AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She squared her shoulders and looked up at me, like her skinny, bird-like five-foot-two frame had any chance of intimidating me at six foot five and a half. “Why?”
“BecauseI”—I jabbed a finger at my chest, making sure to hit the grocery store logo on my T-shirt—“keep thefreakin’ lights on, Mom. And, hey, have you ever wondered why Mr. Purcell doesn’t ask for the rent when you forget?”
I didn’t give her the chance to reply. I snatched my glass of milk off the counter and stormed away toward my room, where I slammed the door behind me and flopped onto my unmade bed. Then, I read a chapter of the book I had been reading and listened as Mom microwaved something—probably the meatloaf Billy’s mom had made—and went to her own room. I waited fifteen minutes, ensuring she wasn’t coming out anytime soon, and then I tiptoed out to the kitchen, went into her bag, and restocked my inventory.
The weekend was coming, and we needed the cash.
***
Age Eighteen
“Hey, Soldier, you got something for me?”
“Maybe.” I slipped my arm from around the shoulders of Tammi, a girl I was getting used to calling mine. At least for the moment. “Doyouhave something forme?”
The Pit was crowded, but that was typical for a Saturday night in late spring. I led the kid who I knew to be a senior away from watchful eyes and let my hand drop to my side. He slipped a folded bill between my fingers. I looked down to see that it was a twenty and proceeded to produce two little pink pills from my pocket.
“You know the deal,” I said to him, keeping my voice low with a cool warning. “You don’t come back to me for at least a couple of weeks. And I’d better not catch you asking anybody else tobuyfor you. I have eyes all over this place. You understand me?”
It was a rule I stupidly believed would do some good. They could pop a pill, maybe share it with a friend, and have a good time, but that was it for a while. I figured if these kids weren’t coming to me constantly for a fix, they were less likely to become dependent on the shit—or so I told myself.
I guessed, deep down, I knew they were just going to someone else. I mean, there was always Levi Stratton—who had in recent years become something of a rival—and that creepy asshole he always hung out with, Seth. Neither of them had gone elsewhere since I’d started swiping Mom’s pills and selling them to my peers, so I knew business had to be worth it for them still. But … Idunno. I supposed I liked to think it at least wouldn’t be my fault if they got hooked, never stopping to realize that I was also holding their hand on the dark, filthy road to addiction and dependency.
The guy insisted he understood, thanked me, and wandered off like a kid who’d just gotten done raiding a candy store as I headed back to Tammi.
I’d known her for years—from the moment she’d asked me for my name and age five years ago. I knew she’d been interested ever since—she didn’t keep it a secret with her frisking eyes and bottom lip clamped salaciously between her teeth—but she had never made her move until I was legal. Now, at twenty-three, she loved teasing that she was a cradle-robber.
Me? Well … honestly, I just liked getting laid.
“Youwannagive me one of those?” she asked, holding out a hand and waggling her fingers.
“No,” I said, perching myself on an old, rusty bench someone had dragged into The Pit way before my time.
“Come on, baby.” She climbed onto my lap and straddled my thighs. “I’ll suck your dick.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not letting you suck me off for pills, Tammi.”
“Why? I’m your whore, aren’t I? Treat me like one.”
Okay, can I be honest?
I didn’t like Tammi a whole lot. We had nothing in common. Kissing her was akin to licking an ashtray, she wore enough cheap perfume to make the strongest lungs asthmatic, and the way she spoke made me cringe.
Still, I was also eighteen, feeling a little too much like hot shit with the cash lining my pockets, and it was nice to have someone as sexy as her hanging from my arm and sitting on my lap.
It also felt nice when we fucked.
But I always respected her and treated her right, and I’d never give her pills in exchange for sex.
“You’re not a whore,” I told her flatly, tipping my head back to catch her eye and wrapping my arms around her waist.
Tammi pouted. “Levi liked when I was his whore.”
I hated it when she talked about Levi.
Hell, I thought I just hated Levi altogether. Him, that guy he hung out with, and every one of their friends.
“Well, he’s right over there if youwannago suckhisdick.” I nudged my chin in his direction.
