Harkham's Case (Harkam's #1) (17 page)

She dragged Adam toward an aisle so they could escape him.

Rory pulled on her hair, yanking her back.

She swung around and smacked his hand off her.

“Don’t touch her,” Adam growled.

“Or what?” Rory smirked. “I only wanted to talk to you for a minute,” he said to her directly.

“No.” Mari glared.

“Aw, come on . . . For old time’s sake.” Rory’s eyes were filled with confidence. She wanted to slap the smug grin off his face.

“Whatever!” She rolled her eyes. “You’re old news to me, and there’s nothing here to reminisce about.” She edged closer to Adam. “What are you doing in the crowd anyway? Why aren’t you playing tonight?” What kind of quarterback sat out their game against the school’s rival team?

“Hurt my ankle at practice yesterday.” He wiggled it around to show her.

She kicked it with the toe of her shoe. “Sounds like a lame-ass excuse to me.”

“It is. How else am I supposed to get you alone when you act in class like you don’t know me?” He licked his lips.

“She said no—that means no talking to you,” Adam said. He pulled her arm back, and it moved her away.

Rory followed. “Let me give you a tip, Ace—get her high before you do it. She’s looser that way, and gives better head. And make sure her fingers are—”

“Ten minutes. That’s all you get!” She said in a rush, her finger stabbing in Rory’s chest. “And after, you don’t say a word to Adam about anything at all. Got it?”

Rory gave a curt nod.

“No, don’t go,” Adam whimpered in her ear.

“Meet me by the boy’s locker room in two minutes,” Mari told Rory.

He took off in that direction without another snide word.

She turned back to Adam—his eyes were shut tight and he was mumbling advanced calculus formulas.

Her hands were immediately cupping his neck and kneading a little. “Shhh . . . It’s all right. I’m gonna tell him I’m with you and for him to back off. That’s all. Then I’ll come right back here to you.”

“You can do that with me at your side. I need to protect you. He’s huge.” His eyes stayed closed.

“He’s gonna say some mean things first. They won’t hurt me, because you’ve already filled me up with so many nice words tonight at dinner.” She used the most soothing voice she could.

A tear gathered at the corner of his left eye. “I don’t want him to say mean things to you. That’s disrespectful, and it’s not okay to treat women that way. Especially not you.”

She leaned in and kissed his ear. “It’s okay. I’m gonna be right back.” She turned his head with her hand, he opened his eyes, then she pointed at the bleachers. “I see Samara up there at the top with a friend of hers. Go sit with her. That way I’ll know where to find you when I get back.”

“Will you come back with a soda?”

“Sure.” She inhaled deeply. He smelled better than any man should be allowed. Goose bumps ran down her neck.

“Then I’ll make sure to be good . . . But if he hurts you—”

“He won’t. He’s a marshmallow, and I roast those and eat ‘em for dessert.”

“When you’re not sugar-free?” He rubbed his cheek against hers.

“I’m not sugar-free starting now. Just for you—my best friend.”

His stiff shoulders softened, and he took his first step toward the top. She waited for a second to make sure he wasn’t going to change his mind and bolt after her.

His hands clasped together in front of him, and she heard him count each step he took.

She waved at Samara to get her attention and motioned over to Adam so she’d see him.

Samara popped up out of her spot and raced over to him.

Mari knew he’d be in his comfort zone now, so she took off after that brain-dead jock.

When she rounded the corner to the deserted boys’ locker room, he was smoking.

“You’re not my dealer anymore,” she said right away.

He propped up a foot on the wall and his arrogant, smirking, disgusting lips rubbed together. “Who
is
? I’ll cut you a better deal than they do.”

“No one. I don’t have a dealer because I don’t make deals anymore. Period. I had those two relapses, and that’s it. Been clean ever since.” She kept her distance. “I’m sure you’re not hurting for clients.”

“I’m not.” He pushed himself off the wall with his foot and propelled himself straight at her. “But nobody paid me the way you did.” He pulled several hundred dollar bills out of his pocket and wadded it into her hand. “In fact,
I’ll
pay
you
.”

She pulled up her hand and tossed it in his face. “I’m not a hooker.”

“You sucked me like one. What other girl your age knows how to do the things you did to me?”

“I’m leaving,” she said, turning to go.

He grabbed her right arm and yanked it up sharply behind her back, then pushed her up against the brick wall.

Her arm groaned in protest, but her cheek was worrying her more. If she bruised there, Adam would go ballistic.

“What. Do. You. Want?” she asked through gritted teeth, trying to see him over her shoulder.

His legs were spreading hers from behind. “You know what I want. I want my whore back who sucks it like a goddamn black hole and milks that spot inside.” He licked the back of her neck. “And puts her mouth and fingers where no other girl will put them.” She heard him unzipping. “I made sure not to shower today so it’s nice and raunchy down there, just the way you like it. Open up and say ‘aaaasssss-hoooooole.’”

“I’d rather eat your soiled jockstrap—it’s cleaner.” She chuckled, but it was strained since she couldn’t take in enough breath.

The second he had his body pressed up against hers, she dropped all her weight and spun so her arm would slip from his grip. Once on the ground, she ducked down, jabbed him between the legs with all her force and then she rolled backward. Being free of him, and having him disoriented while he sucked in gasps of ragged air to divert the pain made it easier for her. He couldn’t react fast enough, so she seized the moment and kicked him in the ass, pounding him into the wall in the exact spot she’d just been in.

As soon as he was there, she jumped to her feet and rammed her body into his, her knee wedged in his lower back. She took a hard bite of his neck. He yelped.

“You know I like this,” he hissed, taunting.

