Hush - Fighting Fate #2

by Maree Green

  My mouth dropped open a fraction. What the hell? “Ask your Dad! Isn’t he your personal ATM? He gives you, what? Five hundred dollars a week?”

  How dare he ask me for money. I was a student for crying out loud.

  He shrugged again. “You either give me what you have, or I’ll go look for some in your room. Actually that sounds like a better option – I might find something good to pawn while I’m in there.”

  My eyes widened with his threat. “You wouldn’t!” His eyebrows lifted, ready to take my challenge. “If you take one step inside my bedroom…”

  “What? What will you do, Kaeli?” he mocked.

  My teeth clenched with anger. Pulling out my purse, I grabbed everything I had and thrust it into his hand. “Stay out of my room,” I hissed as he walked away.

  As I stared at his retreating figure, I felt the thin threads of my sanity stretching even further. At this rate, I wasn’t sure how long I had until they snapped completely, and I wasn’t sure what would actually happen when they did.

  Chapter 10

  Noah

  The street light illuminated the stocky blonde boy as he strode hurriedly along the sidewalk, hands shoved deep in his pockets. His head was bent low, and the backpack he wore strapped to his shoulders hung firmly between his shoulder blades.

  Davo and I moved silently through the shadows as we stealthily followed behind him. I knew this boy was the businessman’s son – Ken’s son. I’d seen him before. He was stupid – careless. If my team hadn’t already been aware of him, I knew it wouldn’t have been too long before he got himself caught anyway. Ken was stupid to trust him. But I couldn’t complain. It did work in my favor after all.

  I liked doing these recon missions for TJ. It felt like I was actually doing something for my real job for a change. I always took them as an opportunity to remind myself of the real me.

  We followed the kid down a darkened alley, where he met up with a group of teenagers. The exchange was quick. Surprisingly professional. It all happened in a matter of minutes, and then he was off again, heading to another part town.

  We watched him make three more transactions before calling Mac to pick us up. TJ had nothing to worry about. The only reason for Ken’s sudden increase in demand was that his son apparently had the knack for pushing drugs. He was probably kicking himself for not bringing him into the family business a long time ago.

  My team, on the other hand, had a real problem. This kid was young enough to get right into the schools, and he obviously knew how to sell it to them. He wasn’t real good at being conspicuous, but the kids seemed to trust him, so yeah, he was a problem.

  Mac pulled up to the curb and I jumped into the back seat, leaving the front for Davo. I wanted time to get my head around this before I faced TJ.

  I hadn’t thought too much about Ken before today. Yes, he was going to go down with the rest of them when the shit hit the fan, but it was the suppliers we were really after. The shit kickers like Ken were usually offered some sort of immunity to help bring the big boys down. But after meeting Kaeli, I couldn’t let that happen. I had to make sure he was put away for a long time.

  For the sake of her, and her mom.

  Chapter 11

  Kaeli

  By Friday, everyone was talking about Ryan’s party. Thankfully, no one had brought up my uncertain attendance since I’d been asked earlier in the week. Even Mia had been careful not to bring it up with me.

  But when the bell rang at the end of the day, I knew my luck couldn’t last too much longer. In fact, it ran out the second Mia and I stopped beside my car.

  “So…” she began, making me want to slap my hand over her mouth. “Do you have any idea if you’re coming tonight yet?”

  I sighed, trying to repress the urge to snap at her. It wasn’t her fault my life was a freaking mess. “Not really. I’d really like to - I think…I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to,” I finished quietly.

  Mia bit her lip and glanced up at me hesitantly. It was that exact moment when I realized what a shit best friend I was being.

  “Are you definitely going? Do you have someone to stay with you while the guys are playing?”

  Mia inhaled deeply then rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m going. Ryan’s been assigned my babysitter.”

  Now I felt even worse. “Shit, Mia, I’m sorry. I wish I could give you a definite answer.” Rubbing my face with frustration, I groaned. “This is so shit.”

