Hush Money by Susan Bischoff Read Free Book Online Page A

sure it wouldn’t
cause anyone to look my way? It was stronger, louder, telling me
that if we could just hold out a few more moments, surely this
would stop. So some gross guy was pawing at her. She’d live, right?
My eyes were hot, and I was getting afraid that tears were actually
going to come out of them. My heart pounded as I tried to think
ahead, tried to bargain with myself.
    Ok, it’s ok. Just stay calm. This is under
control. It’s not like she can’t help herself. And if it seems like
she really can’t, then you still can, right? If it goes too far,
you can still do something. Like knock Jeff’s head into the wall,
push him back, watch him bounce down the stairs. Just hang on and
don’t do anything you’ll regret.
    But just how far was too far? Jeff’s leg slid
between Trina’s. I didn’t know where his other hand was—I didn’t
want to know. His mouth was on hers and she was squirming against
him, but he had her pinned, completely under his control. I
could…What could I do? Send that bag of books into his head? Of
course not. Way too obvious. Send a punch of air to hit the backs
of his knees? Tricky from this far away, but yeah, maybe that.
Maybe a blow to his kidney to throw him off enough for her to get
loose? Would she even run off if I set her free?
    And would Marco be able to figure out that I
had done it?
    I barely heard the quick, light footsteps on
the stairs, but I heard them, and so did Marco whose body went
tense. Jeff was oblivious.
    “Oh! Um, sorry! I’ll just…” the girl’s voice
sounded familiar and trailed off when Jeff’s head spun around to
see who it was.
    “What do you want?” he snarled. Now that he
had moved, I could see Trina’s swollen mouth, smeared lipstick, and
the tracks of tears on her cheeks. My own eyes—there was just no
way I was gonna cry. No way. Why the hell was she letting this
happen to her?
    Why was I?
    “Hey, Trina. You ok?” We heard the footsteps
again, and brown curls came into view.
    It was Kat.
    “Get lost.” Jeff shifted to block Trina in
again.
    “What the hell’s going on here? Trina, come
with me.”
    “She’s fine, and I told you to get lost.”
    I hadn’t thought my heart could pound any
harder, but my whole head was pulsing with blood and tension. I
didn’t know Kat very well, but she didn’t seem like the type to
just turn around and leave, and I knew Jeff was a hot-head.
Yesterday I probably wouldn’t have thought he’d hit a girl, but
that was yesterday. I risked a glance at Marco, who was riveted…and
smiling.
    Jeff turned to Kat and took a step toward
her, well into her personal space. Kat didn’t back down, but it was
obvious by the way she leaned away as she looked up at him that she
was uncomfortable.
    Behind Jeff I could barely hear Trina saying,
“Kat, just go.”
    “Yeah, this is private. ” Jeff gave her
a shove that, more like a hard punch to the shoulder, that made her
stumble sideways toward the stairs.
    She grabbed onto him to steady herself, but
then hung on to his arm. He started to shake her off, but she just
latched on to the front of his jacket.
    “Jeff,” she said firmly, staring into his
eyes. “Go away.”
    He jerked slightly, as though she’d dealt him
a slap that didn’t so much hurt as surprise him. Then, in the next
moment he stumbled back, out of her grip, his hands coming up to
his face.
    “What the hell? What did you do, you bitch?”
His hands moved over his face, seeking some kind of injury or
something. “What did you do??” He pressed his back to the wall, his
eyes wide with terror and darting around everywhere. He groped for
the railing.
    “You’ll be fine if you get out of here before
you really piss me off.” Kat’s voice was deadly.
    Jeff was swiping at his eyes with the back of
one hand, the other on the handrail. He moved quickly down the
steps, missing some, half falling, catching himself and continuing
down. Totally panicked.
    I realized that both Marco and I