Bait: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Kenny. My friends . . . they call me Kenny.”
    “Kenny, Kenny, Kenny,” she cooed. “You’re not in any danger from us, okay? My name’s Ginger. That’s Nash and Felix. We’re just as lost as you are, babe. Wish I could give you some answers, but I can’t. So take a deep breath and relax as much as you can. No one is here to harm you, okay?”
    Ginger gave Felix a glare for the shin kicking. The look he gave back said he’d do it again. Nash took a step toward Kenny, but the boy flinched.
    “Listen to the lady, kid. We won’t hurt you. She’s right about that much.”
    The kid nodded, but inched closer to Ginger for protection. She let him enter her comfort zone easily. Nash was taken aback by the woman’s kindness toward this new one in their midst, concluding it was some kind of homo thing. She was a dyke, kid was a fag, and that united them. Nash resented it.
    “Okay,” Kenny said, breathing slower. “I’m cooling out.”
    Ginger nodded. “Good. That’s real good. . . .”
    A few more words softened the boy’s armor until he was putty. Kenny put his hands in his pockets and cracked a half smile, nodding his head in a bid of truce. Nash felt a flare of annoyance. Felix was on the same page, arms folded and eyes slit with contempt. They were both thinking this Kenny kid was going to have to be the babysat bitch in the bunch.
    “Sorry for yelling at you,” Kenny said. “I didn’t mean to call you a cunt.”
    Ginger smiled. “Forget about it. It’s nothing.”
    “You sure?”
    “I think you can be forgiven under the circumstances—”
    Nash’s voice could have bit through concrete. “Jesus, when you two little bitches finish finger-banging each other, do you think we can figure out what we’re gonna do about this predicament of ours?”
    Ginger’s face darkened and she spat venomously in his direction, murmuring a string of obscenities. A slap across his face would have satisfied her, but she restrained herself. Instead, she turned to Kenny and thumbed over her shoulder.
    “I should probably tell you now, when God created righteous cunts, he made the mold out of Nash over there.”
    Nash snorted. “You got some fucking nerve, woman—”
    A moaning sound came from the sand. The Hispanic girl was starting to come to. Disoriented and mumbling, she lifted her head. When her eyes fixed on the others she instantly rolled away and cowered.
    “It’s okay, honey,” Ginger said. “We don’t bite.”
    The girl didn’t answer. Judging by the confusion on her face, Nash wasn’t sure she was capable of giving a reply.
    “What’s your name?” he asked.
    The girl swallowed hard, never taking her eyes off them. She was petite, but not fragile. Her dark hair and skin could have been sensuous, if both didn’t look so horribly neglected. Felix’s rumbling voice visibly rattled her when he spoke.
    “Answer the man. What’s your
name
?”
    Nash frowned. “I don’t think she speaks English.”
    “Oh, she speaks it, alright,” Felix said, looking the girl in the eye. “Too many cons have tried to pull the
no Eengleesh
card on me in my time.”
    Each of them threw a sharp glance her way. The girl swallowed again, but this time answered with a thick Spanish accent.
    “Maria is my name.”
    She drew her knees up under her chin, wrapping her arms around her shins. The eyes that looked around were those of a terrified animal. Kenny sat on the fringe of the grass, scratching at his chest and offering her a weak smile that did nothing to set her at ease. Felix mulled over the scene, looking back toward the footprint trail with a compulsion that suggested a freshly stuffed candy nose.

Six
    TWO DAYS AGO.
    F elix Fenton’s candy nose burned so bad he thought he might yell. Every vein in his right nostril was aflame. Nasal drip was like acid. The coke he’d bought was of the harshest variety and his sinuses were paying for it. What the hell was it cut with? Salt? Carpet deodorizer? If Felix’s