Hush Money by Susan Bischoff Read Free Book Online Page B

were
standing and leaning over the railing, watching his progress,
stunned by what we had seen. Marco snapped into action, forgetting
about me and racing down the stairs. I followed.
    “What the hell did you do to him?” Marco
snarled, grabbing Kat’s arm and jerking her around to face him.
    “You…probably don’t want to do that,” I said.
Suddenly I was shocked that I had even followed him, let alone
opened my mouth to get involved. I immediately wished I could
disappear. But it worked. Marco let go of Kat like she was made of
fire.
    Kat looked at me, and I didn’t like what I
saw on her face. I could feel my cheeks getting red and my stomach
sinking, wondering what she was thinking about me just then. About
what I was doing up there with Marco. Watching.
    “I didn’t do anything to your friend. I don’t
know why he got all freaked out. Go see for yourself; he’s probably
fine.”
    Marco shoved past her and down the stairs
after Jeff. Kat shot me another glare and turned to Trina, reaching
out.
    “You okay? Come on, let’s—”
    Trina jerked back against the wall, away from
Kat’s touch. “You stay the hell away from me. What the hell are you?” She flashed a glance at me, a glance that spoke
eloquently of shared memory, perception—however false—and loathing.
I wanted to open my mouth to deny what I knew she was thinking, but
I didn’t. I felt myself take a step back from the force of her
glare, which she turned back on Kat. “Why don’t you just mind your
own damned business? I want you to stay away from me, you freak.
Clear?”
    “Crystal.” From the set of Kat’s jaw, I know
she was dying to lash out at Trina, but she held it in. I thought
that was really decent of her.
    Trina hurried down the steps away from us,
clutching her bag across her chest with one arm, the handrail with
her free hand. She was obviously really shaky, but determined to
get away from the scene, from Kat, from me. She made the second
floor landing safely and hurried out of our sight.
    Kat turned to me. Or, I should say, on me. “Was that fun for you?”
    “Um, no ,” I said with as much bitch as
I could put into it. Because I didn’t really know what else to say.
I knew how it looked.
    In my head I saw the accusing way Trina had
looked at me. Like she thought I’d waited all these years for
payback. Yeah, right. What was the point? Nothing I could do to her
would fix what she’d done when we were kids. Nothing was going to
make me feel better about it. Ever. And you know, that whole time I
was stuck up there with Marco, none of that stuff about the
fire went through my head. It was just about what Jeff was doing to
this other girl, this other girl who maybe could have been
me— maybe . Not what Jeff was doing to Trina who’d ruined my
life and totally deserved what she was getting. No one deserved
that.
    “Well I hope you enjoyed the show.”
    Kat started to leave and I reached out for
her arm. Something I never do, but I was in a weird place
just then. She looked at my hand, looked at my face.
    “You probably don’t want to do that,” she
mocked me.
    I yanked my hand back, not because I was
scared of her, but just because I could hardly believe I had
reached out to her in the first place.
    “I’m sorry. Look, it’s just…You shouldn’t
have done that. I mean, it’s bad enough to get on Marco’s bad side,
but showing those guys what you can do like that is just
stupid.”
    “Is that what you were doing up there?
Staying on Marco’s good side?” Kat’s voice was dripping with nasty
innuendo.
    “No!” and, maybe kinda? In a way? Ugh. I’m
subhuman. “I was already there, ok? I like to hang out there.
It’s my spot.”
    “I know. I was looking for you.”
    How would you—? Whatever. “And then
Marco came up, and Jeff and Trina were behind him and that whole
thing started and he made me sit there and—”
    “He made you.”
    “Well, yeah. I mean, what was I supposed to
do?”
    “Oh, I don’t