who grew up near the sea.
Man: Nah. I'm from Nova Scotia. Malcolm Campbell.
He takes her hand in his, and brushes his lips over the top. Ashley nods, dropping the exaggeration and allowing her natural New Orleans to shine through.
Ashley Kenyon: Ashley Kenyon, born and raised here.
Malcolm, instantly comfortable now that he knows she's not hostile, slides into the seat next to Ash, and pops the tops on the beers with an opener from his keychain.
Malcolm Campbell: So, what brings you to this mostly legal den of iniquity?
Ashley chuckles.
Ashley Kenyon: If you pull out an eightball next, I’m gonna think somebody was profiling me...
Malcolm Campbell: Left mine at home. I don't do freebies.
Ashley shrugs, the smile falling slightly, a tinge of resentful anger entering her voice.
Ashley Kenyon: That’s ok, I can afford it if I really want it, though, it would probably just make everybody start calling me “The Party Girl” as if there’s something horribly, Biblically wrong with that.
Malcolm snorts.
Malcolm Campbell: Least they didn't run you out. I blew five grand up my nose back in Glace Bay...and then I missed the critical part of paying the angry drug dealers.
Ashley Kenyon: That does tend to piss them off an awful lot, yes.
She pauses, looking over thoughtfully.
Ashley Kenyon: Are you serious about liking that or are you just making shit up to try and get in my pants?
Malcolm Campbell: If I had an overwhelming desire to get in your pants, I could've done it a lot earlier. You've been here a week. I may not have a degree, but I'm too damn charming by half...and if you don't believe me, I can provide references.
Ashley Kenyon: Well, damn, I bet that just gets all the girls, telling them they’re not your type that fast.
She pauses even as the small television over the bar flashes an advertisement for the Raising Hell Pay-Per-View on Sunday.
Ashley Kenyon: Yeah, this seemed like a nice place to avoid…
The ad hits the part with her face on it, opposite her sister’s.
Ashley Kenyon: That…
Malcolm looks over, wearing an amused grin.
Malcolm Campbell: They started whispering about the second day. You can never hide long.
Ashley shrugs indifferently.
Ashley Kenyon: At least Clay don’t serve piss water.
Malcolm Campbell: I'll be sure to tell my friend that you enjoy the fruits of his labour. In any case, you sound like you're chewing on something.
Ashley nods happily before shaking her head at the television.
Ashley Kenyon: Do they really need to play that damn ad twice an hour on that station? I get that there’s four hometown people on the card, but fuck…
Malcolm smirks.
Malcolm Campbell: Never a bad reason to have hot women on TV, I suppose...
Ashley Kenyon: Oh, so now I AM hot...
Malcolm Campbell: Never said you weren't, princess. I'm just not into fawning.
Ashley nods.
Ashley Kenyon: Let me guess, you’re into blondes?
Malcolm Campbell: I'm into anybody that isn't full of shit. Tons of girls are just in it for a line or an eightball or a drink or what have you. Then they call themselves feminists. Like it's my obligation to cater. I don't hate women, believe me. I'm just not into bullshit.
Ashley nods like she’s heard this a million times before.
Ashley Kenyon: So what made you take a swing at me then?
Malcolm Campbell: You didn't grind your ass on me hustling a drink.
Ashley Kenyon: I can pay for my own damn drinks.
Malcolm Campbell: Admirable trait. I...am taken care of, in return for taking care of things. Clay needs something, he gives me a shout, I get it done, he takes care of whatever I need. My car? Used to be a problem with pushers here.
She nods, sitting back slightly.
Ashley Kenyon: Is that why nobody has fucked with my Camaro all week?
Chuckling almost cruelly, Ashley nods, finally taking a swig of the beer placed in front of her.
Ashley Kenyon: So I’d assume this is usually when you’d get blown off by the feminazi? Because this is totally usually when my sister or our friend or our manager would be like, “Ok, Ash, that one’s totally not a good idea, let’s go.” and make me look like a bigger bitch than they already think i am.
Malcolm Campbell: Exactly, but feminazis are self-serving beasts. Not worth keeping anyway. If a girl gets that, she's usually worth keeping around.
