Gin and Toxic (Swan Song) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Tommy.”
    “I got this.”
    Ralph looks at me but I keep my face impassive. I don’t actually care.
    “You alright with that?” he asks me.
    I shrug. “Whatever gets me home.”
    “Alright. You heard the lady. Take her home. Her home.”
    Tommy smirks as he helps me up and into my coat. I can feel Ralph’s eyes on me the entire time and I wonder what it is he’s worried about. I’ve dodged Tommy’s advances for years. This won’t even be the first time he’s taken me home, but there’s something in Ralph’s face that is pure concern tonight and I can’t understand why that is.
    “ Goodnight, Ralph. Night, Mickey.” I tell them with a smile and small wave.
    “Night, doll.” Mickey answers.
    “Goodnight, Adrian.” Ralph says quietly. Thoughtfully.
    “You want a drink before we go?” Tommy asks as we pass the dark, empty bar.
    I shake my head, pulling my coat tightly closed in preparation for the cold, winter wind.
    “No, I’m fine.”
    “It’ll help you fall asleep.”
    I chuckle. “So will warm milk. Besides, I don’t think I’ll need any help falling asleep tonight.”
    We ride through the night in relative silence. Just the sound of the wind outside the windows and the road beneath the wheels. It’s almost comfortable.
    “I’ll walk you up.” Tommy says, slipping out of the car before I can protest. When he opens my door for me I’m already shaking my head.
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    “It’s not a line, Adrian.” he says with surprising sincerity. “I want to make sure you’re safe. What’s the point of driving you home just to leave you to be jumped in your stairwell?”
    I look into his fathomless, dark eyes and I wonder if he means it. If he truly has no darker intentions than to see me safely home. It seems unlikely but at the moment, I almost believe it.
    I smile weakly at him and take his offered arm. “Thank you, Tommy.”
    He doesn’t answer me. He’s all business as he walks me across the snow strewn street, into my building and up the winding flight s of stairs. When we reach my apartment door I turn to him and feel my heart hammer in my chest. I don’t know what he intends or what I’ll do with what he has planned. All I know is I’m tired as sin and I want to lie down. Alone.
    “Well, I’m home.” I tell him not so subtly.
    He chuckles quietly. “I can see that. Go inside, Adrian. I’ll leave when I hear the door lock.”
    I nod my head, hurry with my keys and step into the darkness deftly. I throw the latch and wait, listening.
    “Goodnight.” I whisper through the crack between door and frame.
    “Goodnight.” I hear him rumble from outside. Then his foot steps slowly begin their descent taking my pulse down with them.
    “Adrian.” Rosaline whispers sharply.
    I nearly scream from fright.
    “Rosaline, why?!” I exclaim angrily.
    “Get in here. Now.” she demands, ignoring me.
    “What’s wrong?”
    She steps into the light coming in from the window. It’s just a small slanted, yellow shaft but it shows me enough of her face for my heart to resume it’s pounding. She’s terrified.
    “Alice is dead.”

Chapter Five
     
     
    I drop my clutch and keys loudly on the floor.
    “What?” I ask shakily.
    Rosaline shakes her head, her eyes wide as saucers. “She’s dead, Adrian.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t go back in there.”
    “Where’s Lucy?”
    “In the bathroom throwing up. She checked on her a moment ago and… Oh God, Adrian. Her eyes.”
    I push past a shaking Rosaline to hurry into the bedroom. We have two beds set up in here. One larger bed to fit two of us, usually Alice and Rosaline, and one small, cramped one for myself. Alice is on my bed lying on her side facing the rest of the room. I know she’s dead the moment I see her. There’s vomit on the floor beside her and she’s curled into the fetal position, her skin sharply white and tight over her bones. But it’s her eyes that let