  She touched my arm softly and looked at me with the most understanding eyes I could imagine. God, I wished I could tell her. I hated having it all bottled up inside me. I felt like I could just explode at any given moment.

  “Hey,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about. I can see something’s really bothering you at the moment. As long as you know I’m here for you and you can talk to me, okay? I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. I can keep a secret too…”

  My throat tightened up on me. Shit. I couldn’t do this. Not here. I wanted to tell her so badly.

  In fear of choking up, I nodded as an answer. Giving her one last squeeze, I climbed into my car and drove towards home.

  Mom had her music turned up to practically its limit when I got there. I found her in her bedroom, dancing around with a glass of wine in her hand as she held dresses against her body in front of the mirror. She smiled when she saw me in the doorway.

  “Hi, baby! How was school?”

  I couldn’t help but smile back. It was so unusual to see her so naturally happy. “It was as good as school can get. Are you going somewhere?” I asked.

  She grinned impishly. “Ken’s been invited to a charity event. It’s a big, fancy black tie thing.”

  I refrained from frowning at the mention of Ken’s name, and focused on Mom’s happiness instead. “Sounds like fun.”

  She held up a soft green cocktail dress and frowned in the mirror. “I hope so. It feels like forever since I’ve been anywhere nice.”

  That’s because it has been forever, I thought.

  She looked up at me with that grin again. “Are you doing anything tonight? Maybe you should go to a movie with Mia or something. You don’t go out enough for an eighteen year old, Kaeli.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “There’s a party tonight – at Ryan’s place, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go or not. Maybe I will if you’re going out…”

  “Yes! You should,” she said, a little too enthusiastically.

  I laughed at her. “Okay. I will.”

  I left her boogying in her wardrobe and went to my room feeling good for the first time in weeks. Pulling out my cell, I opened up my text conversation with Mia.

  All good. I’ll c u at 8 :)

  About five seconds later, my phone beeped.

  YAY!!! Sooooooo happy!!!

  I smiled at the message, and suddenly, I was amped. I couldn’t wait to let my hair down and party. Maybe I’d even consider this thing with Corey. I giggled at the thought.

  Mom came into my room an hour later, dressed in a knee length black dress with an organza shawl and stilettos. She looked gorgeous. “Ken just got home. I’m just going to heat up some lasagna for you while he’s in the shower, okay?”

  “Sure, Mom. Thanks.”

  Pulling my dark grey, light knit dress off its hanger, I quickly shimmied it over my head and down over my black opaque tights. I finished styling my hair so it fell in soft natural curls down my back, applied a little mascara and lip gloss, then slipped on my black knee high boots.

  Giving myself a quick once over in the mirror, I smiled, thinking how Corey might react to my appearance. It was just the right amount of sexy. I smiled again, and went downstairs to eat.

  I was almost to the bottom of the stairs when Ken’s angry voice stopped me cold. Mom still had music playing in the kitchen so it could hardly be heard over the volume, but I’d just become attuned and watchful for it over the years.

  Relief flooded me
when I heard Mom’s off key singing floating out through the doorway to the kitchen. Thank god it wasn’t her receiving Ken’s malice this time.

  Glancing over to the den, I saw Aaron’s large figure through the gap in the doorway.

  Ken’s voice cut through the noise again. “…five grand, Aaron!...fuck were you thinking?…can’t believe you were jumped…”

  I leaned forward, trying to hear what they were talking about, but the music was too loud for me to make any sense out of the few words I was catching.

  The door to the den flew open, startling me, and Aaron stormed out, heading right for me. I tried to make out I was just on my way down, but the angry set of his shoulders froze me in place.

  Then I saw the bruises on his face. I gasped. Holy hell. Did Ken do that?

  He glared at me as he passed. The bruises looked even worse up close, and there was a little dried blood on his lip from where it’d been spilt open. The dryness of the blood told me it had been done a while ago, so I didn’t think Ken had done it. I wondered what shit he’d gotten himself into now?

  Trying to shrug it off, I rushed to the kitchen to see how the lasagna was doing.