Taking it all in, she allows her eyes to drift over the man sitting before her.
Ashley Kenyon: Definitely not like my last boyfriend…
Malcolm sips his beer.
Malcolm Campbell: Do tell.
Ashley Kenyon: He works security at Prey and moonlights as a road manager for the house band, the Red Hoods, when they go on small tours. He was also a heroin addict until my sister’s boyfriend tried to beat it out of him while being addicted to God knows how many pills and alcohol himself.
Malcolm Campbell: She sounds like a gem…
Ashley Kenyon: Billy, Bethy or Brody?
Malcolm Campbell: All of the above, if you think about it.
Ashley Kenyon: No secret, Brody and I have never really…
Trailing off, she takes a swig from the beer.
Ashley Kenyon: I hated him when he was married to Jezzy and am not exactly a fan of the man now that he’s dating my sister. Kicked him in the mouth on the last show…
Malcolm Campbell: Don't you love how such people get to be "good guys" for blatantly lying to everyone around them, and you're the fucking devil for being honest?
Ashley Kenyon: Especially after he attacked a pregnant woman in front of her. I have no idea how Bethy worked out forgiving him for that one other than Aerynn was a royal bitch and stabbed us all in the back.
Malcolm Campbell: Aww, you don't know? Being a bitch means any disproportionate justification is okay.
Ashley Kenyon: Don't you know, Bethy's the good caring sister and I'm the petty, short-tempered bitch sister?
Malcolm Campbell: Because character traits that you're born with make you inherently a bad person.
Ashley shrugs.
Ashley Kenyon: They even worked the last job without me… called in that damn biker gang to help them instead.
Malcolm Campbell: Because biker gangs are made up of sterling people with high moral character that would never sell you into sexual slavery for meth and some kind of beer ending with "Ice".
Ashley shrugs.
Ashley Kenyon: I wouldn’t know, I haven’t had much contact with the Dead Men except for our illustrious World Champion, Dorian…
Malcolm Campbell: Wait, your world champion is in a biker gang? And people LIKE him?
Ashley Kenyon: When he's fighting a bitch like Vince Jones? Yes.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, yes, they love bitches, they spend eight months a year locked up.
Ashley chuckles.
Ashley Kenyon: Watch it or Vince’ll think you’re talking him and his brother and that time they got arrested in Baltimore for being idiots during the riots.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, those Baltimore jail cells get awful cold...
Ashley Kenyon: Especially when you're a pair of stoned dumbasses from New York who think it's funny to come down and try and clown people in the middle of a race riot.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, apparently they were mad, bro.
Ashley Kenyon: And yo man, V was gonna show 'em all how it be done, Son.
Malcolm Campbell: Does he seriously talk like that?
Ashley Kenyon: All. The. Time.
Malcolm Campbell: Why hasn't he been killed by a real biker gang for impersonating somebody tough?
Ashley Kenyon: He never goes anywhere alone. He's always got his scummy agent Reno, his hanger-on, coattail-riding little brother Keshawn and his screeching harpy girlfriend Jasmine with him.
Malcolm Campbell: Perhaps you should have someone to watch your back, too.
Ashley Kenyon: With him? Been there, got cheated, re-matched and beat that.
Malcolm Campbell: All I'm saying is, maybe you shouldn't have to have your head on a swivel.
Ashley Kenyon: You are a strange one, I’ll give you that.
Malcolm Campbell: It's New Orleans. Normal people move.
Ashley considers this for a second and nods.
Ashley Kenyon: Aye, Captain Mal, that be true, but here we only be knowin’ each other for half an hour, you ain’t even proven you aren’t out to rob me or just try to bang me and never see me again yet and here ye are, telling me i should let you watch my back against my sister where if i win, I’m a record setting champion staring down the main event, where i should have been already having beaten both Dorian and Vince one on one and if i lose, my sister becomes the first Triple Crown Champion UWA has ever seen…
Malcolm Campbell: Little presumptive to think I be wantin' t' watch your back. And let's be frank. If I wanted to rob you or bang you for sport, I'd have done it by now.
