This Darkest Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

talented, social or beautiful enough,
and after he died, it was simple just to think that he was on an extended business
trip. My mother’s sadness, if that was even what it was, turned to hatred as
she swore and cursed every day after we had to move from the penthouse to a
shitty apartment and she could no longer afford her designer clothes.
    “Most
people are horrible, I find,” Clay told me. “Come on; let me take you to bed.”
I stood and let him wrap me in a towel and tried to forget about everything
that was horrible.

Chapter Five
    I’d
never liked being in bed so much. Clay awoke me in the morning with his head
buried between my legs, and that was followed by love making again and again in
between gaps where I would lie in his arms and recuperate. It was late
afternoon by the time we were showered and whipping around corners on his
motorcycle at speeds that should have had me screaming.
    “I’m
just going to use the Wi-Fi at the library and then I’ll meet you at the café,”
Clay told me as he grabbed his laptop from his saddlebags. He gave me a kiss on
the lips before crossing the road and leaving me alone and at the mercy of
prying eyes. There weren’t many people around of course; the main road
consisted of farming supplies, grocery store and diner. The ones I did see, I
knew by sight but had rarely had conversation with them. Some nodded in my
direction and I did the same, before crossing over to the diner.
    I
had never actually eaten in there before. Aunt Anna never would, and I had no
desire to eat alone and be subject to speculation or warrant any further gossip
or condemnation from the locals who my family had wronged over generations. At
least with Clay by my side, I for once didn’t feel so insecure. The place was
more or less empty, and I slid into a booth and studied the menu.
    The
guy behind the counter came over to take my order. He was about my age and
vaguely familiar.  I couldn’t place him at first, but when he opened his mouth
to ask what I wanted and revealed crooked teeth, I knew exactly who he was.
He’d been the ringleader of the group of boys who used to call me a dog and
bark whenever they saw me coming. I felt nerves grip me, before I reminded
myself that had happened years ago and I needed to get over it and not let it
affect me. But how could it not? It wasn’t only these kids, it was the girls at
my school in the city as well who didn’t know or care about my family to
dislike me for that reason. They disliked and tormented me merely for the fact that…I
was me and they could. This guy disliked me for my family name, that was almost
acceptable, but those horrible girls…how could I not take their cruelty to
heart?
    When
I didn’t answer him, the guy peered at me. “You okay?”
    Clay
walked up then. “Ready to order? I’m starving.”
    I
straightaway felt better and more confident in his presence. “I’ll have a
burger.”
    “Good
choice. I’ll have the same.” Clay took my menu and passed it to the waiter. In
his presence, the waiter looked small and insignificant. It made me wonder how
I could ever have of let his words hurt me to that extent.
    “Did
you get what you needed done?” I asked Clay while we waited for our food.
    “Yeah.
I just had to check in with a few people.” He leaned back in his seat, with one
leather-clad arm slung over the back of the booth casually. I loved how he
could be so at ease and at home wherever he was. I would kill to have that
natural confidence. “How about you? Is there anyone you need to keep in touch
with regularly so everyone knows that you’re still alive?”
    “Just
my friend Erin, she’s in France at the moment so we’re just writing letters.” I
had already starting planning my next letter in my head where I got to tell her
everything about Clay.
    “What
about your Mom?”
    I
shrugged. “We’re not really in contact. She remarried and…we just drifted
apart.” Not that we were ever together, not really.