Breaking Her Bad by Michelle Mankin

 

 

 

 

 

Kyle

“What do youknow about Martin Skellin?” I asked Claire, stalling because I needed a moment to gather my thoughts. I was reeling, both from her and from the faith she had in me.

“He’s Ella’s father. His parents raise her. They live on the lake in a much bigger house than mine.” Claire paused and looked away for a second, but I didn’t miss the sadness in her eyes about losing her home. “I mean, like the house I used to have. Martin accumulated his wealth fast. There are rumors that he didn’t get successful by legitimate means. Since he’s your boss and he provides the drugs you sell, I guess those rumors are true.”

“Oh yeah. Definitely.” I exhaled, stirring loose strands around her pretty face. “Any business of his that seems legitimate is just a front.”

“Right.” Her eyes wide, she swallowed hard.

“I want to share everything with you, Claire. But I can’t, not here. Where we’re standing—this block and the adjacent one—it all belongs to him. He has people loyal to him that are always watching.”

“Like at school how the hallways belong to different factions.”

“Exactly.”

I skimmed my fingers across the creamy skin of her cheek, delighted to see her eyes flutter. She seemed as addicted to my touch as I was to hers. Somehow, amazingly, despite her being here now and knowing what I did for a living, I’d recovered her rather than lost her forever.

“I need to get you somewhere safe, but we’re going to have to walk. I don’t have my motorbike anymore.”

“Why not?” She tilted her head. “What happened to it?”

I winced, remembering watching those assholes beat it to hell with their bats. My bone wasn’t the only thing Strader’s guys had broken. “Strader’s guys destroyed it after they laid into me for dealing in their boss’s territory.”

“Strader is Skellin’s rival, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, he’s the top guy in Lakeside.”

“I’m sorry about your bike. Sorry about everything.”

She touched my arm, and I predictably reacted, even though I’d just had her. She touched to comfort me, not to seduce, but my body didn’t get the message.

“I can walk,” she said.

“Then we’d better get going.”

I released her reluctantly. Every instinct screamed at me to hold her close, especially here, but I couldn’t risk it. Randy appearing tonight right on the heels of Claire showing up wasn’t a coincidence. Skellin was watching me.

I gestured and began walking. Claire fell into pace beside me, as beautiful as ever and distracting as hell.

At the parking lot that looked like a junkyard, only with corrugated tin over some of the spaces, I took her arm. I didn’t care if Skellin’s minions were watching. Broken glass and needles were everywhere, and I didn’t want her to get hurt. I wanted to sweep Claire into my arms and carry her, but she wore a determined look like she did at school. She’d lost her father, her home, and we’d lost each other, but she pressed on undaunted.

The sudden sound of a car with a shitty muffler starting made me tense. Rubber crunching on glass followed. Quickly, I drew Claire into the nearby shadows by an overflowing dumpster.

“What is it?” she hissed.

“Maybe nothing, but shhh.” I placed my finger over her mouth.

Her lips were plush, warm, and satiny smooth. I wanted to kiss her again, despite the stinky garbage behind us. Even with all the obstacles that remained, I wanted her. I couldn’t help but imagine that sweet, wet mouth of hers wrapped around my cock. My groan was only inaudible because of the engine noise from an old disco-era land barge that slowly rolled by where we were hidden.

“It’s Missy.” Claire stepped out into the glow of a streetlight, the only one in the parking lot that hadn’t had its bulb smashed.

“There you are,” Missy whisper-shouted through her open window. “Get in.”

When I moved behind Claire, Missy’s eyes widened and she smiled.

“Both of you get in. Hurry.”

I opened the door. Claire scooted into the middle position on the bench seat. While she put on the center lap belt, I climbed in and shut the door, cringing at the protest from the rusty hinges.

“Not a word about the Oldsmobile.” Missy gave me a warning look as I belted in. “It’s mine, and it beats walking.”

“Barely.” I shook my head as the car inched forward.

“What happened with Randy?” Claire asked.

Missy scoffed. “He overdid it on the coke. Got his unimpressive dick up, but he couldn’t get off. Predictably, he got frustrated and blamed it on me.”

Her hands on the wheel tightened. Where the lot met the street, she stopped and glanced both ways. A car with tinted windows passed. In the flash of its headlights, I noticed her pupils were pinpoints. Randy wasn’t the only one who had done coke.

“And Tommy?” Claire asked.

“He wanted to escort me to my apartment.” Missy put on her blinker and steered her car onto the road. “But I told him it wasn’t a good situation there tonight, so he saw me safely to my car. He took off in his van.”

Missy glanced at me, and then pointedly at where Claire’s fingers and mine were intertwined.

“What about you?” she asked. “Are you still denying you have it bad for her?”