Ashley Kenyon: And i'd have either cut your balls off or put a bullet in your head but I kinda like that as it is for the moment.
Malcolm Campbell: I can handle myself, Beautiful. Besides, you seem interested in my balls and/or head.
Ashley Kenyon: My sister, Nikki and Jezzy used to watch my back.
Malcolm Campbell: And now you've pissed 'em all off to the point where a shifty bar at the edge of the parish practically became home.
Ashley glares back.
Ashley Kenyon: I didn’t do shit to them, they abandoned me!
Malcolm Campbell: Didn't say they were justified.
Ashley cocks her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Did one of them hire you to pump me for information or something?
Malcolm chuckles.
Malcolm Campbell: I'd rather pump you in another sense.
Ashley Kenyon: Didn’t say no...
Malcolm Campbell: Didn't say anything yet. I never said I wanted you to get in my Jeep so I could drive you home and do you on the welcome mat.
Ashley Kenyon: This double talk shit, this is how you managed to get so much coke from dealers before they realized you’d done their whole stash, ain’t it?
Malcolm chuckles.
Malcolm Campbell: It helped.
Ashley Kenyon: Them being stupidly high on their own supply helped too, I'd imagine.
Malcolm Campbell: Oxy. They literally sold coke to pay for Oxy. This is where I come from.
Ashley grimaces.
Ashley Kenyon: Man… I’m not so much a fan with opiates…
Malcolm Campbell: Got to be a big thing there. They did a documentary.
Ashley Kenyon: Brody does that shit. It’s what’s so funny about him telling Billy he couldn’t do heroin.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, yeah. Do shitty opiates, and keep big pharma rolling in those dollars.
Ashley Kenyon: He doesn’t buy from them.
Unconsciously, she starts to rub her arm.
Ashley Kenyon: Billy asked me to shoot up with him…
Malcolm Campbell: And you did.
Ashley Kenyon: Couple of times, it scared me. I passed out both times. He ran out on me after the second one, got all paranoid about it. Then Brody beat his ass, the dealer’s ass and threatened to kill them and Billy stopped. Aerynn Donnelly tried to make him start again but that’s when V used his loaded gloves on me and made sure i couldn’t party for a while whether i wanted to or not.
She shakes her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Woman shot him up with some seriously diluted meth, thinking she’d gotten heroin because… she had no idea what it was supposed to look like. Damn near killed him.
Malcolm Campbell: Fuck.
Ashley nods.
Ashley Kenyon: So he laid there for a couple of months waiting to see if all of his parts would start working again because of what the meth was cut with and all while I had to wait the same couple of months for the concussion from the loaded gloves Vince used on me to go away…
Pausing, Ashley shakes her head in disgust.
Ashley Kenyon: And my sister, Nikki and Jezzy never trusted me again!
Malcolm Campbell: Because you got knocked out through no fault of your own?
Ashley shakes her head.
Ashley Kenyon: Because I wanted things to be like they had been but Jezzy suddenly decided she was an addict and needed to stop everything. Because Nikki was busy coordinating business things to care if we did things as a group anymore and Bethy…
She trails off, gritting her teeth in anger.
Ashley Kenyon: They thought it was about the coke.
Malcolm Campbell: Bitches.
Ashley Kenyon: Don't spose you'd like to take a shot at helping me forget about them, would ya?
Malcolm Campbell: Thought you'd never ask...
Ashley Kenyon: My cab should be here about now... shall we?
Malcolm’s eyes narrow.
Ashley Kenyon: I never was crazy enough to bring my Camaro here.
Malcolm Campbell: Well yeah, they'd rob you.
Ashley Kenyon: Now I'm glad I'm not drunk the way I wanted to be.
Malcolm Campbell: Well, play your cards right, I'll put you off liquor for good.
Ashley Kenyon: We'll see, I spose, won't we?
