Sanctuary Read Online Free PDF Page A

to close with this gorgeous chick Sofie, and that she had a friend whom Cole might enjoy. Crystal had looked like just another chonga bitch, and as Brandon soon discovered, she fucked like one too. She’d been a great employee for all of about three weeks before, out of the blue, Cole started burbling that she was “a good person,” and that she “deserves our respect.” So Brandon had played along, though Cole knew his misgivings. And then, all of a sudden, Crystal was expecting.
    Music started playing from the speakers in Cole’s ceiling. It took Brandon a few moments to identify the tune: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, no. 2. A cliché, but tasteful nonetheless—and Brandon was in a Moonlight Sonata mood, too. He turned to face Cole, who stood by the bedroom’s entertainment center, adjusting the volume. Strangely, Cole adjusted the lights too. They grew dim.
    “Did you talk to her yet?” Brandon asked.
    Cole remained silent. He knew his own room well enough to walk freely through it, but now he stayed near the wall, using his cane for guidance as he moved forward.
    “Remember I wanted you to talk to her about the thing in her stomach? Did she go for it?”
    Cole walked farther, but still didn’t speak.
    Brandon exhaled with sharp disdain. “Poverty. Sound appealing?”
    “No.”
    “Then either get rid of Crystal, or get rid of the fucking baby.” Better to present the illusion of choice. Cole would play along more easily if Brandon made things simple for him.
    Unaware that the curtains were closed, Cole stopped by the far window and faced outward, as if hoping to catch a glimmer of the nighttime expanse.
    “Did you even mention it to her?”
    “I want to keep it.”
    A tense moment passed. Not in Brandon’s wildest dreams had he imagined Cole would dare go this far. Blindsided, he stepped up next to his friend and did his best to remain calm, but he had trouble formulating a response. “Everything we have depends on you trusting me to do my business. You remember how poor you were when I found you? You were gonna sell your dad’s condo, and I said no, give me your place to work in, and I can make us rich.” The visual backdrops leveraged from the condo setting added a distinct professional flavor to Brandon’s videos. Cole knew just as well as he did that without Cole’s facilities, the two entrepreneurs would lose credibility in the eyes of their talent, and thus be unable to attract the kind of actresses their subscribers demanded. “Well Cole, I still intend to deliver on that promise. I can support us, but if you bring a bitch and a kid on board… I’m fucking out, man. You don’t want a little toddler running around shitting its diapers while we’re taping the girls.”
    Brandon thought that maybe Cole would laugh at this image, but apparently Cole’s old sense of humor had left him as well.
    So Brandon continued. “How will you get by, huh? Crystal’s gonna get a job at Taco Hut and you’ll… what? Sell paintings?” He waved a hand in front of Cole’s unseeing eyes. “You’ll have to give up the condo after all.”
    “Hey, Brandon, I appreciate what you’ve done for me, and I really think we have something good here. I consider you a good friend.”
    Finally I’m getting somewhere. “Me too, buddy. Me too.”
    “But for starters, you need to stop wasting my money on parties.”
    Or maybe I’m getting nowhere. “Oh, I should stop? I’m working , unlike a certain friend of mine.” Brandon tapped Cole on the chest. Cole tried to swat Brandon’s hand, but he’d withdrawn it by the time Cole reacted. He paced around to Cole’s other side and spoke firmly to him. “I don’t think parties to promote our business are quite as expensive as you sitting on your ass in mountains of debt, which was right where you were before I showed up.” Anger flashed on Cole’s face, so Brandon added a soothing charisma to his voice and drew his face closer to