I shook my head. I might be breaking her bad, but I couldn’t deny her or my feelings. Not anymore.

“He was going to walk me home and tell me about Martin Skellin.” Claire glanced at me. “But it’ll be easier and safer for him to tell me while you drive us there.”

“This should be interesting.” Missy let off the gas, slowing the car for an upcoming stop sign. The brakes squealed, and she waved a hand in the air. “Don’t let me hold you up. Proceed.”

Pulling in a big breath, I let it out and began. “Skellin’s been a part of my life as far back as I can remember.”

Claire shifted toward me, and I could tell Missy was listening too. This wasn’t information I’d ever shared.

“He and my old man started out as low-level dealers. For my dad, dealing was a way to support his habit. For Martin, it was always about money and power.”

“Were they partners?” Claire asked. “Or rivals like Skellin and Strader?”

“Partners at first. But Martin’s ambition eclipsed even my dad’s addiction. In the end, they were only at odds.” I remembered they’d argued a lot. My old man had as many heated disagreements with Martin as he’d had with my mom. “My mother would usually take me to her room whenever Martin came around. I think she feared him, as she should have, as anyone should, but my father never did.”

“Not good,” Missy mumbled, and agreeing, I nodded.

Now that I’d started, I spoke faster, wanting to get it all out.

“One night, my dad and Martin had a big fight. My mom sneaked me out of the apartment and put me in the car. She had a bag already packed and placed it beside me in the backseat. I thought she was planning to leave my dad, but he came outside and got in the car with us.”

Frowning, I wondered if my dad had been planning an escape too. Would Martin have let him get out? That was a detail I’d never considered until now. I guess because being with Claire made me wonder about it.

“My old man was driving when another car sideswiped us. The momentum sent us into the opposing lane, and my dad lost control of the vehicle.” My body spasmed at the memory of my mother’s scream and the force of the impact. Then the silence as we started rolling down the embankment.

“That was the night your car went into the lake.” Claire gave me a sad look, tightening her grip on my hand. “Your parents died that night, and you almost drowned.”

“Yes,” I said softly, feeling Missy’s gaze on me. This was all new information for her.

“And being in Missy’s car is okay with you?” She turned her head, studying me closely.

“Yeah. It’s big as shit.” I downplayed the claustrophobia. It wasn’t so bad with Claire as a distraction. Plus, the windows were down.

Missy glanced over at me. “I’m so sorry, Kyle. “That you lost your parents, and that you lost them that way.”

“It’s in the past.” I would have shrugged off the condolences with anyone else, but Missy wasn’t just anyone. Acting like it didn’t matter would have been bullshit. It was in the past, but it still caused me nightmares, and created a burden I couldn’t escape.

“How did you get out of the car?” Claire asked.

“Martin dove in the lake, broke the window with a wrench, and pulled me out. The glass is how I got the scar on my back. Twenty-nine stitches, but otherwise—”

Claire gasped. “You would have drowned. Oh, Kyle. That must have been awful.”

Awful didn’t begin to touch it.

“But how did he know where you were?” Claire asked. “That you were even in the car?”

It was uncanny how she stitched together the pieces I gave her and asked a question that continued to trouble me.

“I don’t know. I just know I owe Martin. He saved my life.” I recited the details that made up the unbreakable bars of my prison cell. “He also gave me a job, a way to make money when I had none. It’s shit. But it is what it is, and he’s the one who arranged it so I can live with my uncle instead of foster care.”

“Owing a debt to a man like Skellin means you owe a debt you can never repay.” Missy shook her head as she braked at another stop sign.

Claire’s brow creased. “Where do you and your uncle live?”

“When I met you, we lived in Renton. After my injuries, I couldn’t afford the condo anymore. Up until two weeks ago, we stayed upstairs in the apartment you were just in.”

She made a face, and I nodded.

“Yeah, that’s how Uncle Bob felt about being there too,” I said, but honestly, I’d lived in worse places. “We’re staying in a cush back room at Footit’s Place now.”

“What?” Claire’s mouth dropped open. “Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t my aunt?”

“I don’t think she’s aware of our connection.” Nor did I think Claire was aware of my dad’s connection with her mother. “Uncle Bob is your aunt’s new busser, and he also provides overnight security. He just started, but he loves working for her, by the way.”

Missy flicked on the blinker again and turned the car. Belatedly, I realized what street we were on, and where she was headed. So did Claire.

“This isn’t the way to my aunt’s apartment,” she said.

Missy glanced at her. “No, it’s not. But it’s time you met Kyle’s uncle.”

She steered her land barge into the Footit’s parking lot, which was deserted at this hour.

“You guys have a lot of details to work out.” She gave us both a pointed look. “We don’t have a lot of time before morning.”