Blow Your Mind by Eric Pete Read Free Book Online

Don’t worry about that,” she said smartly. “Come lie down with me.”
     
    I started to remind her of my original mission, of why I was packing. Looking at my bag and other stuff discarded on the floor, I realized it was pointless. Besides, my fingers had earned me another extension with Kash. As good as it was, another taste of my good-luck charm couldn’t be a bad thing. She motioned for me to come. Feeling the advent of another hard-on, I forgot about the man outside my window and my current dilemma.
     
    “Do they hurt?”
     
    “Only when I laugh.” I groaned.
     
    At a time when I wanted to catch a quick nap or maybe cuddle with the figment in my arms, she was wide awake. If it weren’t rude, I would’ve turned my back to her. Either this woman was wired or she was afraid of sleeping. She climbed atop me, demanding my attention.
     
    “Truth time,” she said, poking me in my chest, where she’d recently left passion marks.
     
    “Oh, Lord.”
     
    “Talk. Who’s been snacking on your fingers? You owe somebody some money? Stole something?”
     
    When I was about to blow her off, her deductions let me know she wasn’t one to take for granted. My frivolous attitude ended. “Damn. You’re good,” I remarked.
     
    “Just good at figuring shit out. If you owe something, they probably would’ve killed you.”
     
    “I’m sure that’s a possibility.”
     
    She dropped the know-it-all smile. “That’s why you’re packing?”
     
    “Bingo.”
     
    “How much are you on the hook for?”
     
    “Change the subject.”
     
    “No. You could’ve left me for dead on the side of the road, but you didn’t. You helped me, Henry. Now I want to help you.”
     
    Those eyes, those beautiful eyes. Full of truth, yet so full of mystery.
     
    “You can’t help me.”
     
    “How do you know if you don’t ask?”
     
    “What do you want me to do? Ask you for help?”
     
    “That would be a start.”
     
    “Okay,” I said, humoring her. “Help me, Pumpkin.”
     
    “That’s better,” she purred. She got off me, allowing me to sit up. “Now, how much do you need?”
     
    “I’m not going there with this.”
     
    She shook me. “Answer me, Henry.”
     
    “I need twenty-five thousand right now.”
     
    “But that’s not all you owe.”
     
    “No. That’s just to get me an extension. It wasn’t that large in the beginning. Interest and ‘late fees’ kept getting added on. I had something in the works, but lost my job the other day.”
     
    Pumpkin sighed. I was expecting her to put on her clothes and walk out the door. She didn’t move. “Is that why you had that gun last night?”
     
    I nodded.
     
    She looked at me strangely, which made me uneasy for some reason. “You got fired? Where did you work?”
     
    “At that building where you were last night.” I regretted letting that slip the moment it left my lips. I was exhausted, careless.
     
    “Huh? Were you following me?”
     
    I stared her dead in the eyes, fearful of letting anyone know just how desperate I was. “No. I was traveling behind you. That’s all.” Since we were on the subject, I figured I’d ask some questions of my own. Just for my own peace of mind. “I used to work for Tanner Coleman. Ever hear of him?”
     
    “No,” she answered. I didn’t detect any deceit. Good. Like I figured, she’d probably been visiting someone on another floor in the building last night for whatever reason. “Should I know him?” she followed up.
     
    “Naw. Just an asshole who thinks he runs this town.”
     
    Her laugh was unsettling. “Don’t do anything rash, Henry. I’ll see what I can do for you. After all, one good turn deserves another.”
     
    A good-luck charm she might turn out to be , I thought.
     

8
     
    BIANCA
     
    “G o to bed, princess,” my dad says as he comes up the staircase. Ours is an older house, the bottom lived in by an Asian couple that refuses to move from the neighborhood. That’s what my