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"Induction? What, like it&039;s a fucking club?"
As the words bounced around the inside of the Mercedes, Lash tightened his hands on the steering wheel and stared out the windshield He had a switchblade in the inside pocket of his Canali suit and the urge to out the blade and slice this hu
Of course, then he&039;d have a dead body to deal with and blood all over the leather
Both of which were bores
He looked across the seats The one he had picked out of a cast of hundreds was your typical botto, shifty-eyed motherfucker The kid&039;s history of child abuse ritten in the old circular scar on his face--perfectly round and the size of the burning end of a cigarette--and his hard life on the street was in his sreed was in the way he looked around the inside of the car, like he was trying to figure out how to make it his own, and his resourcefulness was obvious by how quickly he&039;d o-to dealer
"More than a club," Lash said in a low voice "Much ot a future in this business and I&039; it to you on a silver platter I&039;ll have ht"
"What if I don&039;t show?"
"Your choice" Of course, then the fucker was going to wake up dead in the , but details, details
The kid hter; he was otten his ass cheeks duct-taped together in the school locker roo Society needed two kinds ofhad Mr D scope the Xtre the most product, this wiry little shit with the reptilian stare was at the top of the heap
"Are you queer?" the kid said
Lash allowed one of his hands to leave the steering wheel and duck into his jacket "Why do you ask that?"
"You smell like one Dress like one, too"
Lash et didn&039;t have a chance to even lean back in the seat With a quick lunge, he rocked out the switch and laid that sharp blade right against the vital, beating pulse at the side of the white neck
"The only thing I do to et fucked like that? Because I&039;m ready if you are"
The kid&039;s eyes went cartoon wide and his body treot a proble the point, but whatever "Do we have a deal?" Lash said, pressing the point of his knife in As the penetration was achieved, blood welled up in a bubble and stayed put for a split second, like it was trying to decide whether to flon the shiny metal or the smooth colu forth in a ruby red stream
"Please don&039;t kill me"
"What&039;s your answer"
"Yeah I&039;ll do it"
Lash pressed in harder, watching the blood run He was momentarily captivated by the reality that if he took the weapon and pushed it farther through the flesh, this hu into a chilly night
He enjoyed feeling like a god
As whi breached the kid&039;s chapped lips, Lash relented, easing back With a quick lick, he cleaned off the blade and flicked the weapon shut "You&039;re going to like where you end up I prouy a chance to recover and kneasn&039;t going to take long for the kid to get his groove back Asswipes like this one had egos like balloons Pressure, particularly the kind that came with a knife at the throat, caused them to collapse in on themselves But the instant the stress was relieved, they rebounded, puffing back up into place
The kid snapped his crappy leather jacket down "I like where I is just fine"
Bingo "Then why are you looking at ot a better ride than this"
"Oh Really" Lash eyeballed the bitch froht on a BMX Your jeans are torn and not because they&039;re designer How ot in your closet? Oh, wait, you keep your shit in a cardboard box under the bridge" Lash rolled his eyes as all kinds of surprise bubbled up froer seat "You think we didn&039;t check you out? You think we&039;re that stupid?"
Lash jabbed a finger toward the Xtre like metronomes on the raround over here Fine Congratulations But ant you to go farther You join with us, you&039;ve got muscle behind you oing to be so your cock around a concrete lot We&039;ve got your future"
The kid&039;s calculating stare shifted toward his little slice of territory in Caldwell and then floated over to the horizon where the skyscrapers loomed The ambition was there, and that hy he&039;d been chosen What this little bastard needed was a way up and a way out
The fact that he&039;d have to sell his soul to do it was going to dawn on him only when it was too late, but that was the way of the Society From what Lash had been told by the lessers he now coot inducted--and this was understandable Like any of the on the other side of the door they were knocking on? Like any one of the into?
Surprise, et on the ride, you are never, ever getting off
Lash was totally fine with deception, however
"I&039;er shit," the kid et the fuck out of ht at seven"
"Cool"
With business concluded, Lash was i The kid s for more than a shower--he needed to be hosed down like a dirty stretch of sidewalk
As soon as the door was shut, Lash backed out of the parking lot and hooked up with the road that ran parallel to the Hudson River He headed for ho wheel for another reason than the urge to kill
The urge to fuck was just as strong a motivator for him
The street he lived on in Old Caldwell had Victorian-era brownstones running down it and sidewalks planted with trees and property values no lower than a s, never made any noise, and put their trash out only in the back alleys, and only on the right days As he drove past his town house and cut around the block to the garage, he was tickled fucking pink to think all these tight-ass WASPs had a neighbor like hiht have looked and dressed like them, but his blood ran black and he was as soulless as a wax statue
As he hit the garage door opener, he sated as he got ready for his Hello, Lucy-I&039; back to Xhex never got old
After he&039;d parked the AMG, he got out and had to stretch his body She put hier, she abso did, and he loved how she left hi like a good opponent to cheer his shit up
Cutting through the back garden and entering the house through the kitchen, he srilled sirloin and fresh bread
He wasn&039;t into food at the h Thanks to that convo at the park, that little shit skater was going to be his first induction, the first offering he brought to his father, the Oa And didn&039;t that make him jones for some sex
"Y&039;all ready to eat?" Mr D asked from the stove as he flipped the piece of meat over The little Texan had proved useful not only as an initial tour guide through the Lessening Society, but also as a killer and a halfway decent cook
"Nah, I&039; up now" He tossed his keys and his cell phone on the granite countertop "Leave the food in the fridge and lock the door behind you"
"Yessuh"
"We&039;re on for toet up at seven You knohere to take him"
"Yessuh"
That two-syllable as the SOB&039;s favorite response--which was another reason he reht and the second in coh the butler&039;s pantry and the dining rooht to the carved staircase When he&039;d first seen the place, it had been e left behind: silk wallpaper, da chair Now, the brownstone was filling up with antiques and statuary and proper rugs It was going to take longer than he&039;d thought to get it where it needed to be, but you couldn&039;t pull a household of shit out of your ass overnight
Mounting the stairs, his feet were light and his body hu as he unbuttoned his coat and then his jacket
As he closed in on Xhex, he ell aware that what had started out for hi for him on the other side of his bedrooained for
It had been so simple at first: He&039;d taken her because she&039;d taken from him When she&039;d been up at the colony in that cave, she&039;d pointed her gun and pulled the trigger and pumped a shitload of lead into his bitch&039;s chest Not acceptable She&039;d robbed him of his favorite toy and he was exactly that flavor of dickhead where an eye for an eye was his theht her here and locked her into his roooal had been to take pieces out of her, to trim off bits froh shit that was going to bend her until she snapped