Boys' Night (Way) Out: A Novella in the Alastair Stone Chronicles Read online

  Boys’ Night (Way) Out

  A Novella in the Alastair Stone Chronicles

  R. L. King

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

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  Books by R. L. King

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Boys’ Night (Way) Out takes place after The Madness Below.

  Copyright © 2020 by R. L. King

  Boys’ Night (Way) Out: A Novella in the Alastair Stone Chronicles

  Edited by John Helfers

  Cover Art by Streetlight Graphics

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people, except by agreement with the vendor of the book. If you would like to share this book with another person, please use the proper avenues. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  1

  Okay, I admit it. I knew what I was getting into when I asked Alastair Stone to be my best man. Including that it would mean he’d be planning my bachelor party.

  Especially that it would mean he’d be planning my bachelor party.

  I had literally no idea what he’d come up with. My only request when he’d agreed to do it was that he didn’t “ship me off to another dimension.” Not the kind of request 99.9% of grooms-to-be would have to make of their best men, but with Al it was perfectly legitimate, and possibly necessary. All other bets were off.

  I deliberately stayed away from the planning, and not just because I was up to my neck in actual wedding preparations with Amber. From the knowing looks Verity shot me during the weeks leading up to the party, I knew Al had been consulting her about it, but that was okay. Maybe she’d come up with some good ideas. I was sure the combination of Al being British, a kick-ass mage, loaded, and the biggest weird-shit magnet I’d ever met in my life meant I wouldn’t be getting an evening of basic drinking and carousing at some strip club, but aside from that I was pretty much in the dark.

  At least Amber was a good sport about the whole thing. All she told me was, “Hey, I don’t care if you spend the night getting lap dances and eating sushi out of some naked chick’s belly button. Just come home safe and sober in time for the wedding and don’t sleep with anybody else, and I’m good.”

  Have I mentioned I love that woman?

  When Al had called me earlier in the week, all he’d told me was that it would be a weekend getaway in Lake Tahoe. He refused to give me any other details. “That would spoil the surprise,” he’d said. “Just pack something nice and something comfortable, and you’ll be fine.”

  The other weird part was that he insisted on picking me up Friday evening.

  “Wait, you’re gonna drive us to Tahoe?”

  “I didn’t say that, did I?” He had that smug grin he got when he knew he was putting something over on me. “Just play along. I promise you—this will be a weekend you’ll never forget.”

  That was what I was afraid of.

  I had some time to speculate as Al’s big, black BMW crawled north up the freeway, but I have to say, if you’d given me fifty shots at it, I still wouldn’t have guessed where we ended up.

  “A train?” I looked at him in surprise as we mounted the platform and I spotted an old-fashioned, three-car train puffing on the tracks. A thick column of steam drifted up from its smokestack and disappeared into the stars. “What, you’re taking us to Hogwarts or something? I think it’s a little late for me to learn to be a wizard.”

  Al chuckled. “We’re going to Lake Tahoe, just as I told you. But I thought we might do it in style.”

  “Hey, guys,” a voice called from the far end of the platform, where several other dark figures were milling around. One of them broke free of the group and hurried over, and I grinned in astonishment.

  “Stan! I didn’t know Al would be inviting you!”

  Stan Lopez gripped me in a pounding bro-hug. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Do you think I’d leave your old friend out?” Al asked. “I think you’ll find several other old mates you haven’t seen in a while.”

  I stared at Stan, then at Al, and didn’t even try to suppress my grin. “This is…not what I expected.”

  Al raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what did you expect?”

  “I dunno. With you, I never know. It could have been anything. Anything,” I added with a significant glance toward Stan. He’d known the score about Al and magic for a few years now.

  “Well, I’ll admit, this is quite mild compared with some of the stag dos I’ve attended back home in England. For instance, we’re not planning to wrap you in clingfilm naked and strap you to a lamppost in downtown San Francisco, or stuff you in a box and ship you off to Shanghai. I think you’ll survive a drunken train ride and a weekend of mild debauchery in Lake Tahoe. Besides, your lovely bride will flay me alive if I’d let anything serious happen to you.”

  I let my breath out. When I’d made him promise he wouldn’t send me to another dimension, I’d forgotten that sending me to the other side of this world wasn’t out of the question. Hell, it wouldn’t even be hard for him.

  Al put his hands in the pockets of his long black overcoat, watching as the train’s horn blew and several of the other guests started migrating inside the cars. “I think I made the right decision about the stripper, though.”

  Stan nodded. “Yeah, me too. Cooping a stripper up in a train for six hours with twenty horny, amped-up guys probably wouldn’t end well.”

  “Well, sixteen—I’d like to think she wouldn’t have anything to worry about from you, me, Blum, or Jason—but still, point well taken. If the rest want to hire strippers for you, Jason, there are plenty of them to be found in Tahoe.”