Malcolm Campbell: S'pose so…
- - - - - - - - - - -
Ashley Kenyon stands in a grass field watching other pet owners running around the park with their dogs as her own border collie, Wolfie, sits her feet, seemingly quite happy to just sit there. Ashley tosses the young pup a treat and then smirks into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: Hiya, Bethy…
Squatting down next to Wolfie, Ashley start to rub his chest with one hand while keeping a firm grip on his leash with the other.
Ashley Kenyon: Are you crying yet?
She pauses to look into the camera as if she knows the answer is not going to be the truth no matter what it is.
Ashley Kenyon: Please tell me you haven’t been since I kicked that jackass’s head off because honestly, it the only thing you ever seem to do and it’s getting fucking old!
Shaking her head, Ashley turns back to Wolfie and starts rubbing his head just behind the ears.
Ashley Kenyon: It’s like every time you turn around, Bethany’s fucking crying! Jeszika makes a bitch of herself, Bethany’s crying. The Children attack people, Bethany’s crying. Aerynn’s tuned on the world, Bethany’s crying. I wanna get the family together for a beer, Bethany’s crying.
She stands up, glaring into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: That’s all you do good anymore! You cry about things and for everybody, everybody but one person!
Her free hand comes up, pointing to her own chest.
Ashley Kenyon: Why am I the only one you never seem to give two shits about, Bethy? I’m your sister, your tag team partner, and a business partner, or so you always told me I was, anyway! But that’s not how it usually ends up, is it?
Her hand lowers as she shakes her head slowly, her hateful glare only intensifying as the seconds tick by.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m always the last one to be looked at, the last to be consulted and I’m the one you always look at and try to hold back. I was never good enough for you, never could do things well enough for the rest of you to actually accept me as an equal. I was always the little sister for all of you. Nikki and Jezzy, they always looked to you…
Looking off into the distance to the right, Ashley crosses her arms in disgust.
Ashley Kenyon: Even when we came to UWA and the rest of the world said I was the good one, that I was the reason to watch K.I.S.S., Nikki and Jezzy still looked to you and just told me to follow my big sister’s lead and why, because none of you could stand that, for once, it wasn’t about you, it was about me!
Licking her lips, Ashley tries to restrain herself here in the park.
Ashley Kenyon: But you couldn’t let me have that, could you?
She shakes her head again.
Ashley Kenyon: Oh no, sweet Bethany needs to be the center of attention. She has to be “the good one.” I go out and win something on my own becoming the first, and so far only, double champion in the history of UWA and what happens? You have to go pick a fight with Aerynn Donnelly and horn in on Jezzy’s fight just so you can try and upstage and push me to the side all over again!
She squats down reaching into a duffle bag that’s been lying next to Wolfie this whole time.
Ashley Kenyon: Well no more!
She pulls out her title belt and stands back up.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m the UWA North American Champion and I damn sure should be in the main event against Dorian instead of Vince Jones because I’m the one who can say I beat both of them, one on one, instead, I’m stuck looking for some other way to get the world to realize I am NOT just Bethany Kenyon’s little sister and what better way to do that than to get Bethany Kenyon in the ring and beat her too!
Holding the belt up to her chest, she nods to the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: This says I can do it on my own. This says I never needed K.I.S.S. or Arsenal or anything else to succeed. This says everything you ever told me, that I wasn’t good enough, that I could never kick high enough, punch hard enough, die dead enough, or take enough bullets… was wrong!
She nods grimly, her glare intensifying again.
Ashley Kenyon: I’m not the one who couldn’t hold onto a championship, I’m not the one who couldn’t hold onto friends and I’m not the one who wouldn’t save Mama!
Throwing the belt over her shoulder, points accusingly into the camera.
Ashley Kenyon: Admit it, Bethy, you KILLED Mama, you killed our family and now you’re out to kill my career by killing my momentum! Well I’m not gonna let you do that again! I’m gonna show you, show the world and show Georgio that you ALL made a damn big mistake when you didn’t bet on me! I walk into that ring, I put you down and show the whole damn world that not only am I the better sister, I’m the best in this whole damn company and you people can’t ignore me anymore! So you come on, Bethy, you come on and try to tell me I can’t die dead enough again and I’ll show you how dead wrong you really are!
