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

She looked like she was going to burst if she didn’t get to say it. Not sure why it is such a big deal, not like it was the first time she did that.”

The words caught Toby off-guard, stinging him a little. It wasn’t like he had thought it was Addison’s first time. Quite frankly, he hadn’t really thought about it at all, how many men she had been with or anything like that. But it had been his first time. And to hear it spoken about like that, in such an unimportant way, it hurt him a little. To him, even though it sounded corny, the moment had been special.

He cleared his throat and then tried to proceed as though the words meant nothing to him. “Okay. Yes, we did.”

Robert nodded. “Yeah, she has a thing for you people.”

Now that confused him. “You people? What does that mean? It was just me and her. There was nobody else there.”

Robert laughed, like Toby was a fool, like Robert knew something that Toby should have known but was too stupid to see.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?” Toby snapped, getting a little frustrated.

They were nearing the end of the road. Robert rounded on him. Toby jumped back, readying himself. He looked down at Robert’s hand, noticing one of them had been in his pocket the entire time. Robert noticed Toby’s curious gaze.

“Calm yourself,” he said, pulling his empty hand from his pocket. “I don’t have a weapon or anything like that. I’m not going to hurt you. There’s no need.”

There he went again, with his weird, vague sentences. No need to hurt him? It was obvious that Robert thought someone else was going to do it for him. Perhaps Addison. Maybe she was going to reveal that he was being set up that whole time. Despite what he tried to tell himself, that would hurt him, perhaps more than anything else.

Robert laughed again, Toby’s confusion apparently just as clear as it was hilarious. “You guys figure out yet why people are leaving random food on your doorstep?”

Toby didn’t answer. They had been wondering, but how did this asshole know about it?

“That one is always hilarious.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Toby said.

“Did you think they were welcoming gifts? Did you think the food was left there to wish you well? Speaking of well, how is everybody, anyway? I didn’t see your parents come to the door. Are they okay?”

“They’re fine!” he lied, not sure why other than that he was starting to get really pissed off at Robert’s attitude.

Robert nodded, the smug smile still there, still laughing at him. “Right, of course. I expect they’ll get a lot worse soon. That seems to happen toward the end.”

Toby lunged out, shoving the bigger kid. He was furious, and ready to fight, even though he knew in the back of his mind that he would most likely lose. But he couldn’t just let this asshole talk about his parents like that.

“You shut the fuck up!” Toby yelled. “You don’t know shit!”

“Oh, so they aren’t doing well. Just as I feared.”

“Why are you doing this?” Toby demanded. “What the hell did I do to you? Are you just mad because Addy doesn’t like you and never will? Because she likes me instead?”

Robert’s laughter turned to anger, but only for a second before the malicious smile returned. He laughed out loud. “You think she likes you?”

Toby just stared at him, scathing.

“No. She doesn’t like you. She just has a thing for the sacrifices. She fucks all of you. It’s her weird little kink. At least the boys, the ones her age. She gets off on it. It’s weird as hell to me, but I’m not here to judge.”

Toby shook his head, unsure of what part of Robert’s words made less sense to him. Sacrifices? Fucks them all?

He stepped toward Toby, forcing him to take a step back unless he wanted to bump chests with the larger kid. “The food that people are leaving at your doorstep, those are just offerings. They don’t care about how you’re doing. They already know. They’re just paying their respects.”

Toby had questions but couldn’t seem to get any of his thoughts to form actual sentences. He just stared at Robert instead, waiting for him to explain exactly what the hell he meant by all this, still waiting for him to yell “gotcha!”

But he didn’t.

Robert stepped toward Toby again, his height suddenly seeming greater, his leer darker. “I’m not going to hurt you because I don’t have to. The house will do it for me. You’ll all be dead in a day or two. None of them last long, and you’re coming into the final stretch.”

28

Toby sprinted back to the house, leaving Robert where he stood, his laughter echoing behind him as the kid watched Toby flee. His head was spinning, his mind lost in a maze of thoughts, all of them fighting to be at the forefront of his mind.

Addy didn’t like him? She fucked them all? They were sacrifices? They were all going to be dead soon? None of it made any sense at all. Or did it? His mind was trying to piece it together even as he ran.

When he reached his house, he glanced across the road at Addy’s, straight up to her window. There was no sign of movement there. He wanted to go over there then and ask her why she told Robert what they had done. But most of all, he wanted to know if she really didn’t like him, if what they had done meant nothing to her. He knew it was childish to even consider such things when he had just been told his family’s life was on the line, but he couldn’t