Uneasy Reading: 4 Horror Shorts Read Online Free PDF Page A

about the
same color. Rain plastered his greasy blonde hair to his head. He
knocked again before Joey leaned over and unlocked the door.
Vincent got in and shook himself like a dog.
    "Rotten out there, man. Just fucking
rotten," Vincent said. "Even my dick's shriveled."
    "Thanks for adding that to my mental files,"
Joey said. "What is so damned important that you had me come all
the way over to this crap neighborhood at one in the morning in the
middle of this goddamned downpour?"
    "What do you think?"
    "I imagine it's got something to do with
Giovanni," Joey said. Phantom pains surged down to his left hand
and he glanced to where his ring finger used to be. "But I don't
have time for guessing games, so tell me now or I'll dump your ass
back out into the rain."
    "Alright. Let's just start the car and
drive. I don't like sitting here," Vincent said. "Maybe we can hit
Del Taco. They got an all night drive-thru. It's over on
Imperial."
    Joey started the car and pulled out into the
empty street. The wiper blades didn't work as well as they used to.
Mostly they just smeared the grime and dirt that had caked onto his
windshield from weeks of neglect. It gave the world outside a
blurry and surreal look that he didn't like.
    "Say, Joey, you got a couple of bucks to
spot me for a burrito?"
    Nice to see it was the same old Vincent, as
ugly and broke as a Dane Cook joke. Joey was sure the skinny prick
was probably carrying at least a couple hundred in weed on him. The
guy stank of the stuff.
    "Tell me what you got to tell me and I'll
think about it," Joey said.
    "I was out walking the dog today and guess
who I see? I see Giovanni's little bitch Carlos, and he sees me.
Well, he comes up to me and he tells me his boss has an offer and
that he's been looking for me. He says I can get back into her good
graces if I do them a favor."
    Joey had known Vincent long enough to know
that 'walking the dog' meant that he was out with his girlfriend,
the poor woman. Vincent was a classless human being through and
through. Vincent was also a liar, and one had to guess the truth
and lies whenever his mouth opened.
    "That's great, but what does this have to do
with me?"
    "She's offering you the same deal. You help
and she'll call off her goons."
    "What kind of favor?" Rachelle Giovanni had
her hand in various criminal enterprises, everything from
prostitution to extortion and things a hell of a lot worse.
Whatever it was, he knew it probably wouldn't be very pleasant.
    "Moving some merchandise."
    "I don't like it. That woman doesn't forgive
easily," Joey said. "She might just want to get us both together so
she can torture and kill us personally."
    "You got trust issues, man," Vincent
said.
    "Gee, you think?" Joey had history with
Giovanni, good and bad. Her father used to run everything and Joey
worked as an enforcer, a hired killer when occasion warranted. Joey
and Rachelle had been involved in the most intimate sense of the
word. Her father died and she took over the business. She changed.
She got cold and distant and she cast Joey aside. He was still the
favored hitman for a while, but that all went to hell. Giovanni
wanted him to kill a kid because the dad had some outstanding
debt.
    Joey refused. Sure, he was a dirtbag and a
murderer. But he wouldn't kill a kid. Giovanni perceived his
refusal as disrespect. Carlos had taken the job instead; whacked
the poor kid and become the new blade in Giovanni's right hand.
    The stump throbbed where Joey’s finger had
once been. "You can't trust her."
    "Shit, they ain't gonna kill us," Vincent
said. "You really think they couldn’t have found you a long time
ago if they wanted to? I don’t imagine it would take much to find
your address. They just want us to move this new product since they
got heat on them. We ain't been seen with them in ages so they
figure we're good to go."
    It would make life a hell of a lot easier if
he didn't have to keep looking over his shoulder, but trusting
Giovanni wasn't going