  I’d just finished eating when Ken sauntered into the kitchen wearing his tuxedo. He gave Mom an appraising look before his eyes finally found mine, turning malicious.

  Mom fussed over him, pouring him a glass of scotch, before taking my plate and washing it. I watched her move around Ken with an increasing sense of anxiety.

  The second Mom excused herself to go brush her teeth, he turned on me. “You have a transaction to make tonight.”

  I gawked at him. “What? I can’t! I’m going to a party,” I said with horror.

  His eyes narrowed. “You know, Kaeli, I hear an awful lot of accidents happen to women who wear stilettos.”

  I felt the shock spread over my face. No! “You wouldn’t,” I whispered.

  A wicked smile spread over his face, and his eyebrows shot up, saying everything his voice didn’t: Wouldn’t I?

  Suddenly, I felt sick.

  “TJ wants you there before seven. You’d better hurry. I don’t think you want to find out what he’d do if you were late.”

  Chapter 12

  Noah

  Friday nights at TJ’s weren’t pretty. Even after a year and a half of witnessing them, I still found myself a little shocked by what went on there.

  The music pumped hard, the sound creating invisible waves in the air that made my blood pulse with each beat. The usual girls were there, most of them half naked, ready to please any one of us at any time.

  This was the part I had a hard time with. Not one of TJ’s gang minded sharing – even if the chick they were ready to get it on with just climbed off one of the other guys five minutes before.

  At first, I participated in what was necessary to keep up my façade, but then I decided it was easier to play the hot headed jealous kind of guy who didn’t like to share, or touch a girl who’d just been screwed by someone else. They liked to rib me about it, but they accepted it as though it was just part of my drug fucked state of mind.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t mean I could avoid sex the whole time though – that would’ve looked suspicious, but it did mean I could choose willing participants, and follow through with it within the privacy of my own room instead of disgracing her in front of a room full of people.

  Tonight, I decided to take the drug fucked way and avoid the skanks completely. I’d just settled back in the arm chair with a pipe in hand, eyeing Lilly – Davo’s favorite, with distaste, when I caught TJ smirking at me with his cell in his hand. I casually lit the pipe, sucking in the fumes, and watched him saunter over.

  “You might get lucky tonight after all,” he said. “It seems Ken’s out of stock again.”

  Fuck. The thought of Kaeli coming here in the middle of one of TJ’s parties was sickening. I forced a knowing grin on my face.

  TJ laughed. “I thought you might like that. We already have it packaged for him, but she doesn’t need to know that. Take all the time you want.”

  “Fuck, yeah,” I smirked.

  I took another draw on the pipe, desperately trying to figure out how the hell I was going to shield Kaeli from everything she would see, finding no answers other than dragging her upstairs as fast as I could.

  Finishing up with the pipe, I put it away and went to the kitchen to wait.

  Chapter 13

  Kaeli

  The bus moved slowly through the darkened streets, methodically winding its way towards the southern suburbs. I pulled Mom’s coat tighter around me, trying to cover the parts my short dress didn’t reach.

  I scowled as I recalled the snide grin on Ken’s face as he and Mom left for their charity event. He’d known I wouldn’t have enough time to change before I had to leave to catch the bus.

  I didn’t know how it was possible to feel so differently towards your appearance, purely based on the people who were going to see you. I’d gone from feeling exhilaratingly sexy, to outright sleazy, all within the space of Ken’s announcement.

  I knew at Ryan’s party there’d be a lot of girls showing way more skin than me, but knowing I was going to a house full of drug dealers, and let’s face it, probably rapists, I suddenly felt very exposed – like I was going there with a big neon sign on my forehead that said ‘fuck me’.

  Every part of me was screaming at me to go home. To turn the hell around and hide under my bed covers, but I knew I had to be strong for Mom. I had no idea what Ken would do to her if he found out I didn’t make the delivery, but I knew it wouldn’t be good.

