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“It’s tradition,” Brandon says with a shrug.
Keith’s hands move up the insides of Nikki’s legs, pushing them farther apart before he reaches down to release his dick from his pants. He steps up closer to position himself, and his head turns to look at me. As his eyes lock with mine, a cruel smile crosses his face. His hips shove forward, and I hear Tria cry out.
When I look to my left, she’s no longer standing beside me.
“You wouldn’t give her one,” Brandon says as he lights another cigarette and hands it to Nikki. “Always know what’s best for her, don’t you?”
“I didn’t…I don’t want…” I look over to the circle again and see Tria on her back with her feet in the air. Keith’s eyes are still on mine as he thrusts into her repeatedly. He wiggles his eyebrows and laughs, but I can’t move. I can’t even speak up.
“Try this. It will make it stop hurting,” an old woman says as she holds a cup up to my lips.
I reach out to take the cup and drink the liquid, but it is gone. Instead, my outstretched arm is wrapped with a piece of tubing at the crook of my arm. I watch the old woman slap at the inside of my elbow to bring the vein into view.
The sting of the needle is familiar, welcome, and comforting. I look up from the dusty floor where I’m sitting in the middle of an abandoned apartment building, the walls of which are half burned up. The girl off to my right is banging for the third time in an hour. It seems like too much, but she’s been doing it a lot longer than me. She’s gotta get some just to stay straight.
My head swims, and the pain is gone. My mind spins and swirls in majestic arcs, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, the past has just disappeared. It’s gone, and it doesn’t hurt. The images leave me as I float and swim inside of myself.
As soon as I start to fall,
there is another needle. Another prick. Another high.
The girl to my right lies down on her side. Her face is a strange, unnatural color, but she’s still beautiful. I move over her, push up her skirt, and bury myself inside of her. The feeling is overwhelming and nearly spiritual, but I can’t come in her. I just keep fucking her until I’m too tired to move anymore, and I have to roll over on my side…
I knew the entire time that I had been dreaming, but I still felt sick to my stomach when I woke up. I swallowed back bile and tightened the hold I had on Tria. I was glad to be back in our bed again; no uncomfortable couches or outlandish hotel rooms. Just our place and just us. Tomorrow was Saturday, and I would be able to get in a quick workout, and then spend the rest of the day just hanging out and watching her study.
Wait, no. I needed to take her out on a date.
I extracted myself from her arms and the bed as my mind started racing, trying to figure out what I could do for an actual date with Tria. Feet First was totally out of the question, and so was Fin’s. There were a few other substandard eateries and a waffle place down the main drag, but none of those were a good place for a date.
Of course, the bigger issue was that I couldn’t afford to take her anywhere else. Even if I did take her out, it wasn’t like I was going to get any when we got back home. Damn! I had to stop thinking like that. Tria deserves better.
Inside the bathroom, I took a piss and then looked in the mirror. I looked a little rough, no doubt. There was a decent black and blue mark over my left cheek, which I didn’t even realize I had. I rubbed at it for a minute before splashing my face with cold water.
I shook my head. It wasn’t about getting into her pants—it really wasn’t. I still wanted it though. I had meant what I said when I told her I would wait as long as she wanted, and I would. I just hoped it didn’t take too long. Like, more than an hour.
Fuck.
I was being a total ass, and I couldn’t help it. At least it was all inside my head, where such things probably ought to stay since I hoped to introduce Tria to the moody little bastard between my legs. And by introduction, I meant getting inside her and spending the majority of the night poking around in there and listening to her moan my name a few hundred times.
The linoleum floor in the kitchen was cold on my feet, and I had to smile a bit at how there always seemed to be a clean cup in the cupboard whenever I looked for one now. I used to just rinse one out from the sink.
I heard a slight noise behind me, and I turned to see Tria shuffle out of the bedroom with her hair looking like it was straight out of a Billy Idol music video. She yawned and stumbled a bit in her early morning drowsiness, and whatever chill the cold floor had brought over my body vanished in a wave of warmth when I looked at her. She rubbed her eyes, and I felt the corners of my mouth turn up.
I was never one to exercise patience, but for her I would wait.
Chapter 5—Help the Neighbor
“Could you give me your name again, please?”
“Liam Teague,” I said for the tenth time. “I’m calling about Katie Took. Her worker’s supposed to be here every Tuesday or Wednesday or something, but she hasn’t been coming.”
“Your social security number?”
“Lady, this ain’t for me!” By now, I was practically growling into the phone. “She’s my neighbor. I just want to find out what’s up with her worker.”
“Is Miss Took a relative of yours?”
“No,” I said, seething, “like I already fucking told you, she’s my neighbor.”