  I barely heard the last part, because I’d gotten stuck on something earlier. “Wait, Blum’s here too?”

  “Of course. I know you two have been chatting lately. I tried to find as many of your friends as I could. Verity and Stan were quite helpful in that regard.” He pointed. “Come on, though—we’d best get on board. I think they’re about ready to leave.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I still couldn’t quite believe it—between the train and whatever would be happening in Tahoe, this whole thing had to be costing Al a fortune. Especially since, knowing him, he’d probably refused to let anybody else chip in.

  As Stan drifted away toward the train, I grabbed Al’s shoulder. “Hey, Al?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks, man. This looks like it’s gonna be pretty amazing.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve got to do my proper duty as best man,
don’t I? Just don’t worry about anything. Get yourself good and drunk and enjoy your last weekend of freedom.”

  I didn’t bother contradicting him, since his tone clearly told me he didn’t go for that kind of crap any more than I did. I’d waited a long time to meet somebody like Amber, and I couldn’t wait to be married to her. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun first, while she and her friends were off doing the same. “So, is Ian here?”

  “Er—no,” he said ruefully. “I invited him, of course, and he sends his regards, but he’s off in South America somewhere preparing for some kind of hiking expedition with some of his mates. Besides,” he added with amusement, “he pointed out that spending several hours on a train with a load of drunken straight blokes wasn’t his idea of a good time. He promises he’ll be front and center at the wedding, dancing with whichever bridesmaid they assign him, but…no, he won’t be at the party. He said to tell you to have a good time.”

  “Yeah, I guess that doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Go on,” he urged. “I’ve got to take care of a couple of things, but we’ll talk later. Go check out the train. It’s small, but impressive.” With a wave, he hurried off.

  Loud, cheerful voices greeted me as soon as I stepped on board the first car. I spotted several old friends from Ventura, already holding glasses of beer.

  “C’mon,” urged Kurt, a guy I used to hang out with in high school and hadn’t seen since I’d been back to Ojai for Ed and Anneliese’s wedding. “Bar’s back here. Let’s get you started.”

  I let them lead me to the bar, checking out the train as we moved between cars. The front one was set up as an area to hang out, with comfortable chairs, TVs showing football and basketball highlights, and music. The second one, a dining car, had little tables lining both sides. The drinking car was all the way in the back. It had an old-fashioned, polished wood bar with red-upholstered stools, and a few tables and chairs. There were a couple more TVs above the bar, and rock music played quietly through hidden speakers. Except for the TVs, the whole thing looked like we’d stepped back in time about a hundred years.

  The guys headed immediately to the bar. “One for our buddy here, the guest of honor!” Kurt called. “And keep ’em coming!”

  The bartender flashed a lazy smile, poured a glass, and shoved it toward me. He was maybe my age, tall and slim with dark red hair, and he lounged behind the bar like he owned the place. “Enjoy,” he said with a knowing glance. Behind him was a mirror featuring a ship on a storm-tossed sea, and on either side of it were shelves containing all kinds of top-shelf liquor. Below the mirror was a small, detailed scale model of an old-fashioned train car—maybe even this one.

  “Oh, I will,” I assured him. And I would. Normally I felt like I was getting a little too old for the kind of parties where I got drunk off my ass, but if you couldn’t do it at your own bachelor party, when could you do it? I took a long pull of the beer and turned back to my buddies. “It’s really good to see you guys.”

  “Well, you’d see us more often if you’d ever come down,” Kurt pointed out.

  He was right—I hadn’t been back to Ventura for more than a year, when I used to go every couple of months back when Verity and I first moved to the Bay Area.

  “Eh, Jase doesn’t love us anymore,” Shane, another high-school buddy, said waving it off. “That’s okay. We get it.” He made a mock sad face. “We’ll just have to get good and drunk on this excellent liquor and do our best to forget about it.”

  The rest of them laughed, and I joined in. It felt good to just be laughing again, and if I squinted a little I could be back in high school, hanging out with my old crowd of crazies. Hell, had that already been over ten years ago? I’d been a completely different person back then, before I met Al, discovered my sister was a mage, and got initiated into the World of Weird.

  I had to admit I missed it sometimes—but not as often as I used to. After all, if I hadn’t entered that particular world, I’d never have met Amber. And she was worth any amount of weirdness.

  “Jason!” Someone else clapped me on the back and I turned to see Detective Leo Blum coming up behind me. “About time you showed up.” He indicated my glass. “You got some catchin’ up to do.”

  “I got time.”

  The train’s whistle blew, and the soft-carpeted floor under my feet began to rumble. A moment later, the whole thing made a gentle lurch and began moving forward.

