Killing Britney by Sean Olin Read Free Book Online

guy stretched the words out into grotesque balloons and chuckled again. “I’m so sorry you’ve got to be stuck in a house with her.”
    Adam couldn’t help but smile. There was a teasing quality to this weirdo that was beginning to appeal to him.
    “You don’t like Britney?” Adam asked.
    “Let’s say I find her very interesting.”
    “How come?”
    “Oh, that’s a long story.” The guy’s mouth twisted into a tortured smile. “I can’t tell you that. Not right now. Suffice it to say that we used to be the bestest of buddies, but sadly, all good things come to an end—especially when other people are involved. Ask her about Bobby Plumley when you get home. See what kind of reaction you get.”
    “That’s you?”
    “That’s me, Bobby Plumley.”
    Yanking his wallet from the back pocket of his black jeans, Bobby flipped it open and pulled out a twenty.
    “This one’s on me,” he said. Then, turning to the pretty brunette behind the ticket counter, he said, “Two Psychos.” And in they went.

eight
    The three of them, Britney, her father, and Adam, sat around the kitchen table, eating lasagna. Or, her father and Adam were eating it. Britney just picked at her food, separating the meat from all the other stuff that wasn’t on her diet and pushing the food around on her plate. She had no appetite. She was too upset.
    Throughout most of the meal, an awkward silence had cloaked the room. Now that the whole household knew about Ricky’s death, it was as if he were sitting with them at the table, bloody and disfigured and staring at them with wet, mournful eyes. Of course, he wasn’t, but everyone felt his presence anyway and no one knew what to say about it.
    Straining to make conversation, Mr. Johnson asked Adam what he’d done this afternoon. The two of them had already talked about this. The real purpose of the question was to provide a neutral topic and a sense of normalcy around the table.
    Adam swallowed his bite of lasagna, wiped a strand of mozzarella from his chin, and said, “I went to a movie. Psycho.”
    Britney glanced up at him. The last thing she wanted to hear about right now was Psycho. Her father, of all people, should have realized this.
    “And he met a friend of yours,” her father said with a helpful smile.
    “Who?”
    Adam tipped his head. “Guess.”
    “I’m really not in the mood for one of your games,” she said.
    “Adam, not right now. Just tell her.”
    “Bobby Plumley.”
    Britney sat back in her chair and glared at the two of them. Of all the things there were in the world to talk about, she wondered why they had to choose this one.
    “Bobby Plumley’s not my friend,” she said.
    Her father peered at her from below his bushy eyebrows. “I thought you and Bobby were friends. He used to come around the house all the time.” She knew he didn’t mean to take sides against her, but she couldn’t help feeling betrayed by his statement.
    “Well, we’re not anymore.”
    Unconsciously, she reached for the hockey pin on Ricky’s jacket and traced its shape with her index finger. She hadn’t taken the jacket off all day. She never wanted to take it off.
    Adam brushed the hair from his face, and she saw a smirk pressing out from the corners of his mouth. “Why not?”
    Just thinking about him made her head feel like it had flames shooting out of it. If there was one thing in her life she regretted, it was having spent so much time with Bobby Plumley.
    “He’s a sociopath, okay? Can we …” She broke down in sobs. Pulling Ricky’s letter jacket tight, she hugged herself in it. “Can we talk about something else?”
    The tortured silence descended again on the table.
    After a while, a plaintive sympathy in his voice, Mr. Johnson said to Britney, “If you want to cancel with Dr. Yeager tomorrow, I’ll understand.”
    Britney nodded. “Thanks,” she said. Dr. Yeager was the shrink who was theoretically supposed to be helping her deal with her feelings over her