The Blood That Bonds Read Online Free PDF Page A

more than five or six years her senior.
    “ Barchetta,” she echoed,
peering at the tires, the lights, the smooth curves of the wheel
wells and powerful side scoops of the doors, the reflection of the
city lights in its flawless shine. She wanted to ride in it. Oh,
yes. She thought at that moment she wanted this more than anything
before in her life.
    Theroen took her hand now, and again that
flash of fear and desire. He led her around to the passenger side,
opened the door, gestured for her to sit down. Two let out some
sound of disbelief. Surely this was not right. She was a whore. A
junkie. A thing to be used and discarded. This car was beyond her,
above her, in some other world.
    Theroen only pressed gently on her shoulder,
still smiling his dark grin. Two sat down. The leather enveloped
her like a second skin. Theroen shut her door, and Two took the
seat belt in a daze, buckled herself in. Theroen sat down next to
her, turned the key, glanced over at her as the engine roared to
life.
    “ Are you ready to leave ?” He asked. The
finality in his voice caught Two’s attention, the stress on this
final word unmistakable. The words she had been about to say caught
in her throat. She swallowed hard, unable to speak, an
indescribable emotion welling up inside of her. Looking up at him,
grinning, laughing though tears had sprung to her eyes. She nodded
her head, emphatic. Yes, she was ready to leave. Yes, she wanted to
leave. Yes.
    Theroen’s smile became a wide-toothed grin
for one brief moment, and there was something strange about it, but
it flashed and was gone too quickly for inspection. He put the car
in gear and gently reversed, pulling out of his parking space and
aligning the car. He revved the engine once.
    Two glanced down the street and to the left,
and saw that Molly had come outside to sit on the stoop and smoke a
cigarette. The younger girl was watching Two and her client with
interest.
    Look at me, Molly, Two thought, I’m ready to
leave. Molly seemed to sense this. She
grinned and waved.
    Theroen stomped on the gas pedal. Two was
thrown back in her seat, unable to contain a laughing cry of fear
and pleasure and joy, joy like she hadn’t felt in years.
     
    * * *
     
    Theroen took her through Brooklyn.
    He drove as if anticipating not only every
traffic light, but every possible interaction with anything at all.
Never braking, never needing to swerve, he cut through traffic,
making every green light, changing lanes before it even became
apparent that he needed to. He guided the car with preternatural
ability, at speeds well above what should have been safe. Two
enjoyed every moment of it.
    “ Where are we going?” she
asked at last, unable to sit quietly. She was too excited, nervous,
full of something approaching manic glee.
    “ Food.” Theroen glanced at
her. “Nice place. You’ll like it.”
    “ Food?” Two asked, bemused.
At its core, she knew well that evening represented a business
arrangement. Never before had a client taken her out for food
first. Never before had a client done much of anything other than
what was expected.
    “ Food.” Theroen nodded, and
smiled his strange smile.
    Pulling away from East New
York now, moving west. Four miles, maybe five, the neighborhood
began to change. Brownstones replaced chop shops, the streets grew
tree-lined. High-end restaurants, Italian and Japanese and Turkish,
packed with young men and women, sprung up. Two watched them,
jealous of these people out eating and drinking, going on dates,
living their normal lives. Theroen made a left turn and continued
down the street, the car drawing stares from everyone they
passed. They don’t know who I am! Two thought. They don’t
know who I am! They just know I’m in this car.
    Not herself, not the whore, not the slave.
Not the girl who fucked for money and to earn the drug she could no
longer live without. Just an anonymous girl in an amazing car with
a handsome young man. Was this who she was supposed to