“Oh, I know. Tomorrow you won’t be liking it so much when you can’t turn your head and piss. Now, stop coming around, propositioning me. I don’t have sex with anybody—least of all you!” She bit him again, harder this time, and in the same spot. As he cursed, she grabbed his hand that was reaching back for her and snapped his right pinky, breaking it.

“Owwww! Goddammit, stop it!”

“This is your warning. A small one. You stay away from Adam, his entire family and me. Otherwise, next time I’m gonna break an entirely different appendage—one that will hurt way more than this one.” She shoved off him, making sure her knee dug in before it broke contact.

He turned to her, cradled his hand with the wounded digit and said, “I’ve already been warned by your stupid little bodyguard.”

She leaned her head to the side and looked at him from the corner of her eye. “What are you talking about?”

“Too good to do it yourself anymore? Need a little dark-haired munchkin to pull a knife for you?”

“Samara?” Couldn’t be.

“Yeah, that psycho took a knife to my junk. She said the same exact things you just did,” he said, trying to catch his breath. His thighs were pressed securely together. He hunched over like he was about to lash out at her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stayed where she was. “
Samara Latham
pulled a knife on you? Where did she do this?”

“After practice two nights ago. I figured you were high when you sent her after me, and whatever the hell she’s on, it makes her rage like a pit-bull. She slashed my jeans on the crotch and ruined them. She owes me seventy bucks for them. They were new!”

“Oh, I see, so you dragged me over to exact payment tonight, is that it?” She shook her head and spit on the ground.

“No, I . . . I wanted to . . . I figured you needed a hit, and I wanted to give it to you, because I knew what I’d get in return.” He smiled.

Her stomach retched. She had to fight off the impending episode threatening to break free. No vomiting! This would explode in her face if that happened.

“Tell Kendra to up her game. It’s not hard. All she has to do is stop breathing for a while so she won’t smell or taste any of your vile—”

Whhhhhaaaaack!

He kicked her in the gut, and she went flying backward.

“Uuuuuummgggg,” she groaned.

He staggered toward her, hobbling because of where she’d punched him.

“You self-righteous bitch. You’ll be begging for it, and when you do, I’m gonna make you do it until you can’t even remember your own name! It won’t be nice for you. And then, maybe I’ll give you my cheap stuff—the garbage nobody wants to inject in their veins. The stuff that makes you see monsters coming out of the cracks of the walls.”

“They look like you, right?” she managed to choke out. “What a hideous nightmare.”

She rolled to her side, then pushed herself up to standing.

He leaned toward her and extended his neck as far as it would go. He whispered through his teeth, “I was gonna give you the best I had. You would’ve been high all night long, and all it would’ve taken was you giving me oral and your fingers shoved in my ass, you little fucking slut.”

“Goodbye, Rory. I’m through here.” She took off, walking much faster than he’d ever be able to.

Her stomach felt flayed open, gutted with a machete, but she straightened her spine and told herself Adam would see how badly Rory had messed her up if she didn’t walk correctly. And there was no way she’d do that to him—not her sweet, innocent Adam.

She paid for a soda on the way back to the bleachers, and when she got there, Kendra was at his side, blowing on his neck.

Mari exhaled in a rush. How many people was she going to have to try to sterilize with a crotch-jab tonight? Her fist was gonna be sorer tomorrow than her stomach.

She spit out several coarse words under her breath as she approached victim number two.

Bitch needed to figure out that bleachers were for high school events, not prostitution with unwilling, innocent high school students like Adam.

Mari cracked her knuckles and took a slow pace up the steps.

This night was going to be worse than hell, because there was no way Mari was going to be able to sit there and allow Kendra to get her hands on Adam.

Chapter 9

“Oh, hi, Mari,” Kendra said, smirking and weaving her head back and forth as a taunt.

The skank wiggled her fingers that were on the seat right next to Adam’s thigh, sans fake nails, nail polish and rings.

“Mmm,” Mari grunted and tipped her chin up in slight acknowledgment of Kendra. “You’re in my seat.”

“You took too long to claim it. Adam promised he’d hold my hand at a sporting event, so here we are.” Kendra stretched her neck and leaned in Adam’s direction.

He inched away. “I’m not ready for that, and I never really meant to do this. I didn’t think I’d ever be here at a game,” he admitted. He turned his head to Kendra but kept as far away as possible as he glued himself up against Samara. “It wasn’t a lie though, because I said I ‘might,’ not ‘will,’ so I don’t have to do it.”

“Don’t be like that, Adam. Ignore whatever stuff Mari’s told you about me.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “Mari doesn’t talk about you. She doesn’t talk about
anybody
.”

“Yeah, not worth it,” Mari murmured under her breath.

“Excuse me? You mean to tell me you’re scared of me on your
own
?” Kendra slid over until her thigh was flush up against his. Her mottled bare leg looked macabre, like a zombie virus was inside her. It was unseasonably chilly tonight—the bleachers were frosty, and this girl wore a miniskirt, heels, and tank top.

“I’m not scared, I just don’t like you,” Adam blurted. He looped his arm through Samara’s.

“Enough of this, Kendra. He’s not used to people being this forward. You’re freaking him out, and we don’t need him to trip out on us up here. Please leave.” Samara flicked her head toward the steps leading to the bottom of the bleachers.

“No. He’s my friend, and it’s cold. I’m gonna warm him up,” Kendra insisted. Her hand reached out, and Adam closed his eyes and whimpered.

Mari’s hand flew out, and her grip clasped around that tiny wrist. “No means
no
. There’s such a thing as female rapists,
Ken
. Do you know what happens to them?”

“Nothing, because they don’t exist.” Kendra clawed at Mari’s vice grip on her.

Samara got up, went to the other side of Kendra and yanked her by the arm until she was standing.

Kendra yelped, and her eyes went wide as her face drained of color.