  “Here we go!” Kurt said. “Nothin’ but gettin’ good and wasted and hangin’ out, with nothin’ to worry about.”

  “And that’s not even the best part,” Shane said. “Tahoe’s gonna be sweet.”

  I grinned and slugged some more beer. “Damn straight it is.” I felt guilty for doubting Al. For once, it seemed like he’d dodged the weirdness magnet.

  2

  I had to give Al credit—he’d managed, with Stan’s and probably Verity’s help, to track down guys from several stages of my life. I’d never been one of those types who liked hanging out with big crowds of people, but between my high school buddies, some fellow police academy cadets (most of whom had actually made it through instead of getting expelled for punching out an instructor) and the guys I’d met in the Bay Area, I had the comfortable feeling of being surrounded by my own history. I made a mental note to look these guys up more often—just because we didn’t live close to each other anymore didn’t mean we couldn’t get together to shoot the shit now and then.

  I spent the next couple hours circulating around, re-connecting with old friends, chatting about old times and sports, listening to their good-natured ribbing about married life. They all made it their mission to ensure my glass never emptied, and after a while somebody took my beer glass and pressed a whiskey into my hand. I was getting a nice buzz by now.

  I hadn’t seen Al for a while, but I did spot Connor Harte, the youngest of Amber’s three older brothers, hanging out by the bar when I returned for a refill. “Hey, man. Glad you could make it.”

  Connor raised his glass. “Wouldn’t miss it, man. I’m glad your friend invited me.” He looked a lot like you’d expect a part-bear shifter to look: big, broad-shouldered, and barrel-chested, with a wide, friendly face and a short-cropped brown beard.

  I accepted another glass from the lounging bartender, who moved to the other end of the bar and began languidly wiping the surface with a cloth, and looked around. “Are Jonah and Micah here too?”

  “Nah. They don’t really go in for this kind of stuff.” Connor shook his head, looking rueful. “It’s gonna be hard enough getting them to come to civilization long enough for the wedding.”

  I tilted my head at him. Even buzzed, my perception had far from deserted me, and I spotted something fleeting on his face. “Everything okay?”

  He waved it off, leaning back with both elbows on the bar and looking out the window at the dark trees flashing by. “Oh, yeah. It’s all good. Like I said, Jonah and Micah don’t get out much.”

  I noticed he wasn’t looking at me. “You sure that’s all it is?” I hadn’t had much chance to get to know Amber’s brothers; I’d only even met Connor a handful of times before this, when he came down to Truckee to hang out with his sister and her new fiancé. Jonah and Micah, both older than I was, had only come to Tahoe once, and the dinner we all had together had been cordial but tense.

  “Eh, what can I say?” He threw back the rest of his beer and gestured for another one. “It’ll take some time. You knew that.”

  “Yeah.” I looked down into my own glass. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Amber’s two oldest brothers didn’t exactly approve of their sister marrying outside the clan. They didn’t exactly disapprove, either—the clan wasn’t that big these days, and a lot of them had moved further out into the wider world—but Amber and I had talked a lot about it.

  “You’re just going to have to win them over,” she told me. “Trust me—you’re their kind of guy. Once they see what you’re really like, they’ll a
ccept you. They just…don’t accept anybody fast.”

  And apparently they hadn’t accepted me enough yet to show up at my bachelor party. That might have been a good thing, though—they were even bigger than Connor, and if all three of them got drunk, I wasn’t sure the train would survive the experience. “Well, I’m glad you came, anyway,” I told him.

  He gave a big, booming laugh. “Hell yeah. Do you think I’d miss the chance at this much high-class free booze? Your friend’s really put out a spread here.”

  “Yeah. He’s like that. I just hope nothing weird happens.”

  “Weird?”

  “Yeah, you know. Al’s a mage, and…odd things tend to happen around him. I tease him about it a lot, but it’s true.”

  He snorted. “How weird can it get on a train out in the middle of nowhere?”

  I shot him a sharp look, wondering if he was being sarcastic. Maybe I was a little more buzzed than I thought I was, because I couldn’t tell.

  Gradually, though, the vague feeling that anything unexpected might happen ebbed away as the train rolled on and we all kept drinking. It was fully dark by now, and now that we’d left the Bay Area behind the little train felt like a tiny oasis of portable civilization cutting through a black, unknown wasteland.

  I snorted at the thought. You’re really spending too much time with strange people, if you’re coming up with shit like that.

  3

  I was sitting at one of the tables in the dining car with Shane and Kurt, nibbling on spicy wings and working (more slowly by now) on another beer. At another table, Blum and two of the guys I knew from my PI business were chatting away, and two of the Academy guys had managed to find a player connected to one of the TVs and change the basketball game to a porno. I figured there had to be some around somewhere, but I couldn’t picture Al providing them. Maybe the guys smuggled them in.