Divine Vices by Melissa Parkin Read Free Book Online Page A

symbol formed by rocks and sticks in
the muck, it was the girl who haunted me most. A fair skinned brunette, younger
than I was, laying in the mud of Maine’s woodlands. Her limbs contorted about
in the most unnatural positions. Scarlet splotched across her dirtied white
halter. Her dark brown eyes vacantly staring up at the sky with what I could
only imagine in her last moments to be filled with dread, terror, and pain.
    “Fine,
I’ll put this baby to rest, for the time being,” said Gwen. “In the mean time,
why don’t you tell me about what happened between you and the devilish
dreamboat?”
    “Nothing
worth mentioning.”
    The
truth was that I didn’t know how much I wanted to share with Gwen. If I told
her everything, including what he had said about her, I could get her off my
back and put a stop to her pestering. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to go
through with hammering full disclosure on her. Despite Gwen’s seemingly
impervious exterior, I still saw firsthand just how much Stacy’s constant
remarks really did upset her. They used to be best friends, and now Stacy was
her primary tormentor. Last thing either one of us needed was for Gwen to wage
another war, no matter how much Jack may have deserved her wrath. I settled for
simply telling her about what he had said in reference to me and left that at
that.
    When
I concluded, she looked at me frustratingly.
    “He
tried apologizing?”
    “If
you could call it that,” I scoffed.
    “His
initial intension was to apologize though?”
    I
almost laughed as I reconsidered my partial-disclosure policy. “You’re not
seriously taking his side on this, are you?”
    “I
didn’t say that.”
    “Well,
you’re certainly taking your time in deciding,” I said.
    “Sorry,
it’s just hard to believe that he’d say those things.”
    “Why?
Because you know him so well?”
    “No,
it is, because you could tell that he liked you.”
    “No,
he liked the disturbed idea of conquering a prudish conquest.”

 
    Chapter
4
    People Are Strange
    After
the Saturn set an all-time record, taking sharp turns and deep swoops down New Haven’s
forested hilly back roads, Gwen pulled into the local mall at 3:16. We had left
the school parking lot at three after three, for what was supposed to be a
twenty-five minute drive for anybody who abided by speed limits. Releasing my
death grip from the passenger door and dash, I climbed out of the car with
immediate relief that I was still intact and at my favorite place in the area.
    This
mall was unlike any I was accustomed to growing up. In the city, our malls were
always the same: several stories high, signs of only the top chains and
retailers occupying the store windows, and escalators and glass elevators
following in the pace of the constant commotion of the crowds. Instead, New
Haven was sanctuary to small business owners and customers who appreciated the
small-town atmosphere. The mall was built into the side of a hill, so it looked
to be only one story high from the parking lot, but that was really just the
ground floor for the large shops, food court, and cinema. Several enclosed
staircases sloped down to the open multilevel shop grounds below containing
everything from boutiques, galleries, eateries, and music stores.
    Gwen
was in another flirtatious pursuit to find Jeff in the main level at either
McDonald’s or The Gap, so we happily parted ways since I wanted to venture to
the lower stories. As I trotted down the cobblestone streets to Crescent
Square, the third story down, I breathed in the fresh autumn air, along with
the remains of the floral and garden arrangements that had suffered from the
dropping temperatures. In two weeks time, every piece of greenery would be
reduced to charcoaled leaves and burnt stems, so I soaked in the splendor of
its remnants, whose lasting impression would have to get me through the dreaded
wintry months ahead in the long anticipation for spring.
    At
the end of the stretch rested my home