  My stomach turned as I remembered his words. You know Kaeli, I hear an awful lot of accidents happen to women who wear stilettos.

  My eyes stung. God, I hated him!

  The bus jolted to a stop where I needed to get off and, holding Mom’s coat tightly across my body with one hand and Ken’s bag in the other, I hobbled down the steps.

  The dimly lit corners of the back streets felt a lot more unsettling than the last time I’d stormed down there cursing Ken and his distorted view of normalcy, and I knew it had everything to do with the fact that I now knew what to expect.

  The closer I got to the house of horror, the faster my heart raced. What the hell was I doing, willingly going back to that place? I knew that Mitch guy hadn’t gone as far as he could’ve last time I was there, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t this time, did it?

  And I distinctly remembered them arguing about ‘turns’. What if their fucked up rules meant that it was someone else’s turn? What if it was that Pock guy? My stomach clenched and my throat jerked like it was getting ready to puke.

  All the reasons were in my head. I knew why I had to do it, but my sense of self-preservation was screaming at me with all its might. God! Please keep me safe!

  Turning down the alley that led around to the back of TJ’s house, I slipped into the deeper darkness, trying to avoid tripping over the discarded rubbish and boxes that seemed to be covering most of the ground.

  I slowed when the rusty old carport came into view and stopped at the backdoor I was now supposed to use. My chest was literally jumping with each pump of my heart. I tried to slow my breathing - tried to reign in the panic, but I couldn’t convince myself the fear I was feeling wasn’t real. I knew it was. My whole body was shaking with it. I didn’t want to go in there.

  Tears of hopelessness pricked my eyes. I knew all the reasons why I had to go in there, but fear had frozen me to the spot. I didn’t know how to get myself to make that final move.

  Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I thought of Mom. I thought of the smile she wore as she’d walked out the door tonight. I thought of her coming home, still happy, and climbing into bed with that rare contented smile on her lips.

  A tear ran down my cheek.

  Before the image could leave me, I reached out and knocked.

  After a few panicked heartbeats, the door swung open and Mitch glared down at me from the threshol
d. For some strange reason, relief flared inside me. He stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes flashing with something I couldn’t quite decipher as his gaze trailed over the tear I hadn’t yet wiped away. Then he stood back, gesturing for me to come in.

  I tried yet again to swallow my panic down, but when it refused to budge, I looked up at Mitch with despair. His jaw tensed as he watched me, and I thought I saw pain flash in his eyes, but I also knew I couldn’t trust what was mind was telling me anymore. It was in a complete state of emergency.

  Swallowing hard, I forced myself to step inside.

  Being inside their house again only intensified the panic even more. I couldn’t push the memory of Pock from my mind. The cold look in his eyes, the dark intent of his hands, the stale, acrid stench of his breath. It all made me want to stick to Mitch like glue. After that forced kiss the other day, I knew I had to be crazy to think like that, but I knew without a doubt I’d rather take whatever Mitch handed out than Pock. He was evil.

  Loud music played from the other room, and voices, wild and free, floated into the kitchen with it. The smell of smoke was thick in the air, though not the kind I was used to smelling on the street. It was strong and smelled sickly sweet.

  Mitch took Ken’s bag from me with one hand, and grabbed the top of my arm with his other, leading me towards the other room. I looked up at him with alarm, reflexes telling me to pull away and run, but the hard stare he gave me made me think twice.

  With a firm hand, he pulled me into the other room.

  The lights were dim and smoke choked the air. I coughed, my throat automatically closing in protest, and my eyes watering against the intrusion. I stumbled behind Mitch, helpless with my limited senses, and tried to get my bearings, searching the room for the voices I could hear.

  When my gaze finally found the source of at least two of the voices, I wished they hadn’t. The blonde guy I’d seen last time, Davo I think his name was, was with a small dark haired girl on the lounge, and from what I could see, she was naked below the waist with her legs wrapped tightly around his waist as he half kneeled, half lay on top of her. It wasn’t until I saw him rocking violently that I realized what they were doing.