A Place So Wicked Patrick Reuman (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📖

inside of the thin bra. He could not take his eyes off her body. It was the first time he had seen a girl like this. Sure, he had seen girls in their bikinis, which covered pretty much the same amount of space, but he hadn’t in this context, or anything even remotely close to it.

She was staring toward his waist. He looked down and noticed his hardness was pushing his boxers out. His nerves shot a hot sensation through his entire body. He was suddenly more nervous than he ever had been in his entire life.

But the way she was smiling at him helped push that feeling away. She was looking him up and down now in the most obvious way possible.

“Not bad,” she said.

Without another word, she reached behind her back with both hands, unclipped her bra, and let gravity push it to the ground. She smiled at him, no sign of anxiety or nervousness in her eyes, then bent over, removing her underwear.

He was frozen in place, not because of the cold, but because his mind and body had no idea how to react. He had seen this coming, only because it was the logical conclusion to whatever it was they were doing. But now that she was standing before him, fully naked, her blond hair draping down over her breasts, he felt like he could no longer breathe.

“Well, are you just going to let me stand here naked or are you going to join me?”

23

The smell was beyond putrid. Most of the house woke up with slamming headaches, all but Toby and Paisley. What had first been confined to the basement, then the first floor, had now made its way to the second floor with overwhelming force. The musk clouded the entire house, the smell’s presence almost palpable.

Richard was downstairs pacing around, his head throbbing even after he downed three extra-strength headache tablets. He had left a voicemail on the realtor’s phone. That was an hour ago. He had demanded to know where the key to the basement was, firmly stating that he had had enough. Silent minutes drifted by, undisturbed by the sound of a ringing phone, until Richard had finally reached his limit.

He dialed again. It rang until the voicemail kicked in. Even the realtor’s voice annoyed the piss out of him at that point. He was furious with the guy. Worse yet, he bet that if he drove over to his office, he would find the bastard’s car parked in the lot.

He didn’t bother leaving a second voicemail. He pounded the large red hang-up button on the screen and then jammed the phone angrily back into his pocket. Outside the basement door, he leered at the thing as if the door itself was the cause of their problems and not the other door further down into the basement. He could kick it, anything to get the frustration out. That’s what he wanted to do. But he didn’t dare. If he were to damage it…well, that door was the only thing separating them all from the brunt of the stench.

Lisa tried to calm him with a glass of lemonade, one of Richard’s favorites, but the attempt went unheard. Beyond that, Lisa didn’t try to talk him out of his next move. She was angry as well, maybe even almost as angry as Richard, just better at hiding it. She had had enough of this dead animal crap. The house smelled utterly horrible.

So, when Richard said he was going to the realtor’s office to punch him in the face, Lisa hardly protested. She knew—or she was pretty sure—he wouldn’t really punch the guy. But if he did, well, they would cross that bridge when they got there.

Robbie wasn’t going this time. He was still upstairs in excruciating pain, much worse than he would let on to the others. He didn’t want to scare Richard and Lisa, both of them having their hands full already. Plus, the way he saw it, if his little nephew could overcome this sickness, he could, too. He was healthy, for the most part. He told himself that this pain, this…insane pain, had to be the worst of it and only better days could be ahead.

He hadn’t seen Trevor in a day or so, which made him wonder about the boy, but between the pain and the delirium, he hardly remembered the fact. The reason he hadn’t seen Trevor, unknown to Robbie, was because Trevor was right back where he started, in the next room over, lying in the fetal position, begging whatever god was above to help him get through whatever this was.

Richard pulled out from the driveway in a reckless skid. He was angry, and it wasn’t like there was ever traffic on their road anyway. The damn place was an empty wasteland. He remembered what his wife had said about the neighboring house being empty and wondered if he should have taken it a little more serious. It was a thought he would have to address later, though, because his mind was already bent on confronting David Masterson.

He sped down the road, stopping only momentarily for the red sign at the end of the street. He turned the corner and headed straight for the realtor’s office. He was going to give that son of a bitch a piece of his mind, and he was excited about it. It was his fault, the realtor, that they were even in this position. How could he not have found the key yet?

They had been there for days now, and not a word had been heard from this guy about it. Clearly, he didn’t give a shit. But that was going to change today.

He reached the small building, pulling into the driveway nearly as quick as he pulled out from his own. Just as expected, the realtor’s car was sitting there